As the yacht sailed away, Alex, Justin, Hannah, and Minnie sat on the deck chatting. Although Minnie didn't know who Justin was, she thought that he looked like he was wealthy, and she was surprised to hear him call Alex his brother. She wondered, is Alex also from a rich family?
"Big brother, I'm surprised that you went to the Twitch party," Justin said to Alex with a smile.
Minnie waited anxiously for Alex to reply, but he stayed quiet. If she hadn't insisted that Alex go to the party, his life would never have been in danger.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to these beautiful ladies?" Justin joked.
Seeing that Alex wasn't going to bother introducing them, Minnie took the initiative. She stood up and said, "Hello, Justin. My name is Minnie, and I'm one of Alex's classmates. Her name is Hannah, and she's a friend of mine."
Justin nodded. He looked at Alex and said with a small smile, "My brother seems unhappy tonight. I better shut up, or I'll annoy him even more. What do you think, babe?"
Then, ignoring Minnie and Alex, he turned and pinched the chin of the girl sitting beside him. For the next few minutes, he continued to flirt with her and two other young ladies.
"Can I have that letter?" Alex asked Minnie.
"Yes, sorry, I forgot. I'll get it for you now," Minnie replied and quickly took the letter Cathy gave her from her bag. Hannah had been looking after her bag for her when she was in the sea, so luckily it wasn't wet.
Alex took the envelope from her hand and straight away recognized Cathy's handwriting on the front. It said, "To be personally opened by Alex."
He sighed softly, opened the envelope, and read:
"Dear Alex,
I remember when we were freshmen, and we said that we would live with each other for a lifetime. Our words still linger in our ears, but in less than a year we have reached this point.
Life is indeed like a play.
You said that no matter whether the love between us was right or wrong (of course, you may now think that what we had was not love, but let me call it that), we should never complain or regret it because young people always make mistakes.
It seems that you've managed to completely let go of your feelings for me. I'm very happy for you. Honestly, and without any irony, I'm happy for you.
However, I'm not as lucky as you are. Whether you believe it or not, the truth is that I have never stopped thinking about you. Especially after being abandoned, first by Billy and then by Simon, I realized that there is only one person in the world who has ever been good to me. It was the same person who protected me and the same student who gave me all his money for food and fell ill himself.
People always cherish something more after they've lost it. When I think back, I find that the one I love deeply has moved further away from me and is now deeply in love with someone else.
I think it's time that I learn to let go, so I've decided to quit school. Please don't blame yourself, everything is my choice. I just need to be somewhere where I won't keep seeing you, where I can let time help me forget you.
I hope that one day when we meet again, you'll be holding your wife, and I'll be in the arms of my husband. And that we will look at each other with only friendship in our eyes, without any hatred or regret."
After reading Cathy's letter, Alex felt much more comfortable. He instantly felt that he would finally be free of her. He lifted the letter and let it drop into the water. Watching the paper float out of view, he wondered whether Cathy had already forgotten him.
**
The yacht soon reached Miami. After docking, Minnie and Hannah saw that Alex's attention was no longer on them. They left quietly, and Justin asked his female companions to go back to the hotel. He hadn't seen his older brother for such a long time and, naturally, he wanted to have a good chat with him.
By this time, it was midafternoon and the restaurant was closed, so Justin bought some beer and snacks in the convenience store, and the two brothers sat in the doorway of a closed building, eating and drinking together.
Justin opened a can of beer and said with a smile, "Hey Alex, this is nice, isn't it?" He had been spoiled since childhood and had always eaten in classy restaurants. It was the first time that he had eaten sitting on the ground.
"You don't know how many times I ate potato chips and drank beer in places like this during my seven years of poverty training," Alex joked with a smile.
"You're so good," Justin joked back. "By the way, what did you get up to at the party today? Did you meet any interesting young ladies, or do you still only have eyes for Debbie?" He looked at Alex and smiled.
Hearing the sudden mention of Debbie, Alex's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't reply. He just raised his head and drank a few gulps of beer.
"Alex, what's the matter?" Justin saw his reaction and thought about Debbie. He realized that he hadn't seen her since the horrible incident at the singing contest, and he became worried. He said, "I haven't seen Debbie for a long time. Why don't you take me to see her first thing tomorrow morning?" When Justin said that he wanted to see her, Alex suddenly felt guilty, as if he had done something wrong.
"Sorry, I can't tomorrow," he replied. He felt ashamed.
Justin put down his beer can and stared at Alex. He asked, "What do you mean? Is something wrong with her? What's the matter?"
Alex knew that he could no longer hide the truth. His eyes were full of sadness as he explained, "It's my fault. The last time she came back from Chicago, she was kidnapped from the airport. She was taken to a hotel, and—"
Suddenly he couldn't go on. It was like ripping the scab off an old wound.
"What?" Justin asked impatiently.
Alex used all his strength to say, "She was assaulted."
"What! I'll kill the person who did that."
He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"But how is she now?" he asked anxiously.
"She—" Alex closed his eyes and paused for a moment, then continued. "She fell down from the third floor of the hotel and was taken away by strangers. I don't know where she is now."
"What? Debbie's missing?" Justin was horrified to hear that the gentle, kind-hearted, elegant, and refined girl that he had met on Harmony Island had been through so much and was now missing. He was worried and angry, and he took his frustration out on Alex.
"And?" he roared.
"I've been looking for her. I've asked Ken Stokes and Sam Woodsworth to mobilize all their people to search for her. I've also got the rest of the family looking. If anyone gets news about her, they'll let me know immediately," Alex said. He felt guilty.
"That's all?" Justin yelled.
Alex stared at him in shock. He had never yelled at him like that before.
"Tell me, where were you when your girlfriend was framed by the two scumbags at the singing contest? Did you know Debbie was assaulted by another girl that day? Did you know that she was in agony while she was trying to perform on stage? Did you know that someone nearly killed her? Do you realize that if I hadn't happened to be there that day, she might have died?"
"Yes, I know," Alex replied quietly. He had read Debbie's diary every day and could remember everything that she had written.
"Do you know what a scumbag you are?" Justin was furious. He threw the chips, peanuts, and cans of beer onto the ground with one hand. With the other, he grabbed Alex's collar and hauled him up.
"Don't you care that she's missing?" he demanded and threw Alex to the ground.
"You lost her. What are you doing about it? Huh? You've sent Ken and Sam out looking for her on your behalf, so you can sit back and relax? You feel that you're doing everything you can? What else are you going to do? You're unbelievable." He yanked Alex up again from the ground and shouted in his face, "I'm asking you what you're doing. Why aren't you answering me?"
In the sky, there was a clap of thunder, and rain started hammering on the pavement.
"If I had known on Harmony Island that you didn't give a shit about Debbie, I would have stolen her from you to be my girlfriend." Justin continued to yell at Alex. "Wake up. Do you know what you're going to do?"
"Yes," Alex replied, suddenly thinking clearly.
"What? Tell me, I can't hear you!" Justin roared at Alex. He was disgusted with his older brother.
Finally, Alex became full of energy. He roared back, "I'll start looking for her immediately. Even if I have to go to the ends of the earth, I'll find her!"
"Good. This is the older brother I can be proud of. This is what a man should do." He put his hand on Alex's shoulder and said, "If you don't find Debbie, you're no longer a brother of mine." Then he turned and walked away.
Alex stood and watched him go. It was raining heavily, and his whole body was drenched. Justin's reaction to the news that Debbie was missing shocked him into action. He wondered to himself, what on earth have I been doing since she disappeared? I must go right now to find Debbie in person and bring her back.
The next day, he caught the first flight back to New York. He was determined to find Debbie himself. He had no specific destination in mind and no time restraints. He would look until he found her. However, he went back to New York to collect some of her things to take with him for comfort. Also, because he didn't know when he would return, there were a few business affairs he had to deal with before he left.
On arriving in New York, he dealt quickly with all his business affairs. At noon, he bought two live chickens and took them to the villa for Grandma. He didn't tell her that he was about to leave the city, because he knew that she wouldn't let him go.
After picking up a few items of clothing from the villa, he took a taxi and went to the Azalea Guest House. He wanted to collect Debbie's diary, and he had also arranged to meet Sam Woodsworth and Ken Stokes there to tell them what he was planning to do.
When he reached the guest house, he put Debbie's diary into his backpack.
As he stepped from her room into the hall, he found Sam waiting for him.
He said, "Mr. Ambrose, why don't you just let us look for Debbie. We'll be much more effective, and you'll be putting yourself in danger if you go alone." He was very worried about Alex searching for Debbie on his own.
Alex replied with a small smile, "Sam, please don't worry. I'm not a child. I've also been through poverty training for seven years, so I can look after myself. Where's Ken? Isn't he here yet?"
At that moment, Ken Stokes rushed in with his face full of joy. He said, "Alex, I have news, I have news—"