Zoe Quinn pressed the photo against her chest, curling up on the bed.
After that evening three years ago, Silas Sutton had suddenly vanished off the face of the earth without a trace.
Back then, she was still at the orphanage and didn’t own a cell phone.
Every day, she would sneak into the director’s office to call Silas, but the number was always turned off.
The calls never went through.
Later, when she was adopted, she finally had the warm family she’d always dreamed of, along with her very first cell phone.
She frequently dialed Silas’s number, but the automated voice always informed her that his phone was powered off.
She didn’t know if something terrible had happened to him, or if he had intentionally blocked her.
Sometimes, she felt absolutely ridiculous.
She thought she was far too naive for believing in love.
To her dismay, she had been thoroughly deceived by a man in her very first relationship.
Though she hadn’t suffered any tangible loss, he had shattered her illusions of romance and taken her affections, letting them sink like a stone into the sea.
After entering college, she was surrounded by suitors, including her current fiancé, Zachary Sinclair.
But she rejected them all.
Her naive first love had left her deeply wounded, and until those scars healed, she refused to let anyone else in.
That was, until two months ago.
Her adoptive father’s factory ran into serious trouble.
Their capital chain broke, and they desperately needed a loan to tide them over.
But the credit department stated that their qualifications were insufficient, and a maximum loan of five hundred thousand was their absolute limit.
Five hundred thousand was merely a drop in the bucket for a factory on the verge of bankruptcy.
Right at that critical juncture, Mr.
Quinn coincidentally met the bank president’s son, Zachary Sinclair, through a mutual friend.
Zachary was her upperclassman in college and one of her many former suitors.
She had explicitly rejected his confession of love before.
“Zoe, Dad knows you only want to focus on your studies right now and aren’t interested in dating,” Mr.
Quinn had pleaded that night.
“But Sinclair is your senior.
He works at the bank and said he’s liked you for a long time.
If our families become in-laws, he can ask his father to help us with the paperwork and increase the loan amount.
Dad doesn’t want to force you, but if the factory collapses, our family is finished…”
Mrs.
Quinn had also cried and begged her, “Zoe, Mom knows this is unfair to you.
But that Zachary boy is truly a good catch.
He comes from a good family and is very mature.
You already know each other.
If you marry him, you won’t suffer…”
What else could she say?
This family had given her everything—a warm home, the opportunity to attend college, and meticulous love and care.
Now that they were in crisis, how could she just stand by and watch?
So, she agreed.
Two months ago, she accepted Zachary Sinclair’s proposal and put on that platinum ring.
Time flew by, and three years had already passed since Silas left.
The wounds from that endless waiting had finally scabbed over.
She thought she had moved on, believing that time could wash everything away.
But then Silas Sutton showed up again.
The moment she saw Silas today, she finally understood that some people, once they took root in your heart, could never be uprooted.
But so what?
The wedding invitations had already been sent out, the hotel was booked, and everyone knew she was getting married next week.
More importantly, this marriage involved her adoptive parents’ painstakingly managed small factory.
It involved the home she had fought so hard to find.
Everything was already set in stone.
She wondered why Silas, that damned thug, couldn’t have appeared two months earlier, and why he had to show up now to disrupt the long-settled waters of her heart.
Irritated and distressed, Zoe grabbed a pillow and muffled her head with it. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Her suppressed sobs carried through the fabric, echoing softly in the quiet room.
She didn’t know how long had passed before her phone’s ringtone suddenly blared, shattering the silence.
Zoe wiped her tears away and picked up her device.
The screen displayed the name Daisy Donovan.
She took a deep breath and pressed the answer button.
“Hello, Daisy.”
“Zoe!
Why does your voice sound so weird?
Did you catch a cold?” her classmate Daisy’s crisp voice chimed from the other end of the line.
“No, I just woke up,” Zoe said, clearing her throat.
“What’s up?”
“Oh, remember how you said you were looking for a part-time job?
Well, I found an opportunity!” Daisy said excitedly.
“You know The Imperial Club, right?
One of their cleaning ladies is taking tomorrow off, and the manager asked me to find a temp to cover for her.
It’s just washing wine glasses, doing some light cleaning, and stuff like that.
It pays two hundred a night!
Are you in?”
Zoe froze for a moment.
She did need the money.
Even though her adoptive parents never let her worry about finances, she hated constantly holding her hand out to them.
Especially now, she needed her own space and an independent income.
“When is it?” she asked.
“Tomorrow night from eight to midnight!
How about it?
We can go together and keep each other company!”