The maid turned anxious and started stammering, “M-Mr. Davin, are y-you threatening me? I-I have children and my mother to feed. Please, Mr. Davin. You can’t do this to me.”
“Nothing’s going to happen as long as you tell me the truth.” Davin gave an intimidating warning.
“Anything, Mr. Davin.” The maid was sweating buckets by now. “Ask me anything you want. I’ll tell you everything.”
“Alright! Now, did you come to Imperial Garden the day before yesterday?”
The maid was astonished. Has Mr. Davin found out about it?
She kept quiet. She had been handsomely rewarded and it would be unwise for her to spill the beans. Her life would be on the line if she said anything,
Seeing that the maid was still hesitating, Davin roared, “Speak if you want to live!”
It shook the maid to the core. Her legs immediately gave way and she fell to the ground on her knees. “Mr. Davin, m-my life will be in danger if I say anything!”
“Your life’s in danger right now!” Juan became annoyed.
The maid was stumped. She looked at the window in front of her and took a deep breath.
“Alright! I’ll talk!”
“It was a woman,” she continued, “She gave me a large sum of money and told me she just wanted to see Mr. Evan. She said she missed him and that she could do my job for a few days while I treat it as a short holiday. I thought about it and had wanted to reject her because I didn’t want to cause any trouble. However, she then threatened me with my life as well as my family’s lives. I had no choice, Mr. Davin. It was either that I take the money or my head would roll.”
“So you took the money?” Davin asked.
“I figured she just wanted to see Mr. Evan up close, which I could understand. After all, there are so many beautiful women out there who long to be with him. She’ll work in my stead for a few days and I… I could…”
“A few days? Do you know what happened during those few days? Do you know who she is?” Davin scoffed.
The maid did not know what to say.
“If you want to redeem yourself and stay alive, you’d better cooperate with us to catch her.”
“Mr. Davin, just tell me what I need to do.” It took her a while but she realized Davin was right——she would only be safe if they caught the woman. And nothing mattered more than her own safety.
With that, Davin and Juan looked at each other with smiles on their faces. The only thing they needed to do now was to wait for the woman to appear.
“Uncle, what will you do once you catch that bad woman?” Juan asked on their way downstairs.
“Torture. Some cold, hard torture before I hand her over to the police. This isn’t just for your mother. It’s for your great-grandpa, too!”
“Uncle, I think we can start our revenge before she appears.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Uncle, we can…”
Juan went through his plan and Davin gave him a thumbs-up. “Juan, I’m really impressed by you! Let’s do it.”
“I think Nina, Maya, as well as Kyle could help out, too. After all, we’re all Mommy’s children and I’m sure they definitely want to be a part of it.”
“Why not? With the four of you, she’s certainly going to experience the time of her life.”
Late in the night, Nicole lay in her bed and quietly stared into the darkness.
She had a lot of questions in her mind that needed answers.
It felt as though the whole family was hiding something from her; she desperately needed to find out what was going on.
In Nicole’s eyes, Evan was imprisoned, day and night, shackled to her. Since he did not want her to know the truth, she needed to conduct her own investigations behind his back.
