After that, she started writing her suicide note.

Picking up the pen, however, she didn’t know what to write. In the end, she left a few words for Zoe and Gareth.

Then she ced the two suicide notes next to her pillow.

Three dayster.

It rained particrly heavily on the 14th.

Her phone on the coffee table kept ringing.

It was Noelle, wanting to know where she was.

Since she didn’t pick up, Noelle texted, “The wedding’s tomorrow. Go home and get ready.”

Still, Maureen didn’t reply. She had changed into a brand–new dress of deep rose today, her makeup delicate.

To be fair, she was a beautiful woman, though she was starkly thin and pale.

As she gazed at her own exquisite, radiant reflection in the mirror, for a moment, she felt she was looking at the wom- an she had been before marrying Geoffrey.

Then she hailed a cab to the cemetery.

Holding an umbre, she slowly walked to her father’s gravestone and ced a bouquet in front of it.

“Dad.”

The cold wind wailed, only the patter of raindrops falling onto the umbre echoing in the air.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean toe here, but I had nowhere else to go.

“The truth is, I was too terrified to leave alone. So, I came here…

“If you wanna scold me, go ahead,” she said, her voice barely audible.

Then she sat by the gravestone, wrapping her arms around her knees.

She took out her phone and saw a bunch of new messages from Noelle, all dripping with malice.

“Maureen, do you really think you can hide forever?”

“Adrian’s epted the money. With Mr. Carter’s connections, he’s gonna track you down sooner orter.”

“bThink /bclearly. Marrying him is the wise choice. You don’t wanna be tied up to the wedding, do you?”

0.0%

14.51

288 Vouchers

“Be smart…”

Maureen read those messages one by one in silence.

Then she replied, “I don’t want toe back. Come and pick me up at the Western Suburbs tomorrow. I’ll be waiting for you at Dad’s gravestone.”

Seeing the message, Noelle didn’t dwell on it. She assumed Maureen had finallye around and stopped calling.

Maureen savored the moment of peace.

Soon, the day passed.

As night fell, she took out the small wooden puppet her father had carved for her when she was little. Cradling it in her palms, she held it close to her chest, shielding it against the endless darkness and the relentless downpour.

Time ticked by. Soon, the distant toll of a bell signaled the arrival of midnight.

It was the 15th.

She looked up at the pitch–dark sky, her throat tight with a bitter ache.

At 3:00 a.m., she took the pills from her bag, her hands trembling.

At the same time.

At Pearl Vi.

After Geoffrey returned, he sat on the living room sofa without turning on the light.

Exhausted, he massaged his temples and took a nap, only to be jolted awake momentster.

How weird.

He had another nightmare, which was still about Maureen.

He’d actually dreamed that she was dead, and it felt so real…

His phone screen showed it was 4:00 a.m.

It urred to him that today was the end of the cooling–off period, and they’d agreed to finalize the divorce.

Acted on impulse, he texted her, “Don’t forget to meet me at the courthouse today.”

Maureen was already drifting in and out of consciousness when she received his message.

She struggled to send him a voice message. “Sorry… I’m afraid I can’t make it.

“But don’t worry. We will get a divorce for sure…”

With her death, their marriage would naturally be void.

Geoffrey somehow felt relieved at her reply.

46.8 %

14:51

He knew it. Of course, Maureen wouldn’t end her life.

And thest thing she’d do was divorce him.

He called her.

Over the years, Maureen had seldom received his call.

1288 Vouchers

Mostly, he’d text her, and his messages were always concise.

She answered, and his indifferent voice came through before she could say anything.

“Maureen, I have limited patience. You asked for a divorce back then, and now you don’t want it?

“Is it because I didn’t give you money?

“Now that you wanna marry someone else, 50 million dors hardly seems enough, huh? Shouldn’t you be asking for more?”

Maureen’s throat tightened.

All of a sudden, she couldn’t hear a thing.

At the end of her life, she refused to be used of something she didn’t do.

With thest dregs of her strength, she said with difficulty, “Geoff, I didn’t … marry you for your money.

“And of course, the divorce was never about money…

“Perhaps you don’t believe me, but I still have to say this… I knew nothing about my mom and Adrian breaching the contract back then… I swear…

“I’d never marry anyone for 50 million dors…”

She spoke intermittently, her words broken.

He could hear the howling wind and heavy downpour on her end.

“Where are you?” he asked.

But she couldn’t hear him.

She just clutched her phone, exining over and over again, “If… I had known what my mom and Adrian did… I would never … have married you…

“If I had known… you always loved Andrea… I would never have married you…”

“If I had known … my dad would have had an ident on our wedding day… I would never have married you.”

If time could go back, she would never have married him.

The deep bitterness and regret she had harbored for years were almost tangible, a physical weight crushing against Geoffrey’s nerves.

0.0 %

14:52

He realized just how profoundly she regretted ever marrying him.

All of a sudden, he felt an invisible hand gripping his heart, making it hard to breathe.

“You regret it now? What right do you have? You cried and begged to marry me back then, remember?”

His deep voice actually carried a hint of hoarseness.

Meanwhile, her voice kept bing smaller, and he could barely hear her.

“Maureen, answer me! Where are you?”

Instead of answering him, she said softly, “In fact…

“All I have ever wanted is for you to be happy, Geoff.”

A dull thud rang out.

The phone slipped from her hand and ttered to the ground.

It was soon drenched by the pouring rain, its screen fading to ck.

b*** /b

1 288 Vouchers