No Mercy, No Forgiveness

The phone alarm rang. Geoffrey glanced at the time, clocked out right on schedule, leaving Sean alone in the office.

The office was empty.

Sean clenched the Heirloom Pendant in his hand until blood seeped from his palm before finally releasing it.

Stepping outside, he spotted Stuart lying barely breathing on the roadside. “Take him back,” he coldly ordered.

Pearl.

An eerie silence filled the rooms. In the corner of the living room sat a glaringly bright red case, jarringly out of place.

Geoffrey returned home precisely on time and settled onto the sofa Maureen used to favor.

Everything felt the same, yet utterly different.

He didn’t know how long he’d sat there when his gaze drifted to that case.

Sean had sent it over–Maureen’s belongings. He hadn’t opened it until now.

Approaching the case, Geoffrey bent down and lifted the lid.

The passcode was painfully simple: his birthday.

He knew because Maureen had used his birthday for every lock in this villa.

Inside lay everyday items and clothes, sparse for a woman’s belongings.

Geoffrey couldn’t bring himself to sift through them. He shut the case again.

Without eating, he retreated to the bedroom they once shared.

The moment he entered, Maureen’s cremation urn and her black–and–white photo stared back at him.

Skeletal remains couldn’t yield DNA after cremation, but Geoffrey remained certain–Maureen wasn’t dead…

She absolutely wouldn’t die!

She wouldn’t dare die!

How could someone as pain–averse as Maureen dare to die?

She was just deceiving herself to be with Gareth.

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19:25

Chapter31

Gareth investigated–perpetually single, Maureen’s

him all

woke unusually early

up, his assistant

unchanged–until

bowl at the

more photograph in the

texts when working

welcoming light

started leaving work earlier.

company witnessed

deliberately

secretaries exchanged knowing

Mr. Sutton despise that deaf

she died, he clocks

288 Vouchers

if I were an accomplished man like Mr. Sutton, I’d never fancy some deaf woman with no sense of

said it. If only I were as pretty as her, I’d

overheard their conversation and spoke up to

but he was

doing nothing but work, having people look

behavior wasn’t just because Geoffrey

Geoffrey never gave up searching

New Year’s Eve,

the past, Maureen would always accompany Geoffrey back to

this year was different. Geoffrey

31.0%

19:25

Chapter31

288 Vouchers

when Maureen first left, now Geoffrey mostly sat alone, hardly speak- ing, radiating a chilling cold that kept

a hurry and left in a hurry

Pearl, the snow lay white and

it

stood by the floor–to–ceiling window, lighting one cigarette after

not let

door behind

mother, Heather, dressed extravagantly,

what’s wrong with

feels like you’ve become a different person since Maureen