Chapter 17
Passing through an intersection, Clarissa suddenly yanked off her seatbelt: “Sebastian! What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve been absent-minded all day!”
The man in the driver’s seat gripped the steering wheel tighter.
In his memory, Clarissa was always gentle and soft-spoken, her voice carrying a tender lilt. But right now, she seemed different.
He turned his head and met her eyes directly.
“Clarissa?” Sebastian was somewhat taken aback.
Clarissa immediately realized her loss of composure and frantically adjusted her expression: “Sorry, I was just startled and my emotions got the better
of me.”
She lowered her head, her long lashes casting shadows under her eyes. “Don’t take it to heart.”
Sebastian stared at her downturned profile, suddenly feeling like she was a stranger.
But the unread detective messages on his phone pulled his attention back, and he restarted the car: “It’s my fault for being negligent. Let me take you
home to rest first.”
Clarissa’s knuckles turned white as she gripped her dress, and it wasn’t until the car stopped at the Skylar family villa that she managed a weak smile: “I’ll head upstairs now. Drive carefully.”
The moment she closed the car door, her smile immediately collapsed, and the warmth in her eyes vanished instantly.
Pushing open the front door, the atmosphere in the living room was so oppressive it felt suffocating.
Her adoptive parents sat on the sofa, with several crumpled papers on the coffee table-the disownment papers Elizabeth had left behind.
Delilah looked up with red-rimmed eyes: “Clarissa, your sister has disappeared. We can’t reach her phone, and we can’t find her…”
“It’s been several days already.”
Clarissa’s heart skipped a beat, and she dug her nails into her palms to suppress the urge to smile.
She rushed over and grabbed Delilah’s hands: “How could this happen? Did she run into some kind of danger?”
Her voice carried just the right amount of panic.
Connor and Delilah shook their heads, their eyes filled with helplessness.
After all, if even Sebastian couldn’t find her, what could the Skylar family do?
Back in her room, Clarissa locked the door and immediately called Sebastian.
The phone was answered after just one ring, and she spoke with a trembling voice: “Sebastian, I heard my sister disappeared. What should we do? I’m so scared. Did you talking to her about divorce upset her, so she ran away from home in anger?”
“Don’t panic.”
Sebastian’s voice came through with static, and there seemed to be engine sounds in the background. “I’m investigating. Stay home.”
“But I can’t sleep at all…”
Clarissa bit her lower lip. In the mirror, her eyes were red-rimmed, but she couldn’t hide the excitement in them.
“Should I come help you? I know quite a few people, maybe I can ask around about her whereabouts…”
“No need.”
Sebastian’s tone turned cold. “Just take care of your parents.”
The busy tone after he hung up left Clarissa holding her phone suspended in mid-air.
She wished Elizabeth would stay away forever and never come back. Only then could she keep Sebastian and the Skylar family firmly in her grasp.
The sound of her adoptive parents’ anxious conversation drifted up from downstairs, and Clarissa pretended to be worried as she went downstairs to ask: “Is there still no news about her?”
