Madam Escaped Again, Sir (Lillian Hawkins and Eric Walker) novel Chapter 253

Suddenly, the door to the office flew open, and Tom came barging in without even knocking. “President Fuller!”

Toby frowned and demanded irritably, “What is it?”

Tom did not answer him immediately but looked around the office like he was searching for something. At the sight of this, Toby pursed his lips into a grim line and asked coldly, “Just what are you looking at?”

“President Fuller, where is Miss Reed?” Tom asked hastily.

Toby recalled what he had done earlier with Sonia’s cup of leftover tea and subconsciously grazed his thumb over his lips, then said plainly, “She left.”

Taken aback by this, Tom raised his voice by an octave as he repeated, “Left?”

Massaging his temples tiredly, Toby sauntered over to his desk. “Why are you looking for her?”

“Have you forgotten, President Fuller? I just got back from Marina City,” Tom replied urgently as he followed the other man from behind.

Upon hearing this, Toby stopped in his tracks and turned to shoot his assistant a dark look. “What are you implying? Are you trying to say that whatever you found out about Maple has something to do with Sonia?”

He felt his heartbeat speed up at the possibility of this.

Tom nodded solemnly. “That’s right. I went to Marina City and tracked down Maple’s old postal address, and it turned out to be the Reeds’

residence! That means—"

“Sonia and Maple are the same person!” Toby finished Tom’s sentence. His eyes widened at the revelation, and he quivered slightly as his fists clenched at his sides.

Tom continued quickly, “Yes. Miss Reed is definitely Maple; there’s no doubt about it. Maple said that she had a stepmother and a sister, not to mention a pet dog named Lucky. Now that her address has turned out to be the Reeds’ residence, Miss Reed is the only one who could possibly be Maple.”

The words came rushing out in a flurry, and at the end of his elaboration, Tom found himself slightly out of breath. He inhaled deeply and calmed himself, then went on to say, “More importantly, Maple and Miss Reed have similar handwriting. While the former’s lacks the refinement of the latter’s, one could still tell that the penmanship is the same. And yet, neither of us have ever recognized this, even when Miss Reed shares the same backstory as Maple. A single thought is all it would have taken for us to connect the dots, but we never did! How could we not have figured out that Miss Reed is Maple all along?”

He paused and lowered his head in shame. “I’m starting to wonder if I’m an idiot.”

Toby slammed his fist against the desk, and the veins on the back of his hand were throbbing as he seethed, “No, you aren’t an idiot. Someone’s been playing dirty tricks to stop us from ever connecting the dots.”

Along with Tom, the rest of the Fuller Family knew about Toby’s history with Maple, so it was strange that no one had ever noticed how similar Sonia was to Maple.

This could only mean that everyone had been under the influence of that strange mysterious force as well.

Clueless as to what Toby was thinking, Tom widened his eyes in shock as he asked hesitantly, “President Fuller, are you saying that somebody doesn’t want us to know about Miss Reed’s identity as Maple? Could it be Tina? But that doesn’t make any sense...”

He trailed off pensively, then shook his head as he reconsidered. “It’s only natural for Tina to keep that a secret from us, but there’s no way she could stop us from putting the pieces together. So how could we have overlooked all the clues that pointed to the fact that Miss Reed and Maple are the same person? It’s all so confusing, isn’t it?”

Just then, Toby looked at Tom intently and asked, “Do you believe that there might be some mysterious force in this world that could control one’s thoughts and emotions?”

Tom froze at first, but he chuckled dismissively as he quipped, “Well, of course, though I’m quite sure the force is called hypnotism.”

As soon as he was done speaking, a sudden realization dawned upon him, and he slightly opened his mouth as he pressed, “Is this the reason why you asked to see a therapist the last time, President Fuller? I thought you were trying to find an emotional outlet or something but were you suspecting that you have been hypnotized?”

And from what President Fuller said earlier, he was implying that I have been hypnotized as well!

Toby’s eyes were dark with thought, and when he remained silent, Tom took it as a confirmation.

While Dr. Anderson had reassured Toby that he was not hypnotized, he was still certain that the opposite was true, only that the doctor had not been able to diagnose him as such. Perhaps the person who had carried out the hypnotism was far more skilled at it than Dr. Anderson and the other therapists.

Dazed, Tom patted his cheek and muttered, “How did this even happen?”

Toby looked down, the wheels in his mind turning. “From now onward, go and contact the world’s most renowned hypnotists—the more, the better!”

“Yes, sir!” Tom promised immediately, his expression stiffening.

It was only sensible that only the most renowned hypnotists could break them out of this state of mind-control that they were in. Just as Tom was about to leave to carry out his new orders, he thought of something and asked, “By the way, President Fuller, would you like to reconcile with Miss Reed?”