Chapter 748:

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A wave of panic hit me. I quickly checked my clothes and my bag. Everything was intact, and even my high heels had been placed neatly beside the door.

I felt a great sense of relief. Either the young man from last night had truly been a decent person, or some shred of my own mind had managed to get me home safely.

I tried to stand, but the hangover had drained all the strength from my body. My legs gave out, and I crashed to the floor. As I went down, my elbow struck the sharp corner of the marble coffee table. An agonizing burst of pain shot up my arm.

I grabbed my elbow and curled up on the floor as tears immediately welled up in my eyes.

Fortunately, I’d only gotten a bad bruise. The skin hadn’t broken.

The headache felt like a dull, rusted saw scraping back and forth through my skull. Ignoring every warning about mixing medication with alcohol, I took a painkiller from the medicine cabinet and swallowed it.

The cold water I drank afterward eased the burning in my throat and grounded me enough to remind me that I was still alive.

When I picked up my phone, I saw missed calls from Tim and Tracy.

𝖶𝖾е𝘬𝗹𝗒 𝘳еl𝘦а𝘴𝖾𝘴 𝘰n 𝗴a𝗅nо𝘷𝗲𝘭𝘴.𝖼𝗼𝗺

I returned Tim’s call first. As always, his voice was calm and professional. “Lianne, I’m just confirming that we’re meeting at the courthouse at 2 PM today. Don’t be late.”

“I know. I’ll be there on time.” After ending the call, I immediately dialed Tracy’s number.

“Thank goodness you finally answered!” Tracy practically shouted into the phone, making my ears ache. She kept trying to reassure me from the other end. “Lianne, don’t be afraid. No matter what happens, you’ll always have me. Did you get any sleep last night?”

“I slept pretty well. It was the best sleep I’ve had in a long time,” I replied casually.

The woman staring back at me from the bathroom mirror looked pale, but she seemed far more alive than she had over the past few days.

Halfway through our conversation, fragmented memories from last night suddenly surfaced in my mind: the young man who had lent me his phone, the call that had actually connected, the desperate words I had poured out into it.

My heart jumped, and I blurted out, “Tracy, where’s Jeremy? Is he at home?”

“Jeremy?” Tracy answered with a sigh. “He’s busy packing for a business trip. He said there’s an urgent meeting in Nshire.” She paused, then asked curiously, “Why are you suddenly asking about him?”

“It’s nothing. I was just curious,” I replied with a light laugh, then ended the call.

The tightness in my chest eased a little.

If Jeremy was at home getting ready for his trip, that meant Ethan hadn’t rushed across the city because of my phone call last night. So the vivid memory of calling Ethan and hearing him breathe had been nothing more than a drunken illusion.

Things between us were over. Completely over. There was no way he could have answered my call.

But the next moment, I opened my call history and froze.

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