Mr. Payne was stunned. "This scope is a little too broad..."

The words had barely left his mouth when he was met with a mild gaze. Mr. Payne’s shoulders trembled. "I’ll call Annie right away!"

Two minutes later, Annie was on the phone, asking if there were any other clues.

The search parameters were indeed a bit too broad.

With no other choice, Mr. Payne braced himself and looked at Yates Donovan. "Sir, are you sure there are no other clues? Even a tiny one would help."

Yates Donovan propped his head on his hand and thought for a moment. "The woman’s husband likely died in a work-related incident, so there was a large compensation payment."

"But the woman and her daughter never got the money. They were kicked out of the house by her parents-in-law."

"She later remarried a repairman, though I’m not clear on what kind. The repairman had a son, a few years younger than her daughter, but the age difference wasn’t significant."

"Is that enough?"

"More than enough!"

——

After her call with Yates Donovan, Mia Grant got back into bed and quickly fell asleep.

She had a very chaotic dream.

It was chaotic in the truest sense of the word.

The dream seemed to be made of fragmented memories.

She dreamed of a scene where she was working at a restaurant, and someone was molesting her.

The scene shifted, and she was being followed after work.

Then a drunkard was pounding on her door.

And then...

She knelt on the floor, clinging to the doorframe, and cautiously peeked through a hole in the door’s window.

It was a winter day. The wind was biting, sweeping trash bags off the ground and sending them rustling through the air.

The surroundings were bleak. Through the hazy moonlight, she followed a trail of scattered specks on the ground and saw a figure standing under a dilapidated streetlight.

He turned his head back to look.

She flinched in fear, but it was as if his gaze pinned her to the spot, and she couldn’t flee.

The fragmented memory shifted again.

She turned on a small table lamp in her room and used duct tape and a towel to seal the drafty gaps in the door and window.

Lowering her head, she picked up banknotes and a watch from a pile of broken glass.

She didn’t recognize the watch brand, only that she was surprised it hadn’t broken after he’d thrown it in and it had smashed onto the ground.

She carefully counted everything.

There was a total of two thousand seven hundred in cash, and a watch that, according to a search on her phone, was worth a million.

There was also an engraved ring. She looked it up and found that the brand only made wedding rings. This one was a private, custom model, and even with the engraving, it could still sell for a six or seven-figure sum.

In her entire life, she had never seen so much money.

The man had told her to take this stuff and get lost.

He said it was her hush money.

In truth, she hadn’t seen a thing. She only heard the drunkard’s shouts, but then it quickly fell silent.

She didn’t know exactly what had happened and was terrified the police would show up at her door.

That man had committed a crime. She didn’t know if he had some personal grudge against the drunkard...

But, in a way, the man had helped her.

So, on that silent winter night, after wrestling with her conscience, she stayed up all night and quietly carried a bucket of water outside.

On the ground, faint traces of blood were still visible in the cracks between the bricks that the man had hastily wiped clean.

She knelt on the ground, her fingers trembling as she gripped a rag and scrubbed the floor with all her might.

The once-clear, icy water in the bucket grew murkier and murkier. She lost count of how many times she’d scrubbed, and the water in the bucket was beginning to freeze over.

She shattered the thin layer of ice with her raw, frozen knuckles.

She cried as she thought.

’Once it’s clean, I’ll go back and pack my bags.’

’Then I’ll sell his watch and keep a small portion for myself—just enough to live on for a year.’

’I’ll prepare for the adult college entrance exam and focus on my studies.’

’I’ll donate the rest of the money to an orphanage.’

It was a perfect plan.

But in the end, she never made it out of that small, dark rental.

On the single bed, she clutched the blanket, her hand slowly going limp.

The loose ring on her middle finger slipped off and rolled across the concrete floor into the distance.

CLINK.

Mia Grant’s eyes snapped open.

She turned her head toward the sound and saw Simon Adler.

They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds. It wasn’t until she blinked her stinging eyes that Simon Adler spoke. "You... were dreaming?"

Mia Grant rolled over and pulled the covers higher. "Don’t bother me. I’m trying to sleep."

Simon Adler gave her a strange look, then left without another word.

A few minutes later, he came out of the bathroom. After a moment’s thought, he asked, "I’ll have Lee bring some food up for you. What do you want to eat?"

Mia Grant wasn’t hungry, but she wasn’t sleepy anymore either.

"Whatever. As long as it’s edible."

"Has my brother left?"

Simon Adler, who was tying his tie in front of the mirror, heard her and asked casually, "Which one do you mean?"

"...Silas Grant."

"Not yet, but we’ll be leaving together after breakfast. He’s very busy today. If your stomach isn’t hurting, you can come downstairs."

"Okay. Are you free during the day?"

"For what?"

"Your blind date, of course."

"..." Only then did Simon Adler remember. "Are you feeling up to it?"

"I’m fine. I feel much better after getting some sleep."

Simon Adler turned and looked her up and down.

She was sitting on the bed clutching the blanket, her curly hair a messy bird’s nest from sleep.

She was a complete mess.

And yet, she wasn’t unattractive.

Averting his gaze, Simon Adler picked up his jacket. "Wait for my call. I should have some time after my lunch break."

"Okay."

Mia Grant lay back on the bed and started messaging Miss White to ask her out for afternoon tea.

"I’m leaving," Simon Adler said, now ready to head out.

"Go on, then," Mia said without even a glance in his direction.

Her tone was utterly dismissive.

Simon Adler pursed his lips. He took a step toward the door, then paused.

"If you need anything, call me. Or find Lee."

"Is Yates Donovan in Portia? Keep an eye out. Tell him not to alert Silas Grant."

"Silas Grant has been testing me lately. Don’t let him catch you slipping up."

——

At ten in the morning, only after confirming that Silas Grant had left, did Mia Grant get out of bed to wash up.

After changing her clothes, she went downstairs.

Since she was at the Hughes family’s home, she wanted to find Hayes Hughes, but she didn’t dare to be too obvious about it.

So she simply arranged to meet him in the backyard.

The moment they met, Hayes Hughes asked about her health.

"If you’re still not feeling well, I can get you another pill later. But you can’t take this medicine too often."

Mia Grant quickly said that wasn’t necessary. She sat down on a swing chair in the conservatory, tilted her head back to look at him, and said with a smile, "Hayes, have a seat."

Hayes Hughes sat down on a low stool opposite her.

For someone so tall, he looked surprisingly docile sitting there.

He looked rather pitiful, even.

Mia Grant, on the other hand, seemed to be in a great mood.

Hayes Hughes was the complete opposite.

After they looked at each other for a long moment, he said, "About that call last night... I didn’t see it. I’m sorry."

Silas Grant had been in his room for over ten minutes. After seeing him out, Hayes went to wash up, and when he came back, he couldn’t find his phone anywhere.

He finally remembered that he had slipped it into his jacket pocket when he’d answered the door.

And it was only then that he remembered the missed call.

He’d wanted to call back, but after checking the time, he decided against it.

He’d considered sending a text first, but then he noticed the call’s duration...

Six minutes and twenty-two seconds.

’She heard it.’

"Mia, about last night..."

Hayes Hughes tried to explain.

As if she knew what he was about to say, Mia Grant swung her legs in the air and said nonchalantly, "It’s fine."

"I’m not upset."

"Because everything my brother said was true."

"It’s better this way."