Chapter 241

---- Chapter 241 "Don, you should head home as well," Tony said, his voice rough with grief as he tried to comfort Donovan. "Now that Giselle's been found, let this be the end of it. Thank you for looking out for my daughter all this time. I hope you can return to your norm soon. "I'm not going to blame anyone anymore. If there's blame to place, it's on her fate. That's all there is to it." He gave Donovan's shoulder a firm pat before leaving with the cops. Donovan sat by the river, unable to let it go. The ground was covered in mud from a recent downpour, but he didn't care.

His trousers were soaked through, yet he sat there unmoving, staring blankly out over the wide expanse of the river. He lit one cigarette after another , smoking nonstop. In less than an hour, the pack was almost gone, and his heart felt like an empty wasteland. Before long, his phone rang. After whipping it out, he realized it was Renee calling. He declined the call, but she rang again almost immediately. Not wanting to be pestered, he reluctantly answered, his voice hoarse as he asked, "What is it?" ---- "Don!" Renee's voice was sharp and cutting through the line. Anne had a miscarriage.

Gideon kidnapped and tormented her until she miscarried! The baby was your own flesh and blood. "It was almost four months along. And now it's gone. As the father, you'd better get here right this instant!" Donovan completely tuned her out and responded coldly, "I'm busy. I'm hanging up now." "What's that supposed to mean?" Renee demanded. "Your baby's gone, and you don't even care? I'm telling you, you need to step up and hold that man legally responsible! If you don't-" "That has nothing to do with me," he cut her off before hanging up and powering off his phone.

The truth was, he couldn't bring himself to care about anyone or anything-least of all about an unborn baby he wasn't even sure was his. All he wanted was to find a place where no one could reach him, shut himself off completely, and cut all contact with the world. In the end, he didn't go home. He drove to Giselle's place. It was only when he returned to this place, surrounded by the echoes of her life, that the emptiness inside him felt a little less unbearable. Her dog, Eastin , had been taken in by Gideon long ago. The silence in the house now felt even heavier.

---- Giselle had always looked put-together, though she was anything but orderly when it came to her living space. Her place was always a mess-worn clothes scattered everywhere, the floor mopped only once a week, the blanket left rumpled, and clean laundry crammed carelessly into the closet. Back then, he would've frowned at her lack of order. Yet, now, seeing this mess, his chest tightened with a bittersweet ache.

He swept and mopped the floors, tidied her room, folded her clothes neatly, and tucked them into the wardrobe, rearranging the jars and bottles with their foreign labels on her vanity. When the place was spotless and orderly, he sank onto her bed again. The moment he closed his eyes, all he could see was her, a presence that would never leave him. He stayed there for two days, and on the third day, he received another call from Tony. "Hello, Don!" Tony, who was breathing heavily over the phone, could barely contain himself as he revealed the truth.