The phone Josie had stashed in her bag began to vibrate intensely. She fished it out and saw that it was a call from Arnold. She wanted to hang up immediately, but Dexter said in a deep and authoritative tone, “Answer it.”
She gripped her phone tightly, hesitating for a moment before answering the call. From over there came the hurried breaths of Arnold, holding back from exploding in anger at the brink.
There was a moment of silence, then Arnold asked in a hoarse voice, “Did you and Dexter conspire against me?”
Josie furrowed her brows, turning to look at Dexter, who remained impassive as he stood beside her.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Josie!” Arnold’s voice rose, carrying a faint hint of a sob. She was taken aback, looking again at Dexter, his face showing restrained patience.
“Pass this message to Dexter. Tell him that I will settle this score, so he should be extremely careful.”
Arnold abruptly hung up the phone after he finished speaking. Josie tossed her cell phone aside and asked, “What have you done?”
Dexter looked at the sky ahead and said, “Dawn is approaching. Let’s head back and rest.”
“Dexter!” Josie was most annoyed by his attitude. “If you’re going to use me like a tool, then you should at least tell me what you’ve done!”
The man finally glanced sideways, looking at her with a pitiful gaze as he replied, “I told you not to get close to these people, but you didn’t listen. Now that you’re involved, you should at least make yourself useful, right?”
Josie’s palms drenched in sweat as she anxiously tried to guess. “Edward is the only person who could make Arnold lose control. Something happened to Edward because of you.”
Dexter neither refuted nor admitted to her statement, continuing to fiddle with his rosary beads as he said, “Grandpa’s death should not be exploited in vain.”
Josie suddenly understood what happened. Slumping weakly against her chair, she asked, “Summer showing up here today was your doing, wasn’t it? You planned for Claudia to find out, so you deliberately drew Arnold’s attention.”
As soon as these words were spoken, Dexter raised a playful smile. “You are more crucial compared to her.”
Josie was an unexpected factor, but her presence was evidently more useful than that of Summer’s. She managed to lead Arnold away, buying a lot of time.
Josie never expected that his series of actions would turn her into a pawn of Dexter’s. “What have you done, could it be Edward is…”
“Finding a similar replacement was quite complicated. It took a lot of effort.” Dexter frowned at the thought of that. He looked at Josie as he continued, “He has gone too far. I put him in jail, but he’s always thinking of escaping. In that case, he might as well stay with me forever.”
As he spoke, Josie couldn’t help but feel a chill run down her spine. She had thought that Dexter was not retaliating because his grandfather had passed away and he was being considerate. But to her surprise, he had been deliberately biding his time, waiting until today to strike.
He remained the monster who must retaliate for every slight. Fear was etched on her face, which displeased Dexter. He reached out, pressing her neck to draw her closer to himself. “Scared? Someday, you’ll be grateful for what I did today.”
Josie squinted her eyes when she heard that. That’s a strange thing to say…
The street lights went out as the sky outside gradually brightened, and Josie was utterly exhausted, sitting right where she was.
“How did you know I would go see Arnold?”
Dexter lit a cigarette, taking it in puff by puff as he replied, “Paul’s lead is with him. Whether you go or not is just a matter of time.”
He really knew!
“How much do you know about Pop’s whereabouts? Could you please tell me?” she asked, on guard and somewhat pleading. Dexter flicked off the ash from his cigarette. “No more than you.”
As Josie’s heart sank heavily, he added, “So, we need something to restrain Arnold, don’t we?”
Dawn broke. Dexter got out of the car and instructed Moses to take Josie home. After all, she had learned too much and was not in a good mental state.
