Goodbye, Mr. Regret novel Chapter 477

“It’s alright, you don’t need to look anymore.”

“Vince.”

Jessica tried to pull away from him. This kind of embrace felt wrong between them.

But Vince just held her tighter, as if he was terrified she might vanish if he let go.

“Salome…”

Salome?

The name sounded so familiar to Jessica.

It took her a moment, but then she remembered—on that day, stranded on the island, Timothy had called her by that name.

Jessica stood frozen, confused.

Above her, Vince’s voice was rough with guilt, drifting down to her.

“Salome, I’m sorry. Your brother came too late.”

“Please forgive me.”

“I promise, I’ll never let you be hurt again.”

Vince pressed his cheek against the top of Jessica’s head, but there was no joy in his face—only endless regret.

He hated himself for his carelessness.

He hated that he hadn’t stabbed that knife a little deeper that day.

He gripped Jessica’s shoulders and let her go, bending to look into her face. His right hand traveled down her arm, finding her hand, and suddenly he used it to strike his own cheek.

“Salome, hit me. Punish this useless brother of yours.”

Just as he tried to make her slap him again, Jessica resisted, forcing her hand to land softly on his face instead.

She looked up at Vince, bewildered. “Vince, what are you talking about? I know you’ve been searching for your sister, but I’m not… Please, don’t do this. You’re breaking my heart.”

“Jess, you are. You’re the Salome of the Zimmerman family—I know it now. Tell me, do you have a small heart-shaped birthmark over your left chest?”

Jessica hesitated, then nodded.

Vince hurriedly pulled out his phone, scrolling to a saved photo. “Look, isn’t this you as a child?”

Jessica’s pupils dilated, staring at the photo.

It was her. Her childhood self, unmistakable.

Vince showed her picture after picture.

Each one was her.

When she finally looked up again, she saw a tear clinging to the corner of Vince’s eye.

She asked quietly, “Are you really my brother? But why don’t I remember any of this? I have parents, a grandmother, a home—how could I be your sister?”

If Vince had only heard about the birthmark from Herbert, he might still have doubts—after all, no DNA test had been done. But Timothy had called.

Timothy had said long ago he’d already found Salome.

He must have done the DNA test; there was no doubt left.

God, what kind of man had she married?

How could she have fallen in love with someone like that?

Jessica’s face went white as a sheet.

She remembered her talk with Sheila that day—Sheila had said a man who would help a woman at any cost, even if it meant great sacrifice, must love her. What else could it be, if not love? But, Sheila had added, not all feelings that surface from the subconscious are romantic love. There’s also…

Sheila hadn’t finished her sentence.

Now Jessica finally understood what Sheila had left unsaid—family.

Jessica looked up at Vince. “Did Timothy tell you? Or did you figure it out yourself?”

“When the accident happened today, I was terrified for you. While I was waiting outside the operating room, I called Sheila.”

Vince told her everything Sheila had said, everything he’d asked Herbert about Jessica’s childhood, the birthmark, all of it.

Jessica was sure now—Sheila had known!

Otherwise, there was no way she could have dropped hints to both of them.

Taken alone, none of their words seemed unusual, but together, they told a different story.

Because of that, Jessica had started to doubt her own past. She’d even gone back to ask the neighbors, but everyone insisted she was born to her parents, so she’d stopped questioning it.

Now, finally, Jessica knew the truth. She was Vince’s sister.

But she still needed to know how she’d ended up with the family she thought was hers.

She gripped Vince’s arm. “Let’s go back to Riverside City. There’s someone we need to see.”