Chapter 507

Hannah resisted letting her thoughts wander further.Her fingers quivered as she pulled out her phone,snapping shots of the screen and the photographs plastered across the wall.

Right after she captured the last image ánd was about to slip out, the butler's uneasy voice sounded from beyond the door. He seemed to be questioning the maid, "Where's Ms. Scott? How on earth could she vanish without a single trace?"

The timid maid murmured back, "I've checked both upstairs and downstairs. Might she be in that hidden room? That's the only place left unchecked..."

Suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps rang out.

Hannah refused to conceal herself. Drawing in a

steadying breath, she yanked the door open from inside before the butler could input the password.

The butler jolted at the sight of Hannah standing there, his complexion blanching as cold sweat gathered instantly. "Ms. Scott, what... What are you doing here? This section is restricted; Mr. Hobbes explicitly banned entry!"

His tone shook with fear.

Hannah remained in the doorway, her face bloodless yet her eyes glacial. She shifted slightly aside,motioning toward the photographs covering the room. "Restricted? This place is filled with my photographs. Why shouldn't I step in? Has Claude come back?"

Overwhelmed by the icy sharpness in her eyes, the butler stammered, "M-Mr. Hobbes is already heading here. He'll arrive shortly. Ms. Scott, please... Please leave this room now."

"I'll wait here," Hannah declared, turning and sitting down in the room filled with her photos.

The butler dared not restrain her, hurrying away to call Claude, his voice trembling. "Mr. Hobbes, there's a problem! Ms. Scott went into that room!"

On the opposite end, Claude held silence for several seconds, the air turning rigid. When he finally spoke,his tone carried absolutely no warmth. "Explain."

"I-I looked away only briefly... I'm sorry, Mr.Hobbes..." the butler stuttered, his voice breaking with near tears.

Claude ended the call without another word.

Soon, his vehicle rolled into the courtyard.

Claude stepped out briskly, his expression black as a thunderstorm. "Where is she?" His tone cut like ice.

The butler edged closer nervously. "She's... still inside that room. She said she's waiting there for you..."

Claude didn't spare him a glance, only leaving a curt "Don't follow."

The room's door stood wide open.

Claude advanced toward the threshold and saw Hannah in the center of the room, her chin slightly raised, studying the photographs on the walls with deliberate intensity.

Her profile appeared extraordinarily serene, so serene that it unsettled Claude. He drew a breath,softened his tread, and approached, muttering cautiously, "Hannah."

Hannah didn't turn around; her gaze stayed fixed on the photographs, her voice airy and detached."Claude, have we ever truly been apart? You've preserved photographs of me across time, even moments I myself forgot."

At this point, Claude knew he could no longer hide the truth. He met her eyes, which carried no revulsion or panic as he had expected, only stillness,which unsettled him further.

Abandoning denial, he confessed, his voice low and hoarse, "Yes, we've never been apart."

He stepped forward, his eyes devouring her outline."After my birth parents took me away, I missed you terribly. At first, Ioften sent others to photograph you and deliver them to me. Later, when I grew older, I gained the means to travel back and forth myself.Some images came from my own secret visits."

His gaze softened with faraway tenderness. "I always observed you quietly and carried you in thought.Many times, I witnessed you laughing joyfully with friends, so lighthearted, and I yearned to suddenly appear beside you, to surprise you. But..." He gave a bitter smile. "I restrained myself."

Hannah shook her head, disbelief written on her face. "I don't understand. Claude, you missed me and my parents, and you could have visited us openly.Why resort to secretly watching?"

"The Hobbes family rules are rigid, the household dynamics complicated." Claude's expression dimmed with buried pain. "I didn't want them to find you and deliver a warning, nor did I want them to tear you entirely from me. At that time, I lacked the power to

guard you, and they were capable of anything."

His voice dripped with dread and bitterness toward the Hobbes family.

Hannah's tone turned glacial. "So you chose this way? Secretly taking my images, storing and assembling them one by one, constructing an imagined version of me in this hidden room?Is that it?"

"Yes," Claude admitted, his gaze revealing raw obsession. "Only in this way could I feel you were still with me, that I hadn't wholly lost you."

Abruptly, Hannah remembered that so-called chance meeting at the golf course. She fixed her stare on him. "That golf course encounter was planned by you, wasn't it?"