The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 839 He Is Back

The moment Holley looked at Sue, she knew it. The very brief words that Sue gave her were enough to tell her that something had changed between them. 'Something's not right, ' Holley thought.

She knew that she could make good use of Sue, and she did all that she could to drive a wedge between Sue and Sheryl. She had put in a good show and put tremendous effort to destroy the friendship between Sue and Sheryl. As long as she could keep Sue away from Sheryl, she could make her way to win her trust. It came as a complete surprise that her attempt to break them apart had actually brought Sue and Sheryl even closer. How could they act like nothing had happened between them?

Holley felt a roaring monster inside which nearly pushed her to act outrageously. The questions inside her head echoed in her ears, and each waited for an answer she couldn't even replace. Why did she fail to separate them? She tried to replace an explanation on why Sue showed no resentment with Sheryl despite everything that she had done to ruin their connection. The thought of being a failure hurt her pride, but she had to pretend it did not bother her. Behind her facade was a crazy woman eager to flip the world over to get the answer on how Sheryl beat her in this game of relationship.

She took a deep breath before she asked, "Sue, is there... anything bothering you?" Faking her tone came natural. No one should know that her intentions were never pure. All Holley needed to do was to maintain the good impression Sue had of her.

The least that she had expected was silence. It stirred her more that Sue seemed to have ignored her question. All she needed was a response from her to assess the situation, but Sue seemed to make it too difficult for her to get one. Holley tried asking her again, "Sue, did you not hear me earlier? I am sorry if I sound annoying but I am really worried about you. You do know that you can tell me anything, anything at all. I would be more than happy to sit down and listen if you need someone to talk to. All you have to do is to ask."

Sue looked at her with warm eyes and said, "Thank you, but I am really fine. Everything is good." It took Sue a lot of thinking before she made up her mind to keep her lips tight about her family issues. She found herself uneasy to let anyone know about it. "If there is nothing else, then I would be going now. Thank you, Miss Ye."

That was the last straw. Holley tried her best to control her emotion as Sue made her way out and closed the door. Her heart thumped so hard that she felt she was about to explode. She wanted to throw whatever object she could grab against the wall and imagined if the crash would give her satisfaction. No way could Sue just leave her defeated.

Holley still had her mournful look when George stepped into her office. "You look terrible. What did I miss?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"I just felt so stressed for some reason. It's no big deal." Holley found herself an easy excuse. George could be nosy at times and the last thing she needed was to explain herself. "What brings you here? Are you heading somewhere?" she asked to divert his attention.

"Oh, I have a business dinner tonight so I would probably come home late. You can go ahead and sleep early, even without me," he explained. "Are you sure you are okay?" he asked with a worried tone. "If you need to, we can go to the hospital right now and get you all checked up. Prevention is always better than cure."

"It's okay. I'm fine. You are worrying about me too much," she responded with a grin to reassure George. "It's only a common headache so there's no need for a doctor. I guess getting sufficient rest will be enough.

As for you, please be mindful of your alcohol intake later tonight. I understand that it's unavoidable whenever you go to these business dinners but I don't want you getting sick and all," Holley reminded him. "Sure, my lady." George nodded gently to show his consent. Holley's response earlier that she was feeling okay did not have him convinced. "Are you feeling okay? I really don't mind accompanying you to the doctor now."

"I'm really feeling okay. Don't worry unnecessarily. I promise to go straight to the hospital if ever it gets worse," Holly assured the worried man once again.

That was all that George needed to hear to be at peace. He was about to leave for his appointment when he remembered something important. "By the way, my mom and Sula have both decided to stay. I have no idea what's keeping them busy so, hopefully, they do not end up looking for you. In case they do, let me know and I'd be more than happy to handle them for you. I absolutely don't want to see you get hurt again."

"Surely, I will," Holley confirmed with a mild smile.

Her pretense of being the victim seemed to have George eager enough to protect her all the time. Little did he know that his damsel in distress was an evil witch in disguise. If he ever came to know about it, he would definitely not be her knight in shining armor anymore.

Donna was still her mother though, and the bond between them would remain to be thicker than blood. No matter how horrible she had been, nothing could change the fact that she had given him life and supported him all this time.

Holley's anger still had not fully subsided after George left. After considering that a chat with Sue would make her calm, she stepped out of the room to replace her. Just then, her phone started ringing and an unknown number came up on her caller ID.

She initially hesitated to take the call. 'Could this be someone I knew from the past or a total stranger?' she thought. However, there was only one way to replace out.

"Long time no see." The sound of a familiar voice rang on her ear but she couldn't put a face to it. Holley tried digging through her thoughts but she still came up blank. "You are?" she finally asked. "What? Don't tell me you can't remember me now? How long has it been?" His laugh seemed to not bring her comfort. Something on this man's voice did not sound right. "It may have been three years and you've changed a whole lot from the last time I saw you. But come on, no need to bury me on your past. I would be hurt if you have already forgotten about me," he said with detectable contempt.

"It's you!" The horror in Holley's voice couldn't be concealed. She suddenly felt cold with sweat as she found his name from her long forgotten memories. It was Ferry! How could she forget his name! Three years ago, he had offered her his services, which caused her a lot of sufferings and torment.

Her chance to temporarily escape and leave her painful memories behind was all thanks to George. However, the presence of this man now reminded her that she couldn't run away too long. Just the mere presence of this man, who was now back from the dead, had everything about her bitter past flood back to her. How could a single phone call turn her life around?

There was no way she would have made herself believe that she could get rid of those memories. It was a part of her then, and his presence would remind her more of it now.

"It's me," Ferry responded. His confirmation lacked any emotion.

"You... Are you back in Y City?" Her voice trembled as Holley nervously waited for a response.

Ferry had been on the run for fear that he would reap the seeds of his evil deeds. He got himself into a lot of trouble after he succeeded in his plan to torture Sheryl. Though it was a huge success, the fact that he had crossed the line with some powerful and strong people such as Charles and Andy, had him fear for his life.

He had to move overseas to stay away from all the chaos.

As much as he wanted to stay, he knew that he couldn't return to Y City with Charles and Andy on his tail. It was too risky. Holley was clearly surprised to learn that he seriously just got back. "Yes, I am back." Ferry made sure it sounded confident. "Are you not happy to hear the good news?"

"Are you crazy?" Holley exclaimed, only to realize how it was inappropriate for her to be shouting at someone over the phone. What would people think of her if someone heard her just now? Her image would be ruined. She decided to lower her voice but retained the intensity of her questions. "Do you not fear for your life? After all the ruckus that you have made, do you think that Andy and Charles will just let it slip? You have the nerve to be running around the city. Are you out of your mind?"

"Yvonne, mind your language. I don't think that I need to remind you on who you are talking to. Do you think that I have forgotten how you and Leila messed the whole thing up? I would have not been hiding if it weren't for you!" Ferry stressed out.

"I..." Holley was rendered speechless. She composed her thoughts and replied in her defense, "I don't think that you should blame us for what happened in the past. We did try our best but it was just impossible to succeed given that she had too many people to protect her at the time. I doubt if we can still work out a plan to catch Sheryl alone now, since Charles has arranged an even larger group to make sure she's under his surveillance all the time."

"You should know how to play this game by now. If physical torture doesn't work, try a mental one." Ferry scoffed, "Think about it. You are her boss now. I hope you won't tell me that you can't even get such a simple thing done."

"I mean, don't get me wrong. I didn't mean that..." Holley started. She clearly needed to explain the reason behind her actions to this man but none of her hard work had actually given her anything to brag about. Ferry interrupted her abruptly, "Enough! I don't want to hear your useless excuses.

Now that I'm back, you better not waste your time. I want to see you get something done at least, otherwise..."

He was warning her. Knowing Ferry from before, she understood him so much that he didn't need to finish his sentences to clarify the consequences. She couldn't imagine her fate at the hands of this ruthless and cruel man. Failure was never an option.

He never took anything lightly -- there were more than a thousand ways he could think of and take action to torture her.