Under Mabel’s guidance, Freda made her way out of the mountains. The first thing she did when she returned to the city was contact the relevant local authorities.
She wanted to build a road leading to the village, install internet infrastructure so the elderly and children could
access information from the outside world.
She also planned to build schools and hospitals to improve their living conditions.
Freda’s ultimate goal was to transform the village into a tourist destination, providing job opportunities to attract
those who’d left for work to come back and be with their families.
It was a massive project. Freda invested over a hundred million dollars and personally led a team back to the village for construction.
“Sweetie, why did you come back?” Mabel’s eyes welled up with tears when she saw her. “It’s so rough out
here–you’re not made for this kind of hard living.”
“Everything’s gonna be different soon. Life’s gonna be so much better for everyone here.” Freda hugged Mabel tight.
The elderly and children in the village didn’t really understand what “development” meant, but they knew Freda wouldn’t hurt them.:
Everyone who was able came to help out.
No matter how much Freda tried to dissuade them, they insisted on doing their part.
Freda arranged for professional medical teams to give health checkups to all the villagers, and she personally taught the children, giving them their first lessons in reading and writing.
For the first time, she felt like her life had real meaning.
Turns out, a world without Cyril could be just as rich and colorful,
One day, Freda was teaching the children math word problems when Mabel walked in with someone.
“Sweetie, someone’s here to see you.” Mabel was smiling.
Freda’s heart skipped a beat. Her first thought was that Cyril had found her, and she felt an unexpected wave of annoyance.
She loved her current life and didn’t want any more involvement with Cyril.
She frowned and looked up toward the door, immediately freezing in place.
Mabel pushed the man behind her forward. “I tested him for you, honey. He’s not a bad guy.”
“Thanks for the endorsement. I’ll make sure to stay on the good side.” Edric Vale stood in the doorway wearing a
Chapter 16
black tracksuit, backlit by the sun. The smile on his face was as warm as the sunlight behind him.
Freda stood up, looking at him in surprise. “Mr. Vale, what are you doing all the way out here?”
“I came looking for you.” Edric said straightforwardly.
“Looking for me?” Freda tried to think if there were any contracts between them that still needed handling.
Ever since her parents died, Freda had hired a professional manager to run the company, so Edric was no longer the Lane Corporation’s legal counsel.
She’d hired him to handle the property issues with Cyril and had already paid his fees in full.
After getting together with Cyril, she’d barely had any social life of her own, and she wasn’t really friends with Edric
either.
She couldn’t think of any reason why he’d come looking for her.
“Freda, do you really not remember me? Five years ago, you got into that car accident trying to save me.” Edric brought up the past, pain flashing in his eyes.
Five years ago, he should have been the one hit by that car. His half–brother had hired someone to kill him, and just as the car was about to hit him, Freda had pulled him aside.
The killer was furious that she’d interfered and ran her down instead.
If she hadn’t tried to save him, she never would’ve gotten hurt, Jolie never would’ve shown up in her life, and she wouldn’t have gone through all that hell…
08:58
