“Michael’s left. Why do you need to see him?” Asked the woman drying her fishnet at the door, her straw hat covering half of her face. She looked at them both warily.
Before Isabella could say anything, James said, “We’re here to pay back the money. Michael helped us when we were in Birmingham. We’ve saved some money now that we’re both working, and we’d like to repay him.”
James then took a wad of cash from his bag. The woman was no longer wary at that point and immediately invited them inside.
And James added, “We borrowed money from him previously, but he keeps the notes. So, we still need to see hi in person.”
The woman nodded but then frowned and said, “He never told me that. He left before dawn today, and I have no idea why he went out. So I’m not sure when he’ll be back.”
“It’s fine, we can wait.” Isabella gave James a wink. When James realized what she wanted to do, he rolled up his sleeves and asked, “You’re going to dry the fish in the sun, aren’t you? Let me help you.”
The woman thanked James with a smile. Soon, Isabella crept into a room while they were busy.
The layout of the house was very traditional. It had two bedrooms on opposite sides, a living room in the middle, and a kitchen at the back. Isabella walked through the two bedrooms and seemed upset.
“What’s the matter?” When James realized she had spotted something, he asked her as he took a break.
Isabella leaned against the edge of the kitchen door, her arms crossed across her chest, saying, “I just noticed a family photograph in the room to the left. We happened to meet the girl in the picture last night.”
While tracing the shape of Sabrina’s haircut on his head with his hand, James asked, “Do you mean…”
“Well, I remember the man called her Sabrina,” Isabella replied, understanding what he meant.
“Madam, please allow me to help you,” James said after a brief pause.
The woman laid the fish on the floor after James carried them out of the small storage shed next to him.
While they were busy working, James asked in purpose, “I heard Michael say that you have a daughter named Sabrina. She’s not here, is she?”
“Sabrina sometimes stays at her friend’s house. She hasn’t returned since yesterday, so she would maybe come back home this afternoon. I’ll ask her to cook for you later. She is an excellent cook.” The woman missed the hidden meaning in his question. When the woman mentioned her daughter, she looked happy and proud, breaking Isabella’s heart.
They eventually got all of the fish out of the warehouse. When James was about to take a break, he heard someone shout from the doorway, “Something terrible has happened to Michael!”
When they arrived at the hospital in Sun Town, Michael had been declared dead. When Michael’s wife saw the white cloth covering her, she was devastated. She passed out before she could even touch him with her trembling hands.
The man who brought Micheal to the hospital said to them, “You better not look at him.”
Isabella didn’t even dare to look at him. While James lifted the white cloth to make sure the man wasn’t Micheal before vomiting for ten minutes by the sink.
“It’s him,” James confirmed.
“What a coincidence!” Isabella said, handing him a tissue.
“That’s spooky.”
Micheal’s body was discovered by a man on the road from the village to Sun Town. He was involved in a car accident. And Micheal had stopped breathing when the man discovered him. Unfortunately, there was no surveillance along that stretch of road. Michael left the house early in the morning, so no one knew what had happened to him.
A while later, a doctor entered with a sealed plastic bag containing Micheal’s keys, wallet, and mobile phone. His wife was simply too frail to grasp it. So, Isabella took the bag for her, and then something struck her.
“Do you know Michael’s mobile phone password, Ma’am?” She asked Michael’s wife.
After getting his password, Isabella unlocked Michael’s phone. Then already shattered screen glowed faintly. Isabella clutched that phone tightly after seeing his text message.
She was conflicted, and she wasn’t sure what she was thinking. She dropped the phone and stormed out of the hospital, furious.
Sabrina sent Micheal his last message at 3 a.m. She told him she was in love with a married man and was eloping with him.
Micheal responded at 3:05 a.m., saying, “Wait for me, I’ll be right over there.”
Isabella’s eyes were filled with tears. She could imagine his terror as he walked down that dark night road and his desperation when he was hit by a car.
Isabella’s entire body shook as she took a taxi to the hotel. As sad as she was, James gripped her hand tightly.
Sabrina had already left by then. When Isabella asked about it with the hotel receptionist, the cleaning lady who had just finished cleaning their room sniffed aside and said, “I thought I heard the girl say she was taking the 3 p.m. train when I went to clean the room.”
At forty past two, Isabella and James arrived at the train station. The waiting room at the railway station there was quite small, and they quickly spotted Sabrina. However, the situation was not what they had anticipated.
Sabrina was sobbing. She dragged the man’s luggage around with both hands, refusing to let go. She shouted, “You promised to take me with you last night!”
“I came here to see you yesterday to clear things up with you. You said some stupid things after getting drunk. I only asked you to come here to say goodbye, but I didn’t promise to take you with me.”
The man became enraged when he realized Sabrina was still tugging on his luggage, and she appeared very persistent. She didn’t seem to want to do anything other than follow him.
Then the man slapped her across the face with all his might. He yanked at the luggage to leave as she sat on the floor.
“Stop, you bastard!” Isabella yelled angrily as she walked quickly towards them. She quickly approached them, picking up the warning sign on the ground. She slapped the warning sign hard on the man’s head before he could react.
The man staggered and almost collapsed. “Who the hell are you?” he asked.
Sabrina was stunned, and she quickly became enraged. She had Isabella’s hair in her grasp and was about to hit her.
“You’re a bastard, too!” Isabella slapped her, waving her hand and blocking her attack.
They were both perplexed. Isabella slapped Sabrina again just as she was about to fight back.
“Your father is dead,” Isabella yelled through the chaos.
Sabrina blinked as if she didn’t understand what was going on.
Isabella looked at her coldly and observed her expression before saying again, “Your father is dead now. He died because of you, and your mother cried so hard that she fainted in the hospital. She called you, but you didn’t answer her call. You think you’re cool because of your hair, and you have fun flirting with married men, don’t you? You are the most pathetic person on the planet.”
Sabrina looked as if she didn’t believe Isabella’s words. “Nonsense! That’s impossible!” She shouted hysterically.
“He wouldn’t have gone looking for you if you hadn’t texted him at 3 a.m. saying you were eloping with someone. He was hit by a car and died tragically!” Isabella yelled.
Sabrina struggled to accept this fact. She sat on the floor, sobbing bitterly and mumbling, “No, I didn’t. I didn’t text my dad, and I didn’t tell him that.”
Isabella was stunned by her words and asked, “You didn’t send him the message, did you? If it hadn’t been you…”
Isabella turned to face the man who had left the crowd and was preparing to flee. She took a step forward and kicked his suitcase away. She reached out again, grabbing him by the hair and dragging him back.
James, who was in the crowd, gulped when he saw this.
“Did you use her phone to send Micheal a message in the middle of the night?” Isabella dragged the man over to Sabrina, asking.
Isabella punched him hard, and he was clearly in pain. Still, he said nothing and just smiled wickedly.
Then Isabella snatched him by the collar and asked, “Why?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.