Early the next morning, the sound of running water could be heard coming from inside the bathroom.
After doing up his necktie and fastening on golden cufflinks, Justin threw open the wardrobe door and pulled out a set of clothing. Tossing them on the bed, he ordered, “Get dressed and pack your things. You’re coming with me.”
The redness on Rachel’s face was slowly fading away, making her look pale and weakened. Where are you taking me?
“Why so many questions? Are you intending to tell Julian or someone else?”
Hearing that, she clutched the blankets tighter to herself and fell silent again.
The car sped the entire way.
Inside the car, Frankie looked in the rearview mirror for a moment at the two people in the backseat. The interior of the car was very strange and quiet.
Once they reached the hotel and the driver went to park, Frankie mumbled, “They were so quiet the whole way. I didn’t even dare breathe too loud. Are they fighting?”
Unimpressed, Ramsey side-eyed him. “President Burton was never especially chatty and Mrs. Burton can’t
speak. Why wouldn’t they be quiet? Did you expect President Burton to speak up first?”
With a pause, Frankie conceded that Ramsey had a point and that he was probably reading into things too much.
After all, if the couple were truly quarreling, Rachel wouldn’t have come on this business trip with Justin.
By the time they reached Brookville, it was already late in the morning.
Since Justin had to rush off to the meeting, he left Frankie behind to handle Rachel’s check-in.
“I’ll leave your luggage here, Mrs. Burton. If there’s anything you would like to eat or drink, the hotel menu is over there and you can eat downstairs or call for room service.”
The moment she entered the room, Rachel sunk down on the couch, looking listless.
Seeing that she wasn’t responding, Frankie added, “You must be tired. The car ride was very long. We were all quite surprised that President Burton was willing to do so much traveling just to celebrate your birthday.”
Celebrate my birthday?
Astonished, she jerked her head up and gaped at Frankie.
“Why don’t you get some rest? President Burton might be a bit busy these two days and might not make it back during the daytime to see you. If there’s anything you need, just come to me.”
With a click, Frankie shut the door and the room descended into silence once more.
However, his words were still ringing in Rachel’s mind.
It turned out that Justin rushed back to Riverdale from Brookville just to celebrate her birthday with her.
That meant he must have been waiting at the bottom of her apartment building when he saw her and Julian handing cake out to the children, as well as her telling Julian that she never wanted the child.
Is that why he was so angry?
Is he angry because I was with Julian or because I said I never wanted the child?
The thoughts in her mind were jumbled.
Right then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the floor-length mirror opposite her.
The woman in the mirror had her hair tangled around her shoulders. Her face was gaunt and her eyes were dull and lifeless. Startled, Rachel felt her own face.
Since when did / start looking like that? She looked neither alive nor dead.
Why on earth would I assume Justin was starting to fall in love with me?
How can that be possible?
With a ‘ding, Rachel’s phone chimed as a notification popped up.
‘I have a new development on Hans’ case.’
Rachel’s eyebrows jerked skyward at the message from Janice.
‘You’ve found the killer? Who killed him?’
‘Not yet, but I have a new lead. Let me show you a picture. See if you recognize this person.
After that message, Rachel received a picture.
The man in the photograph was young. Unshaven and dressed in a black jacket, he had the eyes of a hawk that were cold and unapproachable.
Suddenly, her heart clenched.
She had met this person before.
It was the person who kidnapped her from the highway and brought her back to Southwind Villa. It was also the person who watched over her with his men after that.
Meanwhile, Janice continued, ‘His name is Winston. He’s one of Justin’s hired thugs. He met up with a few
other people at Tran-Q that day, carrying an aluminum box. If I had to guess, they were carrying out a transaction
Rachel’s hand started to shake as she could guess what Janice was about to say.
‘If I had to guess, I’d say Hans likely witnessed their transaction and he was killed to prevent him from spilling the beans. Be on your guard, Rachel. Hans’ death might be related to Justin and you mustn’t be tricked by Justin’s words. Those businessmen prioritize profit above all else!
As Rachel stared silently at the words on the screen, she couldn’t keep herself from starting to shake.
Frantically, her chest rose and fell, and she was unable to catch any breath. She felt like she was drowning or crushed beneath a large boulder. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t breathe normally.
After an interminable length of time, Rachel finally sucked in a deep breath.
Accompanied by a violent bout of coughing, tears rolled down her cheeks and a silent roar echoed in her chest.
It turned out that after going around in a huge circle, Hans’ death was ultimately found to very likely still be related to Justin.
It took her a long time to force herself to calm down and reply to Janice, ‘Is there anything I can do?’
‘Eavesdrop. I need to know who Justin’s men are transacting with and what the contents of their transactions
are.
Tightening her grip around her cell phone, she deleted the evidence of her conversation with Janice before rising from the couch and heading into the bathroom for a shower.
After her shower, she stared at herself in the mirror while wrapped in a towel for a long time. Now no longer messy, her hair ran silky and flowed down her shoulder. Though gaunt, her face was still pretty and pleasant.
She was prettier than Amber-that was something other people would say since she was young.
If Justin was truly Hans’ killer, she would avenge Hans and send Justin into prison herself.
Meanwhile on the top floor of Brookville’s highest hotel, the meeting was paused for an intermission.
Holding onto a document, Frankie rushed into the breakroom in a hurry. “There’s been a turnaround to the project, President Burton. The other party is willing to share the patent that was stolen from us at market price.”
Justin received the document and read it through, the crease in between his eyebrows flattening out. “Draw up a contract and have it signed at once, then draft another contract for our next negotiation. Improve on the original basis by five points.”
“Of course.”
“Wait.” He stopped Frankie suddenly. “Why are they finally allowing the right to share?”
“I heard President Sanders received a call and said your friend got in contact.”
Friend? Justin pondered thoughtfully.
“By the way, President Burton, when are we reporting the theft of the patent to the board of directors?”
“There’s no rush. Let’s finish talking about this project first.”
“But Jason…”
“Well, let’s not alert the enemy yet. The fact that he was able to steal a company patent from under our noses means we have a spy in our midst. Don’t bring this up to anyone for now.”
“Of course.”
“Go on, then. Get the contracts handled.”
After Frankie left, the breakroom fell into silence once more.
Leaning back against the couch, Justin closed his eyes and rested. His usually calm face was uncharacteristically weary.
Truly, a lot had happened lately. While they weren’t as intense as the struggles he had faced all these years, for the first time in his life, he felt powerless no matter what he did.
