Nicole blurted out the so-called flawless excuse of hers, which she had long rehearsed in her mind countless times, in a sincere and serious manner.
Evan gazed at her with his abysmal pair of eyes. He found her odd because she wouldn’t stop fidgeting with the edge of her shirt.
Knitting his brows together, he neglected the things that she had told him and asked in return because he couldn’t suppress his curiosity anymore.
“I heard that someone has delivered you a gift. What is it?”
Nicole stared at Evan, wide-eyed. She couldn’t figure out who had turned their back against her and told him of the things that they should have kept from him.
If I’m not able to convince Evan, the flawless excuse that I have just made up isn’t going to do me any good, right?
After falling silent for a few seconds, she explained, “It’s a present from my assistant. I thought that something bad might have happened to her when I received the gift. Thus, I rushed over to her place to check if everything was fine.”
“What is it?” Evan decided to probe further into the matter. He thought that there was something fishy going on behind the scene because he noticed that Nicole was being anxious in an odd manner.
He couldn’t figure out the reason that she would want to keep him in the dark when it was a mere gift.
She spent some time making something up in her mind once again. “It’s a bracelet, but I have returned it to her because it’s not meant to be a gift. It’s merely something to get me to rush over to her aid.”
Spotting the doubtful look that Evan shot her after she finished her sentence, Nicole felt as though she didn’t manage to convince him at all.
She was about to say something to prove the authenticity of her words, but the maid beside her exclaimed, “Oh! It’s a bracelet? I’d thought that it was something horrifying when I’d heard you screaming in the room back then. I’d even heard the sound of you dropping the box.”
Nicole’s heart skipped a beat and started to race thereafter because of the maid’s words. She had never once noticed that the maids of Imperial Garden were so observant.
Her nerves were at breaking point due to the maid’s words.
She looked in Evan’s direction and noticed that he had narrowed his eyes in suspicion. It was evident that he was anticipating an appropriate explanation from Nicole.
“What are you talking about? Are you sure that you were not hearing things?” Nicole decided to put the blame on the maid to get herself out of the nasty situation.
Have I been hearing things? The maid stared at Nicole with an odd look in return because she wasn’t aware of such a condition.
She opened her mouth and was about to rebuke Nicole’s words, yet she decided to give up in the end because she was merely a maid.
Since she shouldn’t have defied Nicole’s words, she apologized, “I’m so sorry, Ms. Lane. I think that I must have been hearing things.”
Similarly, Nicole felt a sense of guilt because she had blamed the maid for something that she hadn’t done. “It’s fine. You should return to your position.”
After the maid left, in spite of the loopholes that he had detected, Evan decided to stop probing further because Nicole seemed to have her reasons for keeping him in the dark.
He walked over and approached Nicole. Holding her hand, he suggested, “Let’s go and get something to eat.”
Nicole nodded, but Evan’s expression turned gloomy because he detected the scent of the tobacco that was exclusive to a certain someone.
He could vividly recall the similar scent on her dress the last time she had made her way out abruptly in the evening.
The scent belonged to Levant because it was a unique scent, exclusive to his favorite cigarillos brand. It might have been a coincidence last time, but it’s too much of a coincidence for a second occurrence!
Apart from that, she had said that she had dropped by her assistant’s home. In short, she shouldn’t have run into Levant! Where has this scent come from?
Evan was disheartened by the doubts that he had in his mind. He was determined to get someone to tail Nicole after this.
Suddenly, he recalled that he had previously dispatched Darius and Damien to protect Nicole. He decided that he would summon them and see if they were conscious of the ongoing incidents.
Throughout their dinner, as Evan was driven by the curiosity that he had felt deep down, he would occasionally take a peek at Nicole.
Nicole’s heart started pounding furiously. She couldn’t get used to it either because it felt as though Evan had seen right through her plan.
She avoided his gaze and lowered her head to savor the delicacies that had been served. Her heart wrenched the moment she took a bite of the baby corn because it reminded her of the amputated finger of her father.
“I’m full. I’ll return to the bedroom first.” Nicole got up from her seat and scurried her way upstairs after she explained herself.
Staring at her departing figure, Evan thought that Nicole had been behaving oddly the entire night.
I’m sure that she’s keeping something from me!
He returned to the study room and got in touch with Darius and Damien through the phone. “Have you guys been keeping an eye on Ms. Lane?”
