Chapter 167
Stunned, Zoe tilted her head and saw that it was Leslie. He was a man who was about to get engaged and he looked so pumped in the video. However, that didn’t change the fact that he didn’t look too hot right now. His face was pale and his eyes were reddened.
“Where’s Ella?” His voice was husky and he was gripping Zoe so tight that he hurt her.
She slowly came back to her senses, looked at him, and said softly,” She was in her place at Brooksville when we talked on the phone last night. Aren’t you getting engaged, Leslie? Why are you still looking for -her?”
Releasing her, Leslie lit a cigar. A wisp of grey smoke started to rise. Flicking the cigar with his lean fingers, he spoke lightly, “I couldn’t get in touch with her since last night! It’s not like I don’t want to let go of her, Zoe, I just don’t want to miss out on her.”
She murmured in a daze, “You’re about to get engaged, Leslie! Are you going to make Ella your mistress? Do you think your fiancee would let her go if you do it?
“Ella doesn’t have anything. She’s all alone. Nellie, on the other hand, is from a wealthy and powerful family. It’s as easy as taking candy from a child if she wants to mess with Ella.”
He responded with a husky voice, “I won’t let Nellie hurt her.”
“How are you supposed to do that? You can’t eget in touch with her now.”
Leslie wanted her to calm down, but she too
him, and said with a trembling, husky voic
step back, looked at
ou’d know why I can’t
calm down if you’re aware of what Ella hame through ie past!
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Go ahead, get engaged, and live a happy life, Leslie. Just don’t hurt Ella. She’s different from you guys in the sense that she has no one. to turn to when she’s hurt! All she can do is lick her wounds while she hides and keeps telling herself that it’s going to be okay.”
After that, she made a call to Ella, but the only response was a cold, mechanical voice.
“Sorry, the number you dialed cannot be reached… Sorry…”
She kept calling Ella, but no one answered. In fact, this used to happen a lot when Ella’s work took her all over the world. It wasn’t exactly new, but Zoe couldn’t shake off the strong sense of unease sitting in her gut.
It was night and Zoe was jolted awake from a nightmare.
She dreamed about Ella. Her friend was standing by a cliff, blood covering her from head to toe, as she said softly, “I might die for real this time, Zoe!”
“Ella!”
Her clothes were drenched in sweat when she woke up. Looking out into the night sky, she was panting lightly, her mind still haunted by the last vestiges of the nightmare.
Her phone rang and pierced the silence of the night. Thinking it was El returning her calls, she picked it up immediately.
a…”
- It wasn’t her friend on the other end of the phone.
was Mason.
oe listened to his deep, gentle voice in the dead of night, “It’s me, Mason! Did you have a nightmare, Zoe?”
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Waking up from a nightmare in the dead of night was when people were the most vulnerable. They might’ve had a complicated
relationship and he might be the last person she wanted to rely on, but she still spoke to him in a husky voice.
“Leslie came to me and said he couldn’t get in touch with Ella in the afternoon. I’m afraid that something’s happened to her, Mason.”
Casting her mind back to what she saw in the nightmare, she hugged her legs and wept softly.
She was a poor excuse of a lifesaver. She was even more useless now than when she was a teenager. Back then, the Sander family was wealthy and powerful. So, nobody dared pick on Ella when she wanted to protect her.
Back then, she could hide Ella.
Back then, she could protect her and let her grow up in peace.
On the other side, Mason had just pulled an all-nighter and finished his work in Zirconia. The deal about the trade exhibition was mostly finished as well.
Staying in a foreign city made him feel lonely. He couldn’t explain it, but he wanted to listen to Zoe’s voice.
Lo and behold, he got his wish and heard her weeping over the phone. At that moment, it felt as if he was talking to a younger Zoe. She must’ve gone through the same sense of helplessness when she missed her mom!
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