Chapter 7.
Reed pushed open the hospital room door to find it eerily quiet.
He rushed to the bedside, finding it empty except for signed divorce papers on the nightstand.
The bathroom door was wide open–nobody there either.
His heart started pounding as he pulled out his phone with shaking fingers, dialing the number he
knew by heart. Straight to voicemail.
Then he opened their text thread next and typed: [Where the hell are you?]
The message showed as delivered, but no response came.
Reed’s stomach dropped.
In the security office, two guards were sweating bullets. “Mr. Sterling, someone trashed the cameras in that room and the hallway a while back. We can’t recover anything…”
He mobilized everyone for a citywide search, but Summer had vanished into thin air.
Back at the house, Reed stood in the middle of the living room, suddenly feeling like he was in a
stranger’s home.
Their wedding photos were gone from the walls, along with all those little decorations she loved.
Grace called whining about wanting a new purse, and he hung up on her without a word.
A panic he’d never felt before crashed over him. Summer was actually gone.
He shook his head hard, trying to push away the doubts creeping in.
‘No, I didn’t do anything wrong… her father started this…”
་་
The words died in his throat.
He clutched his chest as sharp pain shot through it.
One day, his office door burst open.
15:18
My Husband Cloned His Ex’s Dead Baby Into My Womb
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“Mr. Sterling! You need to see the news!” His assistant looked shaken, pointing at the TV,
The screen showed a breaking news report: “New developments in the Riverside Village eviction case. Former project manager Kevin Walsh confessed today, admitting to using violent methods that
resulted in the deaths of two residents…”
Reed shot to his feet, then collapsed back into his chair.
His hands trembled as his mind went completely blank.
The hatred that had kept him going all these years suddenly had nothing left to hold onto,
For so long, that burning rage had been his lifeline.
He’d hated the Prestons, hated them for destroying his family,
He’d worked his ass off, endured his relatives‘ constant judgment, fought his way into college.
That’s where he met Summer. Well, where he deliberately targeted her,
She seemed so innocent, so warm. When he saw her on her knees begging her father to accept their relationship, he’d almost given up on revenge.
But every time he remembered his parents dying because of the Prestons, that towering hatred would kill any feelings trying to surface.
Until Summer went abroad, and he randomly met Grace at that strip club.
Grace said her parents were also from Riverside Village, that they’d died a few years back, and she was forced to work at the club to survive.
Hearing her similar story, getting drunk that night–everything changed after that.
“FUCK!”
Reed’s fist slammed into his desk, glass shards cutting his skin as blood poured out. He couldn’t feel the pain.
“Did you find where my wife is?” His voice was raw.
His assistant said carefully, “We found her, sir. She’s… she’s staying with the Morrisons.”
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