?Chapter 1688:


    Before stepping out, Ste lifted her eyes toward the second floor and lingered there. She thought that if William came after her now — if he called out to her — she wouldn’t go. But she waited, and the upper floor stayed silent.


    She let out a quiet sigh and pulled her suitcase toward the door. The sound of it closing wasn’t loud. If anything, it was gentle. And yet, from the second floor, it struck William with unexpected force.


    He had known she was packing. He had also known she was waiting — waiting for him to stop her, to ask her to stay.


    But he hadn’t moved.


    William stood frozen in the doorway of the upstairs bedroom, staring down at the now-empty living room for a long time. The space still held traces of her presence. A faint, familiar scent lingered in the air, and the items she used every day remained neatly arranged on the dressing table. She hadn’t taken them — as though she were only stepping out briefly and would return soon.


    But William understood the truth. She wasn’ting back.


    William understood that no matter how fractured his memories were, he should still be clear about one thing: Ste was not the kind of woman who would do what he had just used her of. And yet, despite knowing this, he had still let those cruel usations slip from his mouth.


    Perhaps it was because he was hurting so deeply himself that he keptshing out at her, dragging her into his own pain. At what point had he turned into someone like this?


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    “Mr. Briggs?”


    A careful, tentative voice came from the direction of the staircase. Tasha stood there with a tray in her hands — a ss of water and a few pills, the medicine Jewell had prescribed for William to take at fixed times each day. In the past, Ste had always been the one to remind him. Now that she was gone, that responsibility had quietly fallen to Tasha.


    William turned his head slightly and replied in a rough, strained voice, “Just leave it there.”


    Tasha set the tray down on the small hallway table, but instead of walking away, she lingered. She looked at William, clearly conflicted, then spoke anyway.


    “Mr. Briggs, I know it’s not my ce to say this, but I’ve seen how Ms. Russell has beentely. Things haven’t been easy for her, yet she’s never once med you. No matter what, she always thinks of you first.”


    She was only a maid. By all logic, William was the one who paid her wages — she could have chosen to say nothing and simply go on doing her job. But after spending time with Ste, Tasha genuinely believed she was a truly good-hearted person. And she felt, deep down, that William was being far too cruel. If Ste hadn’t been who she was, anyone else might have walked away from him a long time ago.


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