“No luck. Not yet.”
In the end, Timothy forced himself to spit out these words, even though it went against his conscience.
There was only a week left before the court hearing—he couldn’t afford to let his guard down now.
As long as Jessica refused to file for divorce, and things settled down between them, he’d finally tell the Zimmermans the truth.
But not yet. Not now.
It was just a little more time. He could hold on. He had to.
The guilt gnawed at him all the same.
He didn’t want a divorce, but this was the only option left.
Vince looked a bit disappointed, but he didn’t want to pile his own frustrations onto Timothy. “It’s fine. I wasn’t really expecting much, anyway. I’ll be heading back in a couple days, so I’ll figure something else out then. If you have any updates, let me know. Keep an eye on things, would you?”
“Yeah. I’m heading home today, actually—about to board my flight. When you’re back, let’s meet up and talk about the power station project.”
Now that Vince had finished building the site, all Timothy had to do was hook up his solid-state phone lines and the AI system, and the whole station could run automated battery swaps. It was a revolutionary new business, and the profits down the line would be substantial.
Jessica was Salome, and working with the Zimmerman Group on this project would go off without a hitch.
Besides, Timothy needed to deepen his collaboration with the Zimmermans—make their families inseparable.
That was the only way he and Jessica wouldn’t end up divorced so easily.
Vince had handed this project to Timothy as soon as he returned, but Timothy hadn’t moved on it yet—clearly, he was planning to partner up.
“Alright. I’ll get in touch once I’m back.”
“Talk soon.”
Timothy didn’t bother asking Vince to look after Jessica. Vince was already doing a good job of that.
A short while later, Timothy boarded his flight.
Vince sat in his car, lost in thought. Why was Timothy suddenly heading home? Had he finally decided to stop chasing after Jessica? Maybe he’d come to his senses.
Right then, Jessica was with Herbert, sitting in his office for a follow-up on her throat.
“The swelling’s gone,” Herbert said. “You can start your rehab exercises now. We’ll begin with single vowel sounds—not because you need to relearn the whole alphabet, but because these are simpler and better for stimulating your vocal cords.”
Jessica smiled and nodded, knowing he only wanted the best for her.
“You’ve already had a minimally invasive procedure,” Herbert went on. “Your voice should recover even better this time. Just follow my pace.”
He looked at her with gentle focus, slowly forming the sound “ah,” barely raising his voice.
Jessica copied his tone and intensity: “Ah…”
She still couldn’t say it perfectly, but it was a big improvement from before—and her throat didn’t sting nearly as much.
“Oh…”
“Oh…”
Together, Jessica and Herbert continued practicing, sound by sound.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Goodbye, Mr. Regret
Any new updates. Please please let Jessica finally have a new life with her long lost family...
Wow .... finally!...
The plot of this novel is like an elevator. Its up then down, then up to be back to down again after. Same story. No interesting twists, always the same... naive Jessica, villain Timothy, so when can we have a refresher?...