He Faked His Death for His Mistress, So I Sent Him to Prison

Chapter 8

When Nova got back home after sorting out all the paperwork, the butler hurried to greet her, his voice polite and deferential. "Madam, everything is packed. Early tomorrow morning, Sir will fly you, young master, and young miss to Paris."

"Okay," Nova nodded, her gaze softening with a flicker of warmth as she watched her two kids playing on the rug in their children's room.

Her husband had just wrapped up a big project, and this trip abroad had been planned for ages.

Meanwhile, Silas woke up at the c***k of dawn and carefully pulled on a crisp, tailored suit.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror and smiled with satisfaction at first. But before long, a strange, indescribable restlessness coiled in his chest, twisting into sharp anxiety.

He kept glancing at his watch, over and over. And right when it was almost time to head out, Elara's call came through.

Elara whimpered over the line, "Silas... my stomach... hurts so bad... can you come check on me? I am so scared..."

Silas paused. For once, he did not immediately rush out the door in a panic. He checked the time, his eyebrows knitting tightly together, but still softened his voice to soothe her. "Do not be scared, I am on my way."

He pulled out his phone and shot off a hasty text to Nova. "Something urgent came up. Let us reschedule for two o'clock this afternoon."

When he burst into Elara's apartment, she was propped up against her headboard, deathly pale. She clamped onto his hand the second he stepped inside and refused to let go.

Silas jumped straight into taking care of her, pouring water, grabbing medicine, and calling the doctor. By the time he had finished running around, it was almost noon. Then Elara claimed she had no appetite and talked him into cooking warm broth for her from scratch, then fed it to her spoonful by spoonful.

He said gently, "Elara, do not overthink this. Even after Nova and I sign our papers, you will always be the most important person in my life. I will always take care of you. I will get everything sorted out with Nova... she will not throw a fit again after this, I promise."

By the time he finally got Elara settled and calmed her down, the clock already read three o'clock in the afternoon.

A flicker of urgency pricked at him, which was rare. As he sped toward the city hall, he tried to reassure himself. Nova must be waiting impatiently. He would explain everything properly and apologize, she would calm down and not stay mad...

When Silas pushed through the doors of the city hall, he straightened his suit and scanned the crowd, searching for that familiar silhouette he knew so well.

She was not there. He frowned and waited. Ten minutes... thirty minutes... an hour...

The staff started clocking out for the day, the crowd outside the entrance slowly thinned out, and Nova never showed up.

Silas's expression shifted steadily from calm composure at the start to gnawing impatience, until his scowl grew so dark it could have dripped water.

He redialed Nova's number over and over. At first, no one picked up. But by the end, a robotic voice flatly informed him the number was no longer in service.

For a split second, all the color drained from Silas's face. He forced himself to shake off the shock and think straight, then immediately raced to the place Nova lived to look for her.

The house was empty, and his calls to her still went unanswered. In that gut-wrenching moment, he drew a total blank. He had no idea where else to even start looking for her.

After wracking his brain for what felt like forever, he finally remembered Nova had a younger cousin. He fished her number out of his contacts and hit call immediately.

He demanded, "Where is Nova? Why did she not show up at the city hall today?"

His cousin on the other end of the line was clearly caught off guard. She froze for a few seconds before answering, confused. "Silas? What city hall? Nova and her whole family left for an overseas trip today."

"Whole family?" Silas snarled, his voice dropping to an icy growl. "What whole family?"

Nova's parents had died in a car crash years ago. What other family could she have?

The cousin's voice drifted through the line, fuzzy and distant. "You did not know? Nova got married ages ago. She even has two kids already."

In that instant, a deafening roar exploded in Silas's head, and his mind went completely blank.