But it didn’t seem like that was what happened now. Eugene was shocked to learn that it was Nicole who had deleted the CCTV footage. What if… Nathan wasn’t the one who drugged me, either? Eugene continued reading the text. ‘Since then, Andy kept in contact with Nicole. On the day that Penny bumped into Andy, he had just left Nicole’s house. Nicole spoke to Andy on the phone for 3 minutes and 53 seconds that same day, and they both appeared at Loveshore Guesthouse that same night.
Eugene questioned his whole life after he finished reading the last sentence. Do Nicole and Andy have a thing going on with each other? Isn’t Nicole dating Hayden? If all of this is true, does that mean that Nicole’s the one who’s secretly going against Olivia? He looked up to meet Penny’s eyes. “Were you somewhere near Nicole’s house when you bumped into Andy that day?” he asked.
Penny didn’t seem to have much of a reaction after hearing Eugene’s question, but Andy felt his heart sinking the moment he heard Nicole’s name. I can’t believe they discovered that Penny was near Nicole’s house that day. They’re not suspecting Nicole, are they?!
Penny only responded after a short pause. “How did you know that?” she asked while gazing at Eugene confusedly. “Does Nicole know that you wanted to target Olivia?” he asked again. Penny was still puzzled as she tried to come up with an answer.
“Well… back then, she claimed that you were someone who couldn’t be convinced. She told me that the only way to change your mind was if I had something I could offer you in exchange. So, in a bout of rage, I figured I’d use Olivia as a condition to get you to change… I even told Nicole a lot of bad stuff about Olivia…” Penny muttered.
“What did Nicole say?” Eugene asked. “She didn’t say much. I told her that I felt bad because you were too occupied with Olivia. She spent half a day comforting me without giving me any solution.
She kept reminding me that Olivia wasn’t just going to disappear, that I couldn’t do much about this, and that it was normal for you to protect your girlfriend. Finally, she told me to stop what I was trying to do…” Penny’s voice grew increasingly feeble after seeing Eugene’s gaze turn dark.
It seems like Nicole manipulated her, he thought. Nicole was intelligent and had spent a lot of time with Penny, so she knew Penny exceptionally well. Some things didn’t require explicit statements-Nicole just needed to know the right things to say that would trigger Penny. Being the innocent but rebellious girl Penny was, she wanted to free herself of Lara’s overprotectiveness. The more someone told Penny not to do something, the more she wanted to do it.
Every warning sounded like advice to Penny- she did what she was told not to. Nicole knew this about Penny, so she probably called Andy and told him to wait for Penny outside her house! “What is it?” Penny asked when Eugene went silent for a long while.
He didn’t respond to her-instead, he walked over to Andy before staring at the man who looked like he was minutes away from death. “That explains why you were willing to put yourself in this situation. It was all for Nicole! Tell me. What did Nicole tell you in the call on the day of the robbery?” Eugene asked.
Andy felt his heart sinking. It’s over, he thought. Eugene found out about it. Andy hesitated for a long while before trying to sneak his way out of the conversation. What if Eugene is just lying to me, right? he thought. “I don’t understand what you mean. Who’s Nicole?” Andy uttered in a weak voice.
Eugene scoffed. “It seems like you’re still playing dumb. Do you want me to tell you what happened between you and Nicole seven years ago?” Andy widened his eyes and stared at Eugene in disbelief after hearing Eugene’s words. “I-I don’t know her… Stop talking nonsense… Penny told me to do this!” he mumbled weakly.
After all those days of torture, Andy insisted on keeping his mouth shut before he wanted to stick to his promise. He had promised to take care of Nicole. He was willing to do anything. for her-he’d sacrifice his life for her if that were what it took for him to repay her..
