Phillips didn’t wait for further instructions as the car pulled away. He turned to the driver and instructed, “Head to the hospital!”
“Okay.”
Phillips glanced back at Eric, concern etched across his face. “Sir, should I tell…” He meant Hadley.
“No, don’t,” Eric muttered, already knowing what he was about to say. He clutched his head, a low groan escaping him as pain coursed through him.
“From now on, don’t trouble Hadley with anything related to me. Do you understand?” Latest content published on find?novel.net
“But…”
Phillips hesitated, torn. He’d witnessed firsthand the pain Eric had been enduring.
“Hadley isn’t comfortable with you visiting Linda. Haven’t you already stopped seeing her?”
Eric had even gone so far as blocking phone calls from the caregiver at the hospital. Wasn’t it all because he was trying to win Hadley back? Phillips frowned. His voice held a note of frustration and confusion.
“But… you didn’t tell Hadley, did you?”
Tell her? Eric’s eyes darkened. “How could I?”
After learning everything Hadley had endured over the years, how could he shamelessly ask for her love?
Especially when she had been willing to reject medicine, refuse treatment, and even harm herself just to break away from him.
He had no choice but to let her go.
“But, sir…” Phillips asked hesitantly, “Can you manage on your own?”
Eric smirked and let out a dry laugh.
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“I can’t, but what choice do I have?”
This was only the beginning. What lay ahead for him was a long, lonely life.
Letting go of Hadley tore him apart, but staying with her only deepened her suffering.
There was no real choice. Between hurting her and hurting himself, he would choose his own pain every time.
As he thought back over the past year, he realized just how fleeting those days with Hadley had been…
And yet, that single year now felt like an entire lifetime.
Several days drifted by.
Suitcases lined the hallway, and everything Hadley owned sat ready for the move to Jewel Avenue.
Before turning in for the night, she reached out to Eric with a message. Only a short reply came back: “I understand.”
At sunrise, Hadley took Joy by the hand and guided her down the stairs. The little Minnie Mouse doll, the one Locke had given her, stayed tucked in Joy’s grip.
“Mom, where are we moving to?” Joy asked, already aware of the move thanks to Melba’s updates.
“We’re heading to Jewel Avenue,” Hadley replied. “You’ll see, the house is really spacious. There are two gardens outside, and a swing set too…”
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