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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single, Maureen’s prince charming,

him all

woke unusually early the

his

seemed unchanged–until

bowl at the

photograph

nagging texts when

light upon

leaving

entire company witnessed

lived, Geoffrey deliberately worked

secretaries exchanged

Mr. Sutton

he clocks out on the

288 Vouchers

accomplished man like Mr. Sutton, I’d never fancy some deaf woman with

only I were as pretty as her, I’d make

the special assistant, overheard their conversation and spoke up to

meddling, but he was better at reading

but work, having people look for Maureen,

wasn’t just because Geoffrey hated

and Geoffrey never

New Year’s Eve, snow was falling

the past, Maureen would always accompany Geoffrey back to the old estate for New Year’s

year was different.

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Chapter31

288 Vouchers

man he was when Maureen first left, now Geoffrey mostly sat alone, hardly speak- ing, radiating a chilling cold

in a hurry and left in

Pearl, the snow lay white and pure, a beautiful

for some reason, it felt like something

the floor–to–ceiling window, lighting one

not let me find

behind

to see his mother, Heather,

wrong with

like you’ve become a different person since Maureen