Chapter 142 Untitled Chapter

Chapter 142 Untitled Chapter
“Sorry?” the girl replied, looking slightly startled by the question Jorge had just asked her.

“Your dream.”

“A ah… it it’s nothing,” she answered, a little flustered as she shook her head. “I’m sorry, but it’s not really the kind of thing that’s pleasant to talk about.”

Jorge nodded. “Alright then. But when I look at you, you remind me of my youngest son. I think he’s about your age.”

For a brief moment, the girl looked intrigued. “Really? How old is he?”

“He’s turning twenty two this year.”

The girl nodded. “Oh. Really? Same as me.”

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, what is a girl like you doing traveling alone? Are you going to visit someone?”

For a moment, she seemed to weigh her answer. Her expression shifted slightly. Then, after a pause, she nodded. “Yes. Something like that.”

“Family?”

“Oh, no. Just a friend.”

“I suppose that friend must be pretty special if you’re willing to fly alone like this.”

Jorge chuckled when he saw her cheeks turn pink. “Ah n no, it’s not like that,” she said, offering no further explanation.

Her silence made Jorge assume that she did not wish to continue the conversation. He did not take offense. After all, they were nothing more than strangers who happened to be seated next to each other. It was only natural for her to be guarded, to keep her distance from someone she did not know.

A few glasses of whiskey later, Jorge signaled his female bodyguard to bring him a sedative. He swallowed two pills to make sure he would sleep all the way to Perth. He had learned to make full use of any spare moment, especially with work demanding his full focus the next day.

Several hours later, he woke up to sunlight slipping through the half open window beside his seat. Muttering under his breath, he straightened up and pulled it closed. The movement startled the girl sleeping beside him. She jolted awake when she saw Jorge leaning forward. Instinctively, he leaned back at once and apologized, imagining all the unpleasant assumptions she might now be making about him.

“It’s okay. I was just surprised.”

Since they were in business class, breakfast that morning came in the form of a buffet tray. Jorge barely touched it, save for a single croissant with strawberry jam.

“We should arrive sometime after lunch,” he said to the girl, who chose not to eat.

She simply smiled and nodded politely. After that, Jorge did not attempt any further conversation until lunchtime, when they were preparing to disembark.

Yet Jorge was surprised again when he spotted the girl on another plane, this one headed to Wiluna. She did not notice him, and this time they were not seated beside each other. Still, even though it was none of his business, he felt a growing curiosity about the person she was going to visit in that small desert town. People usually traveled to a place like that only if it was home, or if work demanded it.

Jorge himself had once chosen that town as a place for Yasha and Gaara to live. It was remote, isolated, perfect for hiding his precious Yasha from the unwanted curiosity of others.

What he did not know, having never lived in a small town himself, was that gossip spread far faster in places like Wiluna.

As the plane took off, his thoughts drifted back into the past. He never imagined that Lana, his first wife, would discover Yasha’s existence. He knew her family was not known for kindness. Lana herself had grown cruel, shaped by the way she was raised.

The moment she learned about Yasha, Lana threatened him. She would divorce him and claim full custody of their children, along with all of his wealth, if Jorge refused to leave her. Jorge could not allow that to happen. That was why he shortened his visits to Australia more and more. He even lied to Sarah, telling her that he had divorced Yasha. He thought that by doing so, he could protect Yasha and Gaara as much as possible.

He did not realize that it would only make things worse.

If he had known that his absence would slowly strip Yasha of her sanity, he would never have considered leaving her behind so easily.

Even now, he would trade everything he owned to turn back time and fix every mistake he had made, all the choices that led to this ruin. He would rather live in poverty in some forgotten town with the woman he loved, than drown in wealth in a world where Yasha no longer existed.

But that was only a wish.

Half an hour later, they finally landed. Jorge had already arranged for a limousine to be waiting at the airport, unwilling to waste even a second on trivial matters when he could go straight to his destination.

As he walked toward the exit, he ran into the girl once more. She was pacing back and forth, panic evident in her movements as she stared at her phone screen. Every now and then, she let out a frustrated sigh, her face filled with confusion.

Feeling a twinge of pity, Jorge approached her, his two bodyguards following closely behind.

“Are you alright, Miss?”

She looked startled when she saw him. Her eyes flicked quickly from Jorge to his bodyguards. For a moment, she simply stood there in silence until Jorge repeated his question.

“Uh yes… I’m fine. Did I do something wrong?”

Jorge chuckled. “No. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Relief washed over her face. “Thank goodness.”

“Are you having trouble finding the exit?”

“No. It’s not that.”

Jorge raised an eyebrow. “Then what is it?”

“I ran out of rental cars.” She nodded toward the car rental counter.

Jorge paused to think. He had no intention of burdening himself by giving a ride to a girl he did not know. His schedule was tight, every minute accounted for. Yet she looked like someone who had just set foot in a foreign country for the first time. She seemed frightened, lost. Perhaps he could offer her a small kindness.

And in the end, that was exactly what he did.

“Oh, you really don’t have to trouble yourself,” she said quickly, refusing his offer. “Honestly, I don’t even know where I’m going yet. That’s why I wanted to rent a car first. I need to figure a few things out,” she explained honestly.

Jorge sighed. No one had ever turned down his help so quickly before. And the person he was trying to help now was a girl who clearly had no idea what awaited her. Without realizing it, he asked, “Figure out what?”
“An address.”
“And where do you plan to look for it?”
“I think I can ask at the hospital or the police station.”
“Why those two places?”
She offered a weak smile. “The friend I’m visiting… his mother was once ill. Maybe the hospital still has records of their address or family contact details.”
Jorge let out another breath. He truly had no time to spare. He did not know what had happened between this girl and her friend, nor did he understand why someone would go to such lengths to find a person who clearly did not wish to be found.
But for a man accustomed to power, tracking down an address was a simple matter. He had many connections within the police.
“Alright, Miss. Then tell me, what is your friend’s name?”
The girl nodded, her expression brightening slightly. “His name is Gaara Maxwell.”