He Remembered, But No One Else Did

Chapter 5 A Deal in the Dark

Brenton and Clare flew back the very next day, leaving only one assistant behind to handle the cleanup. His name was Tucker Scott.

The moment Tucker heard that Eveline had survived, he followed Brenton's orders and came to demand compensation.

But the second he stepped into her hospital room and saw her face, he froze. "It's you?"

Eveline lifted her eyes slowly and recognized him at once. "Brenton's country cousin? Or should I say, the personal assistant to Mr. Murphy?"

Tucker's lips pressed into a tight line as he stared at her. "So you're Vivian. No wonder you were ready to throw your own life away just to shove Ms. Gomez right off that cliff."

His expression showed he had everything figured out, and a mocking glint danced in his eyes.

"Mr. Murphy has been wondering how to break the news to you. Looks like the problem just solved itself."

He pulled out his phone, ready to report straight to Brenton.

Eveline spoke in a quiet, steady voice. "Tucker, don't you want to know where your daughter is?"

His hand stopped midair.

Tucker stared at her warily. "I don't have a daughter. Don't make things up."

"You know I'm not making anything up. Your little girl has been missing for five whole years. Every night you lie awake, don't you? You keep seeing that green dinosaur toy she carried everywhere."

Eveline closed her eyes and continued softly, "Let me tell you what she wore the day you left her. A brand-new pink princess dress you had just bought for three hundred sixty-nine dollars at the little shop on East Garry Road, number fourteen. The owner was a beautiful woman with a small mole right on the bridge of her nose."

Tucker's eyes widened. His shoulders began to tremble. "How… how do you know all that?"

Eveline's face was still deathly pale, yet her voice stayed calm and sure. "None of that matters right now. All you need to tell me is whether you want to find your daughter."

Tucker stayed silent for a long time. In the end, temptation won. "What do you want in return?"

Eveline's eyes flickered. "Don't tell Brenton. Or rather, don't tell Frederick Murphy."

Saying that name out loud felt strange, like it belonged to a stranger instead of the man she had loved for years.

"Just keep my secret. Don't let him know I'm Vivian."

Tucker paused. "You're afraid he'll hate you?"

Eveline smoothed the sheet over her lap. "You can think of it that way."

Tucker was a smart man. Their first deal went smoothly.

By the time Eveline had recovered enough to leave the hospital, the final report had already been sent to Brenton: full compensation, immediate termination, and her coaching license revoked, exactly as he had demanded.

As for whether it was true or not, he would never bother to check in person.

Eveline was certain that as long as neither she nor Tucker said a word, this secret would stay buried forever.

On the day she was finally ready to leave Kestrel Peak, Eveline received a video call from Brenton for the first time in weeks.

She stared at the flashing Patrick Star avatar on the screen until the call was about to end, then tapped accept at the very last second.

On the other side, Brenton sat in a dimly lit old apartment, still wearing the scarf she had knitted for him with her own hands, wrapped snugly around his neck.

He raised his hands and began to sign, just like always. "Eveline, I'm so sorry. My phone broke a while back. I took it to a repair shop, but the guy said it's too old to fix, so I had to send it to another county…"

He played the poor struggling guy perfectly, his handsome face carrying that same heartbreaking melancholy that used to melt her heart.

If this had happened before, Eveline would already be transferring money for a new phone. But now she felt nothing but ice in her chest.

Instead, what came to mind was the diamond cufflink she had seen that day on the slope, gleaming at the edge of his sleeve.

For the sake of saving money, she had often refused to go to the hospital even when she was sick. Only when she could no longer endure it would she buy some medicine, and even then, she would pick the cheaper substitutes over the expensive ones that actually worked.

Brenton had seen it with his own eyes.

He had signed to her then, promising he would work hard and make money so she would never have to suffer like that again.

Her body had ached, but her heart had felt so warm.

She had believed their love was stronger than any amount of money.

No matter how hard things got, as long as he was by her side, nothing else mattered.

Yet that single diamond cufflink could have bought nearly a hundred boxes of the medicine she had needed so badly.

Every sacrifice she had made, every moment she had told herself their love was enough, now felt like a cruel joke.

Eveline stayed completely silent. She simply looked at the man on the screen with eyes that had turned cold and distant, like winter frost that would never melt again.