Chapter 140: The Things She Left Behind
Since Amelia was a colleague she saw every day and would have to work with for a long time, Ellis didn't ignore her question. But she also didn't bother answering directly. Instead, she sent a few random emojis as a brush-off.
Suddenly, her phone lost its appeal. She tossed it back into her bag and absentmindedly stared out the window, watching the city pass by.
At the same time, over at the Hudson residence, Riley had searched the storage room over and over. But no matter how many times he turned it upside down, the beaded bracelet was nowhere to be found. Frustrated and sweating, he turned to the household staff. “When Mr. Hudson told you to throw out his wife’s things, are you absolutely sure you didn’t see the beaded bracelet? Did no one accidentally take it?”
The maids answered in unison, “Killey, we’re sure! We never saw it.” Ellis had owned a lot of things, but they could swear on their lives that every single item had been packed up and stored away. None of them had dared to take anything.
Riley let out a long, exhausted sigh. Mr. Hudson had said he couldn’t find a beaded bracelet and a ring. Right now, Easton was upstairs searching for the ring while Riley and the staff tore apart the house looking for the bracelet. He had even called Ellis, but he hadn’t gotten a single…
“You all can go rest,” he finally said, waving them off before heading upstairs.
Standing in front of Easton’s bedroom door, Riley took a full few minutes to gather the courage to knock. He raised his voice slightly, lacing his tone with apology. “Mr. Hudson, I’m sorry! We couldn’t find the beaded bracelet.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the door opened, and Easton stepped out. Riley immediately lowered his head.
“What about Ellis’s still? Where did you throw it?”
After several nights of insomnia, Easton finally admitted something to himself—he was picky about his sleeping environment. The moment his room changed, he lost sleep. Even if he managed to doze off for a bit, he’d wake up soon after, unable to rest properly. After enduring days of sleeplessness, he decided to put everything back the way it was.
Riley was briefly surprised by the question but then quickly realized this was expected. “Mrs. Hudson’s belongings were too valuable to throw away. It would have been a shame. The maids couldn’t bear to toss them, so I made the decision to store them instead. Please forgive me for acting on my own.”
Ellis had told him she was no longer Easton’s wife, but Riley had enough life experience to know better than to change how he addressed her in front of Easton. And he certainly wouldn’t risk actually getting rid of her things. When Easton had first ordered everything thrown out, he hadn’t considered that the staff might keep it instead.
Now, hearing Riley’s explanation, a flicker of something unreadable flashed through Easton’s dark eyes.
“Put everything back where it was.”
With that, he stepped back into his room to resume his search for the ring. Where had Ellis’s wedding ring gone? And the beaded bracelet—where was that? The bracelet had been a gift from Ellis two years ago, something she had personally picked up from a well-known spiritual temple. She had been so excited back then, telling him it had been blessed to bring peace and help with sleep.
Finding those two missing items was the only thing on his mind. If he didn’t find them tonight, he wasn’t going to bother going to bed. If he tried to sleep, his brain would just keep cycling through thoughts about it, and there was no way that would help him rest.
Nearly tearing the place apart in his search, Easton caught a glimpse of the maids setting everything back into place under Riley’s instructions. His eyes unintentionally landed on a large framed photo being rehung on the wall. It was a wedding photo of him and Ellis.
Back when they got married, he had disagreed with hanging such an overly posed picture in the bedroom, but Ellis had been convinced it was their best shot. She had insisted on putting it there. Not just in the house—she had placed framed wedding photos in multiple locations. Even at his office, she had forcefully placed a smaller one on his desk. Her reasoning? So he could look at it when he was tired at work and relax.
Whether it helped with fatigue or not, he had no idea. What he did know now was that he couldn’t handle abrupt changes in his living space. Once something was altered, it took a long, grueling adjustment period. These past few days, he had been restless at home, unable to sleep. At work, he couldn’t concentrate, his mind frequently slipping into irritation, his body running in an unnatural state.
Taking a deep breath, Easton tried to suppress the discomfort his insomnia had brought. His eyes lingered on the wedding photo, but the longer he stared, the more it agitated him. A strange, unexplainable feeling surged in his chest, something that wrestled with his rational mind for control. It was as if an unseen force was pulling him toward somewhere. But he didn’t know where.
He couldn’t stay at home anymore. Grabbing his keys, he drove off into the night, aimlessly wandering the roads. If he was going to be awake until morning anyway, he might as well finish some work early.
But just as he was heading toward the office, a familiar neighborhood appeared outside his car window. Sunshine Estates. The name passed in a flash, but Easton had caught it. Ellis’s place. He had been there once before. No wonder it felt familiar. He couldn’t help but recall his last visit—the way his emotions had spiraled out of control.
Without thinking, he pulled over to the side of the road and grabbed his phone, his fingers hovering over the screen as he began to type a message. Send Gifts.