Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Otherwise, Vince would insist on hiding her away, forcing everyone to waste more time searching, and the longer the wounds festered, the harder they would be to heal.

With that, the people involved excused themselves and left.

Afterwards, a call was placed to Vince. He was the one who had taken Jessica today, and since Jessica couldn't speak or answer the phone herself, it made the most sense for Vince to act as her go-between.

Just then, Vince had only just parted ways with Yates. He informed the

coordinator that he'd bring Jessica to negotiate with Timothy, and promised to get in touch if any problems arose.

He returned to the hotel.

His secretary was sitting in the living room. The moment she saw Vince, she stood up. "Good evening, Mr. Zimmerman."

Vince lifted a hand, signaling for quiet. "Keep your voice down."

He lowered his own voice as well. "She's still asleep."

The secretary nodded.

"You can head home. I'll take it from here."

After she left, Vince tiptoed into the bedroom. Jessica was lying there, eyes

closed, her long lashes fanned out like butterfly wings.

sleep was restless-her

from fingers on her cheeks still hadn't

imagined Timothy would do something like this. After knowing Timothy for so many years, he'd always seemed the epitome of self-restraint, almost ascetic in

How could he have-

eyes for a moment, deeply worried Jessica would carry psychological scars from

bedroom, just watching over her, odd feelings stirring in

opened her eyes again, dusk had

afternoon at home, waiting. As the sky turned dark and Jessica still

divorce. Jessica wanted out so badly, he figured she'd be eager to come

got up, just in time to see Mabel hurrying to

felt a flicker of

"You?"

Mabel's face was tense.

to

past her into

was Sheila, the

Sheila approached, looking

you to drink last night. I had no idea that bottle was so

brought up the events

Timothy