Revenge of the Hideous Lady by Moonlight

Sebastian Brenand was now sporting a messy, untrimmed beard, appearing exhausted.

He handed his letter over to Xyla Quest the moment he walked in. "Here, what did you want to tell me?"

With that, he promptly reached for a chair, placing it next to Xyla and Stanley Batton's bed before sinking down on it.

Xyla stayed in bed and directly opened Rachel Wood's letter, noticing a dried tear mark in the center of a red flower at the bottom right of the paper.

It was indicative of how heartbroken Rachel had been as she wrote this letter.

However, the mark was faint, so no one would notice it with a single glance.

Frowning deeply, she peered at Sebastian. "Before Rachel left, did anything happen between the two of you? Or did Rachel show any odd behavior?"

Sebastian shook his head. "No, everything was fine between us. We went shopping after leaving your place the other day, and then she asked me to take her out to a fancy place for dinner.

was very affectionate and gentle. She even gave me a massage. I didn't even realize when I'd fallen

in the morning. That's when I saw this letter by

usually doesn't behave like this. I thought she was being spontaneous, but now that I've considered it through, she was probably preparing to

wipe the tears

It didn't help.

much time with Rachel,

the pain of losing Rachel once. He didn't want to go through it

Rachel meet anyone before she left?"

had been busy at

he sprang to his feet as if something just occurred to him. "I know! It must be

suspected this was the case all along. Neither of them showed any reactions to

asked me to return home. When I got there, she said she would introduce a girl to me,

I didn't

when I mentioned leaving that