Three Years Forgotten, Why Go Crazy When I Say Goodbye? novel Chapter 74

Vivienne felt utterly triumphant. This time, she was absolutely certain she could force Willow Horgan right back to Seattle.

She had given her so many chances to bow out gracefully, yet Willow had stubbornly chosen this humiliating, public battle. If she insisted on being dragged out kicking and screaming, Vivienne was more than happy to oblige.

—

After waiting for days without hearing any news of Willow contacting Julian Sinclair, Martha Mercer finally decided to take matters into her own hands.

She had a lingering suspicion that something was seriously wrong between Willow and Julian, though she couldn't pinpoint exactly what. Her daughter had always been fiercely independent; if Willow didn't want to talk about something, nobody could force it out of her.

But Martha didn't have Julian's contact info. In all these years, she had never called him once—and naturally, Julian had never bothered to reach out to her. So, she covertly got his number from Willow's phone. Not wanting to interrupt his busy workday, she purposely waited until late evening to make the call.

To Martha's utter shock, the moment the call connected, she froze. It wasn't Julian who answered, but a woman.

"Hello? Who is this?"

The woman's tone was breezy and intimate, projecting a natural confidence that strongly suggested this was not the first time she had answered Julian's personal cell phone.

Caught completely off guard, Martha felt a sudden wave of confusion. Assuming she had misdialed, she prepared to hang up. "I'm so sorry, I have the wrong number."

"No, you don't," the woman replied cheerfully. "You're looking for Julian, right? He's a bit tied up at the moment. You can just tell me whatever it is. It's the same thing."

Martha's expression instantly darkened. It was late at night, she was calling Julian, and a strange woman was answering his phone. Worse, the woman was claiming that speaking to her was as good as speaking to him. It was impossible not to jump to conclusions.

Her voice dropped a register. "Who is this?"

Undeterred, Martha held her ground. "I don't know you. Hand the phone to Julian. I need to speak with him."

"Sorry, can't do that," Vivienne dismissed her smoothly. "If you want to talk to me, go ahead. If not, there's nothing I can do. Oh, and as for who I am? Why don't you ask your daughter, Willow?"

With that, Vivienne ended the call.

Listening to the dial tone, Martha felt a sharp, suffocating ache in her chest. The way that woman spoke—she didn't sound like a sister at all. She sounded exactly like a wife asserting her territory.

Her immediate instinct was to call Willow and demand to know what on earth was going on. But as her finger hovered over her daughter's contact, she hesitated.

If she had stumbled upon this after just one random phone call, what must Willow be dealing with? Willow had to interact with them constantly; there was no way she didn't know about this woman. Calling her now wouldn't solve anything; it would only add to her daughter's heavy burden.