I thought Frederick was helping me at my lowest, but it turned out that he was taking advantage of my situation. And the debt of gratitude I thought I owed him had also turned into a pathetic joke in the end. How naive was I? Ultimately, he had never regarded me humanely. How ludicrous!
Sasha had no inkling how she left in the end. She only remembered dragging her feet that felt as though they were filled with lead. When she finally snapped back to reality, she found herself standing in front of the prison she had just visited that morning.
“I made a mistake, Dad. I shouldn’t have done that. If I could ever turn back time, I’d never make the same choice.”
She fell to her knees in front of the prison in the pitch-dark night.
And when I went in today, I even told him that I was living a good life and didn’t regret my decision back then. How ironic!
She remained kneeling like an abandoned waif as time continued ticking by…
Meanwhile, it was an hour later when Sebastian was finally awakened.
When he blinked open his eyes, he was briefly dazed after having been under hypnosis for such a long time. A few minutes later, awareness gradually returned to him. When he saw that the lights were turned on in the room, his eyes narrowed, and he immediately shot up from the bed.
“Roxanne Rocke! How long did you have me sleep?” His voice was steely, making his current mood known in uncertain terms.
Roxanne had been a tad uneasy ever since Sasha left in a stupor, so her expression turned even more apprehensive at his wrath.
“I just wanted to let you sleep. Look, you haven’t slept well in a long time.”
Sebastian didn’t even dignify that with a response.
Cutting her a glare, he got out of bed and stalked out after snagging his suit jacket by the chair.
Uh… He’s leaving? Should I tell him that Sasha Wand was here?
Roxanne hesitated for a moment.
But in the end, she still said nothing. Instead, she watched the man leave until his car disappeared into the dark night.
“Dr. Rocke, are we not telling Mr. Hayes that his wife was here? She looked very pale when she left. Would something happen to her?” her assistant couldn’t resist asking after having seen it all from behind her.
When Roxanne heard that, her expression instantly darkened.
“Why should we do so? She was here to look for me, not him! And I only granted her wish by telling her everything she wanted to know, so there’s no one to be blamed if she can’t accept the truth!”
Unexpectedly, she was incensed for the first time in her life.
In the past, such an emotion would never have manifested on her.
Sebastian drove back to Frontier Bay.
He was about to enter the villa in search of Sasha to explain why he hadn’t returned on time to accompany her to the prison visit when his cell phone rang without notice.
“Hello?”
“It’s bad, Mr. Hayes! Xenia Blackwood is dead!”
It was Karl’s voice. His declaration was akin to a deafening explosion in the cold and wintry night. Sebastian felt as though his ears were buzzing as those few words fell into his ears.
“Dead? I didn’t ask you to kill her!”
“Indeed. I didn’t make a move against her either, but she was found dead on the street just after she ran out of the house following a huge row with her parents. And the person standing next to her was affiliated with us,” Karl explained hastily.
He seemed desperate to clarify that he had nothing to do with the incident, but his denial became extremely flimsy from the moment he said that someone affiliated with Hayes Corporation was at the scene.
A shiver ran down Sebastian’s spine, and his expression turned grim in the dark night.
“Then, why are you tarrying now? Go and investigate this matter quickly!”
“It’s being investigated now. But Mr. Hayes, Sharon Goldstein ran out and witnessed it, so I’m afraid that…”
Smash!
Karl’s voice cut off. On the heels of that, the sound of the man smashing his cell phone to the ground in unadulterated rage rang out.
Even after he had done that, his fingers trembled slightly.
Xenia is dead, and someone affiliated with Hayes Corporation was at the scene. Worse still, all that happened to have been witnessed by Sharon!
When Sebastian came back to his senses, the first thought that occurred to him was to quicken his pace. He sprinted into the villa to find that woman posthaste and explain the matter to her.
However, he couldn’t find her anywhere in the villa.
“Where’s my wife?”
“She went out to look for you. Didn’t you see her, Mr. Hayes?”
When Wendy saw her employer looking frantic upon scurrying out of the children’s room, bemusement swamped her.
Hearing that, Sebastian froze for a moment.
Huh? She went out to look for me? Where did she go in search of me?
All of a sudden, Roxanne’s unusual nonchalance when he left her place earlier flashed across his mind. Surprisingly, she didn’t cling to him as she was apt to do. In a thrice, the sense of dread within him grew all the more intense.
“Mr. Hayes?”
Unbidden, unease started permeating Wendy when she abruptly noticed that the man’s expression had turned awfully bleak.
Nonetheless, Sebastian didn’t answer her.
Snatching up his keys, he only ordered her to take good care of the three children before pivoting and leaving in huge strides.
Wendy could vaguely sense that he had lost his usual calmness and unflappability.
Don’t tell me something happened? Oh no, I really hope not! Dear Lord, it’s hasn’t been easy for them to get to this point, so won’t You please have mercy on them?
