Chapter 82 My Gloria, She Doesn't Want Me Anymore
The moment John pushed open the bathroom door, he saw James trapped in the bathtub.
His breath caught. Even John, who was always calm and collected, was stunned.
James was wearing a dark-colored pajama set, his hands bound high above his head. He leaned against the edge of the bathtub, his head tilted slightly back, revealing his long neck and his prominent Adam's apple.
Because it was close to the window, a layer of unmelted snow had fallen on the edge of the bathtub.
James's handsome features, the tips of his hair, and his thick long lashes were all covered with a layer of white frost.
The scene was too shocking.
It had a kind of restrained yet cruel beauty.
That well-defined face was covered with a layer of frost, and his eyes were filled with a dark, deathly aura.
James just looked at him, his voice hoarse and cold: "She asked you to come?"
"Mr. Williams, are you okay?" John quickly walked over to untie him, only to find that someone had tied a dead knot. No wonder James's wrists were red and injured from struggling but he still couldn't get free.
"Wait a moment, I'll get scissors."
James didn't care about his own hands. Even though his whole body was seriously hypothermic, he still spoke immediately: "Gloria, stop her quickly! It'll be too late if we wait!"
John had no idea what game James and Gloria were playing. They seemed addicted to tying each other up.
First it was Gloria, and today it was James's turn.
For him, the urgent matter was to save James's life.
He turned on the hot water tap, drained the cold water, closed the window, and immediately turned on the heating.
He grabbed a blade and came back to cut the restraints from James's hands.
After being tied up all night, James had two deep marks on his wrists.
Gloria was afraid he would break free, so she had tied him even more firmly than James had tied her that day.
James was cold all over, his body and arms had long gone numb.
He wanted to leave the bathtub to find Gloria, but his knees hurt terribly and he almost fell.
"Mr. Williams, don't rush. First warm up in the hot water. Tell me carefully what happened to Mrs. Williams, and where should I go to find her?"
James said in a hoarse voice: "She's been planning to leave all along. Early this morning she left with her grandmother."
"Okay, I'll check all forms of transportation right away. If she's leaving the country, Vivienne doesn't have a passport or visa, plus she just had surgery and isn't fit for exhausting travel. Even if Mrs. Williams wants to leave, she can't go too far. She must still be in the country, maybe still in Silverlake Springs and hasn't gone far."
John looked at James, whose rationality was nearly collapsing. Compared to Gloria running away, his health was more important.
He called the family doctor and began investigating Gloria's whereabouts.
James sat in the warm bathtub. That night, he had fully experienced Gloria's pain.
No wonder she wouldn't forgive him. It was so cold, so painful.
Every second was torture.
She was right—saying sorry meant nothing.
Only by putting on her shoes and walking the road she had walked could he know how much pain she had endured.
He looked at the marks on his wrists, his mind full of that one look Gloria had given him this morning.
Her expression was so calm, so calm it made him despair.
James finally understood that real departures are always silent.
She hadn't even come to look at him once, disappearing from his world like melting snow.
James felt like the heart in his chest was being squeezed tight and lifted high by a hand—suffocating, painful, anxious, and fearful.
During this time waiting for results, he was like a prisoner waiting for his sentence.
Until John came in with the doctor, he quickly looked up. "Any news? Where's Gloria? She only left less than an hour ago, it should be easy to find her."
John shook his head. "I had someone check the surveillance. The car Mrs. Williams was in disappeared on Silver Oak Drive."
James slammed his hand against the bathtub. "There are so many surveillance cameras in Silverlake Springs, how could she disappear on a road like Silver Oak Drive!"
"There are two reasons. Mrs. Williams switched cars in an area without surveillance, or second, the commercial vehicle she was in before had fake plates. Someone deliberately covered her tracks."
James's face filled with anger. "Caspian again!"
Besides Caspian, no one could do this.
Gloria had really been planning this for a long time to leave him!
She was afraid he would use Vivienne as leverage against her, so she struck first, putting on an act for several days to make him and Vivienne let their guard down.
James clutched his suffocating chest, a flash of hurt in his bloodshot eyes as he murmured: "Gloria, you're so heartless."
John quickly tried to comfort him: "Mr. Williams, you and Mrs. Williams only have twenty days until the divorce decree. Mrs. Williams will definitely show up that day. First get your health back, then figure things out. No matter what, you two have eighteen years together. Mrs. Williams won't be able to let go."
James only felt the pain from his heart making it hard to breathe. Every pore, every organ in his body felt terrible.
He couldn't tell if the pain was physical or psychological.
He only knew that he was going to lose Gloria forever.
She said she would give him a divorce gift.
James vaguely felt this wasn't as simple as Gloria just leaving!
She must be planning to do something else.
Though he wasn't quite sure what yet, when James thought of her tone at the time, his heart filled with fear and anxiety.
"No, I can't wait twenty days. I have to find Gloria as soon as possible!"
With that, James acted like he'd gone crazy. Wearing his soaking wet pajamas, not even wearing shoes, he grabbed the car keys and ran out barefoot.
The doctor was scared. "Stop him quickly! Mr. Williams has a high fever and isn't thinking clearly. His physical condition is very bad! If this continues, something will happen to him!"
John chased after him and saw James barefoot on the cold ground, stumbling toward the car, his eyes losing focus, muttering: "Gloria, don't go. I'll find you."
Before John could catch up to him, he saw James's staggering body fall to the ground before even reaching the car.
"Mr. Williams!"
John and the doctor rushed over and saw James lying in the snow, looking at the falling snowflakes, tears seeming to well up in his eyes.
For the first time, he was as helpless as a child, his voice nearly choking: "John, did you see Gloria?"
"My Gloria, she doesn't want me anymore."