Chapter 80 Leighton Was Missing
Emilia’s POV
The beer in Sebastian’s mouth turned bitter. He didn’t answer. Just tilted his head back and downed the whole can.
I figured it out. That woman meant something. Every time her name came up, he shut down like a door slamming shut.
"Tell me about her," I pushed. "Your love story. Between all your ex-wives, she’s the one I’m really curious about. The one who made you feel worse than death."
"Nothing to say."
He threw the empty can across the room. Stood up. "It’s late. Rest well."
He walked away. Left me alone with the silence.
Big gap. Always a big gap.
I woke up late the next day. Head pounding.
When I got out of my room, I realized I wasn’t the last one up. Sebastian was still in bed.
"Hey." I walked over. Shook him. "Don’t you have to go to work?"
He didn’t move.
"Hello? It’s almost noon. Get up."
Nothing.
"You can’t be this pathetic just because of what I said last night, can you?"
He sat up, annoyed. "Why aren’t you at work?"
"I took the day off."
"If you were my assistant, I definitely wouldn’t approve your leave."
"Not my fault you chose to be a workaholic."
I pursed my lips and went downstairs.
At lunch, I dropped the news.
"Mom, Dad, I’m going on a trip."
"Trip?" Everyone looked up. Then at Sebastian.
He glared back. "Don’t look at me. Nothing to do with me."
"It doesn’t. My college classmate is getting married. I’m a bridesmaid."
"Where? When will you be back?"
"Lakewood City. Two, three days."
"Alone? Need someone to go with you?"
"No. I’ll be fine."
I packed my bag. Sebastian wandered in, lazy as always.
"Getting married in this heat... Your classmate’s never been married before, huh? So eager."
I rolled my eyes. "Not everyone gets married like they’re ordering takeout, Sebastian. Some people actually look forward to it."
"Are you saying I robbed you of that experience, so you’re trying to make up for it at someone else’s wedding?"
"So what if I am?"
"Nothing. Just remember—bridesmaids are bridesmaids. You’ll never be the bride. The groom’s eyes will only be on the real one."
"That’s not true. Haven’t you heard? Happiness is contagious. When people around you are happy, you get happy too. Same with bad luck. So right now, I’m going to find people who make me happy."
I grabbed my bag. "Goodbye."
I took the three o’clock flight to Lakewood City.
But by the time I reached the Lind estate, the sky was already dark. And I walked into chaos.
Leighton Lind had run away from home.
Madam Lind grabbed my arm. "He’s probably looking for you. He hasn’t seen you in so long. He talks about you every day."
My stomach dropped. "When did he leave?"
Richie took a long drag on his cigar. "This afternoon. I was careless. He begged me to take him to find you. I thought it was just a whim. Who knew he’d actually go?"
"What are you doing about it?"
Madam Lind sobbed. "We were about to search. Then you came." She looked at me with blame in her eyes. "Why didn’t you come sooner? If you’d come half a day earlier, this wouldn’t have happened."
I lowered my head. "I’m sorry. I didn’t expect—"
"You didn’t expect? Did you expect Leighton to be sad waiting for you? You’ve been so busy with your new life, you forgot about him!"
Richie cut in. "Enough. This isn’t the time. We need to find the boy."
"You two stay home," I said. "I’ll go look for him alone."
"Are you crazy? Lakewood City is huge. It’ll take forever."
"One of my friends has connections in the police department. I’ll ask for help."
Richie thought it over. Nodded.
I went straight back to the airport. Ready to take the midnight flight back to Silverlake City.
But the sky opened up.
Rain. Heavy. Relentless.
The staff at the counter gave me the bad news.
"Ma’am, the last flight to Silverlake City has been cancelled due to severe weather."
Standing in the airport terminal, I was torn. But thinking about all of that now was useless. I couldn’t leave until dawn anyway.