The Layer was quiet, the air beary with spoken words.

Tessa, feeling the weight of it all, exceed berselt early and made her way to her bedroom

As she passed the table, her eyes landed on a gift box. She remembered the watch she had meant to give to Stephen, so she dialed his number.

“Hey, Stephen, wmember that gift I promised you? I’us about to head over with it. Are you at the manor?” “Creal,

At Evergreen Villa, Zachary and Wendy entered, but the housekeeper, Emitu, glanced over her shoulder. “Mr. Gomez, didn’t Ms. Yates return with you?”

Emma’s confusion deepened. “Didn’t Ms. Yates go out with you? she hasn’t been back in the past few days.’

A sudden realization hit Zachary, and his heart raced. Without a word, he hurried upstair

The vanity was empty, the small decorations gouse in Tessa’s room.

When he opened the closet, it was empty

Every trace of Tessa had vanished.

The room had been returned to the state it was in before she had ever moved

Zachary’s breath quickened as panic set in Hemed to the staircase and called out to Emina downstairs, “When did Tessa move her things out?”

Emma paused, her voice shaky as she hesitated. “L..I cleaned the room the next day and saw it was empty. I thought you knew.

Frustration welled up inside Zachary as he clenched his fist.

ithout a second thought, he pulled our his phone and dialed Tessa’s number, but it went straight to voicema. L

She had blocked him.

He quiddy dialed Jodie’s number instead

Tessa badn’t had many friends in Haverford, and as far as he could recall, she and Jodie had been dose. Jodie was taken aback when she received hiscall

“Tess? She hasn’t reached out to me, and I have no idea when she went. I’ll try reaching her,” she added, pulling out her phone to send Tessa a message. However, as soon as she hit send, a red exclamation mack popped up on the screen, making her treeze.

Tessa had blocked her too.

Why? They hadn’t had any major conflicts.

Zachary’s voice was filled with urgency. “Did you find out anything?”

Jodie sighed. “She blocked me too.”

He was speechless.

Wendy, who had been listening intently, quickly guessed that Tessa had left. A wave of joy washed over her.

“Zachary, did you break up with Tess?

Zachary was taken aback

121

That wasn’t his intention at all.

When he had told her he never wanted to see her again i hat night, it was said in the beat of the moment, fueled by anger.

Even when Tessa blocked him, he didn’t think that meant it was over. He figured she was just suilding, waiting for him to apologize and make things right.

But now, with her things gone, could it really be that she was just throwing a tantrum?

Seeing her expression, Wendy gently linked her arm with his. “Zachary, now that you’ve broken up, it’s best for both of you to go your separate ways. We Whoold take a vacation and dear our heads”

Zachary finally understood the gravity of the situation, and his initial panic shifted to anger.

Tiui wa pint

Tessa had gotten bold enough to end things with him.

This time, he was determined to see how long she could hold out.

Ten days? Two weeks?

Furious over her sudden departure, he decided to ignoreer for a while.