Chapter 94
It was useless to reason with a lunatic. The police knew that. They didn’t waste time arguing with someone clearly unwell.
“Mr. Biggs, we’ll be leaving now,” one of the officers said. “Please come by when you have time to give a statement.”
Not bothering to linger a second longer, the officers made their way out of the hospital room.
Sharon didn’t spare the couple another glance. She followed the officers, ready to leave as well.
But just as she passed Carter, his hand suddenly reached out and caught her wrist.
“Where are you going?”
She looked at him, her expression colder than he had ever seen.
“I called the police,” she said quietly. “As someone directly involved, I should cooperate with the investigation.”
A shadow passed through Carter’s dark eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something, but with others still in the room, he stayed silent.
Then he turned to Simon. “What are you standing around for? Take her.”
Simon didn’t dare hesitate again. He stepped forward and, ignoring Kelly’s frantic sobs, forcefully led her away.
Wendy watched the scene unfold, then curled her lip and left as well.
Carter had only asked her to apologize to Kelly-not much trouble, and she’d thought maybe he was finally thinking clearly. She’d even said a few kind words on his behalf. And now, just minutes later, this farce had played out right in front of Sharon.
Soon, everyone was gone. Only Sharon and Carter remained.
She said nothing.
Her silence wasn’t the quiet before a storm-it was a silence with no intention behind it, like an unspoken refusal to engage.
Carter stared at her. The cool, detached look on her face felt both familiar and distant, as if it belonged to someone he used to know but hadn’t seen in a very long time.
He was the first to speak. “How did you find Wendy?”
Sharon looked at him, a faint smile playing on her lips, though it never reached her eyes.
“Even someone as powerful and influential as Julliard couldn’t track her down. I’m just a powerless housewife. Without a little divine guidance from a snitch, how could I possibly know where she was?”
“When did you find out?”
She gazed at him, her voice soft. “If I said it was Kelly who told me, would you believe me?”
Carter’s brow furrowed. “Kelly told you?”
“What, you don’t believe me?”
His deep eyes flickered with something unreadable.
“She wouldn’t tell you that.”
“Are you saying I’m lying? That I’m trying to frame her?”
A beat of silence fell between them. Then, Carter said, “Maybe you misunderstood something.’
”
1/2
“Misunderstood?” Sharon’s eyes sharpened like a blade reflecting light. “Why would I misunderstand her, and not someone
else?”
Time passed-whether minutes or seconds, it was hard to tell. Finally, Carter’s voice came low and even, like the hush of a
mountain stream.
“My mother had her kidnapped, trying to break us up. Since then, Kelly has suffered from severe claustrophobia. I can’t just leave her like that. There’s nothing romantic between us.”
Sharon let out a short laugh. “If I’m not wrong, those nights you’ve been slipping out late… it’s to be with her, isn’t it?” 1
Thinking back to how Kelly had clung to him, her voice grew edged.
“You say there’s nothing between you two. Do you think I’d believe that?”
Her biting tone erased what little warmth remained in Carter’s face.
“Are you interrogating me, Sharon?”
Her fists clenched, almost without her realizing it.
Carter’s eyes dropped for a second-he had noticed the scabbed-over injury on her cheek. His expression softened slightly.
“Do you have any actual proof that Wendy was kidnapped by her?”
Without a word, Sharon took out her phone, opened her messages, and held it out to him.
“She sent me these. All of them.”
Carter took the phone. His fingers moved slowly as he scrolled through the messages.
In a short while, he finished reading.
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