Never Too Far Novel

Even so, women always favored men like him, and every woman yearned to see him let down his guard and look at them gently and affectionately.

Angela returned to the room and sat on the bed with her knees in her arms, falling into a daze. She was still overwhelmed by a strong sense of guilt. She thought that as she was about to go back soon, she was about to see Annie. Therefore, she had to stay away from Richard and erase everything that happened here. She was determined not to harm Annie.

Angela wasn’t aware of how long she spent in a daze and ended up forgetting about dinner. In the end, it was Trevor who knocked on her door to call her out.

“Miss Angela, it’s time for dinner. Come on out.”

Angela opened the door and looked at him with red eyes. “I don’t have an appetite. You can eat without me.”

“Should I ask the chefs to cook something simple for you?”

“It’s all right, thank you. I just want to rest.” Angela shook her head.

Trevor looked at her with a pained expression. “Did you argue with Mr. Richard?”

“No, we didn’t argue. Something just came up. Trevor, please tell the others that Captain Lloyd and I are just friends,” Angela instructed.

Trevor was a little surprised. It seemed things had gotten serious! Was Angela denying that she was in a relationship with Richard?

“Oh! Sure, I’ll tell them.” Trevor nodded. Then, due to his sharp eyes, he noticed that Angela’s face was unnaturally red and hurriedly asked, “Are you alright? Do you feel sick anywhere?”

“No, I’m fine.” Angela smiled. Just then, her head spun, causing her to grab onto the door frame before saying to Trevor, “I’m really fine. You don’t have to worry.”

“You look sick to me. Don’t tell me you’ve fallen ill!” Trevor continued to press her in concern.

“I’m completely fine. You should go and eat!” She shot him a smile, then closed the door.

Angela subconsciously touched her forehead, and the heat beneath her fingers startled her. It seemed that she was burning up. It must be because she had gotten wet in the rain, but it wasn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t serious either. Once she went to sleep and sweated it out, she would be fine.

When Trevor returned to the dining hall, he noticed that not only was Angela absent, but Richard was nowhere to be seen as well.

“Is Mr. Richard not coming too?” he asked.

“No. I think he’s not in a good mood,” Sean said with a shrug.

“I don’t know what happened to him and Miss Angela. Just now, Miss Angela told me not to say anything unnecessary about their relationship in the future, and that they’re just friends.”

“Really? That must be because Mr. Richard hurt Miss Angela’s feelings.”

“That’s possible too. Mr. Richard has never understood a woman’s heart, so Miss Angela must not like people like him.”

“But, earlier I saw that Miss Angela’s complexion looked bad. It looked like she was sick, but she wasn’t willing to tell me either. I feel a little concerned,” Trevor said worriedly.

“Then you should tell Mr. Richard later! It’s best for him to handle things like this. We’re not the right man for the job,” Sean answered.

After Trevor finished dinner, he went to Richard’s room and knocked on the door, but no one answered the door, making it clear Richard was not inside.

Just then, a team member who was passing by explained, “Mr. Richard went to the security team earlier. I think he has something to discuss with them.”

Trevor nodded, deciding not to bother him. After all, it was an important job for the officers, so he could only put this matter aside and go to work in the conference hall.

Now that the information about the lipstick had been found and posted on the dark web’s market, Trevor and the others also made an account in order to play one of the roles. Their sources were accurate, so it quickly attracted many people’s attention. The organizations and groups that operated here would not waste their efforts for useless work, so most of them had given up, and even among those who stayed in the country, dozens of people had already left.

Angela’s crisis was also being resolved step by step, but the observation period still took a week to half a month, so they did not immediately let her leave. After Trevor busied himself for a while, he was shocked when he realized that it was almost ten in the evening, and he had to hurry to see if Richard was back.

At that moment, Angela was sleeping in the room, but she felt weak and dizzy, having not even the strength to raise her hand. She was suffering from a high fever, but she didn’t even have a cell phone, let alone the strength to get out of bed and call for someone. In addition, she never wanted to see anyone, so she kept clinging onto the blanket in an attempt to keep herself warm.

Meanwhile, Richard had just returned to the room and was drinking a glass of water. He was just planning to sit on the couch and take a break when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Trevor hurriedly opened the door and came in. “Mr. Richard, you’re finally back. You should hurry up and go take a look at Miss Angela!”

Richard instantly placed the glass in his hand down, and the concern in his voice was palpable as he asked, “What happened to her?”

“When I went to ask her to come down for dinner, I noticed that she didn’t look well. I think she’s sick.”

Recalling that she had withstood the cold wind all afternoon on the top of the mountain that day and ended up getting drenched in the rain later on, Richard thought that it would be strange if she didn’t get sick after everything she had done.

He got up and went out, and Trevor couldn’t help but follow him. When Richard knocked on Angela’s door, it could be seen from the crack of the door that the lights were turned off inside.

“Angela, open the door.” Richard called out her name in a low voice.

However, they were only met with silence. Angela should definitely be in her room at this hour, but why was she not answering even though she was inside?

“Is Miss Angela asleep?” Trevor guessed.

“Go and get the keys,” Richard ordered.

Sensing that things seemed to be a bit serious, Trevor quickly turned around and went to the management office. After a while, the management staff came over with a key, and he quickly unlocked the door to Angela’s room. As soon as the door opened and he stepped aside, Richard’s tall figure had already rushed in.

Trevor hurriedly turned on the lights, and saw that under the lights, Angela was wrapped in a blanket, her face was unnaturally red, and she was sweating profusely.

Richard quickly placed his palm on her forehead and felt that it was scorching. He said to Trevor, “Go to the infirmary and call someone over. She’s having a fever.”

Once again, Trevor hurriedly ran out, while Richard sat on the edge of the bed and took the bleary girl in his arms, lifting the blankets aside for her body to dissipate its heat.

Although Angela had a bad fever, she still knew that Richard was sitting next to her, and her hand instinctively pushed him. “Richard… Don’t hug me…”

At her words, Richard started to get a little angry. She was already this sick, but she still cared about who was hugging her?

“Don’t talk. I’ll send you to the infirmary.” Saying that, Richard pushed the blanket aside and looked for her coat before putting it on her and heading to the door with her in his arms.

In the infirmary, the doctor prescribed some medicine for her fever and hooked her up to an IV drip. On the quiet hospital bed, Angela’s complexion was as pale as a sheet of paper, making her look both pitiful and sad.

“It’s just been a day. How did Miss Angela turn out like this?” Standing by the side, Trevor felt a little pained as well.

However, the man who was in the most pain remained silent and quietly stared at the sleeping girl, his heart filling with guilt.

He had been careless in the afternoon, and he didn’t realize that she was burning up. If Trevor hadn’t found out, and her fever was left untreated all night, who knew how serious the consequences would’ve been. “Thank you, Trevor.” Richard turned his head and thanked him seriously.

Suddenly feeling a little flattered, Trevor scratched his head and said, “Mr. Richard, don’t be like this. Miss Angela will be your wife in the future, so I must be concerned for her too.”

Richard jolted at his words. Was that true? Did Angela have such an important role in his team already?

“Go and rest! Also, don’t mention that word in her presence in the future,” Richard reminded.

“Why not? Miss Angela said that to me as well. She asked me not to misunderstand her relationship with you, and she said that you’re just friends. Mr. Richard, what happened between the both of you?” Trevor asked curiously.

Richard’s eyebrows furrowed. Did she really say that? Did this woman tell others that there was nothing between them already?

“Stop asking.” He didn’t want to talk about it.

Seeing that, Trevor tactfully left while wondering to himself.

Meanwhile, Angela was dreaming. In her dream, she had returned to the city and saw Annie. She was ashamed to face her, and she blamed herself harshly. Then, the scene changed to Annie’s engagement. She saw Richard wearing a groom’s outfit while walking hand in hand with Annie on the red carpet. Angela stood in the crowd and watched when suddenly, Richard broke away from Annie’s hand and walked straight toward her. When she looked past him, she saw that Annie’s eyes were filled with tears of grief as she looked at her in pain, as if she was questioning her.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Annie… I’ve wronged you.” In her dreams, Angela apologized with a pained expression.

As tears slipped from her eyes, Richard felt his heart thump fiercely. Was this woman suffering so much because of this, to the point where she couldn’t free herself from her guilt and even dreamed of apologizing to Annie?

“I won’t meet with him again, I promise… Annie… forgive me…” Angela continued to talk in her sleep, as if she had fallen into this dream and couldn’t escape.

Richard’s gaze locked onto her painful expression before he drew the tissues next to him and wiped the sweat from her forehead. His actions made Angela jolt awake from her dream all of a sudden.

As her tearful eyes looked directly into a pair of deep and worried eyes, her gaze turned frightened as her entire body trembled, and she reached out to push away his hands that were wiping her sweat. “It’s all right, thank you.”

a sigh,

then at the infirmary bed she was lying on. She turned her head away and said to Richard, “I

even giving him a chance

not want to

his hands on his legs and his

in front of you again.” Richard raised his head, and his eyes were extremely calm, as if what he said was an order, and he would see it through to the

at him, feeling afraid that he would

you marry Annie?”

His eyes fell on her, as if he wanted

like this.” In her panic, Angela hurriedly sat up and stared at

“Who

he didn’t give them a chance, no woman would even have the possibility of getting close to him, and Angela had now lost the right to

turned red as she

to do with you even if I cancel the wedding.” After Richard finished speaking, he picked up the coat draped on the back of

are you going?” Angela blurted out

slightly. “To a place where

actually made sure that he would never see her again? All of a sudden, there was a tingling pain in

door, heard a groan from behind him. When he turned his head and took a look, he hurried back on his long legs in an instant. He leaned over and looked at

Angela felt that her

not going anywhere. I’ll stay with you. I won’t leave.” Richard’s tone softened, and he apologized to her in

The moment she met his gentle eyes, it was as if the rope tightened around her heart had loosened a little, and the pain gradually subsided until it faded into nothing. Was the cause of

it was as if time had stopped at this moment. When she saw the remorse flashing in the man’s eyes, she suddenly burst into tears. She felt

annoyed by his cold behavior just now. She was suffering from a high fever, causing not only her mental state but her entire body to be

fell onto the blanket. When he picked up the tissue on the side and handed it to her, Angela stretched out her hand to take it, wiping her tears with them. Her head still felt fuzzy, and even her heart felt heavy. She had never felt so weak before, like a child who had to be protected and taken care of. At the same time, Richard’s cold treatment earlier also made her inexplicably sad, as

down. As the blanket was a tad too thin, she subconsciously curled up

walked to another bed and spread out another blanket on top of her before

head. If he were here, her sleep would be affected

get up. “I’ll ask a nurse to

red lips, feeling angry that she didn’t fight back earlier, and feeling furious at herself for easily getting so angered by him that her heart ached. It shocked her. When did this man become so important to

restless sleep that night. After having several consecutive nightmares, she felt weak and tired. Even the nurse felt sorry for her, and took a hot towel to wipe the sweat from her forehead a few times. As dawn broke on an

nurse reported

mild fever now, but she kept having nightmares last night and woke up many times. Captain Lloyd, you should

and the nurse moved aside for him. When he pushed the door open, a trace of warm winter sunlight trickled in from the window, while the girl in bed curled up with morbidly pale

at her face, falling deep into thought. What should he do with her? Should he send her back to her parents or let her

slept until two in the afternoon. She felt as if someone was staying with her, but when she opened her

in with a

by my side earlier?”

there wasn’t. Since this morning, no one has come to visit you,” the nurse replied. However, she felt dubious as she wondered why Richard had been here for most of the day, but asked her not to tell Angela that he had

either? It made sense. Now that she asked him to avoid her, he would definitely not come

bitter medicine only wanting to get better soon so that she could return to the city, back to her warm house, and stay

be badly hurt. She also heard that Richard was not at the

her an iPad. They taught her how to play games and cheered her up in various ways, but they didn’t mention Richard. Though Angela happily accepted their concern, there was a question

eye, and Angela’s fever had completely subsided. Her whole body felt

shower. I’m covered in

Richard’s room. He isn’t here now,”

to look at Trevor, blurting

“Mr. Richard has some other work, and he may be gone for a week or two. Miss Angela, we will take care of you in the meantime. After you’re completely safe from danger, we’ll take

suddenly twinged again, as if a big palm was grasping her beating heart, and she only felt a surge of

Angela, are you all

eyes, attempting to relieve the pain in

Didn’t I want him to leave me? It was a good thing that they wouldn’t talk to each other

and her red lips bitten tightly in her mouth, as if she

did he say anything?” Angela turned her head

might not return to take you back.” After Trevor finished speaking, he looked away a little guiltily as Richard was the one who said these things to them

know either, but he knew that the boss

pursed her lips bitterly as she recalled Richard’s words from two days ago. He had told her that as long as she didn’t

to keep his words? Angela’s eyes suddenly stung, and she blinked quickly; she didn’t want to cry in front of Trevor. Getting up, she said, “I’m going to take

even the bed was flat and seamless. Clearly, this man had not slept here in the past two days. Has he really disappeared? Angela’s tears suddenly fell. She wiped her tears embarrassedly and walked in the direction of

the tap that she dared to wail loudly. However, after she had cried her heart out, she realized that

waist-length hair and changed into a set of white pajamas before covering herself up with a coat, all while looking listless. When she saw the glass on the table, she reached out and took it. Then, she walked

down the glass of water and sat on the couch with

there was a camera swiveling around like an eyeball, watching every corner

base, a black SUV was parked under an inconspicuous tree. As the man in the car stared at the woman on the computer screen and watched her cry in his room, his hands slowly balled into fists. Was she really that sad? He had followed her wishes and left, so why was she still

get up to get something, but as soon as she stood up, the

as expected, the woman on the screen did not notice the corner

the man on the screen sighed anxiously. This feeling of watching her get hurt but unable to do anything made Richard inexplicably anxious. He stared at the woman who was rolling her trousers up

the screen, Angela was calm and tough. She stared at her wound in a daze, as if she

the first aid kit, but even after five minutes, the woman remained motionless. Did she not know where the first

couldn’t be bothered to. The place she was hurting the most wasn’t her knee, but her heart. On the contrary, as she looked at the injury on her knee, she recalled the last time Richard squatted down to stop the bleeding and

but she’s still spacing out? Richard let out a sigh. In the end, he tapped a few buttons with his fingers and said in a low voice toward the screen, “The first aid

from the room all of a sudden. Because she had been spacing out, she thought she had imagined it. Still, she couldn’t help but raise her head and look around before she looked at the door again, only to realize that it was just her own

then, a man’s voice sounded from the direction of the clock hanging on the

voice sounded clearly in her ears, causing Angela to dart to her feet in

“It’s me.”

“Where are you?”

the first aid kit

case, everything she did in the room just now, including the way she went mad

didn’t even want to remain alive anymore. She felt humiliated, ashamed, and furious at the same time, and she couldn’t help but

thought you didn’t

don’t want to see you, b-but why

not answer. Angela glared in the direction of the clock resentfully. If she had carelessly taken off her clothes in his room earlier,

let your wound get infected,” he ordered in

toward the door of the cupboard and open the third compartment, where she brought out the first aid kit from inside. As she sat on the couch and opened the first aid kit, the man immediately told her which bottle was the antiseptic so that she

to his instructions, Angela cleaned the blood stains around her wound. Finally, after she bandaged it and sorted out the first aid kit, she said to the man on the other end of

“Yes.”

about your engagement with

“I’ll cancel it.”

consider

if I

a sudden, but she knew that

“Annie really likes you.”

love wouldn’t be able to keep us together. A happy marriage requires effort from both sides for it to work.” He began reasoning with her all of a

couldn’t refute, but she didn’t

another woman?” the

were talking through a screen, but she found it much

you the best instead. I’ve decided to continue my studies abroad and live there for a

cry so

fell silent and pursed her lips, her head lowering in

me?” Richard’s voice sounded in the room again, as if reading her

head firmly. “I admit that I feel sad, but this sadness will only be temporary in order to secure Annie’s happiness. Richard, I will not allow you to disappoint Annie. You can try to accept her and like

you be able to develop feelings for another man as soon as you meet him? Are you going to

suddenly. The conversation was about him and Annie, but

I would’ve done anything for him, but I still forgot about him in the blink of an eye. Of course I can do the same with you.” Angela’s gaze was trained in one place, and

and his handsome face was as cold as ice. However, there was a sense of frustration in him that he couldn’t seem

she said too much? Did she hurt his feelings? Wait, wasn’t

continue to talk to her, but after she waited for ten minutes without any response, she finally exclaimed in surprise, “Richard, are you

“Richard…”

replying

her own room. She didn’t want to stay in a

fearing that even her small room was under his

Dexter and

in love with Dexter because she was lonely and sensitive while staying abroad, and Dexter took

pitiful in front of her. Dexter was just playing the role of a perfect lover, which made him different from Richard, whose feelings were genuine. Everything he did touched

her fever, she returned to the

Angela heard the knock on the door, she hurriedly went and opened the door. However,

at her with a smile. “Can I go inside

didn’t want

you might

Annie, she knew that Ariel had done so with bad intentions, so she didn’t need to be grateful

mountain last time. Do you think that you can still hide your relationship with him if

as she panicked. She hurriedly stretched out her hand and said,