Chapter 175: Chapter 175: How Is It? Any Progress?

"Hello, who is this?"

"It’s me, Hugo Sterling."

Wyatt Yates knew Hugo Sterling was helping The Little Mute. In fact, Hugo had been the one to fly her out of the country in a helicopter.

Although he had a feeling Hugo also had a crush on The Little Mute, he knew he should be polite to him, if only for what he’d done.

Besides, The Little Mute trusted Hugo a great deal.

"Do you need something?"

"I tried calling Noelle, but she didn’t pick up. I found your number and you didn’t answer either. I’m at her apartment now. Is she with you?"

Wyatt was reluctant to tell Hugo anything, but he knew The Little Mute would eventually contact Hugo anyway, so he decided not to hide it.

"She injured her throat. She’s in the hospital; she just had a minor surgery."

Hugo Sterling frowned. "Surgery? Does that mean the injury is serious?"

He had taken her to the hospital for a check-up that day. If she had been in pain, she would have told the doctor. But the doctor hadn’t said anything was wrong, only providing a medical report for the future lawsuit.

The Little Mute hadn’t told anyone about her treatment for ’disappointment syndrome,’ so Wyatt felt he had even less right to talk about it. After all, the treatment had just begun, so it wasn’t the right time to spread the word.

"It’s not serious. Just a small, minimally invasive procedure. She’s resting right now."

"Which hospital? I’ll come see her."

Wyatt said, "You just got off a plane, right? You should rest and get over your jet lag first. By the time you’re rested, she’ll definitely be awake. You can come see her then."

Noelle had undergone minimally invasive brain surgery and her head was still wrapped in gauze. Wyatt had no intention of revealing this.

"Alright. Send me the location later."

"Okay."

Hugo was polite as well. "I’ll hang up now, then."

"Mr. Sterling," Wyatt called out, stopping him. After a moment of silence, he said, "Thank you for getting The Little Mute out of there."

"Don’t mention it."

After the call ended, Hugo Sterling left Noelle Sutton’s apartment.

Since he had just arrived in Aridia, he also had to visit his parents.

Wyatt Yates walked into the hospital room. Noelle Sutton was still sleeping soundly.

He pulled a chair over and sat down by the bed.

’If I could, I wouldn’t have told Hugo anything at all.’

’But The Little Mute is in contact with him. When she wakes up, she’ll message him back anyway.’

He gazed blankly at the person on the bed, his hand trembling as he reached out, wanting to touch her face, to brush away the finger marks on her cheek.

From how much the marks had faded, he could tell the incident had happened about three days ago.

’I really don’t know how she managed to get through it.’

Just as his fingertips were about to touch Noelle’s cheek, Wyatt pulled his hand back.

’I shouldn’t be secretly touching her while she’s unconscious.’

’She isn’t a free woman yet.’

’Some lines shouldn’t be crossed.’

The Sterling Family also had a villa in Aridia. Hugo Sterling’s mother was quite ill and was almost always bedridden.

The villa was in a neighborhood with convenient amenities and wasn’t far from a hospital, so if his mother’s condition took a serious turn, she could be taken there immediately.

When Mrs. Sterling saw Hugo, her spirits clearly lifted. She gripped his hand tightly, her voice a little weak. "Hugo, how is it? Is there any progress?"

For all these years, the one thing Mrs. Sterling couldn’t let go of was her daughter.

"Yes, there is. Tristan’s big data analysis has narrowed it down to ten people. We’re contacting them one by one for elimination and DNA testing."

"I hope we’ll finally have some news this time."

Mrs. Sterling’s health had been poor for years, and now her face was frail and gaunt.

Hugo said, his heart aching for her, "Mom, we’ll definitely find my little sister."

He didn’t dare get his hopes up too high, but this was the only way he could comfort his mother.

Ever since his little sister went missing, his mother’s health had gone from bad to worse. She had been issued critical condition notices several times.

It was only because of this single-minded obsession that she had pulled through danger time and time again, but her body’s functions were still very weak. Now, her physical condition had truly reached its limit.

He said it in the hopes that his mother could live a little longer.

Mrs. Sterling knew Hugo had just arrived, so she didn’t keep him for long and sent him off to rest.

Hugo had just lain down when he got a call from Tristan Lawson.

"Did you see her?"

"You’re so annoying. I just got here not long ago, took a shower, and was about to get over my jet lag. Can you let me sleep first? I’m exhausted."

BEEP BEEP BEEP...

The call was disconnected.

Hugo looked at his phone and couldn’t help but chuckle.

’Let’s see you squirm. Serves you right for getting anxious now... ’

Since Tristan Lawson couldn’t go to the office, he was handling most of his business from the hospital.

Just then, he received a call from Director Ford.

Director Ford hadn’t seen Noelle Sutton since Tristan Lawson had taken her away last time.

She had tried to contact Noelle today, but the call went unanswered. So, she called Tristan, also intending to discuss Sophie Hughes.

Tristan Lawson answered the call.

Director Ford knew their marital relationship wasn’t as good as she had imagined, so she was extra careful with her tone.

"Tristan, I called Noelle, but she didn’t pick up. Is something wrong?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"She’s gone abroad."

Tristan was too embarrassed to admit to the bastardly things he had done.

Director Ford sounded pleasantly surprised. "You agreed to let her go work with Smith?"

"Mhm."

His plan for agreeing had been to negotiate with Smith to have her work from home, but she had already left the country. With his broken leg, he couldn’t leave. He figured he’d deal with it once he could walk again. In the meantime, this time abroad would allow her to communicate properly with Smith about the project.

He decided to consider it a business trip abroad for the time being.

"That’s good. Last time she mentioned wanting a divorce..."

Director Ford’s tone was inevitably tinged with worry.

"I won’t divorce her. I never once thought about divorce, not even when I married her. We’ve had a lot of family issues lately and we’re just fighting. I’ll talk things over with her properly. Director Ford, you don’t need to worry about her."

Since Tristan Lawson was willing to say this, Director Ford could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, Tristan was the man Noelle had chosen without a second thought all those years ago.

Since Noelle had chosen this path and given up her own career for it, Director Ford didn’t want to see her lose, now that things had come to this.

"Okay. I also called you today about something else. Sophie Hughes hasn’t been to the studio for three or four days. I can’t get in touch with her. Is she planning on coming back?"

Now that Noelle was able to work again, Director Ford wanted to focus her energy on mentoring her once she was done with the Smith project. As for Sophie, she was willing to guide her if needed, but disappearing every other day wasn’t appropriate.

"I’ll contact her and ask. Something might have come up on her end."

"That’s all from me. I’m hanging up now. Goodbye."

After returning to Aridia, Sophie Hughes had barely left her house for the past few days.

Moreover, Tristan Lawson hadn’t contacted her at all since she left.

She was heartbroken.

Her phone rang. She picked it up and saw, to her surprise, that the call was from Tristan Lawson.