13
Zora kept talking, but Cesar remained unresponsive. In fact, he looked a little impatient. She paused, startled. She hadn’t. expected Cesar to react this way.
A flicker of dissatisfaction rose in her, and she opened her mouth to say something, but Cesar cut her off.
“Zora, it’s already midnight. I’ll have my assistant take you home.” He gave Jules a look, Jules caught on instantly and stepped forward, motioning for Zora to follow.
Zora felt so wronged, she walked over to Cesar, sat on his lap, looped her arms around his neck, and gently traced his chest with her finger,
In a soft, coaxing voice, she said, “Cesar, it’s so late. Do you really want me to go back alone?”
She looked up at him, expectant. In the past, the moment she got this close, Cesar would always lose control.
But now, after all her teasing, all she got was his cold reply. “Zora, go home. It’s a bad look.”
Zora’s anger flared. “A bad look? When did you ever cared about it? Why didn’t you say that back when we were sneaking around in the glass greenhouse?%
“Why didn’t you care about the “bad look” when you got me secretly pregnant and I gave birth? Why didn’t you worry about the look when we quietly got married?
But she swallowed every word, not letting a trace of her thoughts show on her face.
She stood up, furious on the inside, but keeping her expression calm. “Cesar, I’ll be leaving now. I’ll come see Abigail tomorrow.”
Cesar nodded. After Zora left, he lay down on the bed and instinctively opened Naya’s chat bubble on his phone
To his surprise, there was no message from her. Frowning, he turned his phone off, restarted it, and refreshed the app again. But no matter how many times he checked, the screen remained quiet, no reply, no unread messages.”
*Cesar stared at the screen, Naya’s tearful eyes at the party flashed through his mind, and an uneasy feeling crept in.
He couldn’t shake the sense that something was wrong, even though he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Eventually, he drifted into a restless sleep, plagued by nightmares.
He even dreamed of Naya turning away from him, eyes cold, saying goodbye without a trace of hesitation. He jolted awake in a cold sweat, trying to convince himself it was just a dream. None of it was real.
He shut his eyes again, forcing himself to sleep, only to be jarred awake by the sudden ringing of his phone. “Mr. Harmon! Something terrible has happened, Mrs. Harmon is missing!”
Cesar sat up in an instant. “What? Speak clearly, what happened?!”
His heart pounded as he pressed a hand to his chest.
Jules continued, his voice tense. “The housekeeper just reported in. Mrs. Harmon sent everyone home last night, saying they could resume work today.
“But when the housekeeper returned this morning, she discovered Mrs. Harmon had cleared out everything; clothes, shoes, bags, all gone.“E
Jules hesitated, then added more gently, “There was also a letter, Mrs. Harmon left it for you… and then left with her suitcase.”
Jules hesitated for a moment, then carefully chose his words about Naya’s departure.
“Mr. Harmon, do you want me to look into her whereabouts? Should I try to find a way to bring Mrs. Harmon back?” he asked. cautiously.
“What are you talking about? No one is allowed to investigate!” Cesar snapped, pressing his fingers to his brow. “She’ll be back in a few days.”
Then he hung up.
He hadn’t expected Naya to actually grow up to learn how to leave home on her own. But if she thought this little stunt would shake him, she was dead wrong.
In the days that followed, Naya seemed to have vanished. She didn’t call. She didn’t message. Not even on emoji.
Cesar couldn’t explain the strange emptiness he felt. Every time he picked up his phone, his fingers hovered over her name, then stopped.
When Zora found out Naya had run away, she was extremely happy.”
Every day, she dressed up and made a show of herself around Cesar. “Honey, now that annoying Naya’s out of the picture, can we finally go public with our relationship?”
What Zora wanted most was to stand beside Cesar, openly, just like Naya used to.
12.29 PM PP
But looking at her now, with that calculating look so plainly written on her face, Cesar felt a wave of irritation.”
Suddenly, the woman in front of him seemed cheap and tacky. Her thoughts were full of self–interest, always scheming.
He was about to reject her outright, but in the next second, he changed his mind.
“Naya ran away from home, didn’t she? If she found out I was about to announce Zora as my new wife, she’d come running back in no time.” A faint smile tugged at Cesar’s lips at the thought.
He slipped his arm around Zora’s waist. “Of course, I’m throwing a huge party to reveal your identity.”
Zora’s face lit up instantly and she smothered him with kisses.
