Chapter 123 Did You Move?
Adeline let out a bitter laugh. "Do you really trust her?"
"I don't trust her entirely, but…"
Mia looked down. "She took my phone and dialed my brother's current number. I recognized his voice.
"Molly claimed that my brother had hit someone while making a delivery for her years ago and ran away with some money for fear of legal repercussions.
"He's living overseas now, enjoying his life, but he's scared someone back home will trick him into returning and confessing to a crime so that he won't listen to anyone but Molly."
Tears fell from Mia Turner's eyes as she spoke.
"I miss my brother so much. I'm a journalist, and I've tried everything I could over the years.
"Because I couldn't find any leads, I targeted Molly and continuously tarnished her name in the press.
"Now that I've heard my brother's voice, I'm certain he's still alive."
"So you're willing to sacrifice your freedom for Molly's sake?"
Adeline looked at Mia with tears streaming down her face and let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Foolish."
Mia closed her eyes. "You can call me stupid if you want; it's your call. You're the type to be with Jasper just for money; you don't understand love at all!"
"I don't understand love?"
Looking at her face, Adeline suddenly burst into laughter. "No one's love life has been as profoundly heartbreaking as mine. I admit, I really don't understand love. But I do know that if your brother truly cared for you, you wouldn't have to give up so much.
"He's alive, but his years of silence speak volumes, don't they? Stop fantasizing."
The woman's words hit Mia like a sledgehammer, striking deep into her heart, and Jasper's too, who was overhearing from outside the door.
Mia bit her lip. "Maybe my brother is just angry with me, or maybe he's misunderstood something. We had a fight that day, so I’m guessing he’s just angry."
Adeline sighed helplessly. "I have blindly loved someone before, treasuring even the slightest bit of his attention as proof of his love.
"But eventually, I realized that someone who truly loves you won't make you wait too long. His reluctance to reach out or come back is because he never really had you in his heart."
Mia clenched her teeth.
She lifted her head, her eyes bloodshot as she glared at Adeline. "What right do you have to say that? He loves me; I'm the one he loved the most in his life!
"If he didn't love me, why did he give up so much for me? Why did he give me everything!?"
"Maybe he did love you once. But when the love is gone, it's completely gone."
Adeline stood up. "Since you're willing to take the fall for Molly here, I have no reason to take you out. You've chosen your path, now kneel and see it through to the end."
"Maybe a mental institution would be a better fit for someone as delusional as you," she proclaimed.
After delivering her sharp critique, she spun on her heel and strode out the door. Once it clicked shut behind her, she paused to glance back.
Her gaze plunged into Jasper's unfathomable eyes.
Adeline's heart skipped a beat.
Embarrassed, she forced a smile toward Jasper. "When did you arrive?"
"I've been here for quite some time," he replied, his tone calm, his eyes dark and brooding. “‘Delusional,’ you say?"
A sardonic smile curled at the corner of his lips. "Is that term intended for her or me?"
Adeline hesitated, suddenly realizing her earlier remarks to Mia Turner might have had an undertone referring to Jasper.
With a shrug and a light-hearted laugh, she brushed it off. "You're overthinking it, Mr. Foster. Why would I speak ill of you? I'm counting on you to help me find out where Molly has gone."
Jasper frowned slightly at her words.
"No luck," he sighed. "She took a taxi from the psych ward."
Ryan, standing behind Jasper, exhaled heavily, repeating to Adeline what he had already told Jasper. "She got out in an unmonitored suburb. After that, we lost track of her—no sighting on road traffic or at any airport or bus station."
Ryan took a deep breath. "She's likely still in Denver, but where exactly, we don't know."
"It's my fault."
Adeline closed her eyes, admitting her negligence.
After a moment, she turned to face Ryan. "Thank you for your efforts."
Ryan was somewhat taken aback by her formality. "Don't be so formal with me."
"You're not to blame." Jasper's brow furrowed. "Mia Turner is a reporter. She would have found Molly eventually, with or without using you. Your lapse just sped up her timeline."
After a brief pause, he glanced at Adeline. "Go home for now. I'll review the surveillance footage again."
Nodding wearily, Adeline left and made her way back to Blue Bay. Once home, she lay exhausted on the vast bed and activated the necklace to contact Blake.
"Can you help me, Blake?"
"Already on it!"
In a hospital room across the ocean, Blake was carefully observing an array of surveillance feeds. "Don't be too hard on yourself; her running off might actually be a good thing."
Adeline furrowed her brows. "A good thing? How?"
"I overheard your conversation with Mia Turner. If Mia Turner's brother was the truck driver who knocked you off the bridge all those years ago, then we have a witness to the time Jasper and Molly set you up, right?"
Adeline froze.
It did make sense.
"Besides, from what Mia Turner said, her brother is still alive and kicking. Once we have a witness, we can get justice for what happened to you back then."
Adeline had once thought about using the old incident of Molly and Jasper framing her to make them pay.
But time had erased much of the evidence, and after six years, reopening the case took a lot of work.
With a witness, however, everything would be much simpler!
Excitement rocketed through Adeline, and she practically leaped out of bed. "That makes sense."
She was holding her necklace, about to discuss Molly further with Blake, when her phone began to ring.
It was Helen calling.
"Miss Wilson, I'm at your place, waiting. Have you moved out?"
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