Nelson couldn’t reach Callie by phone, so he called Anthony instead. Anthony glanced cautiously at Callie before stepping outside to answer.
“Mr. Oconnor, Miss Marsh is awake… Yes, she’s not in a good mood… The doctor is here… She…”
Anthony stood at the door answering questions over the phone. Suddenly, the door behind him opened from the inside. Callie, dressed in a white nightgown, stood there quietly.
Anthony was momentarily stunned. “Miss…”
Callie gripped the cold doorknob. “Ask him when he’s coming back.”
Anthony was taken aback but quickly relayed her question to Nelson.
After a moment, Anthony repeated, “Mr. Oconnor will be back at dawn.”
Callie nodded slightly, her expression indifferent. “Tell him I will wait for him.”
Without waiting for Nelson’s response, she re-entered the room and closed the door. She lay down on the soft bed. The rain outside had stopped, and the scenery under the streetlights was serene and elegant.
Callie took a deep breath. No matter how long she stayed in Nelson’s place before, she never felt a sense of belonging because she hadn’t grown up in such an environment. But now she remembered-these things belonged to her.
She had been unconscious for a long time and wasn’t sleepy now. While waiting for Nelson to return, she reinserted the SIM card into her phone and saw many unread messages.
Among them was a tip-off from Regan: “I can’t believe it, Charlotte is using the same trick as Marilyn.”
“But I have to say, the difference in treatment is obvious. This time Ahmad almost ended up in the hospital too.”
“Charlotte is really bold; the doctor said the wound reached the bone.”
“After three hours of emergency treatment, Nelson arrived, and finally, everything was fine.”
Callie read through each message and then moved on to Jamir’s messages. He sounded anxious: “Callie, don’t be foolish.”
His voice messages were filled with urgency. Callie found it amusing and listened to them several times.
He was worried she had fallen into Nelson’s trap again, but in reality, she had never left it.
Finally, dawn broke. The lake outside intertwined ambiguously with the sky, all in white. The streetlights went out. Callie got up, washed her face, and felt much more awake.
She looked at herself in the mirror and thought seriously. When Nelson returned, she would give herself a chance to lay everything out. No matter what, he deserved to know.
However, she kept waiting as the sky gradually brightened with the morning glow spreading out. The view became clear. She waited until the sun slowly rose halfway up the sky, but Nelson still hadn’t returned.
Callie sat on the sofa, her expression numb.
There was no sound outside; Nelson hadn’t come back, and Anthony didn’t dare come in to report.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when she picked up her phone. It was already eleven in the morning.
She told herself to let it go.
“Damn it, Callie! What are you doing?” Jamir yelled as soon as he answered her call.
Callie took a deep breath. “Come pick me up at the art gallery. I’ll be waiting at the entrance.”
It took just over ten minutes for Jamir to drive over from his place. Along the way, he had figured out what had happened.
“What happened to your head? Did he hit you?” Seeing her bend down to get into the car, Jamir squinted his eyes and immediately tried to check.
Callie brushed his hand away. “I bumped it.”
Jamir was skeptical but drove quickly. “Charlotte made another suicide attempt this morning. Nelson is there and can’t get away.”