Chapter 351 The Calm Before the Storm
Justin would be flying directly to Jublen in the afternoon the next day. Before leaving Riverdale, he decided to see Charlotte. Due to their previous misunderstanding, Charlotte had been refusing to see him or answer his phone calls. Having no other choice, he could only call Samuel on the latter’s cell phone.
The phone call got through, and Samuel’s voice rang on the other end of the line. “Hello?” “Samuel, is Charlotte with you?” “Yeah, she is.”
Justin was somewhat reluctant to part with Charlotte, but he couldn’t care much about anything else when he recalled the situation Rachel was in. “I’ll be going out for a few days, and I don’t know when I’ll come back for the time being. Are you two at home?”
“Nope, we’re in Godmother’s car on our way to the airport.”
“The airport?” Justin’s heart skipped a beat. “Why are you going to the airport?”
“To pick Mommy up, of course.”
Upon hearing this, Justin immediately straightened up in disbelief. “Your mom is back?”
“Yeah!”
At this moment, the roar of an airplane’s engine reverberated through the skies above Riverdale Airport. After gliding for a long time, the plane finally made a smooth landing.
Having done her job in Jublen, Rachel hurried back to Riverdale on the morning flight. The instant her flight touched down, her nerves, which had been tense with fear over the past few days, relaxed at last. At least things are gonna stay peaceful for a while, she thought.
As soon as she got off the plane, she made a phone call. “Hello? I’m at the airport now.”
Janice’s voice rang on the other end of the line. “Glad to hear that you arrived safely. Our joint operation with Interpol this time was a success. Although Dillon ran away, we managed to arrest a few of S’s leaders and confiscated a large batch of smuggled goods, inflicting heavy losses on them. Well done, Rachel.”
“So they won’t be coming to Riverdale again for the time being, huh?”
“That’s right. Also, we managed to get some evidence on Jason, and the Investigation Bureau has been investigating him lately. It won’t be long before he gets punished by the law.”
“That’s great.” Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. “I can have a peaceful sleep at last.”
Ever since the moment she decided to assist Janice in investigating Jason, everything around her had suddenly begun to get out of hand, and her mind had been occupied with all kinds of hair-raising stuff every single day. Now that Jason was going to be convicted of his crimes, she could finally unload her burden.
After hanging up the phone, she looked at the clear blue sky outside the airport. Grandma, I’m finally gonna avenge your death.
She waited for a while before Jolly’s car arrived. “You’re back at last! I nearly worried myself to death over the past few days. Are you alright?” asked Jolly.
Rachel nodded. “Yeah, everything went quite smoothly.”
“I saw the news.” Jolly hesitated to speak much since there were kids in the car. “I’m not gonna ask anything. It’s fine as long as you come back safe and sound. Do you still have to get in touch with those people after this?”
“No, not anymore.”
“Really? That’d be great!” Jolly heaved a deep sigh of relief. “That Dillon guy didn’t seem like a nice guy at first glance, and I was afraid whenever you came into contact with him. My dad said that none of those related to the Jockey Club are nice, after all. By the way, it’s great that you’re back. You know what? Justin had been pestering me over the last few days, which was damn annoying…”
“What business does he have with you?”
“He was asking me questions about you, of course. I wonder where he heard it from, but he kept saying that your present situation is dangerous.”
As the two women were conversing, Samuel chimed in, “He called just now, saying that he’s going abroad for a few days and wants to see Charlotte.”
“I don’t want to see him!” Charlotte was nestling in Rachel’s arm at first, but her face tautened the instant she heard this. “He’s a bad daddy!”
“Charlotte.” Rachel frowned. “You can’t say that. He’s your dad.”
“He’s not my daddy! He’s gonna marry another woman and have new kids with her.”
The furrows in Rachel’s brow deepened, and she looked at the driver’s seat in front of her.
Jolly’s innocent expression was reflected in the rearview mirror. She hastily denied, “I didn’t say anything! I never mentioned the photos again after the lawsuit ended, nor did I say bad things about him.” Previously, Jolly had said a lot of bad things about Justin in secret in order for Charlotte to be willing to live with Rachel. It was for the same purpose that she and Hernandez had released the photos at the hearing without Rachel’s knowledge.
Upon recalling the photos, Rachel felt guilty toward Charlotte. “Charlotte, the photos were staged. Your dad has never abandoned you.”
However, Charlotte replied, “I don’t believe it. Daddy promised me to get back together with you, only to date another woman in secret. He was lying to me. I don’t want to see him anymore.”
“Be a good girl, Charlotte.” Rachel did some mental calculations. “Your dad will come pick you up in a few days, so you can’t behave like this anymore.” Even though Rachel had obtained Charlotte’s custody, the court didn’t deprive Justin of his visitation rights, so he could come visit Charlotte every month.
Jolly drove Rachel and the kids home.
“Aren’t you going back?”
“Leroy’s gonna shoot the commercial for our health beverage this afternoon, so I’ve got to keep an eye on it.”
“How are things going on between you and Leroy now?” Rachel sized Jolly up. “Could you two be dating for real?”
“What do you mean by ‘for real’?” Jolly’s face blushed all of a sudden. “That’s not true.”
“Why are you blushing, then?”
“I’m not blushing! I-I’m not gonna talk to you about it anymore!” Jolly was just being stubborn; despite the blush spreading from her face to the nape of her neck, she still refused to acknowledge her feelings. Instead, she stamped her foot down on the accelerator and left the neighborhood as if she was fleeing from it.
Samuel took Rachel’s hand beside her and looked up, asking curiously, “Mommy, is Godmother in a relationship?”
Rachel laughed. “Almost.” How could Jolly still be pretending when even the kids can tell there’s something going on between her and Leroy? she thought. “Come on, let’s go home.” With Samuel in one hand and Charlotte in the other, she entered the elevator while joking and chatting with them.
“Mommy, I want to eat egg noodles with tomatoes.”
“Alright, I’ll make it for you when we get back.”
“I want to eat chicken wings in Coke sauce!”
“No problem.”
The elevator door opened after the elevator reached the floor with a ‘ding’!
As soon as the three stepped out of the elevator, Rachel saw the tall figure standing at the door to her apartment. Joking and chatting with the two kids at first, she was startled for a moment all of a sudden.
“Daddy?” Charlotte’s eyes lit up in an instant, and she let go of Rachel’s hand. However, just as she was about to step forward, she recalled something and clammed up, taking half a step back with her little leather shoes on.
Rachel was surprised as well. “Why are you h—”
Before she could finish her sentence, she was greeted by a gust of wind. The next instant, she was embraced. Her back stiffened up, and she subconsciously began to struggle, only for the man to tighten his arms around her. His breathing sounded heavy in her ear, and the stubble on his unshaven chin prickled her neck, making her feel uncomfortable.
“Let go of me, Justin! What are you doing?”
“Just a minute. Let me hold you tight for just a minute…” a deep, hoarse voice whispered weakly in her ear, like a person who had just recovered from a serious illness.
Through the two layers of clothes between them, Rachel could clearly hear the heartbeat in the man’s chest. Thump! Thump! Thump! His heart was beating so irregularly as though it was going to jump out of his chest onto her.
For some reason, Rachel’s flailing arms slowly fell to her sides.
