Silence fell on the other end of the call.

During those few empty seconds, I stood beside the officer with my heart lodged in my throat.

I still held onto one last bit of hope. I believed that no matter how angry Ethan was, he would at least tell them I was not a thief.

When he finally spoke again, my entire body froze.

“I understand. Handle it according to normal procedure. Thieves these days are getting bold. Maybe this will teach her a lesson so she will not act recklessly again.”

In that instant, I understood everything.

Ethan had known about Olivia calling the police from the beginning.

Because I disobeyed him and upset Olivia, he decided to use this chance to punish me and force me to lower my head.

After the officers hung up, they completed the paperwork and locked me inside the detention center.

The days there were dark and miserable. The women sharing my cell saw how quiet and withdrawn I was, so they found different ways to bully me.

I could not fight back. I curled up on the hard bunk in the corner and stared at the peeling walls.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, Ethan’s assistant finally came to visit me.

“Ms. Quinn, Mr. Ferguson said that if you admit you were wrong, he will bail you out immediately.”

I slowly lifted my eyes to look at him. Then I curled my lips into an icy smile and answered with one word.

“Leave.”

The assistant’s face stiffened. He said nothing and walked out.

When Ethan heard what happened, his expression darkened.

“Fine. She has backbone. If she refuses to bow her head, then let her stay in there longer. I want to see how long she can act tough.”

That was what he said.

During the next few days, he became strangely irritable.

Documents piled up in front of him, yet he could not focus on a single word. Even during executive meetings, his mind drifted.

When Olivia brought the child to visit him at the office, Vivian’s face still flashed through his mind.

He remembered the days they lived in that basement apartment, when she pushed the only bowl of hot soup toward him with a smile and insisted she was not hungry.

Ethan rubbed his forehead and made an excuse to send Olivia and the child away. Then he called his assistant into the office.

“When is Vivian getting out?”

The assistant froze for a moment before checking the records. “Mr. Ferguson, the detention period is seven days. She will be released the day after tomorrow.”

Ethan nodded and waved him away.

He leaned back in his chair. Some of the tension inside him eased. He thought that when Vivian came out, he would pick her up himself.

Even if she acted stubborn, he would lower himself first and bring her home. He could not leave her out there to suffer.

On the day of her release, Ethan canceled all his appointments and arrived outside the detention center half an hour early.

He leaned against his car and rehearsed in his mind how he should speak to her.

The detention center doors opened and closed again and again. Groups of released inmates walked out and disappeared.

The entrance eventually stood empty.

Vivian never appeared.

Ethan frowned and walked into the reception hall to question a staff member.

“The woman being released today, Vivian. Where is she?”

The staff member checked the system records and looked up calmly.

“Vivian? She was bailed out yesterday.”

Ethan stood frozen as cold spread through his veins.

Vivian had lived in Stormbay for five years. Her social circle was painfully small, and her whole world had revolved around him alone. So who else could have taken her away?