When Rachel had finished changing and came out, Frankie had already gone downstairs to get the car ready. Justin was in the living room, wearing a suit with a black badge on his lapel. Rachel’s dark green gown complemented her skin, making it look glowing. Just some light makeup was enough to bring out her aura, and her movements looked as though they belonged in an aesthetic scene of a movie.
Justin could not look away, and it took a while for him to collect himself as she looked at him. He cleared his throat and murmured, “It suits you.”
Rachel smiled. “Well, you have good taste.” It was Justin who had picked out the gown, but he had fallen asleep in the store yesterday and missed seeing it.
“It’s almost time. Let’s go.”
“Wait.” She stopped him. “I heard you and Frankie talking just now.”
When he heard that, Justin frowned, which prompted Rachel to add, “You think Julian Peters had a part in last night’s events?”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible. He’s not that type of person. He may have some outrageous business methods, but that is when he is with strangers. What does he have against Jolly? They are friends. They even live under the same roof!” Rachel could not accept that Julian would harm Jolly, and she believed that Justin’s assumptions were wrong.
“Yes, I know they are friends.” Justin was calm, as if he had anticipated her reaction. “I don’t mean anything else by this. If you don’t want me to continue investigating, this will stop here. We just need to make sure it’s Ryan behind it.”
“It doesn’t work like that. What’s black is black, and what’s white is white.” She took a deep breath. “Send someone to the Burton Group offices to find Julian.”
“Is this necessary?”
“Yes, it is; I have sent your secretary there. If he is still in Riverdale, that means your assumption is wrong. He would never do this to Jolly.”
Rachel clenched her fists tightly as she spoke. She could understand Julian’s refusal to accept his real identity immediately, thus behaving like a changed man by frantically recruiting people to build a faction and strengthen his standing. She could also understand him taking advantage of his old friendships to become closer to the Carter Family elders for his own future. However, she couldn’t understand why he would do something to hurt his friend for his gain, nor did she believe he would do it.
Seeing her being so stubborn, Justin couldn’t do anything. He also wanted his assumption to be wrong since it was the best for everyone involved. Before the two of them departed, Rachel’s phone rang.
“Hello?”
Her secretary’s voice came from the other end. “President Hudson, I am now at the Burton Group offices. The workers say President Peters has been working here since early this morning. He is now in the conference room holding a morning meeting and will come to meet me later.”
The phone was on speaker mode, so Justin could hear everything. At that, Rachel told her secretary, “Don’t hang up later. Put your phone beside you.”
“Okay.”
Rachel had her assistant bring along some project documents to pretend to enquire about a project. In reality, she just wanted to check if Julian had always been in Riverdale. Soon, a familiar masculine voice came from the other end. “Have you been waiting long?”
Currently in the conference room of Burton Group at Riverdale, Julian had taken a short break from the meeting to meet Rachel’s secretary, Casey. When Casey saw him, she immediately waved her hand. “No, I just arrived here too. Did I interrupt your meeting? You can continue if you are busy. I can wait a little more.”
“It’s alright. Several proposals for publicity haven’t gone through, and the company is having a meeting to discuss them. It can go on without me. Why do you want to meet me?”
Casey pulled out a file at once. “These are some documents for the partner project. When doing the documentation, we found some issues, so I came to ask about it.”
“Let me have a look.” As Julian said so, he took the file and started reading carefully.
Their voices could be heard from Rachel’s end via Casey’s phone, which was placed on the table with the screen facing down. After hanging up, Rachel looked up at Justin. “See? I told you he is definitely in Enistan.”
Justin nodded in response. “Yes, he is.”
“So, what happened last night had nothing to do with him.”
“Mhm.”
Justin quickly agreed without even hesitating, in turn making Rachel panic. “Are you not going to argue?”
“You have already shown me evidence to prove it. How can I argue with that? I have no proof.” He then looked at his watch. “It’s really late. Let’s go, Rae. If you still want to discuss this, we can do it in the car.”
“So, you don’t believe what I said?”
“I do believe you.” It was just that Justin didn’t trust Julian. Even though he had taken the proof she gave lightly and still believed that there was something fishy going on in the partnership between Julian and Ryan, he didn’t show it.
Rachel didn’t want to think of Julian too badly, so Justin would play his part and allow this. She just had to see the good side of things, and he would deal with the darker side.
When they arrived at the Idyll Mountain Resort, it was almost 12.00PM, and it was time for the banquet to start..
No one could deny Justin’s taste was good; Rachel’s dark green gown had attracted the gazes of multiple men after she entered the venue. If not for Justin standing much like a glacier beside her, her phone number would be in high demand.
It was a banquet for the wealthy so naturally. plenty of socialites were there. Jolly had arrived before them and was eating someplace near the bar. Rachel was about to head over when Justin stopped her. “Where are you going?”
“I am reminding her not to drink any alcohol.”
“Just like that?”
His words made her realize this belatedly. “You’re right. We can’t do it directly.”
As such, Rachel pulled out her phone and sent Jolly a message, ‘Drinking can lead to mistakes. Do not even touch any alcohol today.’
Jolly replied at once, ‘Don’t worry, I won’t drink any.”
While they were chatting, the presenter suddenly announced the newlyweds’ arrival. As sparks from the firecrackers showered onto the red-colored carpet and colorful confetti hovered in the air, a couple glided down the spiral staircase of the resort. They were the stars for today, and they were dressed in a suit and wedding dress respectively. Leroy walked hand in hand with the bride the entire time, as if she would immediately disappear once he let go of her.
Rachel looked anxiously into the distance. Just as she thought, Jolly’s expression didn’t look good.
Rachel then said, “Why do I get the feeling there would be worse to come if Leroy did run away with her later?”
Justin agreed. “I think so too.”
“He’s spotted us.”
At that moment, Leroy, who was walking on the red carpet, noticed them, but he was surprised only for a short while. In the next moment, his gaze had shifted to the distance and he immediately recognized Jolly, who was standing in the crowd.
Immediately, he stopped in his tracks. The music was playing, the couple hadn’t finished their journey, and the presenter was still quoting expressions about past lives, yet the groom had stopped walking.
People started talking at once.
“What’s happening?”
“What’s the groom doing?”
“Is he regretting his decision and no longer wants to marry?”
It went on and on.
