Two Hundred and sixty nine

CHAPTER 269

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Alicia opened her eyes after hearing a knock on the door. She tried to blink her eyes, then got up from her bed. She walked with her weak body to the door. The transparent door showed Nicholas outside, so Alicia didn't have to worry about opening the door.

The girl opened the door and Nicholas greeted her enthusiastically. "Hey, Alicia. Why... what's wrong with you? Your face looks pale."

Nicholas pressed the back of his hand to his forehead, checking Alicia's body temperature manually. He felt an unusual heat. There was something strange and Nicholas looked at Alicia worriedly.

"You have a fever, Alicia." Nicholas put his arm around Alicia and carried her into the house. Nicholas closed the door behind him and gently pushed Alicia into the living room. Nicholas helped Alicia to sit down. "Have you had a fever since morning?"

Alicia nodded her head. "I... went to see Anna at her house."

"Did you manage to meet Anna?"

"She... was close to my mother, Nick. She even told me a secret that I never knew," Alicia said in a hoarse voice.

Nicholas listened to Alicia's story patiently. he didn't say anything, especially when Alicia cried beside him. Sighing a few times, Nicholas tried to calm Alicia down by rubbing her back.

"It's okay, Alicia. You can tell me everything slowly. I'll stay, so you don't have to feel rushed."

Alicia nodded her head. She tried to calm the storm inside herself. Since returning from the funeral, Alicia had not eaten anything. The girl could not accept reality easily. The reality she had discovered this time was not just that Michelle was her biological mother, but also that Michelle had died before Alicia knew she was her biological mother.

Inhaling as much oxygen as she could, Alicia tried to look at Nicholas. She wiped away tears, then looked straight at Nicholas who was still sitting faithfully beside her. The man did not remove his hand from Alicia's back, he gently caressed her body with great care.

After a few moments of trying to reconcile with herself, Alicia opened her mouth to speak. "I found out that Michelle, who I knew as an adoptive mother, is actually my real mother."

"Okay, then?"

"My birth mother talked to Anna, she talked about many things I didn't know. About business, about the future and even about marriage, Nick."

Nicholas closed his mouth tightly. He pursed his lips, then lowered his hands from Alicia's body.

"After all these years of hating my biological mother ... I just didn't know the truth after we met again in the future," Alicia said regretfully. He nodded weakly. "That's what I regret to this day, Nick."

"Alicia... you have to stop blaming yourself for everything. You don't know that your biological mother did a lot of things, making you her daughter again in the adoption documents. Your mother must have known that you would face danger in the future, that's why she hid all this from you."

"But why did she tell Anna?"

Nicholas mumbled for a long time. He wanted to give the best answer. "Maybe... because Anna and your mother are emotionally close."

What Nicholas said, however, made Alicia snort. That sounded dismissive!

Alicia bit her lip, then continued her words that she had been holding back. "But Anna betrayed my mother, Nick. Anna said, she secretly came to my mother's house, stole the data she wanted, it was about the list of assets and treasures she was going to give to her successor, Anna stole it and gave the important data to her other boss."

"Her other boss?"

"You know that Anna works for two bosses at the same time, right?" Nicholas nodded his head, although his face looked confused by what Alicia had just said. "Anna gave that important data to her boss! Anna was used, my mother was used! And that could have been the reason my mother was killed, Nick. Someone out there knows about my mother's wealth, they might want it!"

As Alicia's tone began to sound high and emotional, Nicholas tried to make a decision. Placing one hand on the back of Alicia's hand, he grasped her hand and made her bite her lip.

"You can't see things properly if you're angry," Nicholas muttered, trying to calm Alicia down. "So, what did Anna tell you? Did she regret what she did?"

"She resigned from Star Corporation, Nick."

Nicholas' eyebrows furrowed, he was getting more and more confused. The information Alicia knew would probably help him find Ace. But as it turned out, all of this was beyond Nicholas' expectations. There were other things that were not related to Ace, but related to Alicia's life in the past.

"Why did she resign from her job? Are all these things interconnected?"

Alicia nodded her head, she let go of Nicholas' hand so she could massage her forehead which was starting to throb painfully. Her head was dizzy from not having eaten for several hours, but Alicia tried to hold it in. She then looked up and tried to tell him.

"She's scared, Nick. Anna knows that my mother's death was not a gas explosion, but a murder. She said she found out, I think... she guessed murder because she leaked important data to her boss."

Nicholas let out a long sigh, he mumbled and said, "Do you know who the boss who hired Anna is?"

"A professor from Japan."

"Professor?"

Alicia shook her head, then squeezed her pajamas. "I can't ask for more details, Nick. My mind is a mess, right after I found out that my mother... my mother passed away before I found out that she was my mother."

Nicholas tried to understand the situation. He couldn't blame Alicia, the circumstances must have been complex. The truth was too hard to accept and Nicholas tried not to judge.

"You'd better rest, Alicia. Have you eaten?"

Alicia shook her head, and that made Nicholas quite worried. He got up and rubbed her back.

"I'll make some food, you can wait in the room."