Goodbye, Mr. Regret

The threat in the air was palpable.

Hollis could tell immediately-this was not a man he could afford to cross.

After a long while, Timothy stepped out of the visiting room, his chest tight, as if an invisible hand was squeezing the breath from his lungs.

That stormy night in the capital... she must have been terrified.

She'd called him for help, and he hadn't made it to her side.

Only now did he realize: she'd watched her mother jump to her death, then spent the entire night locked in the house by her father as thunder crashed outside. The shock and fear had robbed her of speech.

Everyone dismissed her as mute, but not a single person ever stopped to ask why she couldn't speak.

As for how she ended up with the Greene family...

That was another heartbreak entirely.

At least she'd found her grandmother.

"Mr. Lawson, about your father-in-law-"

"Enough. He's no father-in-law of mine!"

Jessica's adoptive mother had been driven to her death by that man.

With a trembling voice, Timothy bit out, "He's only got two or three months left on his sentence. Pay whatever it takes to get him released early and send him out of the country. The farther, the better."

He was just about to leave when Vince's car pulled up.

Jessica and Vince stepped out together.

Vince felt a pang of guilt toward Jessica. She'd come to him for help to find her birth father, and he'd already started the search.

Fortunately, with a name, photo, and details, it hadn't been hard. He'd found the man was locked up here and brought Jessica along.

The moment Vince saw Timothy, his expression tightened.

If Timothy was here, it could only be about Jessica's father.

Striding over, Vince demanded, "What are you doing here?"

Jessica could guess Timothy's reason for coming. Had he overheard her conversation with Vince, then tracked down her father on his own?

He'd found him-yet refused to tell her.

"I came to visit my father-in-law."

"You've got some nerve calling him that."

Timothy didn't bother arguing with Vince. Instead, he fixed his gaze on Jessica, his eyes shadowed with emotion.

His voice shook as he spoke. "Jessy, that night, during the thunderstorm in the capital-I-"

The mention of that night brought a wave of emotion crashing over Jessica. She cut him off sharply, "Don't bring it up again!"

Even she was startled by the fluency of her own words.

That night, she'd pinned all her hopes on him, dialing his number in desperation.

But he hadn't come.

He'd been at the airport, buying a brooch for Sheila.

"Jessy, you can talk. You really can talk now," Vince said, his voice full of amazement.

Jessica stood frozen, surprised that her throat felt perfectly fine.

Suddenly, she felt the warmth of a hand closing around her wrist.

She looked up at Timothy in his wheelchair-he could only look up at her.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but I need you to know-I did get your call that night. I went to the capital."

Jessica laughed coldly. "Oh, you went to the capital?"

She scoffed.

"I know you went. I saw the posts

online. Not only did you go-you

bought out the entire boutiquenoveldrama

stock

swan brooches. Then you

gave them all to Sheila."

Her smile was icy. "Timothy, you really do have a knack for twisting the knife at

exactly the right moment."

"It's not what you think."

"It's not what I think?"

Now that Jessica could speak, she caught every word, no longer unable to respond as she once had no longer silenced by trauma and circumstance.

Her gaze hardened, cold and

resolute. "Don't bother explaining. I saw it all with my own eyes. No explanation will change that. Timothy, I gave you seven years of my life. There are only

twenty-something days left. When the time is up, we're done."

With that, she gently pried his hand from her wrist and turned to Vince. "Let's go."

"Ma'am"

Secretary Allen tried to stop her, unable to watch any longer.

"Secretary Allen!" Timothy barked.

Jessica didn't pause, following Vince inside.

Secretary Allen was frantic. "Mr. Lawson, you went to her that night, and you even asked me to look after

your son in the hospital. Why won't

you let me tell her?"

"You're my secretary. Do you really think she'd believe you? She'd probably think I put you up to it."

Given her state, that's exactly what she'd think.

"But you can't let her keep misunderstanding you. You really were there."

"Go find out what happened after she woke up in the hospital. Why doesn't she

know it was me who called the police? That I sent them to find her?"

"Yes, sir. I'll look into it right away."

"Help me into the car."

Timothy settled into the back seat, casting a long look toward the prison.

Jessica was gone from sight, but his gaze lingered, a faint smile touching his lips.

After all those years of silence—she could finally speak again, sharp-tongued as ever.

Jessica and Vince waited for Hollis in the visiting room.

Hollis was baffled-what was going on today? More visitors?