In the last few minutes, Heather contacted Zayne since there was no point hiding anything from him at this moment. The reason Zayne’s progress was rather slow was largely due to her reservation—she refused to reveal much about her family’s conflict.
“I—” She paused the moment she said that one word. However, time was running out and she couldn’t put Myra’s life at risk.
“I have to make a decision,” she blurted. Meanwhile, Zayne, who was on the other end of the line, had a bewildered look on his face and he wondered why she suddenly said something so strange.
Before he could make sense of the situation, Heather ended the call. Feeling speechless, he looked at his phone, puzzled by her words.
Heather soon gave the mysterious man a call. She now had no other choice as all she could do was to follow what he said.
“I agree.” Her tone was adamant.
The mysterious man looked at the timer on the coffee table, a complacent smile playing by the corner of his lips. The timer showed that there was 15 seconds left—Heather had waited till the last minute.
“Great. I’m glad that you are such a sensible person, Miss Langston.” He continued to ramble on and Heather had the sudden urge to hang up the call.
However, the next instant, there was a change in his tone as he said to her, “Miss Langston, you have to listen to my arrangement obediently after this.” Upon hearing that, Heather was utterly helpless and she did not respond to him.
She tried to contain herself from doing or saying anything out of impulse since quarrelling with the man at this moment would do her no good. Then, she suddenly recalled what Tony said. Maybe I should have faith in him this time and believe that we still have the chance to turn the tide.
“Miss Langston, you must be tired. I shouldn’t continue to disturb your rest. Have a good night; sweet dreams.” He carefreely said to her despite not getting any response from her.
Soon, a busy tone rang in the phone, indicating that the other person had hung up. Heather, on the other hand, instantly felt that the world sounded much quieter when she could stop listening to his nonsense.
She walked to the mirror and looked at herself in it; there was an unconcealable exhaustion on her face. She usually appeared before everyone with an energetic look, but she could feel exhaustion seeping through her bones now. It turns out that I can feel tired as well, she mused.
Inwardly, she made a decision to return to the country tomorrow although she did not manage to find some relaxation here. When she returned to Bradfort City, she knew that she would feel even lonelier instead, for she would soon do things that would harm the Langston Family.
The thing she used to worry about all the time had finally come true, but what she didn’t expect was that she would be the one who would destroy the Langstons, people that she had been protecting from all threats all this while.
The sole purpose of that man kidnapping Myra was to demonstrate his power—he wanted them to understand that since he had been able to capture her easily, it would not be a challenge for him to capture someone else.
The mysterious man’s capability was immeasurable and had far exceeded theirs. If Heather refused to follow his order, she might pay an even heavier price.
At the moment, he only wanted the Hart and Langston Family to join forces to deal with the Moriarty Family and this would, at most, result in the three illustrious families falling apart without hurting anyone’s life.
Even if Heather was determined to protect the Langston Family with her life, she dared not take any risks when it came to someone else’s life. In the end, she faced an utter defeat this time.
She used to think that the greatest crisis in her life had been when the Langstons was at the verge of bankruptcy. Only now did she know that there was such a group of people in this world who would sacrifice the life of others to achieve their own goals.
She had never thought that there would be a day when something that she had thought was simple would turn out to be so complicated. Dispirited by the fact that there was nothing else she could do, all she had in mind now was to hide this from everyone and shoulder this on her own.
At that moment, a person suddenly crossed her mind—it was the man with a mask whom she had met previously. Truth was, she suspected that he was the mysterious man.
If the masked man is really the mysterious man, I must figure out a way to break off Everly’s relationship with him! I do not wish to see her going down the wrong path. She’s surely being used by him!
The more Heather thought about it, the more eager she was to get back as soon as possible. She was in Singapore and being far away from Solaria made her feel powerless but thankfully, this day here wasn’t all that bad.
At night, she tossed and turned on the bed, unable to fall asleep. In the end, she climbed out of the bed. Since she couldn’t sleep, she planned to directly go to the airport to take the earliest flight. All she had in mind now was to go back as early as possible, as every second counted.
In the waiting area at the airport, Heather sat elegantly in a seat, feeling sleepy there instead. And so, she closed her eyes to take a brief rest before boarding the plane.
She was half awake since she couldn’t possibly fall asleep at a public place. Soon, it was almost daybreak and there were more people and noise around her, which indicated that the passengers could soon board on the first plane of the day.
Without having to glance at her watch, she was able to mentally gauge the time and knew that she still had about 30 minutes left. After another short rest, the announcement rang.
Heather, who had not completely fallen asleep, remained in a half-awake state of mind when she was boarding the plane but even after that, her mind was still groggy.
When she settled down in the first-class cabin, she found her surroundings a lot quieter. As she gently leaned back against the seat, her neck found a temporary ‘home’.
There were only a handful of people in the first-class cabin. There was a young couple with a three or four-year-old boy, who occasionally made some loud noise, but the rest of the passengers quietly shut their eyes to rest. It was rather peaceful in the cabin.
Under such a calm surrounding, she felt sleepier and finally fell asleep, which was actually her first time dozing off in a plane. When she was still half-asleep, the stewardess woke her up. Heather looked at the stewardess before her with her eyes slightly squinted and became wide awake in less than three seconds.
“Have we arrived at Bradfort City?” Heather asked with a raspy voice.
“Yes, Miss. We have arrived in Bradfort City,” the stewardess replied amiably. She couldn’t resist the urge to take a few more glances at Heather because the other woman was simply gorgeous.
“Thanks,” Heather said as she rose to her feet, feeling a whole lot better after a good rest.
She was no superhero and she would feel tired and burnt out. Sometimes, she felt that she was nothing more than an ordinary woman.
She alighted from the plane and this was the first time that nobody came to pick her up. Yet, she was unfazed by this tiny detail and didn’t feel dejected; all she had in mind was to go and find Leon.
When she was at Leon’s villa the last time she returned to Bradfort City, she heard him mentioning the mysterious force in the city, so she intended to work with him this time.
Although she had no idea what role his family played in Bradfort City, she thought that this was something that she could make use of. As for the question of how to do so, it would surely be through Leon, of course.
His villa was located quite far away from the airport. When Heather was on the way there, she thought about what she should do if Leon happened to be away.
She didn’t want to contact him. As he seldom contacted her nowadays, she reckoned that he was busy with his own things.
Although she was on the way to find him to talk about working with him, she was, in fact, still hesitating if she should get him involved with this matter. Sometimes, metaphysics came in handy when one was in a dilemma. The current situation made a perfect example—Heather decided to go straight to find Leon at his villa and if he was not there, she would pretend that she never came. However, if he was really there, she would bring up the idea to collaborate with him. In other words, she would let fate decide.
The cab brought her to her destination and she gracefully exited the car. Looking at the tightly closed main gate, Heather thought that there was a high chance that Leon was not here.
She thought about things for a while and stepped forward to knock on the door. She knocked on it for a long time, yet no one answered the door. A hint of disappointment flashed across her face and she thought to herself, It seems like Leon really isn’t here.
The very next instant, however, she felt relieved. This may be for the best. I don’t have to put him on the spot, at least. In truth, Heather had been giving him a lot of trouble, so she felt relieved for not troubling him this time.
Thus, she turned around and left. Well, this is it, then. I won’t come and find Leon again as long as this matter isn’t over. However, at that very moment, the large, heavy main gate behind her creaked. She looked back in shock, only to meet Leon’s eyes.
He wore a frivolous smile as he said to her, “Heather, you are finally willing to come and see me.”
Heather revealed a complex smile, wondering if she should feel glad for his sudden appearance. Since this was fate, she had to trouble him once again. Truth be told, she enjoyed working with Leon because she believed that he could bring her luck.
“Yes, I missed you.” Heather truly missed him. They seemed to have not met for a long time and he was no longer the teenage boy from her memories.
“Come in.” Leon, too, welcomed her as the corner of his lips curved upward into a smile as innocent as a child’s.
It had been quite some time since Heather last met him, so she was surprised that he grew out his beard. Under the sunlight, she could see that his smile seemed to carry a hint of vicissitudes of life.
Heather walked up to him and muttered, “You should shave your beard.” As she was speaking, she touched his overgrown beard curiously.
He smiled and gave no response, but he held her hand and cocked his head to the side like a mischievous little boy.
“Heather, how can I help you this time?” He was able to guess that she was here to seek his help, as he more or less knew about those terrible things that happened to her recently.
When she heard his words, guilt welled up inside her and she mumbled, “Leon, don’t treat me too nicely.” In the end, she still needed his help and might even bring him danger and trouble.
Leon looked at her fondly. He was used to how she had treated him all these years; sometimes, he would wonder if Heather had been using him ever since the very beginning.
Whenever interest or benefits were involved, he found it hard to convince himself otherwise. He wanted to reject her as well because there was nothing romantic between them anymore.
Matthias’ appearance had completely changed their relationship and had made him realize that he would never have a romantic relationship with her for the rest of his life.
He had seen her love toward Matthias in her eyes and at that moment, Leon felt as if his heart was being clenched and it was beyond agonizing. Nevertheless, no matter how hard he tried to persuade himself to let go of his feelings for her, he still loved her and would do anything for her unconditionally.
When a standby lover started to become greedy, nobody could guess what would happen next. Leon had been suppressing himself lately, attempting to break free from his feelings for Heather.
“Leon, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come looking for you.” Looking at his eyes that were filled with his passion for her, Heather backed down as she was afraid that she couldn’t afford to give him what he wanted this time.
