Chapter 141: Late-Night Messages

After freshening up, Ellis comfortably rolled around in bed, preparing to shut down her phone and go to sleep when a text from a familiar number popped up.

“Move to a different city; don’t stick around in Stonebridge. I’d hate to bump into my ungrateful ex-wife one of these days.”

The message was from Easton! This guy really knew how to stir up trouble. Their legal ties as husband and wife were dissolved; they were strangers now, walking on separate paths under the same sky. She hadn’t even tried to make her presence felt around him, and yet here he was, suggesting she move cities as if he’d be unlucky just by running into her. Had he no shame at all to say such a thing?

She swiftly deleted the message and re-added the number to her blacklist, which she’d forgotten to set last time. Then, Ellis carried on as if nothing had happened. She didn’t know what crazy idea had struck that scumbag in the middle of the night, but he had no right to demand she leave Stonebridge, and she certainly didn’t owe him the courtesy of a reply. Engaging with that deadbeat would bring her nothing but bad luck.

Once her phone was off, she quickly drifted off to sleep, entering her dreams blissfully.

Meanwhile, on the roadside, Easton, having sent the text, occasionally glanced at his phone, wondering if Ellis would respond. Yet, the phone remained silent. Is she asleep and has she seen my message?

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he checked his watch—it was past one in the morning, a time when most were already asleep. For some reason, he found himself looking forward to her response after she woke up. Knowing her, her reply would surely be scathing, definitely not mincing words. Oddly enough, he was curious to see if she’d picked up any new insults.

With a mix of irritation and barely-there anticipation, Easton started his car and drove straight to the office. Sitting at his desk, he glanced at the spot where a wedding photo with Ellis once sat; now, it was conspicuously empty. Unaccustomed to the change, he felt an impulse to walk over to Ellis’s office. He remembered she had also kept their wedding photo in her office.

However, as he entered, there was no sign of the photo; the office looked so untouched it seemed as if no one had ever worked there. Ellis’s presence was nearly gone, and he instinctively furrowed his brows.

“Jackson, Mr. Hudson is looking for you,” he was informed as soon as he arrived at work. Nodding to acknowledge, Jackson felt a premonition of doom as his subordinate hesitated to speak further.

“You might want to head to Mr. Hudson’s office first,” the subordinate suggested somewhat obsequiously, taking Jackson’s briefcase. “I’ll take this to your office for you.”

With his heart racing, Jackson wondered if Easton had come to the office much earlier than him or if some urgent matter had arisen. Steeling himself, he walked to Easton’s office and knocked, waiting for a response.

“Come in.”

The response was curt, almost like a death sentence. With trepidation, he pushed open the door. Easton’s gaze swept over him briefly as he forced a smile, “Mr. Hudson.”

“When Ellis resigned, who took over her duties?” Easton paused. “Did she take all her things from the office?”

While the first question seemed straightforward enough, reducing Jackson’s anxiety slightly, the second question threw him off. Is Mr. Hudson planning to instruct the cleaning staff through me about clearing out Ellis’s office?

“Ms. Harper handled mostly low-priority tasks, and she left in a hurry without handing over her duties,” Jackson explained, looking around. “She took some personal items, and the cleaners disposed of the rest last week.”

The cleaning staff were thorough. Easton’s office had been stripped of anything typically appealing to a woman, and as for Ellis’s office, he had personally made sure it was cleared out completely, leaving no trace of its previous occupant.

Confident in his response, Jackson was unprepared for Easton’s reaction to change suddenly; his nerves tightening.

“Why was Ellis’s office cleared out last week and not sooner or later?” Easton didn’t recall ordering the cleaning of Ellis’s office. Who authorized it? Did the cleaning department decide on their own?

Normally, once someone resigned, their workspace and office were immediately cleaned by the administrative department to maintain a neat and ready environment for the next employee. However, given Ellis’s unique situation, her office had been left untouched for a while by the administrative staff,