"A while back she put in her notice, said she was getting married. Then she came back and said the wedding was off, asked to transfer somewhere else. Next thing we heard, she'd been in a car accident on the bridge. Sounds like she'll be recovering for quite some time."
A car accident on the bridge.
The same bridge where he'd fought with Hilda and left her behind.
No. No, that's not possible.
Jasper's mind went blank. His legs buckled beneath him as he staggered toward the exit.
This had to be a stunt. Hilda must have put someone up to this to get a reaction out of him.
Her grandmother's death had to be a lie. Hilda was just trying to make him panic, so she'd hidden the old woman away.
Jasper kept telling himself that, but his heart wouldn't listen. It hammered faster and faster.
He pulled every string he had, turned every hospital in the city inside out. But Hilda had vanished. As if she'd never existed.
One dead end after another. He locked himself in his study, staring at Hilda's photograph day and night, tears streaming down his face. In the end, his bodyguards seized him by the arms and dragged him out, and Patricia Fairmont slapped him across the face. Again. And again.