Semua Bab Contract Marriage with My Hockey Alpha: Bab 81 - Bab 89

CHAPTER EIGHTY Two The House That RememberedScarlett’s POVThe road to my old home seemed much shorter than I remembered, although I knew that was probably because I was no longer the little girl who had once travelled along it without understanding why certain places felt important to her.I sat quietly beside Ryan in the back seat while Eleanor sat across from us, holding her walking stick between both hands, and Mr. Alden sat beside the driver with a folder resting on his lap.Nobody spoke much during the journey.There were too many thoughts between us, too many questions that had followed us from the cemetery to the mansion and then to Mr. Alden’s house, and now all of those questions were leading us toward the one place I had spent years trying not to remember.My childhood home.I stared through the window as the city slowly disappeared behind us, replaced by narrow roads, tall trees, small houses, and fields that looked strangely familiar even though I could not remember vis

CHAPTER EIGHTY Five The Woman Who LeftScarlett’s POVThe address on Ryan’s phone remained on the screen for several seconds, and even though it was only a collection of numbers and a street name, I could not explain why looking at it made my heart beat faster, as if some part of me already knew that whatever waited at the end of that road would change everything we thought we understood about my past.Ryan stood beside the table with his phone still in his hand, his expression serious as he read the message again, while Eleanor remained near the window with her walking stick resting against her leg, and Mr. Alden looked more worried than I had ever seen him before.I looked at all of them before finally speaking.“Who lives there?”Mr. Alden took a slow breath before answering.“Nobody, at least not officially.”Ryan looked at him.“What does that mean?”“The property belongs to an old friend of mine, but it has been empty for years, although someone has been maintaining it from a d

CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHTYou Are Looking in the Wrong PlaceScarlett’s POVThe journey back from Adeline’s house felt completely different from the journey there because when we had left the mansion earlier that evening, I had been carrying questions that had followed me for years, while now I was carrying something much heavier and much more precious, because for the first time since I was a child, I had heard my mother’s voice clearly enough to understand that she had never stopped loving me, even though knowing that she had wanted to come back only made the years without her feel more painful.I sat beside Ryan in the back seat while the lights from the road passed across his face, and neither of us spoke for several minutes because there were moments when words were simply not enough to explain what was happening inside us.My mother’s voice was still in my head.I never abandoned you.I closed my eyes and rested my head against the window.I wanted to believe those words completely,

CHAPTER Eighty EightSomeone Inside the HouseScarlett’s POVThe message stayed on my phone long after I had stopped reading it, because even though the words were simple, I could feel the warning behind them, and the fact that someone knew we were searching for Gabriel meant that whoever had been hiding the truth was beginning to realize that Ryan and I were no longer willing to accept the stories we had been given.Ryan stood beside me, staring at the screen.“We need to find out who sent this.”“I agree.”He looked at me.“But we have to be careful.”“I know.”Before he could say anything else, we heard the sound of a car stopping outside the mansion.Eleanor looked toward the front door.A few moments later, the door opened.Gabriel walked inside.Ryan immediately became tense.“What are you doing here?”Gabriel looked at him before turning toward me.“I need to speak with Scarlett.”Ryan stepped forward.“You could have called.”“I did not think a phone call would be safe.”That