He took the ne out, snapped the string, and sent pearls scattering across the floor. Just then, Butler Parham walked in to inform Hawthorne that Ms. Everhart had left, only to witness a rare disy of temper from his employer. Hawthorne''s face, however, remained a cold, indifferent mask as the pearls rolled in every direction. ''Have someone clean this up.''


    Butler Parham knew Hawthorne was furious and immediately called the maids upstairs. Several pearls had rolled under the bed. Knowing Mr. Everhart had intended them as a gift for Ms. Everhart, the butler instructed the staff to move the bed to retrieve them all. As they did, he noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor beneath it-Gwh''s pregnancy scan report.


    ''Mr. Everhart, there''s a paper here,'' Butler Parham mentioned, but Hawthorne, lost in his own frustrations, just scowled. ''Just pick everything up, get rid of the trash, and make this ce spotless. And remember to air out Ms. Everhart''s bedroom regrly.'' Hawthorne didn''t even nce over.


    Butler Parham didn''t dare pick up the paper in front of him; it was something from his employer''s private room, and it wasn''t his ce to meddle. A maid picked up Gwh''s scan report and casually tossed it into the trash can. Butler Parham, focused on collecting all the pearls to have them restrung, paid it no further mind. As the Everhart family''s long-serving butler, he was trusted implicitly by everyone in the household.


    Hawthorne went to look for Gwh, but she was nowhere to be found. The previous day, when he had taken Patti home, Gwh and Leonie had caused a huge scene, and it hadpletely rattled him. He had always thought of Gwh as a calm andposed woman; after all, she had barely confronted him since discovering Patti''s existence. But yesterday had been different. Her outburst had unsettled him, leaving him on edge.


    Fearing another conflict if he returned home, he had gone to his office after leaving Patti''s ce and stayed there all night. At dawn, he had nned to continue working, but a nce at his phone revealed that he and Patti were trending on social media. Hawthorne instantly knew someone was pulling the strings and immediately called his team to take down all rted topics, ordering them to block any keywords associated with his name.


    His business with Patti was meant to provoke James, not to involve innocent people. If this blew up, it could create an insurmountable chasm between him and Gwh. For a rare moment, Hawthorne panicked. If he had been thinking clearly, he wouldn''t have tried to appease her with a gift; the gesture now seemed like a transparent attempt to cover his tracks. But Gwh wasn''t falling for it anymore. His mind in turmoil, Hawthorne called Hans for a ride while simultaneously trying to reach Gwh. The calls went straight to voicemail. She still had him blocked on Facebook, every message he sent met with a red exmation point. She wouldn''t answer his calls or reply to his texts. And it wasn''t just Gwh; even Leonie had stopped responding to him. Sometimes he would message Leonie just to ask how Gwh was doing, only to receive a curt reply: ''If you want to know, ask her yourself.'' And that would be the end of it.


    Gwh drove herself to theke. The spring sun felt warm on her skin as she sat under a weeping willow, quietly contemting her original purpose foring to Greenvale. Back then, aside from the disastrous mistake of dating Bill Crawford, her life had been rtively peaceful and free.