Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Lost It As Soon As I Got It?

The snow fell, heavier and heavier.

For northerners, four inches of snow was just a common winter sight, but this was a true blizzard.

A few feet away, the world was a sea of white. Even people were reduced to blurry smudges of light, and all sound was completely muffled.

Jason Sterling paced anxiously amidst the swirling blizzard. He raised a hand to wipe his face, and the chill from his palm, mingled with his own dark fury, made the gloom in his eyes deepen.

Bodyguards from the Sterling Group, the ship’s crew, and uniformed coast guard officers—over a hundred people—had turned the port upside down. They’d even dredged up plastic bottles and torn fishing nets buried on the seabed, but there was still no sign of Maeve Walsh’s body.

"Still nothing?" His voice was like tempered ice, each word landing on the snowy ground with unrestrained fury.

’How could I be so unlucky? This is the worst luck imaginable!’

’Having been reborn, he thought he could seize every advantage, righting all the wrongs of his past life. But reality seemed determined to oppose him at every turn! When Maeve Walsh awakened her Space Ability, he had almost laughed out loud. It was the most valuable asset in the apocalypse. With it, food, gasoline, and medicine would all be secured.’

’But now, she was gone. Had her entire fortune, stored within that space, sunk into the sea along with her?’

"Where’s the body?" Jason Sterling violently seized the collar of the consultant sent by the Sterling Group, his knuckles turning white from the force. "She jumped into the sea. Where could her body have gone?"

The consultant’s face flushed as Jason Sterling choked him, his brow furrowed into a knot. "Sterling, rip currents form easily in the waters near the pier... If she was really caught in one, I’m afraid... I’m afraid she’ll never be found."

Those three words, "never be found," struck Jason Sterling’s heart like a sledgehammer.

He abruptly released his grip, the light in his eyes instantly dimming.

’A rip current. It was a bottomless pit in the ocean. Maeve Walsh’s body could have drifted anywhere, but it would never reappear at this port.’

’Had the advantage of his rebirth flown away the moment he’d grasped it?’

Tiana Lynch stood nearby, clutching her scarf so tightly that her nails dug red marks into her palms.

She wore a perfectly calibrated expression of concern, but her eyes couldn’t hide the raw sting of loss.

’Maeve Walsh’s space contained all the resources she could get her hands on. That was their capital for surviving the apocalypse, and just like that, it was gone?’

"Are there any security cameras around here?" Tiana Lynch’s voice held a barely perceptible tremor. "Maeve was perfectly fine. Why would she suddenly jump into the sea?"

A crewman shook his head, his tone resigned. "Ms. Linton, the cameras are broken. They’re under repair."

Tiana Lynch’s brow furrowed even more. She turned her head, her gaze heavy as she looked at Jason Sterling. She lowered her voice, her tone laced with insinuation. "Jason, I have a bad feeling about this. Why don’t you give Sue a call? See what she’s up to."

"Sue Lawrence?" Jason Sterling turned to her, his tone one of undisguised impatience. "It can’t be her! We just called her before we boarded the ship. She’s at home. Her GPS location hasn’t moved an inch!"

’Why would he even suspect Sue Lawrence? The woman he’d cast aside like a worn-out shoe in his past life, the one who’d died right before his eyes. He’d already kicked her to the curb after his rebirth. How could she possibly know their plan? How could she have possibly touched Maeve Walsh?’

"Jason, Maeve was our friend, too," Tiana Lynch said, gently tugging his sleeve as tears welled in her eyes. "Just give Sue a call to check. At the very least, it’s a way of letting her know, so she can’t accuse us of being heartless later."

Jason Sterling felt nothing but cursed, but Tiana Lynch’s words had poked at a lingering doubt in his heart, one he was reluctant to even admit to himself. Gritting his teeth, he impatiently pulled out his phone and dialed Sue Lawrence’s number.

At that moment, Sue Lawrence was driving on a snow-covered highway, sixty kilometers from home. The light layer of snow on the road forced her to be both completely focused and extremely cautious.

Her phone suddenly rang. The two words "Jason Sterling" flashing on the screen made her expression instantly darken, and her fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

’He just won’t let it go!’

’Didn’t he just call me? What does he want now?’ A cold glint flashed in Sue Lawrence’s eyes, and she unhesitatingly rejected the call.

She quickly pulled out another phone and dialed her sister-in-law, Jenny Norris. Her voice was urgent but steady. "Jenny, I need you to do something for me, as fast as possible!"

"What’s wrong, Sue? Did something happen?" Jenny Norris’s voice was tinged with worry.

"Quick, find an outfit of mine and put it on, along with a hat and a mask, then leave in the car I usually drive." Sue Lawrence said, glancing warily at her rearview mirror. "Outside the main gate, under the decorative rocks, there’s a GPS tracker. Grab it and keep it on you. Go to the downtown mall for a bit, and have Mom take a picture of you from behind as you drive away. Make sure the license plate is clear in the photo, and send it to me!"

Though confused, Jenny Norris on the other end of the line agreed immediately. "Okay, I got it. I’m on it!"

She was only two months pregnant, so her belly hadn’t started to show. Her build was quite similar to Sue Lawrence’s, so in the same clothes and seen from behind, she would be impossible to tell apart.

Back at the port, Jason Sterling listened to the automated message from his phone: "The user you have dialed is currently busy." His expression turned ugly to the extreme. He subconsciously clenched his phone, his knuckles turning white, his fingertips almost digging into the screen.

’Sue Lawrence, why aren’t you answering your phone?’

He snarled under his breath, suspicion growing like a weed in his mind.

’Could this really have something to do with her? Did she get to Maeve Walsh? But how would she know their movements? How could she possibly have the skill to make someone with a Superpower disappear without a sound?’

’He had already cut her out of his circle completely!’

"Jason," Tiana Lynch said, cautiously studying his expression. Her voice was hesitant. "Could it be that she... was also reborn?"

Jason Sterling’s body went rigid.

"If she was reborn too, then she knows everything," Tiana Lynch’s voice dropped to a whisper. "Maeve Walsh showed off her Space Ability in the conference room. If Sue Lawrence was watching us this whole time, she would have known. The supplies that were stolen from the company, and how Leo Lawrence can suddenly jump nearly seven feet... maybe it’s all her doing!"

Jason Sterling’s heart sank.

He remembered what the police had said: the security cameras had caught Sue Lawrence entering the company building around 8 PM, but there was no footage of her going to the sixth floor. It seemed she went straight to the top floor, stayed for a moment, and then left. At the time, he’d only found it odd, but now, it seemed more and more suspicious!

"I’m calling her again!"

Jason Sterling practically bit down on his teeth as he stabbed the redial button.

’He was utterly conflicted. Part of him hoped Sue Lawrence hadn’t been reborn and this was all just a coincidence. And yet, a small part of him hoped she had. That way, he could blame all his misfortunes on her instead of admitting that, even after being reborn, he was still just as pathetic.’

However, the phone rang for a long time before the call automatically disconnected. Sue Lawrence still hadn’t answered.

Jason Sterling’s expression went completely dark.

Tiana Lynch looked at Jason Sterling’s tense profile, and a venomous glint flashed in her eyes.

"Jason, I don’t want to do this either, but we have no other choice. What if... we just kill Sue?"