Inside the room, Emily sat on the balcony, tightly clutching a diamond ring. It was the same ring Derek had placed on her finger on their wedding day, and fortunately, she hadn't impulsively discarded it.
This sea-blue ring had become the sole reminder of Derek, and she couldn't help but wonder about the ring she had given him—where could it be now?
Emily's face was streaked with tears. For the first time in her life, she felt lost and uncertain about what to do next.
If not for their four children, she would kill Gimson without no hesitation at the price of her life. However, the thought of her children was her vulnerable spot, forcing her to compromise.
Whenever she thought about the children, her heart ached like a knife cutting through her. They loved Derek dearly, but he was gone.
Was Derek truly dead? Why couldn't she bring herself to believe that he had left this world?
Emily bit her lip until it broke the skin.
Her eyes, filled with tears, gradually became firm.
Unless she saw Derek's lifeless body with her own eyes, she refused to believe Serena and Gimson's claims.
She needed to find out about Derek's whereabouts, taking it one step at a time to catch Gimson off guard. However, she couldn't afford to move too slowly, fearing that Derek might not be able to wait.
Gimson, accustomed to the shadows, yearned for light.
And Serena...
Finding Derek's location would likely start with her.
After a couple of days, Emily received an unexpected call from Serena.
"Emily, is this some kind of game for you?" Serena's voice, filled with tension, grated through the phone. "Gimson killed Derek and took everything from him. You should hate him. How can you continue living with him as if nothing happened? Why did you encourage Gimson to make me leave? Why couldn't you let me be there for him?"
Serena's voice softened towards the end of her sentence, revealing a vulnerability.
"I did love and adore Derek, but he's dead. What can I do?" Emily scoffed. "It was my idea to let you go. I needed to pretend that it was all a lie. Gimson and Derek look exactly the same, and I can convince myself that the person I love is still alive. I need the courage to move on with my life, so, Serena, I don't want you to be a disruption in our lives in the future either."
"Gimson is nothing like Derek; they are two completely different people! Gimson doesn't really fall in love with anyone at all," Serena whimpered, out of breath.
Emily laughed, "Really? But I don't feel that way. Like right now, for example, I asked him to send you away, and he did it without saying a word. In all the years you've known Gimson, have you ever seen him take a woman at her word?"
"As long as Gimson treats my children as if they were his own, I'll be fine with him for the rest of my life," Emily continued. "He looks exactly like Derek, and as long as I lie to myself, I can think of him as Derek, as the man I love most... The truth is, it's a lifetime with anyone; I don't really care that much."
Serena started shaking all over.
She had waited for Gimson for so many years, waiting for him to come out of the shadows, waiting for him to start being honorable, and also waiting for herself to be able to impress him one day.
She was not willing; she simply couldn’t leave now.
Emily coldly said, "Since you killed my man, then give up your own man in return."
"What if I say Derek isn't dead?" Serena suddenly spoke up.
A light suddenly shone in Emily's cold, silent heart. She pushed down the ecstasy within her and snorted coldly, "Everyone says he's dead; now, lie to me that he's not. Do you think I'll believe that?"
"Emily, if Derek was really alive, would you leave Gimson?" Serena asked, a hint of pleading in her tone.
Emily lowered her brow, deadening the trembling of her fingers.
"Actually, Gimson isn't sure if Derek is dead or not; to be more precise, Derek is missing, alive or dead," Serena lowered her voice and said slowly. "A month ago, Gimson set up a trap to lure Derek over there, and in the end, Derek was caught in my apartment. Gimson ordered me to wash away Derek's memories from the past twenty years, but you know what..."
Serena continued, "During the process of cleansing his memories, Derek kept calling out your name; he was very tenacious and refused to cooperate. In the end, he couldn't hold it together and fainted, which also caused me to fail in cleansing his memories."
Emily's long, feathery eyelashes trembled. "You failed to cleanse his memory; then what? Where did he go?"
"Gimson sent a comatose Derek out of the country to Seriski," Serena replied.
Emily was stunned again.
Seriski, an area frequently featured in the news, was known for its chaos and darkness. It was unimaginable what might befall an unconscious Derek when he was sent there.
Emily suddenly felt afraid to continue listening, yet she had to know everything that had happened to Derek. She closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, she had managed to hold back the tears. "Serena, go on. Don't worry; I won't tell Gimson."
Emily spoke faintly, "If my husband is still alive, I will return Gimson to you. But if my husband is dead, then you can never have Gimson!"
Serena winced at Emily's words.
Taking a deep breath, Serena continued, "You know how messed up Seriski is. Gimson threw an unconscious Derek into the slums and then evacuated all of his subordinates, leaving him to fend for himself. No more news about Derek ever came back from there..."
Emily's face turned slightly pale. No matter how much she hid her emotions, the subtle grief and sadness still emanated from the depths of her eyes.
"I don't think he's going to die, though," Serena said, words she herself found hard to believe. "He's so powerful; he surely wouldn't just die in a foreign country. He loves you so much; he won't leave you alone. Emily, you must believe that Derek is still alive..."
Only if Emily believed in this matter could she stay and remain by Gimson's side.
Emily hung up the phone and stared at the cell phone in her hand, sinking into deep thought. Whether Derek was alive or dead, it seemed that only she could figure it out herself.
After a torturous journey, Emily and Derek's friend Nick finally arrived at their destination, Seriski.
Standing on the balcony of the second floor of the villa, they could see from afar people dressed in black shuttling back and forth on the border of Seriski, with strict security.
Emily washed her face tiredly and sat on the balcony with a heavy heart. Nick moved his computer over to her.
"Let's see what list he actually gave first." After connecting the hard disk to the computer, a folder automatically popped up; it was indeed an internal document from the military department, a list of people who had enlisted in the military in the last month.
Emily pursed her lips. "Let's go through it one person at a time."
They divided the work, each receiving a portion of over a hundred names. In less than twenty minutes, both men finished retrieving the names on hand. However, they failed to find any personnel named Derek at all.
In other words, Derek wasn't in the barracks. Everyone's expressions turned serious.
Did that prove Derek had...
As soon as this thought emerged, Emily forcefully suppressed it. She was utterly convinced that Derek could not be dead.
Just then, a sudden hard knock echoed on the cottage door.
Emily hurriedly got up and walked to the door. She saw two guards in green uniforms outside. Her face turned cold for a moment.
Emily walked out of the living room without a word, firmly closing the door behind her. She approached the iron fence at the entrance of the villa and looked at the two cold-faced guards. "Something wrong?"
"Our boss, Friedel, wants to see you. Come with us."
Emily's eyes flashed. Earlier, she had offered cooperation to the leader of the largest mafia group in the name of the Scott Group, willing to finance any of his operations on the condition that he helped her find Derek.
Was he now reconsidering?
Meanwhile, Gimson was in Emily's room, with a gloomy face.
The comforter was neatly folded over the cot, and a quick glance told him that no one had slept there last night.
Gimson's eyes instantly clouded with grimness. He walked to the master bedroom door, took a deep breath, pressed his hand down on the doorknob, and pushed it open. The dimly lit master bedroom was empty, the bed neatly made, and not a single piece of clothing hung in the closet.
He rushed downstairs with great strides, pulling the closet door open. There were only two bathrobes inside; the rest of his clothes were gone.
Gimson suddenly sneered, took out his cell phone, and called as he walked downstairs. The sound of a vibrating cell phone suddenly rang in the empty villa. He followed the sound and saw the vibrating cell phone in the trash can in the living room.
Emily had actually thrown her cell phone away.
Why would she discard her cell phone?
His eyes couldn't help but darken.
It was blatantly obvious that Emily wanted to conceal her whereabouts and intentionally avoided him.
So, where would Emily go?
Gimson's mind drifted away from the recent scene. Emily, so compliant and seemingly understanding, he thought she had it all figured out, believed she had come to terms with reality.
Unexpectedly, she was covertly plotting an escape.
But why would she want to escape?
Gimson pondered for a few seconds, and his expression changed greatly.