Tires screeched as the sleek black car skidded to a halt in front of the front porch. Rain pelted against the paved slabs in relentless sheets. Opening the car door, Landon hurried inside with a gust behind him, leaving Alaric and the head maid to chase after his tail.
"Mr. Westwood, wait!" Mrs. Flynn tried flagging Landon to stop.
However, the man didn’t stop in his pursuit, doubling the steps of the stairs to get to the house’s second floor, rounding corners, and finally reaching the door to his and Lucy’s room.
His hand reached for the knob and hovered above it for a millisecond before turning it. But suddenly, he couldn’t find the strength or spirit to push it open.
Landon had a hunch that whatever he would find inside that room was not what he was looking for. That the person he wanted to see wouldn’t be waiting for him as she did in the past.
The door slowly opened with a creak.
The scene before him slowly turned into a warm sunset day where Lucy sat on the carpeted floor with her legs crossed. Seeing him enter the room, a sweet and welcoming smile bloomed on her lips as she left the nail paint on the floor to hop in front of him.
"Welcome home, baby. You came home so early."
"Did you miss me?"
The first couple of times, Lucy chose those words to make their marriage life appear convincing in front of everyone. But Landon hadn’t realized that soon those words became something he had looked forward to hearing whenever he stepped into this cold and humongous mansion.
Lucy spread her arms to hug him. A pat for a good job day.
But the warmth he expected to feel from her touch went through his body before the mirage swirled into smoke.
Then, the scene returned to a dimly lit room, an untouched bed, and a coldness that seemed to seep through his system, forcing him to stop and take everything in.
Landon didn’t need to look around to figure out Lucy was not there.
Just sensing the person who you’re used to feeling to be right where you can see them was gone was enough. It was like having a cat, but now it’s gone.
Lucy’s gone.
Noises came from behind him. Mrs. Flynn and Alaric stopped when they saw Landon standing with his back to them. They wanted to get in, but they couldn’t. Landon blocked the door with his tall figure, like a deity guarding his territory.
"How long has she been gone?"
Mrs. Flynn replied. "An hour ago, Mr. Westwood. I heard a noise from the gate and thought it was you. So, I looked out in the windows and saw your car not parked outside. I thought of your wife and wanted to check on her. But no one answered the door."
"So, I tried it without expecting it to open." Mrs. Flynn hesitated to continue her word. She looked up with a deep frown and needed a second to make her voice come out again. "The door was unlocked, and your wife wasn’t inside the room."
"Then why did you assume she was gone?" Alaric turned to the head maid, feeling she was a bit stupid.
His boss was a busy man who made hundreds of thousands of dollars in minutes. Just because his wife was not in the room, does she really need to make a big deal out of it?
His boss’s wife must be somewhere in the mansion, lurking and doing absolutely nothing after what happened with Miss Leblanc and expecting his boss to fix the mistakes she made. That’s what all trophy wives do, after all.
Mrs. Flynn sighed and looked at him as if Alaric was born without half his brain.


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