Even though Clarissa felt a little unpleasant inside, she obeyed Matthew and stayed indoors in Zen Highlands.
She didn’t feel like going out anyway, but that didn’t mean that other people did not invite her out.
All of a sudden, she received a phone call from Mimi saying that she was coming to D City for her studies. In the past, Mimi had mentioned that she planned to come to D City, but Clarissa didn’t expect it to be true.
Moreover, Mimi sounded rather self-entitled during the call. “Clare, you said you would take care of me and let me stay in your place when I come to D City.”
“When did I promise you that? I only said that I would arrange accommodation for you in a hotel,” Clarissa answered unpleasantly.
Knowing how shameless Mimi could be, she made sure not to be too nice or accommodating. Otherwise, Mimi would walk all over her.
Clarissa had told her off before in the past, but it wasn’t long before her arrogant attitude surfaced again.
Mimi expected that she would react this way, so she chuckled and said, “Clare, do you not care about me? I’m almost like your younger sister.”
“Don’t you have classmates? Wouldn’t it be better to live with other students so you can focus on your studies?” Clarissa retorted.
“Clarissa Quigley, let me get this clear with you. All I have to do is say a few things about you on the Internet, and your reputation will be ruined,” Mimi threatened her.
Clarissa frowned, but she wasn’t surprised at all.
There were tons of books published in Clarissa’s name, so it wasn’t difficult for Mimi to guess that she was a famous writer.
When Mimi didn’t hear an answer from Clarissa, she snorted and said, “Haha… Clare, I just want to stay with you alright! Come pick me up from the airport and let me stay with you. I won’t bother you much, you’ll see.”
Just like that, she hung up the phone.
After the call ended, Clarissa let out a sigh. She worried that Mimi would actually carry out her threats given that she was someone with no principles.
She decided to give Matthew a call to tell him about Mimi.
“Should I go and pick her up? And let her stay in that apartment?” she said.
“No need. I’ll get someone to deal with this matter,” Matthew answered.
“Huh? How are you going to handle this matter? You better not let her play any tricks on you. The last time she saw you, she——” Clarissa was cut off before she could finish speaking.
“Don’t worry about this, Clare. Just let me handle it, alright? You don’t have to make yourself unhappy by meeting her. I’ll just get someone to handle her. Don’t worry,” Matthew interjected.
Clarissa placed her trust in him and decided not to worry further about the matter.
That night, Mimi gave Clarissa a call and grumbled, “What kind of shabby place did you arrange for me to stay? Did you spend all your money on your little pretty face? You must be doing this on purpose. I’m warning you, I will spread the news about how malicious you are.”
Just as Clarissa was about to respond, Matthew took the phone from her and said, “If you want to tarnish Clare’s reputation, just go ahead and do so. But you can forget about going to the film academy too. Remember those pictures of you with that guy…?”
“Ah… you despicable faggot!” Mimi cursed at him.
Matthew hung up on her that instant. It was obvious that he wasn’t afraid of Mimi’s threats.
Meanwhile, Clarissa stared at him in surprise as she said, “Did you just hang up on her? What pictures were you referring to? Who’s that guy?”
Matthew touched her face gently, his lips twitched as he explained, “She had a boyfriend named Eric back in W City. He was a troublemaker, and they took some intimate pictures together.”
“Huh?? She’s only eighteen years old. How can——” Mimi was clearly angry, but she was also disappointed in Mimi.
“Just leave her alone. It was her own choice, and she did it for money,” Matthew replied.
Clarissa furrowed her brows. “I should have expected this. Mimi is a vain and short-sighted person, just like my aunt. She would steal for the sake of maintaining her appearance, so I’m not surprised that she would sell her own body for some quick cash. One day she will regret her actions,” she said in disappointment.
“Do you actually think she’s capable of regret? I don’t think so,” Matthew said sarcastically.
Clarissa then let out a sigh and said, “You’re probably right. I just can’t understand what goes on in her mind.”
Mimi’s life was indeed a result of her own actions, so Clarissa decided not to get involved so much.
Both of Mimi’s parents were still around, yet they did not care much about their own daughter. What more could Clarissa do to intervene? Even if she did, she wouldn’t be appreciated.
After Matthew’s counter threat, Mimi didn’t bother Clarissa anymore.
A few days later, the police provided several updates on Clarissa’s case.
The two punks who had attacked Mandy were arrested in their hometowns, and based on their statements, they were paid to follow and destroy Clarissa when they could.
However, when the two of them managed to spot Clarissa outdoors, they did not dare to get too close to her. It so happened that Mandy was wearing a similar beige coat, so she ended up being their unfortunate target.
These two punks were rash and inaccurate in their actions, so it meant that the person who hired them didn’t know their abilities very well.
On the other hand, the truck driver who got into the accident with Dylan had a long driving history and was out drinking with some friends that night. In the past, he had been involved in another drunk-driving accident where he used up all his savings to compensate the victim. His wife and kid ended up leaving him, so he decided to give up drinking and turn over a new leaf. However, he started drinking again after a short while and ended up in another accident, this time involving Dylan.
Though it seemed like a genuine accident, the police took no chances. They conducted a thorough investigation and interrogated the driver until they finally found a loophole.
The truck driver had a son who lived with his ex-wife. He was an excellent student attending D City’s top university, and he was due to go abroad for an exchange program soon.
This did not seem like an issue at first, but when the police dug for more detail at his university, they found out that he had once been removed from the list of exchange students. It turned out that the truck driver’s son had been replaced with another student on the list, and many people felt that this was unfair to him since he was an excellent student. Later on, the truck driver’s son was added onto the list again, and it seemed like the scales of justice were balanced once again.
However, when the police investigated further, they discovered that the truck driver’s ex-wife had paid a university official to get her son on the exchange program list again. Her son was undoubtedly supposed to be on that list, but since he was removed without any explanation, it was understandable why she chose to bribe the university official. A larger question arose from this discovery. How did this so-called poor family manage to find such a large sum of money to pay the university?
The truck driver’s ex-wife did not know how he got the money, and the driver himself did not want to admit it at first. But after further investigations, the police found out that the driver received the money from the same person who had paid Mandy’s two attackers.
Soon, the police managed to arrest the suspect, and he was also charged for gambling and drug abuse.
It was soon uncovered that these punks were hired online through a group chat. No one knew who started this group chat which was filled with all sorts of thugs and hooligans. These people had committed many shady crimes, and they would usually be contacted privately for new jobs. The truck driver happened to stumble upon this group chat by chance where he offered his services for some quick money. Shortly after, an unknown person hired him to create trouble for Clarissa.
This person did not bother whether Clarissa was left dead or alive as long as he created some form of trouble for her.
Tempted by the cash reward, the truck driver decided to take up the job. He was even promised more money after the job was completed.
“Mr. Tyson, we can’t find that person in the group chat. It seems like he left the chat a long time ago, and he was using a temporary phone number then. The truck driver was simply instructed to pick up the cash at an appointed location. We have yet to find out who delivered the cash to the pick-up point.” One of the policeman updated Clarissa and Matthew on the developments of their investigation.
This confirmed that there was indeed someone vicious going after Clarissa, but they just couldn’t catch him.
Matthew’s eyes sank as he asked, “Are there no surveillance cameras at the pick-up point? Have your people not managed to look into this?”
The policeman answered, “Mr. Tyson, the pick-up point was at an amusement park. The place is usually crowded with children and their parents. It’s hard to tell who’s who.”
“Can’t you bait him out?” Matthew challenged.
“This person only makes one-way contact, and he knows Ms. Quigley’s situation very well. He didn’t drop off the cash in the same pick-up point this time, meaning he knows that he was unsuccessful in harming Ms. Quigley. He won’t resurface again anytime soon. We’ve lost our trail of clues,” said the policeman.
A murderous look flashed across Matthew’s eyes that instant.
Clarissa quickly stepped in to say, “Alright, thank you so much for your help.”
After the policeman left, she turned to hug Matthew and acted cute in his embrace. “See, the person has gone into hiding already. He probably wouldn’t do anything rash since he knows we are on guard, so we can relax for now. I can at least go out for some outdoor activities now, right?”
Matthew wrapped his arms around her waist as he pondered over her words, then said, “I’ll get a few bodyguards to escort you.”
“No!” she quickly refused. “Going out with bodyguards is simply ridiculous. It’s not like I go out that often anyway. I’m always vigilant when I go out, and I’d rather have you, Mr. Davis, or Mrs. Lawson to accompany me!”
Nevertheless, Matthew did not agree to her demands.
The next day, Clarissa was escorted by a cool-looking female driver with short hair.
The driver did not seem like a simple person as Clarissa could sense a murderous vibe from her.
Is she supposed to be my new driver and bodyguard at the same time?
How much more ridiculous can this be?
