She looked up at the colorful hillside in the distance and suggested, “Sean, I plan to pack up and go to the mountains to take some photos of the autumn scenery here Do you want to come with me?”
Sean naturally agreed, “Sure, wherever you want to go, I will go with you.”
Only then did Jane smile again. “I’m planning to stay near the Alps for a while. How does that sound?”
“Then I’ll go pack our bags,” said Sean, and he followed through. “You can continue to rest a little longer, and once I’m done, I’ll tell you.‘
While they were setting their new travel destination, Tom was sitting alone in a dark room, flipping through the documents in his hand.
The room only had a wall lamp on, casting dim light on his face, making him look like a vampire who had lived in an ancient castle for too long.
The assistant knocked on the door. “Mr. Howard, according to your request, we have found a few more people who meet the conditions.”
Only then did Tom say, “Come in.”
The assistant, afraid of provoking him, set the documents down and stood by the side.
However, Tom was obviously uninterested, as if the documents in front of him weren’t even the ones he had requested.
Just as the assistant was anxiously waiting, Tom suddenly lit a cigarette, and his gaze froze when he saw one of the documents.
The cigarette burned on its own, and when it was about to burn his fingers, he stiffly shook it off, but it then fell onto the sofa, almost burning a hole.
The assistant was startled. “Mr. Howard!”
Tom came back to his senses, picked up the cigarette, and extinguished it in the ashtray.
He pulled out the document he had been staring at for a long time, handed it to the assistant, and ordered, “It’s her. Give her some money and send her to do whatever she wants.”
The photo on the document was of a young girl who looked ninety percent like Jane.
The assistant was confused. “Aren’t we bringing her here?”
Tom frowned and asked, “What are you trying to say?”
After his initial despair, he no longer frantically searched for Jane’s whereabouts, but instead started sending people to find girls who resembled Jane and were around the same age.
The assistant had thought he couldn’t accept losing Jane and wanted a substitute for comfort, but now it seemed he had misunderstood.
Seeing that the assistant didn’t dare speak, Tom lifted his eyes and stared blankly at the void in front of him. His voice was distant as he said, “I know what you’re thinking, but no one can replace her. Once she’s gone, she’s
gone…
After that day, he showed no sign of recovery and instead began to intensify his self–punishment.
He stopped eating and sleeping, and when exhaustion reached its peak, he would close his eyes as if he had
1/2
Chapter 19
fainted.
+25 BONUS
Even when he appeared somewhat conscious, his state was not normal, as he smoked almost frantically, as if trying to use this method to release his emotions.
The assistant, who was one of Tom’s closest people, had no choice but to force himself to advise Tom, “Mr. Howard, I know you’re in pain, but life has to go on. With all due respect, if you continue this sleepless, self- destructive behavior, you might end up sick before you get any news about Ms. Lawson.”
“Then so be it,” Tom replied indifferently.
He was too afraid to close his eyes. Every time he did, he saw Jane’s cold gaze, her resolute departure.
He bitterly asked, “If I’m dying from an illness, would she come back to visit me?”
He truly missed Jane, and the longing for her was slowly killing him.
Beyond that, he couldn’t focus on anything else.
The assistant dared not speak, so he tried a different approach. “How about sending private investigators out to search again? There are no records of her leaving the country, so she must still be in Eularo. Maybe she’s just traveling somewhere.”
It was hard for Tom not to feel moved, but after a moment, he said in a hoarse voice, “No need. She’s determined to hide from me. Even if I find her, all I will face are her cold eyes. And besides… do I still have the right to see her?
11
Everything that had happened was his own doing. If he had trusted her just a little more, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 20
