Goodbye, Mr. Regret

When Jessica opened her eyes again, she found herself in an unfamiliar room.

Startled, she shot upright in bed.

She'd gone to bed early last night, exhausted from the day. How did she end up somewhere else?

She pulled open the curtains. Outside the balcony, the ocean stretched as far as she could see.

Jessica hurried out of the bedroom.

In the open-plan living area of the villa, Timothy was sitting at the dining table.

"Awake?" he asked, calm as ever.

This strange villa made it instantly clear to Jessica: she was almost certainly no longer in Riverside City.

She strode toward Timothy, her gaze icy.

"Where are we?"

"Have some breakfast first," he replied, setting the silverware on the table with practiced elegance.

"Timothy!" Her voice trembled with anger as she glared at him.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. He must have brought her here. There was no way she could have slept all the way from The Gilded Whisper Estates to here without waking up, and now it was morning.

She tried to remember last night. After getting home, she'd only had a glass of water.

So, he must have drugged her.

"What did you put in my water?"

Her health wasn't great to begin with. She couldn't risk strange substances.

Timothy answered without missing a beat, "Just something to help you sleep. Don't worry, it wasn't a sedative. It won't hurt you."

boiling

looked at her, his gaze warm and steady, lingering on her beautiful face. "You must know, Jessy, that if I've brought you here, I don't intend to let you go back so soon. Don't be angry. You're here now-make the best of it.

as ice. She felt like he'd

happened to our marriage, what's the point of any of

going to discuss that now. I haven't had a real

out her phone, hoping to figure out her location, but there was no signal

ladled some soup, his tone lazy and indifferent. "This is a private island. There's no one else here. If you

"Otherwise what?"

lifted his gaze, eyes dark and inscrutable. "Otherwise, I

forward, grabbed the tablecloth, and yanked. Breakfast crashed to the floor-soup and coffee splattering everywhere, even

Timothy didn't get angry. He leaned on his cane and stood. "Someone clean this

bowed,

ordered the kitchen to prepare breakfast

to change

walked out

built right on the

sea, the scenery almost

breathtaking, but she couldn't

it. She circled

and just as Timothy

an island escape was

still dead, no signal at all. She didn't even

sitting

spilled over him, giving him an air of

perfect gentleman,

pounding painfully in her

She knew she wasn't blameless—she'd chosen him, after all. But now, at the end of their marriage, he

a slow stream of smoke. "I know you

didn't care if she

simply couldn't stand the thought of life without

and