“What? He hasn’t given up?’ Rachel couldn’t believe what she just heard. “I thought he was undergoing a coronary artery bypass surgery? Why won’t he stop stirring up trouble even in his current condition? Why is he still trying to harm Jolly?”
“I’m not too sure about that, but for now, I guess we should let Frankie find out where he is. If he is in Enistan, I believe he is absolutely behind all this,” Justin said.
Soon, Frankie’s voice was heard from the front. “Mr. and Mrs. Burton, I’ll get on with it as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, Julian was standing in front of the French window in his hotel room at the ungodly hour. Despite the usual approachable look on his face, he was a cunning and scheming person on the inside. Since the moment he took over the Burton Group as the company’s president, he had created nothing but chaos in Riverdale’s commercial world.
“President Peters.”
Julian could see his assistant’s reflection in the window but didn’t bother to turn around. Instead, he continued to set his eyes on the night view outside the window. “What’s the status? Have you caught her?”
“Um. No.”
Hearing how the assistant stammered, Julian sensed something wrong as he turned around with a scowl on his face. “What happened? Tell me.”
The assistant answered, “I can’t seem to reach the two guys we sent after her.”
“What? You can’t reach them? When was the last time you tried reaching them?”
“Half an hour ago. Do we need to send someone to look for them, President Peters?”
“Look for them? In whose name?”
The assistant blanched, knowing that he just said something silly. After all, the two men they sent after Jolly didn’t know who they were working for. Therefore, if Julian sent someone to search for them, he could risk alerting Justin and the others, letting them know they were onto them.
Julian said, ‘Call Enistan Greenhill Hotel and see if you can learn anything useful about them,”
The assistant was momentarily startled before he nodded rapidly and replied, “Alright, I’ll do it now.”
In fact, Julian wasn’t concerned about the two men he just sent out but was more concerned about Jolly, Justin, and Rachel. After all, if they had successfully returned to the hotel, it would mean that those two men had failed their mission. Upon learning the information he needed, the assistant hung up the call and anxiously said, “President Peters, the receptionist in the hotel said they are back.”
In that instant, Julian’s eyes darkened. Although he had no idea how Jolly was able to escape from his men, he knew nothing could stop her from ruining the wedding the next day now that she was back to the hotel. However, unlike Ryan, Julian couldn’t care less about the wedding but was instead worried that the men he sent after Jolly had given him away. “Book the air tickets. We’re going back to Riverdale now.”
“Now?” Julian’s assistant was stunned.
“Yes, now.”
The next morning, Justin and Rachel had their breakfast in the hotel room before they set out for the wedding. “I doubt we’re going to stand a chance to enjoy the meal there later, so be sure to grab a bite now. Justin poured Rachel a glass of milk, gently reminding her to eat something.
“I guess we’ll be fine. Mrs. Bennett doesn’t know our relationship with Jolly anyway. So, if she runs away with Leroy, I bet she won’t suspect us right away. So, we should have some time to try out the good food there.”
Rachel then sipped the milk in her glass, speaking her mind frankly since Jolly wasn’t around. ‘Furthermore, we don’t know whether she is going to make it either.”
“I thought you were going to teach Leroy a lesson if he won’t come along with Jolly? If that’s the case, I don’t think you have time for that. Either way, we’re going to achieve our goal.
“Hey, did you just listen in on my conversation with Jolly?”
“Hello, I’ve been in the group chat for as long as you have.” Justin pointed at his ear.
It was then that Rachel paused and recalled the voice messages they sent in the group chat, but since Justin remained silent most of the time, she and Jolly started to forget that he was also present in the chat. This is awkward. “Relax. I was just kidding.’ Rachel rubbed her nose to hide her embarrassment.
“Anyway, I don’t mind preparing a weapon for you if you need it by then,” Justin replied with a pair of furrowed brows on his face. In fact, his deadpan humor was the hardest to read because of his serious-looking expression despite the ridiculous ideas that came out of his mouth. Like Jolly had once said before, Justin would be a comedian whose sense of humor came from his poker face if he was ever going to work as one. After breakfast, Rachel retreated to her room to get changed.
The wedding was held at a resort on Idyll Mountain, which was not far from Grandeur Hospital, but even so, it was still time- consuming for them to travel from where they were to the central city. “Mr. Burton.” Frankie knocked on the door and entered the presidential suite. “Everything has been arranged. If Miss Carter can successfully take Leroy with her, both of them will catch a flight to Europe right away.”
Justin nodded shortly before he asked, “Did you find anything new about what I told you to?”
“You were right. Ryan isn’t in Riverdale.”
“Go on.”
“Ryan arrived here in Enistan on the same day as we did. In fact, he reached here almost around the same time as we did. Moreover, he switched his stay to another hotel that is about less than one kilometer away from ours.” Frankie then pointed outside the window and said, “That building.”
Following Frankie’s line of sight, Justin set his eyes outside the window and saw a hotel, which was near to the harbor, erected right on the side of the road. This is too much of a coincidence, no? “What about those two men we ran into yesterday? Did he send them?”
“I haven’t found anything out about that, but the two of them were arrested by the cops and detained in a nearby police station this morning. They both told the police that they were drunk and kidnapped last night. Nothing. else more than that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. It almost looks as if they were sure no one was going to press charges against them.”
Justin appeared to be preoccupied, seemingly finding something strange in his mind. Deep down, he reckoned Jolly couldn’t afford to risk drawing too much unwanted attention no matter what happened to her in Enistan if she still wished to see Leroy. Therefore, they didn’t call the police despite the life-threatening encounter they had with the thugs the day before. However, what bewildered Justin was the fact that the two thugs seemed as if they were sure they wouldn’t call the police, which he thought was why they appeared to be so confident in keeping their crimes a secret. For that, Justin was sure that they were working for someone else behind them.
“It looks like you’re right, Mr. Burton. It was Ryan who sent those people here because he is the only one who knows that Miss Carter, having come to Enistan just to see Leroy, can’t afford to draw too much attention.”
However, Justin responded with silence for a while and said, “Wait. There is one more person.”
Frankie was stunned as he didn’t have any idea of who Justin might be referring to. Soon, the latter said, “Go find out whether Julian is in Riverdale now.”
When Frankie heard that, he paused with his eyes wide open. “Do you suspect Dr. Peters is behind this too?”
“He’s always worked closely with Ryan.”
After all, Jolly had a wide connection of network behind her since her father owned and ran the huge Carter Enterprise. Therefore, any man who could marry her would naturally get his hands on those valuable resources, including the company itself. At the same time, Justin knew that Julian and Ryan had been colluding with each other to rope all the other companies across Riverdale in for the sake of their mutual interests. For that, he believed the two of them would naturally try to maximize each other’s interest, considering the fact that they were on the same boat.
Meanwhile, when Justin and Frankie were talking to each other, the two men weren’t aware that their bedroom door was left ajar. It turned out that a slim figure was standing outside the door. Upon hearing Julian’s name, the figure clenched her fists tightly.
