Never Too Far Novel

No, no. Josephine quickly shook off these thoughts, got up, and headed toward the bathroom. She took a wet tissue and rubbed her eyes while thinking about Ethan. He was leaving for the Arctic today, and his phone signal wouldn’t be very good from now on.

So, it wouldn’t be easy to find him anytime. It would depend on luck.

For this reason, she especially went to a bookstore in the afternoon and bought a bunch of books about the Arctic to read. It was as if reading these books would bring her closer to Ethan.

Since the evidence in this case against Katrina was solid, and Josephine’s grandfather had also exerted pressure, the trial was scheduled for tomorrow.

As a victim, Josephine also received a notification to attend court for the trial. Her attendance was absolutely required, and Wren also promised to accompany her.

Early the next morning, Lydia Folly and Wren drove to the Supreme Court. When they arrived, they happened to see Katrina being escorted out. She had disheveled hair, her hands were cuffed, and her mental state was very poor. When she saw Josephine sitting in the spectator seat, she trembled with anger. Even from a distance, one could feel Katrina’s intense hatred in her eyes.

Josephine calmly looked back at her.

The Sullivan Family also came, and Ivanka gave Josephine a fierce glare as if Josephine was a criminal for not forgiving Katrina.

However, Josephine didn’t buy into this victim-blaming mentality. She crossed her arms and watched the scene as if it were a play.

After all the charges against Katrina were read out, the presiding judge looked up and said to Katrina, “Based on the nature of the case and the evidence presented in court, Katrina Sullivan will be sentenced to serve in prison for three years and eight months.”

Katrina closed her eyes tightly. Although the nearly four-year sentence was not long, for her age, it was the best time of her youth. She could only spend it in that confined space from now on.

Josephine was satisfied. Although she thought that Katrina would be sentenced longer, she accepted the court’s decision.

“Katrina! My Katrina!” Katrina’s mother cried and called out to her daughter from her seat as her heart broke into pieces.

Josephine decided to leave, and at that moment, Ivanka chased after her from behind, somewhat angrily shouting, “Josephine, are you satisfied now?”

Josephine turned around and looked at her while saying, “No. I’m not entirely satisfied, but I accept the outcome.”

“What else do you want? My sister has paid such a high price for this matter. Josephine, can’t you be more magnanimous and kinder as a person?” Ivanka was filled with anger as she lectured Josephine.

Josephine’s face darkened. “Ivanka, your sister deserved her punishment, and she deserves this outcome. The ones lacking kindness are you and your sister. It’s too late for you to advise me to be magnanimous.”

“You…” Ivanka gritted her teeth in anger because she had also come to hate Josephine. This incident turned the two sisters against each other and fueled Katrina’s intense hatred toward her sister. It was all Josephine’s fault.

“Joey, let’s go!” Wren pulled her away.

Once they were in the car, Wren expressed her indignation. “Ivanka is so unreasonable! She’s blaming you for everything.”

“I don’t want to lower myself to her level,” Josephine said calmly.

Just then, Wren’s phone rang, and she received another gossip news. “Tori went to meet a person in charge last night and was kicked out. She’s finished!”

“She brought it upon herself,” Josephine said. Since the moment they harbored ill intentions toward her, they should have anticipated the consequences.

Of course, Josephine was able to retaliate so effectively because of her grandfather’s influence. If she were just an ordinary girl with no connections, her outcome would have been different. Perhaps she would have faced online bullying, and those who were driven to despair would consider ending their life and leaving this world.

Therefore, she was fortunate.

The situation with Katrina had come to an end, and Josephine secured her position as a news anchor. In the company, no one questioned her abilities anymore, and the company culture had been cleansed.

There were no more scheming and backstabbing in the office now. Even if there were any, no one dared to bring them out in the open.

It was true that Josephine’s promotion from a reporter to a news anchor was something that would arouse envy. However, now that everyone was aware of her capabilities and her powerful background, no one dared to mess with her anymore.

Today, she was sitting in her office and having a break when she received photos of the Arctic landscape that Ethan sent. He was dressed in mountaineering gear in his selfie, which was taken in an old-fashioned manner from a bizarre angle, but Josephine could tell that he enjoyed his work in the Arctic very much.

Looking at the photos, she couldn’t help but smile. She also wanted to go to the Arctic, but considering the extreme cold there, which she might not be able to withstand with her physical condition, she could only admire its landscape through Ethan’s photos. Recently, she had started working out, perhaps to be better at keeping the man company. Even if he isn’t around me, I’ve got to start disciplining myself. I can’t be lazy anymore.

A month passed in the blink of an eye. Every day, Josephine would send Ethan photos and videos of herself at work. Since his signal reception was irregular, it would be more convenient to send videos instead.

Ethan, too, often took photos of the Arctic for her before explaining some natural phenomena hardly seen by ordinary people whenever he had time. He would also take pictures of wildlife. This man always had the mentality of an upbeat young man, infecting those around him with a kind of enthusiasm for life.

Every day, Josephine’s greatest pleasure was to open her mailbox; a smile of delight would curve her lips the moment she saw the email he sent her. Then, she would read the email repeatedly, which became the happiest and most enjoyable thing in her life.

The base in the Arctic was part of a project that had taken Ethan’s company nearly a decade to build. This project was implemented way back when his father was president; now that Ethan had taken it over, it progressed even more rapidly to completion and was getting closer and closer to their goal. However, the abundance of resources here attracted the prying eyes of countries around the globe, who came scrambling for these resources.

Ethan had been dealing with these troubles until now, and everything was going well with the project.

Returning to his room from a meeting, he opened the door and sat down before his laptop. Like Josephine, his daily source of happiness was receiving messages from her. Though separated by a long distance, their hearts kept getting closer through their online messages as they drew love from each other.

Today, Josephine took her assistant out for a stroll and took some videos of herself on the street. She even took a video of herself feeding pigeons, and Ethan couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of her laughing. The girl in the video was just as upbeat and confident as when he first met her, with a kind of spirit that attracted him very much.

Just then, a young and pretty female assistant engineer in the base opened the door to his room. Having just taken a shower, she came on purpose in an attempt to seduce Ethan. After all, there were very few women here, and she considered herself attractive. Even though the man here was very austere, she believed she could succeed in hitting on him with a bit of seduction. “Do you want me to get you a cup of hot coffee, Mr. Quarles?” Dressed in a sexy slip dress, she deliberately leaned over the man’s desk.

Ethan’s face grew frosty at once with a look of rejection in his stony eyes. “No, I don’t. Get out!”

The female assistant engineer was involuntarily startled. She had tried this in front of every other man here. She could sleep with any man as long as she wanted to, but the man she desired the most was Ethan, the young, handsome, hunky, and rich boss. She turned around, not forgetting to say, “Okay, Mr. Quarles. If you need anything, I’m willing to be at your service anytime.” She was still unwilling to give up. Maybe he’s only been here for a while. If he stays longer, will he still be choosy? He’ll surely want me to serve him.

After hearing the door close, Ethan shifted his gaze back to his laptop screen to look at the girl’s bright smile captured in the video. How could I possibly do things that would hurt her?

No, not in this lifetime, Ethan whispered to himself. He couldn’t bear the consequences of her leaving him. If he lost her, everything in his life would lose its meaning.

“Josephine, I miss you,” Ethan murmured softly to the woman on the screen.

At this moment, someone was lurking in a cave outside the communication range of the base. They had come here with only one purpose—to kill Ethan.

“President Presgrave has instructed us to deliver results within a week. We must find an opportunity to carry out our mission.”

“As long as we complete this task, each one of us will receive 150 thousand. We must stay focused for the sake of the money.”

When they heard about the money, they felt a burst of energy wash over them as killing intent filled their eyes. Some photos were displayed on the adjacent wall, and at the forefront was their target, Ethan.

Underneath Ethan’s photo was a list of international engineers.

There were too many people in this world who would rather gamble their life away in pursuit of their own interests.

…

Ethan was just about to go to sleep when he heard a knock on his door. The identification system next to him showed that it was King, the chief engineer of his base.

He opened the door and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Mr. Quarles, our system detected a faint signal, but it’s definitely not from our company. I suspect someone is approaching our base.”

“Can you pinpoint their exact location?” Ethan asked, his brows furrowed. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. On top of him facing two assassination attempts here, he had also gone through similar events throughout his life. He was adept at dealing with such situations.

“Not yet, but they should be hiding in a cave. We will monitor the situation carefully. Please be careful in your future travels, Mr. Quarles.”

“I understand. Keep a close eye on this,” Ethan instructed.

“I will inform you immediately if there are any developments. Goodnight, Mr. Quarles,” King uttered and left.

Ethan went back to his bed after that. Great interests always came with dangers, and his family had had to deal with pirates and negotiation tasks with various countries over the years. He had even taken life with his own hands in the process.

Now that the company was under his control, he was well aware of the risks that lay ahead.

The next afternoon, Ethan was in a meeting with several high-level executives when an employee rushed in. “There’s been an avalanche, and more than a dozen employees are trapped underneath. They are in urgent need of rescue!”

commanded in a solemn voice, “Immediately halt all ongoing projects and initiate

immediately stopped him. “Mr.

I have to go,” Ethan replied. As the boss,

bodyguards quickly arranged a convoy of six vehicles to protect him as he headed to the mining site

who were injured from inside. When Ethan

However, everyone was so focused on the rescue that they were oblivious to the duo’s presence. Their eyes fixed on Ethan in

set off explosives to make a path, but it may trigger other reactions. Because of that, we haven’t decided on what

and execute the most

“Yes, Mr. Quarles.”

Ethan took a deep breath, the bright white snow reflected on his handsome

cave entrance on the back mountain. We can enter from there, but

years worth of exploration experience, was perhaps more qualified than the engineers here. He turned to his assistant, Jacques, and ordered, “Jacques, please get me

face paled with fear. “Mr. Ethan, you

lives in there waiting for me to rescue them.” Ethan only made this decision after

“But—”

buts. Hurry,” Ethan instructed in a low

the expedition equipment. Meanwhile, the chief engineer, King, took the opportunity to advise Ethan, “Mr. Quarles, you don’t have to walk into danger yourself. Please let the rescue team handle the rescue mission. You are too important

experience in exploration. I am more capable of handling unexpected events than anyone here. I’m going in,”

moved when he heard that. This was the most humane

that case, please be careful, Mr. Quarles.

soon brought two sets of equipment over, to which Ethan frowned after examining

I’ll be there, Mr. Quarles.” Jacques huffed, “I

have the experience in

beside him took the equipment out of

had already prepared their equipment. They

prepared to go in for the rescue, they exchanged glances

the rescue mission for the disaster that was actually the two

to draw the main forces of the base to this location so that it would be easier for them to assassinate Ethan if he

knew he couldn’t persuade Ethan. He could only step forward

mission carried risks, but there were over twenty workers still trapped underground. He wanted to help

lead and entered the cave, while Ethan, accompanied by the

front. At the cave entrance, four engineers and two assistants remained on guard. They had set up a communication station

of them 15 minutes later. Just as the latter were about to question their identities, silenced

leader of the men commanded.

down

when they arrived at the signal center half an hour later. They immediately reported the

say? They’ve all been killed? By

the cave. Chief Commander, these people have also gone underground. Surely they

face turned grave. These people were most likely the ones they had detected through the external signals the previous night. He instantly realized that they might be responsible for this disaster. Not only

Quickly contact the nearest rescue team and request immediate reinforcements. We’ve come in contact with enemy forces,” King urgently commanded. It seemed that relying solely on the base’s rescue

hadn’t had a chance to learn about everything that had transpired,

explosion as if something had detonated underneath came

terrifying tremors proceeded to knock King to the ground. He crawled on the floor and shouted in distress, “The president is in

strangely enough, due to the earthquake-like tremor, some

entrance. We only need to wait a little longer before we can go down and

then grabbed someone next to him. “Assign four people to me. I’m going to the

was left dumbfounded. The cave entrance, which had been smooth just moments ago, was now completely blocked by the

Quarles!” Startled, King fell to his knees with his hands

loss for what to do in this situation. He didn’t even have a rescue plan, and he had no idea about the situation or if there had been

His eyes nearly popped out, and he almost

he shouted at King, who was standing there as a feeling of helplessness

rescued, none of them with serious injuries. Meanwhile, a large-scale

deep breaths

was buried deep in snow, and even if they wanted to dig through it, it was already beyond the best time to rescue the people underneath. Moreover, they had no idea about

Ethan must be alive. He must be alive,”

the people from the Quarles Family. We

We don’t even know if Mr. Ethan is

to come here.” King shook Jacques by

right away.” After saying that, Jacques walked in a certain direction and dialed Edward’s number with trembling hands after

Did something happen?” A dignified elderly male voice rang out from the other

news, Mr. Edward. Mr. Ethan is in trouble!” Jack

What happened

the cave, there was a sudden earthquake and avalanche. The cave entrance was buried, and he

voice trembled with worry. “Why

in the mine, and then the workers discovered a natural cave that likely connects to the mine at the back of the mountain. Mr. Ethan then went down with a rescue

coming right away,” Edward said

message notification from Ethan’s phone. As it was Ethan’s work phone, Jacques had the authorization to check it. He

are you

with her, he knew that

‘You promised to take pictures of the aurora for me. When are you going to take

again?’ Josephine continued. ‘Reply to my

few seconds of mulling over it, he believed that Josephine needed to know. Ethan and Josephine might never have had a chance to see each other again if Jacques didn’t

of despair, he replied to Josephine’s messages. ‘Miss Jacobson, something just happened to Mr. Ethan. He

sending the message, he ran in

…

after sending the message to Ethan because she knew that

a half, and when she returned to her seat, she had just regained her composure when she remembered to check for Ethan’s reply. For her, seeing Ethan’s replies was the one happy thing she anticipated

smile. I knew he replied to me, she thought while reaching out and clicking into the message and

as though her soul had been sucked out of her body. Her eyes were fixated on the

seemed to find her voice after

Something happened to Ethan!

faint, she stumbled and held onto the desk to prevent herself from falling to the

being gripped by something, and an overwhelming thought soon came to mind. I have to go to the Arctic.

to find her phone and call the number Donna gave

other end of the call. “Joey, did you already know that Ethan got

where something happened to Ethan,” Josephine

want to go. Ethan’s father is already on his way there. I wanted to go,

firmly. As she held her tears in, she quietly prayed for Ethan’s

that nothing would happen to him, and he would return to her side in one

her up and head to the Arctic. They had gathered from all parts of the world at this airport before they took

announcing, “Mr. Kowalski, I have to go somewhere far to attend to an urgent matter. Please find someone to replace me

out of the room and the company’s premises to go home to pack. She needed to get to the airport as

passport. Heidi, who was still hanging laundry to dry in the yard, asked curiously when she saw

then emerged with a bag on her back and said to her mother, “Mom, I need to

Heidi asked, “Where are you

a very faraway place. I need

with Ethan?” Heidi asked, confused. However, she wouldn’t worry if Josephine was

I’m going to see him.” She

Be safe! Do you have all

have them all, Mom. I’m off.” Josephine quickly went to

boarded the earliest connecting flight. Even though she hadn’t reached her destination physically,

was a team composed

that took off. When the middle-aged woman sitting beside her saw her tired face and reddened eyes, she gently advised, “Miss Jacobson, please get some sleep. We

her reluctant to sleep again. But at this moment, she truly needed a good rest because the harsh cold weather of

some sleeping pills here that can help you catch some

you.” Josephine needed the assistance of

the clouds passing by outside the window. Her gaze flickered, and her eyes eventually closed when she

slept for six hours,

Josephine thought her heart flew to the Arctic along with this vast

down. Dozens of SUVs were waiting at the airport on the snowy mountain. Josephine had to put on her thick down jacket. The cold of the Arctic was

the base and set off from there to the place where the accident happened. It was already close to evening by now, and the surroundings gave

signs of human presence in

increasing number of snowmobiles on the roadside, her chest tightened, and tears started swirling in her

Josephine heard someone asking right ahead. “Which

received a call from Donna who instructed him to take good care of Josephine. So, upon hearing that Josephine was in the rescue team, he approached the people

Josephine greeted when she stepped out of