Heartstrings on Fire novel Chapter 1000

Ryder was in a bad way.

Alyssa had rushed him to the hospital, and since then, she hadn't spoken a word.

She was either buried in work, recklessly ignoring her own health, or she was lost in a trance, sitting motionless for hours on end.

Back when Ryder graduated from med school, Jared had gifted him a model of a surgeon's scalpel set. For years, Ryder had kept it close, but these days, he just kept fiddling with the model, lost in thought, and Alyssa feared the worst.

Things had gone south—far worse than Alyssa had ever imagined. And she had this gnawing feeling that they might spiral even further down.

After leaving Maplewood Manor, Agnes headed straight to the TV station. She had hastily decided to move abroad and had already asked Ben to hand in her resignation letter. Facing Mr. Judson and abandoning the fledgling show "The Primary Perspective" felt irresponsible, and she couldn't bear it.

It was the weekend, and the station was deserted. Agnes slipped the resignation letter into her desk drawer and shot Ben an email, asking him to pass it on. But Ben had taken extended leave to return to his hometown and hadn't checked his emails. So no one at the station knew of Agnes's plan to leave.

Relieved, Agnes walked into the station only to be summoned by the station manager.

Knocking on the door, Agnes entered with a sense of foreboding, recalling the last time she was called in—it was to accompany Mr. Peter from the Tim Group for drinks, which ended with her throwing a punch.

But that was before Ryder stepped in and fired Mr. Peter, and the whole incident was swept under the rug.

"Agnes, come in," the station manager beckoned urgently, "I've got news about the Tim Group's ad spend for the year."

She had a hunch he wasn't giving up on that. Agnes had been with Ryder when he punched Mr. Peter, who didn't dare breathe a word afterward. The manager, shrewd as he was, must have known Ryder's connection to the Tim Group, which was now common knowledge since Ryder had become the new chairman.

Agnes cut to the chase, "Look, I really can't help with the ad spend. That's not within my job scope."

To her surprise, the manager beamed, "What are you talking about, Agnes? I'm here to thank you on behalf of the entire station."

Confused, Agnes listened as he explained, "The Tim Group has decided to place even more ads with us than before. I know it's all thanks to you. So I've decided to allocate funds to support that special project you wanted to do on children affected by disasters. Agnes, you're our station's lucky charm."

The manager couldn't hide his glee, looking at Agnes as if she were a living, breathing good luck token.