Chapter 9

After that night, her drinking worsened and her behavior became even more reckless. The elders of the Shaw family couldn't bear to watch, so they forcibly sent her abroad to recuperate, out of sight, out of mind.

Six months later, on a rainy night in late fall.

I was returning home after a business dinner. As my car entered the gated community, I spotted a familiar yet strange figure huddled under the porch of my mansion, shivering in the wind and rain.

It was Susan.

I didn't know when she had returned or how long she had been waiting there. Her hair was plastered to her face, soaked through. She wore only a thin dress, her body so emaciated it had lost its shape, her face as pale as a ghost.

Only her eyes, fixed intently on my headlights, held a nearly obsessive determination.

The driver asked, "Mr. Frost?"

"Drive on," I said, expressionless.

The car drove straight into the garage. I got out, opened my umbrella, and walked towards the side door.