This time, however, the elusive Madame Brighthall made her appearance. Anyone who could read between the lines knew what that meant. And so everyone began to treat Charlene as the confirmed Mrs. Brighthall. Charlene had achieved her objective. Deirdre switched off the TV, hung a coat on herself, and went upstairs to her bed. She placed her hand on her abdomen and lay on her back for a while before finally falling asleep. As her dream slowly coalesced, her phone suddenly rang from beside her head. She was startled awake. Feeling for her phone, she pressed the answer button and asked raspily, “Who’s this?”“Dee.”Hearing Kyran’s voice drew Deirdre out of her sleep, though not necessarily out of her dream. It felt as though she was back in those days again when Kyran was just Kyran. But if it were a dream, then why did she feel a chill crawling up her spine?She steeled herself as best she could. “Kyran? Are you finally finished with your work?” “Mm… Hmm…” He sounded drunk. His
“That’s more like it,” Deirdre said quickly, relieved. He believed her now, did he not?Dread refused to leave her alone. She had thought that with everyone leaving the compound, Tobey could come right at her door and still be relatively safe. She was wrong—Brendan had somehow made her neighbor his mole, too. The only small solace was that the neighbor did not recognize Tobey.Deirdre bit her lips tightly. She should insist on bringing Tobey inside the next time. “Dee.”She snapped out of her thoughts. “Oh? What’s the matter?”“I want to go home. To see you.”Deirdre was stunned. She chuckled. “Alright, it’s a little too late for jokes now, Kyran. There’s no flight coming home right now, and you’re not driving in this state. What you should do is rest. Go to sleep.”“I could always ask someone to drive me home.”“Nope, that’s still dangerous to my liking. I won’t be able to sleep knowing that!” she said, doing her best to assure him. Brendan finally relented. “Okay. But only
”Hello!”“Someone’s very chipper today.”It was prudent of Deirdre to have stopped shy of calling out Tobey’s name, or Brendan would have immediately caught wind. “Did you guess it was going to be me?”Deirdre gripped her fork tightly. “Who else could have called me?”He laughed. Deirdre heard the sound of the airport announcing boarding time for a specific plane and froze. “Where are you?”“Aww… You heard that?” Brendan sounded a little disappointed. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but I guess the announcement had to come at the worst possible timing, huh? I’m coming back from Neve.”Deirdre jumped to her feet, her chair falling behind her. “Why are you suddenly coming back? You said your trip would take three days. It’s only the second day today!”“You’re the reason, Dee. What else could it be?” He chuckled and lowered his voice. “I hate every second of being here. I just couldn’t stop myself from thinking about you and our child. Besides, I don’t feel safe leaving you al
Because they were to leave by cargo ship, they couldn’t take their car with them. Therefore, Tobey had to park the car at the roadside, which was quite far away from the pier.To avoid letting the cat out of the bag, they ran immediately after getting out of the car and tried to board the cargo ship before 11:00 a.m.In addition to the strenuous exercise, Deirdre had not slept for a night already. Hence, she felt her lower abdomen aching.Covering her lower abdomen, she felt a stream of heat under her body, along with a sharp pain.“What’s wrong, Deirdre? Are you tired?”Deirdre shook her head with her face white as a sheet.“Endure a bit. The cargo ship won’t wait for us. We’ll be fine as long as we get there,” comforted Tobey.“Okay.” Deirdre nodded. She didn’t tell Tobey about her body’s condition. As time waited for no man, she stretched herself to the extreme and paced forward until she finally got to the pier.She heaved a sigh of relief when she felt that her lower abd
“Well, let’s just submit to fate.”She had no other choice because this was her only chance to escape. She was willing to die instead of returning to Brendan.“But! But—““Tobey, there is no but.” With downcast eyes, Deirdre said, “I know you well. Once I told you I’m pregnant, you’d have scruples and may not even have let me on the ship for the fear that I may have accidents on the ship. However, you don’t know Brendan. This is the only chance I can escape!”“Oh, dear…” Feeling distressed, Tobey said, “But what if something happens to you?”“No, it won’t.” Deirdre smiled. “I felt pain just now when I bled, but I’m a lot better now.”Tobey took a deep breath. “Hold on, let me talk to them. Since you’re pregnant, you must not be harsh to yourself. Even if we have to pay extra, you’ll have a room to stay.”-At that moment, Brendan rushed to the mansion. The door was opened, and he could smell Deirdre’s scent, but none of her clothes and belongings could be seen.Deirdre’s belon
Brendan gnashed his teeth as he felt wave after wave of dizziness, leaving his internal organs riddled with blood and throes.Glenna retaliated with a smile. “That’s right. You should be suffering more than her. This is the price you need to pay for hurting her.”-Tobey might have paid a great price, but Deirdre finally managed to rest in a room.There was a woman, the wife of a crew member, who was responsible as a chef for taking care of the crew’s meals. When she learned Deirdre was pregnant and bleeding, she purposely came and knocked on Deirdre’s door.Because Deirdre couldn’t see, the woman helped Deirdre to change, put a sanitary pad on her lingerie, and took out her bloody clothes to wash them.Deirdre truly appreciated the woman’s help, but the woman replied, “It’s not a big deal at all. I’m just doing what I can. When I was pregnant, I didn't suffer as much as you are. I didn’t have to board a cargo ship, traveling in the cold wind.”She sat near Deirdre and asked cur
As soon as Deirdre heard Tobey, her pupils constricted with surprise."Impossible!" she retorted.“In this case, why are you so reluctant to let go of his child?”Deirdre looked heartbroken. She didn’t know whether she should explain herself, but she eventually did. “Tobey, I was pregnant in the past.”“What?” Tobey was astounded.While smiling wryly, Deirdre told everything she had experienced in the past few years. Perhaps she was too tired to hide all the grievances to herself and felt rather relieved after she finished speaking.Meanwhile, Tobey was shivering. He was so furious that his eyes reddened and he punched hard at the railing. “That lunatic! Why doesn’t he die!?”Moving her messy hair aside, she said, “I'm sorry for that child. I always feel that I owe him. If I could protect him back then, he wouldn't leave in that way with despair…”“Deirdre…” Tobey hugged her. “It is just an embryo, yet to become a fetus.”“Yes,” said Deirdre, her eyes downcast. “But I’m still
“What do you mean by impossible?” Brendan’s handsome face was indifferent. The corners of his lips curled up into a mocking smile when he said, “You’ve underestimated her too much. What can't she do to stay away from me? Let alone to board a cargo ship, even if she was asked to dive into the water, she would never hesitate…”His eyelids were so heavy again that he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Following that, he asked soberly, "Where are those ships going?"Sam belatedly realized that Brendan was asking him a question and replied, “It’s not clear because those ships can go anywhere with the waterway extended toward all directions. Special cargo ships are heading for almost all reachable cities.”Brendan didn’t say anything else. He merely bent to pour himself a glass of wine and continued pouring it down his throat.Sam felt heartache and advised, “Mr. Brighthall, stop drinking. You got well not long ago. What if your health relapses?”With a sardonic smile, Brendan pour