When Tammy received the text from Solomon, she was eating at home and watching a drama series with her friends. She froze when she saw the incoming text, then quickly turned off the screen and went back to eating.
"Who texted you?" her friend asked.
Tammy smiled. "No one. Just a New Year's Eve greeting from my phone carrier."
Friend number one blinked.
Friend number two tilted her head.
Which service provider would send greetings through a messaging app?
Seeing that she did not want to say anything, they started teasing her.
"Looks like our Tammy has secrets now, too! What happened to sisters for life? What happened to whoever gets into a relationship first is a traitor? Yet here you are, getting asked where you are by someone we only know as S on New Year's Eve."
"I refuse to believe nothing is going on!"
"I refuse to believe it either."
Tammy almost face palmed. They could see that far?
"Tell us. Who is S?" One of them threw her arm around her shoulders while the other reached for her with her hands. "If you don't tell us, hehehe..."
"It's difficult…client," Tammy said, using the excuse Sierra had given her before. "I can't afford and don't have the courage to cross him, so I'm forced to play along."
There was a chime from Tammy's phone again.
It was still Solomon.
[I know you didn't go home. Come over. I have something to tell you.]
Tammy tightened her grip on her phone without realizing it.
Her friends frowned.
That tone.
Sure enough, he was the kind of awful client with no sense of boundaries who thought too highly of himself.
"Just ignore him! Pulling something like this on New Year's Eve... Does he really think we working class people have no temper?"
"Exactly!"
Tammy knew her friends would get suspicious, but she didn't know they would grow suspicious so quickly.
On the drive to Solomon's estate, her chest felt heavier and tighter. Her phone chimed several times during the drive. The messages were from her younger sister, Lina.
[Tammy! Happy New Year! I'll come see you tomorrow afternoon. What are you eating tonight? Are you spending it with those two ladies?]
Tammy did not reply until she parked the car.
Her relationship with her parents was not good. She had been obedient and excelled in school since she was little, but they simply did not like her. Whenever anything bad happened at home, they blamed it on her and said she was the source of their misfortune.
Because of that, she had not gone home for the New Year.
But her younger sister had clung to her since childhood. Whenever their parents scolded Tammy, Lina would always defend her.
That was also why Tammy could not dare defy Solomon so carelessly. She did not want anything to happen to the only family who loved and cared about her, and she did not want her image as a good sister to collapse in Lina's heart.
At that thought, she pushed open the car door and got out of her car. She only walked into the manor after she had adjusted her mood.
Every time she was before Solomon, she had to be fully alert. Otherwise, it would be far too easy for him to notice something was wrong and use it against her.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Regrets Come Too Late (Sierra and Johnny)
Update please...