Chapter 609
Fury welled up inside Richard as he read the newspaper on the table.
He found it utterly unbelievable.
Pearl had been alive and well just over ten days ago. How could she have suddenly fallen seriously ill and quietly passed away in such a short time?
Richard couldn’t bring himself to believe it, or perhaps he didn’t want to.
His assistant, noticing his grim expression, hesitated to speak.
After a long pause, Richard crumpled the newspaper into a ball and tossed it into the trash bin. The once tense and oppressive atmosphere in the room instantly dissipated.
“Mister Richard, the manager-”
Richard glanced at his assistant. “Tell him to handle it on his own.”
His assistant broke into a cold sweat. This matter was no trivial affair. He wondered if Richard really wanted the manager to handle it.
At that moment, Richard seemed detached and indifferent to the world around him.
After a brief contemplation, his assistant turned and left.
Left alone in his spacious office, Richard loosened his tie as if struggling to breathe. He couldn’t shake off the unsettling feeling that he shouldn’t have cared about Pearl.
However, the news of Pearl’s sudden death had stirred something in him. The lively Pearl had vanished, and he couldn’t articulate the strange emptiness he felt.
He should have been indifferent, but it seemed like he cared more than he would admit.
A surge of anger had consumed him when he learned of Pearl’s impending engagement just seven days ago. He wondered why she agreed to the marriage willingly as reported in the news, since she had claimed that she wholeheartedly loved him.
As expected, women were heartless and fickle.
He had contemplated going to Bodgow to confront her, but the newspaper article had derailed his plans. Nonetheless, he couldn’t quite understand his own emotions, as if some kind of immense void engulfed him.
It felt like he had lost something important…
Finally, he clicked on a website to book a plane ticket to Bodgow.
“Pearl…”
Meanwhile, in Hugo’s villa, the atmosphere was far from peaceful.
Beah looked at Pearl in confusion. “Aren’t you in love with Richard? Why would you suddenly agree to get engaged to Hugo, even though he seems nice too…” Unaware of Hugo’s past actions, she held a favorable impression of him as a kind doctor willing to treat her illness without conditions.
Chapter 609
2/2
Pearl couldn’t help but snort at the thought of Hugo being ‘nice.‘ After all, he had coerced her into jumping into the sea.
However, Pearl had to withhold these details from Beah. She feared that revealing the truth might make Beah reluctant to accept the treatment, thinking that Pearl had been forced into this engagement with Hugo.
“Mom. well… matters of the heart can be quite complicated,” Pearl replied with an awkward smile, sidestepping the topic with a vague excuse.
