Chapter 252

Richard knew he was a pretty pathetic excuse for a man. He’d been hiding out in Rodunst with Juliana for over ten years now, and every time she wanted to go back home for a visit, he’d shot her down.

He was scared. Scared of losing Juliana.

But even so, his selfish desires had been eating away at him all this time. The guilt kept him up at night, tossing and turning. He’d told himself that once Juliana got her memory back, he’d let her go home.

But her memory never came back, and here they were, all these years later.

The longer they stayed together, the harder it got for him to imagine letting Juliana return to Basterel and go back to her old life.

That child trafficking ring was the same one that had abducted Juliana’s daughter years ago. Her little girl was only five at the time, and Richard had been searching for any trace of her ever since.

If he could find her and bring her back to live with them, it would give him some peace of mind, maybe ease the guilt that had been eating at him all these years.

As for Juliana’s older son, Richard knew he’d probably never be able to make up for what he’d done to that kid. ‘I’m the bad guy who stole his mother away,’ he thought.

Richard told his assistant to book him a flight back to the Republic of Wallington as soon as possible.

Juliana walked in from outside just as he was giving those instructions. When she heard he was planning to go back to the Republic of Wallington, something stirred deep inside her–a pull toward that place she couldn’t quite explain. “Richard, you’re going back to the Republic of Wallington?”

Richard looked up, feeling a bit guilty. “Yeah, I’ve got some business to take care of. Need to make a quick trip.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“About a week, I think.”

Juliana studied his face. “Can I come with you?” Even though she’d lost her memory, she always felt this strange longing for the Republic of Wallington, like she desperately needed to go back there.

Richard quickly shook his head. “Juliana, I’m going there to handle some serious stuff, not for a vacation.”

“What’s so important that you can’t tell me?”

Richard stayed quiet. He wasn’t planning to tell Juliana anything until he found the person he was looking for.

“You can’t even tell me?” Juliana asked again.

“Sorry, Juliana. If you really want to go back, I’ll take you next time, okay?”

Juliana had wanted to return home for years, and Richard had shot her down so many times. Now, he was brushing her off again. She frowned, “When’s next time?”

“I’ll set it up as soon as I get back. How’s that sound?”

Juliana pressed her lips together and didn’t say anything else. She just nodded, but the feeling that Richard was hiding something from her was getting stronger by the day.

The next day, Shermaine headed back to campus first thing in the morning. On her first day back, she jumped right into the orientation with the rest of her chemistry class.

Shermaine thought the whole thing was pretty cool, even though most of the other students were complaining about how exhausting it was. For her, it was no big deal. This level of training was nothing compared to what she was used to. It was just basic fitness stuff.

After every training session, Summer would come find Shermaine so they could grab food together at the cafeteria. Shermaine had become such a campus celebrity that other students would see her and immediately call her a genius. She’d just give them a slight nod and keep it cool.

The afternoon sun was blazing hot. Their instructor wanted to find them a decent spot to train, so he picked out this perfect location right next to outdoor basketball court A. There was this huge tree where they could catch some shade during breaks.

Their coach was really thoughtful. But when it came time to get serious, he didn’t mess around either.

The thing was, they weren’t the only ones who had their eyes on this prime spot. A class from the computer science department was eyeing it too, a class that happened to be Jason’s class.

To settle who got the spot, they decided to have a friendly basketball game that afternoon. But the vibe between the two classes was anything but friendly. One could practically feel the tension in the air.

The whole thing ended up drawing a crowd, with other instructors bringing their students over to watch.