Chapter 74 Chapter 74: Balthazar Loses His Mind
Balthazar explained as he opened the door, but the room was empty. His heart skipped a beat. He ran through the villa, searching every corner, but Selena was nowhere to be found.
For the first time, Balthazar felt true fear. It wasn’t like the time Selena had been stabbed and hospitalized—this time, she had really left him.
"Selena, please don’t do this to me. I know I was wrong. I should never have let pity for Amelia make me get involved with her. Please, give me one more chance, okay?"
Balthazar collapsed to the floor, sobbing, but there was no one to hear his plea.
"Wait. Selena can’t have left the city so quickly. The call from Amelia wasn’t that long ago. She must still be nearby."
With this thought, Balthazar frantically pulled out his phone and called his assistant:
"Contact all airlines and bus stations. If anyone with the name Selena tries to leave, hold them, no matter what they look like."
After giving instructions, Balthazar sped off again, this time heading for Mrs. Collin and Wyatt’s house.
As soon as he arrived, he grabbed Mrs. Collin and asked:
"Did Selena come here?"
Mrs. Collin, startled, asked:
"No, where did she go?"
Balthazar studied her expression, realizing she wasn’t lying. He felt lost again, but suddenly Wyatt ran out, shouting:
"Mom, Selena texted me saying she had to leave the country in a hurry and didn’t have time to say goodbye."
Mrs. Collin hurriedly took the phone from Wyatt’s hand, her voice trembling as she exclaimed:
"How could your sister leave without saying goodbye?"
"Sister?" Wyatt asked, confused.
Tears filled Mrs. Collin’s eyes as she choked out:
"She’s your sister, my poor daughter. What could have happened to make her leave in such a rush? It took so long for our family to reunite, and now…"
Wyatt couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Wasn’t Selena just his sister’s close friend?
But then he remembered—his sister’s name was also Selena. At first, he had thought it was just a coincidence that they shared the same name. But now that he thought about it, their habits and personalities were exactly the same. It was just the drastic difference in their appearances that had prevented him from suspecting anything.
So, his sister hadn’t died. She had been beside him and his mother the whole time.
Wyatt stepped up to Balthazar, angrily confronting him:
"Did you force my sister to leave?"
Balthazar was too troubled to argue with Wyatt. He turned back to his car. The longer time passed, the more his anxiety grew. He feared Selena had gone somewhere he would never find her.
He drove to Mrs. Winchester’s house, but again, there was no sign of Selena. After hearing his explanation of the events, Mrs. Winchester hit him hard on the back several times, scolding:
"You worthless idiot! You said you wanted to be with Selena, so why did you get involved with that Amelia? Now Selena’s gone. Where will you find her?"
Balthazar held his head in his hands. He truly didn’t know.
He had used all his resources and power to lock down the entire city, but there was still no news of her. Everything was leading to a dead end.
At that moment, little Jason ran up to him, tugging at his shirt and crying:
"You lost Aunt Selena! You were mean and made her leave. Go find her and bring her back for me!"
From the moment Selena had come into his life, she had been the first to give him the feeling of a mother’s love. Although people said she was just a stepmother, he felt she was the best person in the world. Now that she was gone, would he return to the days of being invisible again?
Seeing how distressed her brother was, Sophia picked up little Jason to comfort him. Then, as if remembering something, she said:
"Brother, I heard from Ryan that Selena is the one who spent billions to save you when you were being cornered by other companies."
"What?"
Balthazar’s eyes widened in disbelief. Where could Selena have gotten that much money to save him?
In Balthazar’s mind, Selena was just a pitiful girl seeking revenge on her horrible ex-husband by agreeing to sell herself to him. Even after she became a famous streamer, there was no way she could come up with billions just like that.
Who was she, really? Was she truly Selena, William’s ex-wife?
Or was it that during the year she had disappeared, something had happened to make her who she was now?
As Balthazar’s mind spiraled, Sophia spoke again:
"Maybe you should go to the place where you first met her…"
Boom!
Before Sophia could finish, Balthazar was already in his car, speeding off.
He was heading for the bar, the place where he and Selena had first met.
Balthazar rushed to the bar to question the madam. She was the one who introduced Selena to him, so she must know something about her.
Balthazar felt utterly useless. He had been with her for a year and never once tried to investigate where she had gone or what she had done during her disappearance. He hadn’t even asked about the reason for her drastic change in appearance. He had been too comfortable enjoying her body and her love, forgetting that one day, she might just disappear without a trace.
He slammed his hand against the steering wheel. Now, he wasn’t afraid of her leaving; he was afraid she would take a large sum of money with her. If what Ryan said was true, her wealth was far greater than his. With enough money, she could vanish from his life completely.
When he arrived at the bar, Balthazar stormed inside, heading straight for the madam. No one tried to stop him, allowing him to burst into her room.
"Is Selena here?" he shouted.
The madam smirked and replied, "It's been almost a year since I last saw you, Balthazar. Now you come demanding to see one of my former girls? Didn't you already take her under your wing? Or did you throw her out? Well, she hasn't come back here to work."