Chapter 282 – Second Chance Love of the Missing Groom Novel

For now, they must find out what happened to Lulu before checking up on Tommy.

Knowing that Abigail could get stubborn and he was not about to change her mind, Diarmuid complied.

Abigail opened the doors to Bernstein Mansion when they arrived, but it was deathly silent.

Thinking that na one was in, she was about to close the door when she heard a crash!

It sounded like something shattering, so Abigail opened the door again and called out, “Ricky?”

No one answered.She started to head inside, but Diarmuid caught her.

“Stop,” he said, walking ahead of her.

“I’ll look inside.Wait for me here.”

Things appeared rather dark and creepy inside, and he was worried about potential danger.

Abigail nodded and he headed inside, where he found Ricky behind a couch.

The whole house stank of alcohol and there were many empty bottles of alcohol on the floor.

Ricky had drank so much that he smelled as if he was just scooped out of a vat of alcohol.

While Diarmuid frowned, Abigail walked toward him.

“Is Ricky there?”

“Yeah,” he replied.

The curtains were drawn, and there were just a few rays of sunshine spilling in.

There was no telling how long Ricky had stayed within the darkness, and he was holding his hand over his eyes, seemingly uncomfortable with the light.

“Ricky?”

Abigail called out as she walked over to him.

Ricky narrowed his eyes, though he did not appear surprised to see her.

“Hey, Abigail.You came?”

He thought it was Abigail’s ghost visiting home and he chuckled.

“You brought Diarmuid too?”

It was understandable for Abigail’s ghost to return…but Diarmuid? He was still alive, the last Ricky checked…

While Ricky scratched his head in confusion, Abigail had to pinch her own nose because she could not take the pungent scent of alcohol wafting from him.

“Go take a bath and sober up.I have questions.”

“Oh, you can ask me anything.What flowers do you prefer? I’ll buy them for your grave…”

Both Abigail and Diarmuid were speechless, realizing just then that Ricky thought that Abigail was a ghost.

“Sober up already.”

Ricky was really out cold, and seeing him like that left Abigail heartbroken and angry.

She left, headed to the washroom to get a small bucket of water, and splashed it from overhead.

The chilly sensation jolted Ricky, and he sprang up to his feet.

“Gah! Brr…!”

He clutched himself and shuddered.

“Are you crazy?! uw “Did that clear your head?” Abigail asked.

“Now go take a bath.I’ll wait for you outside.”

The house was a stinking mess because of him, and she could not stand it.

Finally staring closely at Abigail just then, Ricky said, “Y-You’re alive?”

“Yes,” Abigail replied, used to it by now.

“I have questions about Lulu, so clean yourself up and get sober. I need you to tell me where she is and what’s going on here…”

While she spoke, Ricky had reached out to pinched her arm, and a little too firmly—lAbigail gasped in pain in response.

“It hurts? You’re…human? You’re really alive? Then whose body was it?”

Ricky was left in a daze, unable to make sense of the many questions he had just then.

“Go take a bath,” Abigail repeated, firmly this time.

“Okay,” Ricky replied, puzzled and trying his best to make sense of it as he left.

Abigail waited for him outside the bathroom, with Diarmuid at his side, taking off his jacket and draping it over his shoulders.

“He’s drunk —you’re not going to get anything out of him.We could go home first and let him sober up.”

Ricky’s condition was certainly less than ideal.

“Yeah.We also need to hire a housekeeper to clean this up,”

Abigail said in agreement—she would not be able to get inside otherwise.

“I’ll get James to arrange for that,” he said.

Abigail knew that he was a busy man, but he was willing to help her with something as unimportant as this anyway.

“Thank you,” she said earnestly.

Diarmuid tapped her on the nose.

“You don’t have to thank me.”

However, Abigail lowered her gaze—although they were about to have two children now, she kept having this feeling that they were not really married.It was probably because they had not been together all that long.

“Let’s head home,” she said, agreeing with Diarmuid since Ricky was probably not sober enough to tell a coherent story.

However, they were just about to get into Diarmuid’s car when Ricky stopped outside the mansion!

There was no telling how long it had been since Ricky visited a hairdresser —his hair was long and unkempt like a bird’s nest, and there was uneven stubble growing over his chin.

Grooming was even more out of the question, and he looked just like a homeless bum.

“Don’t go.”

His head seemed to have cleared considerably, and came running to stop Abigail.

“I need you.It’s about Lulu.”

“Okay, I’ll wait.”

Abigail paused, held his gaze for a moment, and spoke.

Ricky nodded, and promptly ran into his house, taking a bath and even shaving.

Abigail did not get impatient either, but standing when heavily pregnant was taxing, and her legs were getting swollen.

Sensing her discomfort, Diarmuid placed a supporting hand over her back.

”We can wait in the car.”

“Okay.”

Over an hour passed —it was quite some time, but Ricky was a different man when he came out.

There was not even a whiff of alcohol from his body, only the faint fresh scent of soap.

The mansion was only stinking of alcohol because it had been days since he left the house, and he was still drinking last night with a bath.

It was why he stank of alcohol.

Still, he appeared refreshed after his bath, and Abigail gestured for him to get into Diarmuid’s car.

They certainly could not use the mansion since it was still full of alcohol fumes, and the only place to sit was in the car.

Fortunately, Diarmuid’s car was spacious enough.

“Where did Lulu go?” Abigail asked impatiently just as Ricky sat.

Ricky shook his head.

“I don’t know.I’ve been looking for her all this time, but I couldn’t find her.And Bernstein Holdings…”

He had been despondent after Lulu’s disappearance and the bankruptcy of Bernstein Holdings.

Both issues were a huge blow to him, leaving him overwhelmed.

“I’m sorry, Abigail.”

Ricky hung his head like a wilting flower.

“Just explain…what on earth happened?” Abigail asked, holding his gaze.

Ricky considered his words, and then said, “I’ll start from the beginning—you see, Zachary and his mother were sure that Lulu was the one who did those banners at Zachary’s wedding.They started by getting Lulu fired from her job, and then that thing with you happened…”

After pausing for a moment, he added, “Everyone thought that you were dead, and Lulu came back to Cloud City.She didn’t have a job, so I asked her to stay and work in Bernstein Holdings.She agreed to it, saying that I’m your brother, but now that you’re gone, she’ll help me watch over Bernstein Holdings.”

Then, his voice turned quiet and rasped, “I don’t know why, but she somehow ended up in a meeting with Ember, and then her miscarriage happened.Both the Lindts and the Slates were incensed, and worked together to boycott and sanction Bernstein Holdings.I-I failed to keep things together, leading to its bankruptcy.Lulu disappeared soon after as well—I have no idea where she is, and can’t find her anywhere.”

“What about Sunny City?” Abigail asked.

Ricky shook his head.

“I tried, but she’s not there either.Her father and his new wife are living happily and have already forgotten all about her, and the man only gave me a noncommittal grunt after I told him that she’s gone! He even told me that she’s an adult and that she’s going to be fine, adding that I should stop looking…I’ve never seen a father as irresponsible as him.I really wanted to kill him right then and there!”

In fact, Ricky still felt violent impulses at the thought of Lulu’s father.

He used to find Lionel Bernstein Jacking, but it was not until meeting Lulu’s father that he realized how low a father could really stoop.

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