Goodbye, Mr. Regret

She couldn't say it out loud.

In her heart, Herbert Wheeler and Vince Zimmerman occupied entirely different places. She couldn't even explain what made the difference-just that it was there. Some things, like the humiliation she suffered at the hands of Timothy Lawson, she could confide in Vince, but she could never bring herself to tell Herbert.

An accident severe enough to make the car explode there was no way things could be that simple.

Jessica Greene's silence weighed on him. He felt a deep ache in his chest.

"Little Mute," he called to her softly. That was his special name for her a term of endearment only he used.

"I've left the Wheeler family. You don't have to worry about them holding me back anymore. He can't use the family to threaten you again."

He hadn't planned on telling her this. But Jessica never liked to burden others; she was always thinking of everyone else before herself. He couldn't stand watching her swallow all her pain alone. He wanted her to know she wasn't alone. If she needed someone, he'd be there, no questions asked.

Jessica couldn't bring herself to answer.

The day she saw the news, her first impulse had been to call him, to ask what had happened. But in the end, she kept quiet. What he wanted, she couldn't give. At least...not now.

She forced a small smile. "Why would you do something so foolish? Did you really leave the Wheeler family just for me?"

He nodded.

They had known each other since they were young. Back then, after school, Herbert would always wait at the gate for her, only heading home with his friends after she'd come out.

He'd walk behind her, worried that someone might mock or taunt her. Ever since Herbert started shadowing her to and from school, the kids who used to tease her for being "the mute girl” had gradually disappeared.

inside to get my ID. Wait here for me, okay? Afterward...could you drop me at the

"Of course."

went to Timothy's room and rummaged through his suitcase until

her bag and left The Gilded Whisper

need to take

was planning to

nodded. She knew that if she said she wanted to go home, he'd insist on taking her. Asking him to wait and drive her to the station was just

me make

just as Vince's name lit up on the

She answered.

through immediately. "Jess, you need to leave. Get away

eln

was in surgery, and while they waited, Vince questioned Mabel. Apparently, Timothy had intended to have their names tattooed on

artists to another location. The car accident that followed was easy to figure out-Jessica, desperate and unwilling

far

to let Jessica go back with Timothy

going to tell me about it just because you try to please him, so stop being so

with Herbert-even if it meant he'd never have her himself-than

up the phone to say exactly that. She'd been fooled by Timothy too many times; she should never have believed that spending a final "cooling-off" month with