Right after hanging up, Justin relayed the situation with the cops to Rachel. “The van was found abandoned in the suburbs, and the kidnappers have gone under the radar. So far, they haven’t managed to identify them yet, but if my guess is right, the Jockey Club is probably behind this.”
“Is it because of the wedding dress?”
Justin nodded in response. As Gloria and the others knew nothing of the cruise incident, they were bewildered by where the conversation was heading. “What wedding dress? How does this have something to do with a wedding dress right now?”
“It’s nothing, really. Jolly happens to have a priceless wedding dress with her. It’s a master’s work, and it’s worth a fortune. Someone has their eyes on it, so that is why this happened.”
“What wedding dress are we looking at that’s worth kidnapping someone for? A past century’s collector’s item?” Gloria still couldn’t wrap her head around it. However, Rachel didn’t explain further.
Seeing that it was getting late, she urged everyone to go to bed. “You’ve all had a long day, go and get some rest. There’s no need to worry since everything’s fine.”
Gloria wanted to press on, but Victor stopped her. “Come on, let’s go. Let’s not add trouble to the issue.”
“Okay.”
Hernandez yawned. “I’m going to go to bed too.”
With that, everyone left, leaving Rachel and Justin still in the living room. “I’ll go and check on the kids.” Rachel put her cup down and went to Samuel’s room.
The nanny had already showered the children, but it hadn’t reached their bedtime. Plus, Charlotte refused to go to her room and wanted to stay with Samuel, so the two played in his room. As soon as Rachel opened the door, she found the kids sprawled out on the carpet.
Fortunately, all the rooms had underfloor heating, or they would surely catch a cold when they fell asleep on the floor like that.
A helpless Rachel went in, and just as she was about to pick Samuel up, Justin’s voice came from the doorway. “I’ll do it.”
He hadn’t spoken loudly, but it was still clear against the silent night. While Rachel was in a daze, Justin had already entered, carried Samuel to his bed, and picked Charlotte up to bring her back to her room. The kids had gotten so big now that Rachel really had a tough time carrying them herself.
After Justin went out, she tucked Samuel in and scrutinized the child she had watched grow up. Indeed, he looked a lot like Ryan. It came as no surprise that Mariam was certain of his parentage upon first glance despite having never seen him before.
At the thought of Jolly’s ties with the Sutton Family, Rachel couldn’t help getting worried. The sound of a door opening outside pulled Rachel back to reality, and she went out to find that Jolly had come back in, barefooted as she slumped onto the couch.
“Where’s Leroy?” Rachel looked toward the main door.
“He left.”
“It’s already so late at night. Where is he going?”
“The hotel.”
Seeing that Jolly was rather collected, Rachel sat down. “How did it go with him? Have you guys made it clear?”
“I want to reconsider.”
“Are you talking about the wedding?”
“Yeah.”
Rachel was surprised by her answer. “I thought you wouldn’t have minded his background.”
“It’s not about his background but the fact that he hid that from me. Even if he’s a murderer, he shouldn’t hide anything from me. I’ve long made it clear to him that no matter the reason, I absolutely despise deception.”
“Though I get you and think Leroy should’ve dealt with this better, I still want to speak up for him.” Rachel’s eyes were gentle yet unyielding. “If he insists on keeping this from you, he could’ve chosen not to save you.”
The fact was that Leroy actually used his identity and background to save Jolly. Jolly took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, looking torn. At that, Rachel patted Jolly’s shoulder. “Don’t think about it for too long. This isn’t like you.”
“I know. I’ll figure it out before my parents come back.”
After having been through so much, Jolly matured significantly, no longer flipping out as soon as she encountered an issue. Her cool composition got Rachel feeling multitudes.
For some reason, she felt unfortunate for Leroy. If Jolly had met him before Ryan, she would surely be obsessed over this mad love, and nothing would be able to stop her from being with the man she loved.
It was too bad Leroy couldn’t witness that side of Jolly. Perhaps, apart from Ryan in the past, no one else would be able to witness it ever again.
“Enough about that. Have they caught the kidnappers?”
To that, Rachel shook her head. “They got away too quickly. Apparently, they are nowhere to be found. All there’s left is an abandoned van. However, they’ve taken the fingerprints in the van for analysis. If they had any previous convictions, the cops should be able to find them from their archives.”
Jolly nodded musingly. “By the way, what about Ryan?”
“He’s still running around because of this. Those diamonds are in his hands, after all. He’s the one in the most dangerous situation now.”
“I’ll have him send the batch of diamonds to the Investigation Bureau tomorrow.”
“Are you fine with that?” Rachel was surprised.
“It’s not mine to begin with, anyway. The important thing is to be alive. What’s the point of possessing so many diamonds if you’re dead? Am I going to encrust my urn with them?”
“Tsk!” Rachel chided, “Can’t you have a little sense of taboo? We’re still in the middle of Springfest here, you know.”
“Springfest is pretty much over. It’s time to dive back into work tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Just like that, another Springfest is over.”
Jolly and Leroy still weren’t on speaking terms even a week after Springfest, and perhaps because Jolly had shifted her attention from love, she actually managed to land a hundred- million deal for Hudson Pharmaceuticals, alleviating the company’s liquidity issue.
“I’ve got to hand it to you, Jolly. To think you can get acquainted with a client by going to the gym.” Rachel couldn’t help praising Jolly as she looked at the contract. “Your parents will surely think you’ve grown up if they see this contract.”
No one would believe that Jolly actually got the deal from someone running on the treadmill alongside her in the gym.
“Even I had a hard time believing myself. We were just chatting, and he said his friend’s company is looking for a batch of medical equipment. I thought that sounded promising, so we continued chatting, and I ended up bagging the deal.”
“Either way, you’ve done a good one. I’ll treat you to dinner some other day.”
“Why some other day when we can do it today?”
“I can’t.” Rachel packed up and got ready to head out. “I’m meeting Justin tonight.”
“Huh?” Jolly’s gossip mode instantly switched on upon hearing so. “What’s going on between you two? You rarely join him for dinner.”
“What the heck are you thinking?” Rachel rolled her eyes at Jolly. “He’s about to head up north to work on Burton Group’s issues. The kids and I are going to bid him farewell, and it just so happens that I have something to give him.”
“What is it?”
“Burton Group’s shares.” Rachel grabbed a document on the table. “It’s supposed to be his in the first place. I’m sure he needs this more than I do now.”
