CHAPTER 237: PSYCHOLOGICAL STRAIN

Meanwhile, Anna stepped out of Roseline’s room just as the nurse entered to tend to her wounds. She exchanged a brief, knowing look with her mother before closing the door behind her.

Whatever Roseline was hiding... Anna wasn’t letting it go anymore.

Her mother had too many secrets, and for the first time, Anna realized how little she truly knew about the woman she’d always thought she understood. Roseline had always been an open book—or so Anna believed. But today, she felt like she was staring at pages written in a language she couldn’t decipher.

Anna’s gaze swept the hallway.

No sign of Kathrine.Nothing.

’Where did she go?’ she wondered.

A muscle ticked in her jaw. She pulled out her phone and dialed Shawn.

He picked up on the second ring—but his voice was barely a whisper.

"Shawn? Why are you talking so slowly? Are you—" Anna paused, brows knitting tighter as she listened to the faint background noise on the line. It sounded muffled... cautious.

"Where are you?" she asked, lowering her voice instinctively.

Shawn exhaled sharply, still speaking under his breath. "Ann... I can’t talk loud."

Anna frowned, confusion knitting her brows—until the line abruptly went silent.

For a moment, all she heard was her own pulse pounding in her ears.

"Shawn?" she whispered.

No response.

Then, finally, his voice returned—low, tense, almost disbelieving.

"Anna... Kira is missing."

Anna froze, her heart stumbling in her chest.

"W–what are you saying?" she managed, her voice cracking.

"I’m outside the police station," Shawn replied. "Her aunt just filed a missing complaint. Kira hasn’t been seen since last night."

Anna’s breath caught.

Shawn continued, voice still hushed as if he didn’t want anyone around him to overhear.

"I’ve been keeping an eye on Kira’s place like you asked. But earlier, I saw Mariam rushing out of the house looking panicked, so I followed her. That’s how I found out—Kira’s been missing for hours."

Anna pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to steady herself as her surroundings blurred. She had promised to help Mariam unravel whatever trouble Kira had gotten herself into... but now everything felt like it was unraveling all at once.

Roseline attacked. Kira missing. And all within the same night?

"Shawn..." Anna finally said, voice firm despite the storm inside her, "make sure Mariam gets home safely. She’s probably falling apart right now."

"I will," he assured.

She ended the call with a slow exhale, lowering the phone as her mind began to race—pieces sliding, clicking, forming shapes she didn’t like.

The timing wasn’t just odd. It was connected.

What if... it’s one and the same?

What if Kira’s disappearance and her mother’s attack were not two separate tragedies... but threads of the same web?

Anna’s heart thudded painfully as one detail flashed sharply in her memory:

The knife.

The one found at the scene of her mother’s attack.

What if that knife holds a clue? A fingerprint? A connection?

Her stomach twisted. As much as Anna wished her suspicions were wrong... everything around her was pointing in a terrifying direction.

She didn’t want to believe Kira was involved—not in something this dark, this violent—but the coincidences were too heavy to ignore.

Anna straightened, determination hardening in her gaze.

Whatever the truth was, she was going to find it.

Even if it led her somewhere she wasn’t prepared to go.

***

[Glorious International]

Daniel tried to focus on the stack of documents spread across his desk, but no matter how many times he forced his eyes to read the same line, his mind refused to settle.

Anna’s voice—soft, trembling, too casual for the weight of her words—kept echoing in his head.

"I saw my death."

The phrase looped relentlessly, like a broken record he couldn’t stop.

She had laughed afterward, waving it off as nothing more than a nightmare. She had even tugged his cheek and insisted she wasn’t going anywhere, that dreams like that never come true.

But Daniel had seen it— the flicker of fear she tried to hide, the emptiness in her eyes, the momentary crack in her smile.

And it had torn through him—clean, sharp, merciless.

A part of him felt suffocated just remembering it. Because it was the same dream that had left him crying in his sleep.

It felt like a warning—like a shadow creeping closer, threatening everything he held dear.

He hated it. Hated the idea of fate, of visions, of anything that painted a future where she wasn’t breathing beside him.

He hated how helpless the thought made him feel.

Daniel closed his eyes, exhaling slowly as he tried to shake off the crushing unease tightening around his chest. He pressed his fingers against his forehead, attempting to bury the images, the fear, the ache—

The door creaked open and Daniel’s eyes snapped up.

Henry stepped inside, holding a tablet and a file, his expression composed but tense in a way that instantly told Daniel something wasn’t right.

"Boss—" Henry stopped mid-sentence the moment he saw Daniel’s face.

The file in his hand nearly slipped as his eyes widened.

Daniel looked pale, far too pale for someone who was supposed to be sitting safely in his office. His usually controlled expression was strained, jaw tight, a sheen of sweat beading along his forehead.

Henry didn’t hesitate—he rushed forward immediately.

"Sir?" he called, voice sharp with concern.

Only then did Daniel seem to register the state he was in. He straightened abruptly, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand as if that would make everything disappear.

"I—I’m fine." His voice was low, steadier than he felt.

He tried to meet Henry’s eyes, tried to pull himself back into that cold, composed persona he always wore.

But Henry wasn’t buying it. Not for a second. Not after what Jason had told him... which also turned to be the very reason he had been pushing Daniel to attend the therapy session.

"Daniel’s stress levels are beyond the usual. He’s showing signs of psychological strain—hallucination-like episodes, dissociation. And before it gets severe, we need to take control over it."