The Years Between Signing and Seeing novel Chapter 88

Suzie dragged her exhausted body back to Stella’s apartment, feeling an indescribable sickness in her soul. She stood quietly before the mirror, staring at her own wretched reflection as tears finally broke free, streaming down her cheeks. Her quiet sobs soon grew into loud, sorrowful wails, a sound of pure anguish that seemed to carry all her accumulated pain.

Thank God Stella wasn't home. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to cry so freely. But even then, she didn't dare to cry for too long, afraid of affecting the babies in her womb.

Meanwhile, Jamie walked away from the tree, his tall frame looking desolate and lonely. He glanced at the ashtray on the nearby trash can, which was overflowing with cigarette butts. Suzie’s words echoed in his mind like a curse, refusing to fade. For the first time, he felt a stabbing pain in his heart, sharper than any of the unease he’d felt upon discovering Suzie’s strange behavior before.

When Aaron arrived to pick him up, Jamie immediately ordered him to drive to the Baylor Manor.

Seeing his boss’s lost expression and hearing the hoarseness in his voice, Aaron couldn’t guess what had happened and didn’t dare to ask. He just cautiously reported, “Mr. Baylor, Margaret has been taken care of. I gave her the money as you instructed. It should be enough for the Sterling family for a while, so she shouldn’t be bothering Mrs. Baylor anytime soon…”

Aaron had deliberately referred to Suzie as “Mrs. Baylor” again. As he spoke, he watched Jamie in the rearview mirror. His boss’s face grew darker, but there was no other reaction to his words. Aaron slowly trailed off, not daring to speak another word for the rest of the drive.

When the car pulled up at Baylor Manor, Jamie got out at once, moving with unusual urgency as if he were racing against time.

“Martha! Martha!” he shouted as he entered the main hall, his desperate voice echoing through the entire villa.

Aaron, following behind, grew increasingly worried about his state. He wondered what on earth Jamie and Suzie could have talked about to cause such a drastic shift in his mood. What shocked Aaron even more was that Jamie had just skipped a crucial client meeting. The project manager had been pursuing that deal for over a month, and all it needed was Jamie’s signature. He’d just thrown it all away.

Jamie looked up, the veins in his forehead throbbing with agitation. He opened his mouth, but in the end, just shook his head. “No.” He knew in his heart that this was something he had to ask Martha in person, to get every single detail.

“Find Martha’s address!” Jamie commanded, his expression hardening.

“Yes, Mr. Baylor!” Aaron replied instantly and turned to find the housekeeper.

The housekeeper led him to a storage room and pulled out the staff records. He let Aaron take a photo of the page, murmuring under his breath, “Mr. Baylor is going to see Martha? Her home is in the mountains. You can’t drive directly there; I hear you have to hike part of the way.”