Chapter 25: The madam hasn’t returned home
[Bennett Mansion]
After Anna’s unexpected visit yesterday, Rosiline had been left restless.
Her daughter’s question about Kathrine still echoed in her ears, clawing at her nerves.
Anna’s sudden suspicion had caught her off guard, and though she had managed to deflect, deep inside Rosiline feared that Anna had been unconvinced.
The clinking of cutlery snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Why aren’t you eating, Rosiline?" Hugo’s calm voice came from across the table, his sharp eyes settling on her untouched plate.
Rosiline’s hand trembled as she set the spoon down. Her lips parted, wavering with hesitation. "Hugo... there’s something I didn’t tell you."
His expression barely shifted, but the faint tightening of his jaw betrayed the unease her tone stirred.
"What is it?"
Rosiline swallowed, then leaned closer, her voice barely above a whisper. "Anna came to see me yesterday. She... she asked me about Kathrine."
The spoon in Hugo’s hand stilled midair.
Silence weighed heavily between them.
Kathrine’s name was one they no longer spoke aloud. For outsiders, she was "away on a long vacation." But the truth—the shameful truth—was that she had fled.
And they had buried that truth with ruthless determination.
"What did you say to her?" Hugo’s voice cut through the silence, low and cold. The calm mask he wore cracked, revealing the storm brewing beneath.
Rosiline fidgeted under his stare, her composure unraveling. "I warned her never to bring Kathrine up again. I told her... that we don’t care where she is."
Her words faltered at the end, guilt pressing against her chest. "But, Hugo... she didn’t look convinced. You know how Anna was with her—Kathrine was always her golden sister."
The air seemed to drop a few degrees. Hugo’s face hardened, shadows etching deeper into his sharp features.
"Good," he said finally, his voice grim, deliberate. "That is all she should ever know."
Rosiline’s heart skipped a beat at the weight in his tone.
Hugo leaned back in his chair, his gaze piercing, final.
"No one," he said firmly, his voice like iron. "No one must know where Kathrine is. Not Anna. Not Daniel. No one."
Rosiline’s breath hitched. She knew Hugo’s words weren’t just a warning. They were a verdict.
And somewhere in her heart, a fear she didn’t dare voice grew louder.
"Yes" she nodded and resume to eat her food.
***
Meanwhile, an entire day passed—and Anna didn’t come.
Why would she? He had made it clear from the beginning that no one was to know about their marriage. To the outside world, she was still Anna Bennett, and not his wife.
And yet... the silence stung more than he wanted to admit.
Daniel leaned back in his cars seat, jaw tight, sulking at his own decision while watching outside the window.
No one had ever dared treat him the way Anna did—like he was insignificant. Negligence was something he despised, and this woman, his so-called wife, had the audacity to ignore his words outright.
His fist tightened as the anger surge up once again.
"Boss, regarding Shawn Mattison..." Henry’s cautious voice pulled him from his thoughts. Daniel’s eyes flicked toward him, sharp and impatient.
Henry cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses. "There are no specific records of what he does after dropping out of college. However..." he hesitated, "rumors suggest he spends most of his time locked up with his laptop, playing games."
Daniel’s brow furrowed. His lips pressed into a thin line.
"...Games?" he repeated under his breath, the word rolling with quiet disdain.
His mind reeled. Anna. Meeting a man with no career, no discipline, someone wasting away in front of a screen.
"Did she seriously go there... to play games?" he muttered, half to himself, half in disbelief.
The thought was absurd. And yet with Anna, absurdity seemed to follow like a shadow.
She had done nothing but shock him from the very first night—her words, her boldness, her reckless defiance. Every step she took was unpredictable, like a storm threatening to overturn his carefully built order.
Daniel’s eyes darkened, and his fingers drummed against his lap.
"She’s testing me..." he whispered, though even he wasn’t sure if he meant her stubbornness—or the strange effect she had on him.
"I want you to keep an eye on him. There’s more to this man than he shows, and I want you to find it," Daniel instructed coldly, dismissing the conversation with a flick of his hand.
Henry nodded, wisely keeping silent as the car pulled through the towering gates of Clafford Mansion.
The moment Daniel stepped inside, however, his stride faltered as an unexpected sight awaited him.
Mariam was pacing the length of the living hall, her hands wringing together in visible panic. Several staff members lingered nearby, their nervous faces betraying unease.
The instant her eyes landed on Daniel, Mariam froze—her face draining of color as though she had seen a ghost.
Daniel’s instincts flared. His brows knitted together, and a sharp, unfamiliar clawing tugged at his chest. Something was wrong.
"Mariam," his voice cut through the tense silence, low and commanding.
The old woman wasted no time—her steps quick, her panic palpable as she rushed to him.
"Master..." her voice trembled, "the Madam... she hasn’t returned home."
The words struck like a blade. For a split second, Daniel forgot to breathe. His chest tightened, his composure cracked and his heart... stilled.
***
Meanwhile, somewhere in the heart of the city, Anna sat on a lonely bench tucked away inside a quiet park. The air was still, the rustling of leaves the only sound breaking the silence. Her vacant gaze lingered on nothing, her mind elsewhere—until she forced herself to pull back from the spiraling abyss.
"Why did you have to leave me..." she whispered, her voice trembling as her fingers unconsciously brushed across her flat stomach.
It was instinct—one she couldn’t stop. As if, by some miracle, she might still feel the faint flutter of her unborn child. But there was nothing. Only emptiness. A void that stabbed sharper than any blade.
Her lips curved into a fragile smile as her eyes drifted toward the children playing across the park. Their laughter rang through the air, bright and innocent, pulling her back into a memory that both warmed and gutted her.
Her baby.
He would have been that age now—running, laughing, looking for her in the crowd.
But instead...
The thought cut off, the ache in her chest too much to bear.
"I hope you’re happy somewhere," Anna whispered, lifting her gaze to the sky, her eyes dewy as though she were sending her words to heaven itself.
She was supposed to meet Daniel at his office, but her heart refused. The walls of his world suffocated her. Here, at least for a little while, she could breathe.
But time slipped through her fingers, and soon she realized she had stayed longer than she should have. Daniel would be home soon. She couldn’t afford to cross paths with him in this state.
Reluctantly, she hailed a taxi.
By the time Anna reached Clafford Estate, dusk had painted the sky. She stepped through the gates, her footsteps soft against the gravel, but the moment she crossed the threshold of the mansion, she froze.
Every pair of eyes she passed lingered on her—wide, shocked, almost... haunted.
’Why are they looking at me like that?’ she thought, her hand instinctively brushing against her cheek. ’Did I forget to wipe off the ghost makeup? Do I still look like a corpse?’
Her brows furrowed. But as she walked deeper inside, the strange heaviness in the air closed in around her like a vice.
Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
And then the sight of furious Daniel hit her.