Chapter 16N
As her curses echoed behind him, Norris had Gabrielle thrown into jail. Soon after, she was deported back to Canada.M
As for Matthew, Norris had originally planned to send the boy to an orphanage. But before that could happen, a childless couple from Daniels stepped forward and offered to adopt him.N
The chaos that began in the dead of night finally came to an end by dawn. Norris hadn’t slept a wink. Instead, he made his way to the memorial for the plane crash victims.N
There were no coffins, only a wall of names.
Families of the victims broke down at the site, some crying so hard they couldn’t even stand. Grief stripped them of any care for dignity or appearances.N
In the middle of it all, Norris stood silently, looking out of place. His face was expressionless, like he wasn’t mourning and just observing.
But if you looked closer, you’d notice his hands, stuffed deep in his pockets, were trembling nonstop. His bloodshot eyes hadn’t blinked once since he got there.N
Before the crowd began to thin, he quietly slipped away.
Just as he stepped out the main gate, a fit of coughing took over him. His chest tightened, and with a painful heave, he spat out a mouthful of thick, dark blood onto the pavement.W
Even so, he didn’t even glance at it.N
Wiping his lips, Norris straightened up, adjusted his coat, and walked away without hesitation.”
He didn’t fall apart until he made it back to his car. The metallic taste in his throat lingered as he slumped forward, resting against the steering wheel like a man on the edge.N
After a long while, he finally started the car.N
And then, without warning, he slammed it into a utility pole.
As the crash knocked him unconscious, in that brief moment before the darkness took over, he thought he saw Clarissa coming to take him home.
Three years later…N
“Mr. Daniel, I’ve booked a flight to the Netherlands for ten o’clock tonight. Do you want to stop by your house first?“!
The young assistant, Scott Carlson, was new and had no idea that he’d just crossed a line.
Anything related to the Netherlands was a forbidden topic around Norris.
At the mention of it, Norris pressed his fingers to his temple, eyes drifting out the window in silence.}]
He hadn’t heard that country in what felt like a lifetime.N
After the accident, he hadn’t died like he wanted to. He had survived, but not without a price as his legs were ruined.
Since then, he’d become a different man. He became cold, mechanical, and workaholic, some would say.}}
Three hundred sixty–five days a year, no breaks, no distractions.§
As such, his net worth had skyrocketed. Yet he still lived in a cramped, rundown apartment in an old part of the city, like he hadn’t moved forward at all.
By the time his thoughts returned to the present, the car had arrived at his door.
He tapped his fingers on his knee, then said calmly, “Take me straight to the airport.”
Strangely enough, this flight was the exact same one Clarissa had taken before her accident.
Norris leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and stared into the darkness outside the window. For a fleeting moment, he wished history would repeat itself.
Maybe this time, he could die with her.”
But fate had other plans.
Just as he started to dream of the day they first met, the plane landed.
The assistant glanced at him in surprise. This was the first time he’d seen Mr. Daniel look lost.W
He had always assumed the man was made of ice.}}
Catching his own reflection in the window, Norris quickly pulled himself together and stepped off the plane, composed as ever.!!
But the moment he set foot on the Netherlands, a strange mix of fear and hope crept into his chest.
Three years had passed. He had come to terms with Clarissa’s death–at least, that’s what he told himself.”
But now, being here, everything was unraveling. A voice in his head whispered that maybe, just maybe… she was still alive.”
Maybe they were only separated by time. And maybe he’d come here to finally see her again.
The crisp autumn wind stung his eyes the moment he stepped outside. He kept his head down and walked quickly, trying to calm the storm brewing inside him.
“Hattie!”
8:57 PM
A voice cut through the quiet crowd.}
Norris froze, and his pupils trembled violently.”
Frowning, he turned toward the sound, his expression guarded but full of hope.”
But the crowd was thick, and faces blurred together. He couldn’t find anyone familiar.}]
Disappointment crashed over him, and a bitter smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Ridiculous, he thought.
He turned to keep walking just as a gust of wind rushed straight toward him.
He stepped aside instinctively and then stopped dead in his tracks.
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