Chapter 25
City A, the Perkins estate.
The engagement party lasted a full four hours. Matthew and Marigold stood arm in arm, accepting wave after wave of well-wishes.
It wasn't until two in the afternoon that the last batch of guests finally left.
Matthew walked alone onto the terrace, a cigarette between his fingers, his gaze fixed on the distance.
Kevin came out onto the terrace and saw exactly that scene.
"Matt."
Kevin's voice was low and rough, missing its usual casual tone.
"You know Evelyn was kidnapped last night, right?"
Matthew's fingers tightened sharply. The cigarette snapped clean in two.
"...What did you just say?!"
"Johnson's guys." Kevin paused, like the words were hard to get out. "Zeal found her. At some abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. She was alone, against seven or eight men."
"Her wrist was cut." Kevin's voice dropped lower. "...When Zeal got there, she'd already knocked out four of them."
Wind swept across the terrace. Matthew didn't feel the cold.
Matthew stood frozen, unable to speak.
He remembered last night at this time—he'd been trying on clothes.
Calm and composed. He'd even taken a shower.
And at that moment, she'd been alone in an abandoned warehouse, facing a gang of kidnappers.
A sharp pain stabbed through Matthew's chest.
His phone buzzed again. A message from Lucas came through, laying out everything that had happened.
She'd been drugged with a cloth over her mouth and nose, shoved into the back seat, then taken to the warehouse.
She'd broken free of the ropes by herself, climbed up onto the beams.
She'd taken down one figure after another in the darkness, holding on until she could barely stand, before Zeal finally arrived.
And he, Matthew, had been completely oblivious to all of it from start to finish.
Matthew closed his eyes. In his mind, he could almost see that slender silhouette.
Her wrist bleeding. With each person she took down, the blood spread another inch.
Was she scared?
Did it hurt?
Did she... think someone would come save her?
He remembered that phone call.
What had she been feeling when she called him?
What had she felt when she heard Marigold's voice?
She'd hung up so quickly—had she already stopped expecting anything from him?
Matthew stood there stunned, feeling like something in his chest was slowly splitting apart.
After a long moment, he sent Lucas a message:
[Clean up Johnson and Murphy's people. I want them to pay back tenfold.]
Matthew gripped his phone tight and strode out.
"Matthew!" Emma's voice called after him from behind. "Where are you going? The Quinns haven't all left yet—"
He didn't look back.
---
Matthew drove straight to Evelyn's place.
The old apartment she'd moved into but barely stayed in.
He didn't have a key, but quickly guessed the passcode.
After entering her mother's birthday, the door opened.
Inside was quiet.
Curtains drawn, letting in a dim, hazy light.
Half the shoe cabinet in the entryway was empty. A thin blanket she often used was draped over the sofa.
The closet held only a few sets of loungewear, neatly folded.
Evelyn's presence was everywhere, but she wasn't there.
He walked into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.
Then he saw something on the nightstand.
A black and white photo in a wooden frame.
The elderly woman in the photo had a kind smile—Evelyn's grandmother.
He picked up the photo and turned it over.
[The last person who sheltered me from the storm has left too. Now my world is starting to rain.]
The date signed below was three months ago—the day she'd posted that status update.
Matthew froze again.
He stared at those words for a long, long time.
So that status update hadn't been meant for him.
It was her grief over losing a family member. And he'd never known.
Back then, Evelyn had messaged him on WhatsApp too, but he'd been too busy and carelessly tossed his phone aside without paying attention.
How lonely she must have been then. How sad.
But she'd had to swallow that grief alone.
Matthew gripped the frame, his fingertips pressing against the cold glass surface.
The dull ache in his chest finally tore open.
He didn't know how long he sat there.
Sunlight crept through the gap in the curtains, moving from one end of the floor to the other.
He pulled out his phone and opened that familiar yet distant chat thread.
He typed, deleted, typed again.
Finally, he sent just one line:
[Where are you.]
No reply.
He waited a few minutes, then sent another.
[I saw the photo. I was wrong.]
[That status update was about your grandmother. Right?]
Still no reply.
He held his phone, staring at those two lines of unanswered messages.
Matthew suddenly remembered—before, whenever he messaged her, she'd always reply instantly.
[Okay, Mr. Perkins.]
[Understood, Mr. Perkins.]
[I'll handle it right away.]
No matter how late, no matter how busy, she'd always respond.
And him?
He rarely replied to her "okays" and "understood."
Like with any other subordinate, he'd gotten into the habit of issuing orders, then waiting for results.
He'd assumed Evelyn would always be by his side.
He'd... never asked if she wanted to be.
The phone screen lit up again.
He grabbed it immediately.
It wasn't her.
A message from Lucas:
[Mr. Perkins, everything's handled.]
He read it and didn't reply, setting the phone aside.
The chat with Evelyn remained silent.
He suddenly realized he might have lost the right to look for her.
All through the night, Matthew sat there stiffly, not closing his eyes once.
---
S City, old district.
Warm yellow light glowed in Luna's small courtyard. The aroma of lamb stew drifted from the kitchen.
Grandma was in the kitchen, muttering about what groceries to buy tomorrow.
Kate was curled up in a corner of the sofa, quietly scrolling on her phone.
Luna, looking totally nosy, turned to Evelyn by the window, questions coming one after another.
"Eve, you worked with Mr. Perkins for so many years—is he gonna invite you to his wedding?"
"He exploited his employees so much. Maybe you shouldn't work for the Perkins Group anymore and just come to S City instead?"
Evelyn laughed at Luna's questions, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she pretended to think seriously.
Then she nodded. "Yeah, I'm not planning to stay with the Perkins Group anymore."