Paige asked again, “What about Kevin?”
“He’s gone back to the south,” Nick said, standing by. “Mr. Kevin said there’s no point staying here if he can’t see you, so he decided to return south early to make preparations. When it’s time to go to the slum, he’ll join us there.”
The south was closer to Wind Island.
Paige was momentarily lost in thought. The last time she saw Kevin was days ago, and it had only been for business. Despite all his help, she hadn’t properly thanked him, and now he was gone again.
“But Mr. Kevin has done a lot to help with the trip to Wind Island this time,” Carrie said as she opened a document in her hand. “We’ve arranged for a large cruise ship, fully stocked with supplies. Following Mr. Kevin’s advice, we’ve prepared plenty of medical supplies and even assembled a medical team to come along. As for other essentials, Paige, is there anything else we need?”
Paige stood in front of the conference table, glanced at the document, and said, “Everything is well-prepared.”
“That’s great! Then we can set off tomorrow morning,” Carrie said, genuinely excited.
“…”
Tomorrow morning. That was when she had to make her decision.
Nick walked over to Paige’s side, leaning against the table. His gaze landed on the photos on the wall, particularly Angie’s. His lips pressed into a thin line, his face void of expression, and his voice was soft, “She’d be happy.”
Paige’s breathing hitched. She turned around to face the wall.
Everyone was fighting and struggling to rebuild the slum, while she had been weighed down by debts she wasn’t sure she could repay.
“Nick,” Paige spoke up.
Nick looked at her, and she turned her gaze to the photos on the wall, asking quietly, “If you had known how things would end that night, would you still have entered River Town?”
Nick’s expression flickered with emotion before he turned his gaze away. After a moment, he responded, “I don’t know.”
He didn’t know.
It was difficult to know for sure.
Paige replied softly, “You two can leave now. I’d like to sit here alone for a while.”
“Are you okay, Paige?” Carrie asked, noticing something was off.
“I’m fine. Go ahead,” Paige urged them out, sitting alone at the large conference table.
She looked at the pile of documents in front of her, pulling out a photo of the cruise ship and setting it aside.
After a long time, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a black-market boat ticket. The time on the ticket was also for tomorrow morning, and the destination was D Country.
She placed the ticket next to the picture of the cruise ship.
The same time, two completely different destinations.
It was like a set of scales teetering in front of her, ready to crumble under the weight of the decision.
Paige sat there quietly, staring at the two objects on the table. A flood of memories came rushing back.
Arjun’s calm acceptance of death in prison, River Town engulfed in flames, the slum where people fell one by one…
Last night, in Enrico’s arms, she had a nightmare.
In the dream, she finally set foot on Wind Island, but the island was filled with corpses. She called out their names, but all she saw were bones.
She tried to pull them up, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t.
A giant python wrapped around a tree suddenly lunged at her, its thick body coiling around her tightly. She gasped for air, unable to break free, helplessly watching as the python moved in to swallow her…
Just as the darkness closed in, she woke up.
Enrico had been sitting next to her, leaning against the headboard with his knees drawn up. A small sketch pad rested on his legs, and he was absentmindedly sketching with a pen in his hand.
Sunlight streamed into the room, casting a warm glow on his moving fingers.
She had watched silently, noticing the sketches on the paper. They were designs for rings.
That’s when she realized-he wasn’t just designing cars; he had also decided to design the rings himself.
Paige sat there quietly, staring at the table.
The entire day passed, with her doing nothing but sitting in the empty conference room, staring at the two choices before her.
She didn’t turn on the lights, leaving the room in near-total darkness. Her figure was cast in shadow, like a soulless shell.
As the night fell, Paige finally moved. She stood up, picked one of the two items in front of her, and left.
Her fingers clenched tightly around it.
As she walked out of the basement, even though it was nighttime, there was still some daylight outside.
She stepped out of the mansion and saw Carrie and Nick standing silently on either side of the door, lost in thought.
When they saw her, Carrie looked at her with concern. “Paige.”
Paige hadn’t eaten all day, and Carrie had tried to bring her food, but it had been refused.
“Yeah, I’m leaving,” Paige said calmly, looking at her.
Carrie wanted to ask questions, but she didn’t know where to start. Her female intuition told her that something was definitely wrong.
“Paige,” Nick called from the other side.
Paige turned, seeing Nick with his black-framed glasses and a serious expression, so different from before.
He looked at her and said with determination, “If I had known the ending, I wouldn’t have let Angie go in, but I would’ve gone in myself.”
He was determined to take on Angie’s burden in full.
If one of them had to die, he wanted it to be him.
Paige remained silent for a few moments, then nodded.
If it came down to it, if there was a choice where her death could save everyone, she wouldn’t hesitate either.
But unfortunately, she wasn’t strong enough for that yet.
“Alright, focus on your work,” she said.
She looked at the two of them for a moment and then added, “The most important thing now is the presidential election. We have to support Rafael’s re-election. There can’t be any mistakes.”
“Yes,” they both answered.
“Alright, I’m off,” Paige said, then turned and walked away.
Carrie watched her leave. Despite the approaching slum reconstruction, Paige’s silhouette seemed weighed down by a heavy burden.
…
The next morning, Temple in Heaven was buzzing with activity.
Carrie and Nick were busy checking the headcount, as numerous cars lined up and headed for the coast.
The massive cruise ship was docked at the shore, and one by one, supplies were loaded onto the vessel. By the time everything was ready, the sun had fully risen, its warm light breaking through the winter chill.
Carrie was busy running up and down, checking supplies.
Once the inventory was complete, she breathed a sigh of relief as she disembarked from the ship. She found Nick and other members of the Peak Club standing below, looking concerned.
“What’s going on?” Carrie asked.
“Paige isn’t here yet,” Nick said grimly, glancing at his watch.
Carrie’s heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to say, “She’s probably coming with her husband.”
Everyone exchanged looks, sharing the same unspoken thought-Paige had always been meticulous, never letting her personal life interfere with her responsibilities. Given the importance of today’s mission, her absence was highly unusual.
Something was definitely wrong.