Belated Moonlight: He Regretted Only After I Left-Chapter 128: If You Wear Yourself Out, Will He Come Back to Life?
Isla Sutton was taken aback, "Stella, why are you going to Riveria? In your current state..."
"There are still many things to handle at the law firm."
Stella Sterling interrupted her, her voice flat, "I can’t stay at home forever."
Aidan Sterling extinguished his cigarette and looked up at her, "I’ll go with you."
"No need." Stella refused bluntly, "The law firm is running normally; I’m just going to deal with some backlog of work."
Her reason sounded quite reasonable, but those overly calm eyes made one uneasy.
In the end, The Sterling Family parents couldn’t convince her otherwise and had to compromise.
Aidan personally drove her to the airport.
Along the way, both were silent.
As they neared the airport, Aidan finally spoke, his voice hoarse, "Stella, if... if you feel bad, just come back."
Stella watched the street scenes quickly retreating outside the window and lightly hummed a response.
Arriving in Riveria, back at the familiar law firm, everything seemed unchanged.
When Finn Lockwood saw her return, he was first pleasantly surprised, but then noticing her emaciated cheeks and dark circles, his surprise turned to worry.
"Boss, are you alright?"
"I’m fine." Stella walked straight to her office, "Bring me the recent files that need to be handled."
She threw herself into a frenzy of work.
More desperately than ever before.
From morning till night, apart from necessary meals and brief rests, she barely left the office.
Case files piled on her desk, she reviewed and annotated them one by one, as if only this could keep her mind from dwelling on things she refused to believe.
Finn Lockwood and the other colleagues at the law firm noticed her abnormality but dared not ask too much.
Only Rhys Lennox, ever since Shane Donovan’s accident, everyone thought he would return to The Donovan Group or Innovatech Bio, yet he still roamed the law firm with his conspicuous blonde hair.
He watched Stella’s nearly masochistic working state, his brows furrowing ever tighter.
That afternoon, Stella nearly fainted in the office from nights without sleep and low blood sugar.
Finn Lockwood rushed to mix her a cup of glucose water.
Rhys Lennox leaned against the door frame, watching Stella pale as she took small sips of water, suddenly speaking coldly, "You torture yourself to death, and he’ll come back to life?"
Stella’s hand trembled violently, hot water splashing out and scalding her hand.
Rhys Lennox smirked, "I mean, dead is dead. Who are you putting on this act for?"
"Rhys Lennox!" Finn was so frightened his face turned pale, hurriedly trying to stop him.
Stella set down the cup, slowly stood up, walked to Rhys, and looked up at him.
Her gaze was very calm, eerily so.
"He’s not dead." She said, her voice not loud, but with an obsessive certainty.
Rhys Lennox sneered, "Evidence? How many days did the search and rescue team look? They didn’t even find a complete bone!"
"That’s because they didn’t find him." Stella stared into his eyes, "Doesn’t mean he’s gone."
"Self-deception."
"Say what you want." Stella turned around, sat back at her desk, and picked up a file, "Close the door on your way out."
Rhys Lennox only felt a heavy block in his chest, a rage with nowhere to vent, and finally kicked the door frame hard, slamming the door as he left.
With a loud "bang," the whole floor seemed to tremble.
Finn Lockwood watched Stella continue working without a reaction and could only sigh inwardly.
Rhys Lennox sped back to his temporary residence in Riveria, a top-floor duplex apartment with a great view, sparsely furnished, lacking any warmth.
He ran his hand agitatedly through his blonde hair, grabbed a bottle of spirits from the bar, and drank deeply from it.
The spicy liquid burned his throat, yet couldn’t quench the growing agitation and... a sliver of fear he was unwilling to admit.
He recalled how unnaturally tense his mother was on the day of the engagement banquet...
He remembered the snippets he overheard outside the lounge...
He thought of the small bottle Shane mentioned...
He’s not stupid.
Some things, when strung together, pointed to an answer he dared not contemplate deeply.
His brother’s death, perhaps... wasn’t an accident.
And his mother, even his uncle, might not be uninvolved.
This realization coiled like a venomous snake in his heart, gnawing at him day and night.
Moreover...
Images of Stella’s pale, bloodless face and her lifeless eyes flashed uncontrollably before him.
His heart felt like it was being gripped harshly.
He remembered when he first came to the law firm, the cunning and brightness in her eyes...
Not like now, like a plant deprived of water, slowly withering.
An inexplicable guilt weighed heavily down on him.
He tipped his head back and took another large gulp of alcohol, trying to suppress the chaotic thoughts and emotions he shouldn’t be having.
...
That night, Stella returned to the apartment alone.
The empty room was so quiet she could hear her own heartbeat.
She didn’t turn on the lights, walking to the living room window by the moonlight streaming in.
The moon was bright tonight, the stars scattered.
She lifted her head, subconsciously searching.
Soon, she spotted the brightest star Shane had pointed out to her, the one that could be seen even on cloudy days.
It was still hanging there, twinkling with a cold light.
Stella looked at it for a long, long time.
Then she closed her eyes, silently chanting in her heart.
Shane Donovan.
Shane Donovan.
Shane Donovan.
After counting three times, she opened her eyes.
All she saw was the cold glass reflecting her own lonely figure.
No warm embrace scented with fresh wood.
Nothing at all.
Tears flowed silently, soaking her collar.
At first, it was a stifled sobbing, gradually turning into uncontrollable weeping.
She cried, trembling all over as if she wanted to vomit out her insides.
It turned out... the nightmare was real.
He really was gone.
The Shane who teased her, made her angry, yet appeared when she needed him most...
The Shane who wanted to give her all of Innovatech Bio...
The Shane who said, "As long as you want, I’ll appear before you..."
He was no longer around.
She would never see him again.
She didn’t know how long she cried until her throat was hoarse, her tears dried, and only uncontrollable spasms of her body remained.
She curled up on the floor, and in her haze, she seemed to hear his low, smiling voice again—
"Here’s a peace of mind for my fiancée."
"Of course, my fiancée should do whatever makes her comfortable."
"Call me hubby, let you touch my abs..."
Those memories emerged like fragments, sweetness turning into corrosive poison.
She clutched her ears tightly but couldn’t stop the echoes in her mind.
"Shane Donovan..." her voice was hoarse, "You... liar..."
But what answered her was only the dead silence of the room...
