In a few hours, Ashton dials Ivy and asks her to meet him downstairs for lunch.She sighs and stretches her back, standing up from the chair she's been sitting in for hours, perusing documents and going through the ledgers and account books where, of course, there are tons of anomalies. Money missing which should be somewhere or money is where it isn't supposed to be, all just terribly jumbled up and named an account book.Ivy grabs her bag and jacket and heads down where Ashton really is waiting for her, leaning on the car right at the door, the valet sweating.Ivy chuckles at his nervous look and enters the car along with Ashton before driving. "Did you scare the valet?"Ashton laughs. "He's a shaky guy. I told him I was waiting for you to join me and he started to sweat profusely, maybe he thought we were going to scold him or something."Ivy laughs. "I guess he needs to see the good side of us so all misunderstandings will be cleared up. So where are we off to?""It's Bluehill tod
Richard wakes up to a pounding, terrible headache early the afternoon of the day after his rendezvous at the bar. He groans as he sits up in an unfamiliar room. He looks around and finds his phone on the bedstand. He manages to pick it up and checks the time.It's two twenty eight in the afternoon."Fuck. I slept for so long. Where am I?" He sits on the edge of the bed and holds his head in his hands. Right opposite him, there's a long standing mirror and he looks into it to see his own very disheveled form. At the right side of his forehead is a red swell.Richard raises his hand and touches the spot. "Ouch." It's very tender. Suddenly, everything from the previous night starts coming back to him in snatches. Just a few things... He had met Arielle and then passed out. Why? He hadn't even drank much when she showed up so why did he pass out?He looks around again and gets off the bed. "Where the fuck am I?" He asks himself and he remembers leaving the club, stumbling along with a lad
"Is this the place?" Ashton questions, alighting the car, his gaze fixed on the dimly lit apartment in front of them. He had taken the location from the man in his office earlier and he and Ivy now stands in front of the apartment that Tiara's phone tracking stands right over."Yeah, this is the exact location we traced Tiara's number. Tiara must be in there, and also whoever is keeping her," Ivy responds with a slight look of nervousness. No one knew what happened to Tiara, no one knew if she was dead or kidnapped, so they knew the best thing they could do was keep their guards high while going into the apartment in case they encounter any dangerous entity."Stay close," Ashton bellows cautiously as they began to advance forward and head towards the building. The building looked like a two-story building with cracked walls and faded paint. There was no light around the environment, making it give some kind of creepy vibe."The door is unlocked?" Surprised, Ashton speaks softly as he
"What? What do you mean switched off?" Ashton blurts out with a surprised look after hearing Ivy's words."Wait, I'll try it again." Ivy then proceeded to dial the number again, but was met with the same result. "It is switched off," Ivy informed, her voice filled with disappointment."It means someone heard the phone ring when we called earlier and must have suspected that we would track it down, so they turned the phone off," Ashton spoke, his gaze fixated on Arielle who just stood there in silence, a look of indifference evident on her face, amidst her inner turmoil."What have you done with Tiara!" Ivy exclaimed, attempting to attack Arielle, but Ashton held her back. "She wasn't the best human but I'm certain she was way better than you. Didn't go behind anyone to get another's man for herself and betraying her friend for the man, but you? You're the worst of the lot.""What's with you guys? Why are you still suspecting me when my innocence has been proven?" Arielle questioned wi
Inside what is a neatly and well made room in the Hall family mansion, Veronica Hall is standing in front of a round mirror while applying some slight makeup to her face. She hadn't realized earlier that she ran out of groceries, and now that she was in need of them, she had to head over to the grocery store quickly to get some. After applying some makeup and making sure she was decently dressed, she picked up her purse and headed out of the room, informing Damien of her whereabouts.She took a car from home and chose a driver to drop her off, choosing to enjoy the breeze at the back of the car rather than drive. At the market and grocery store, she walks along the streets where several other people could be seen going about their own businesses, each trying to lure her into buying from them. Having the rich woman look around her and the elegance that seems to not be so far from her, Veronica manages to take note of everything around her, smiling at the cute things and frowning at som
Ashton and Ivy makes their way back to the car after their unfruitful meeting with Arielle, and they both sat down inside with a look of defeat etched on their faces."Arielle is definitely hiding something," Ivy spoke up, still doubting the fact that Arielle was innocent."Well, I did search every corner of her apartment, but Tiara was nowhere to be found," Ashton let out a sigh of defeat while resting his hands on the wheel."It's possible she hid Tiara before we arrived. Didn't you see how nervous she looked when we asked to search the apartment?" The nervous expression that appeared on Arielle's face back then was really hard for Ivy to forget.It was almost like she didn't want Ashton searching the place, but if she should protest, it would only make her look suspicious."Let's just head back and carry out more investigation on Arielle since she's our main suspect right now," Ashton responded as he attempted to start the car, but the sound of Ivy's phone ringing made him pause in
"Yeah, I do remember her coming in. Her name was, I think, Veronica. I got her name because she's a regular customer. Just like you said, when she came in to buy groceries, something happened. She met a man in here who seemed to have a wild look around her, he followed her out few seconds after he left, not even paying or taking the can of sweet corn he came for." Anna explains.Hearing her words, Ashton now had a serious look on his face as he asked, "What man?" His suspicions are probably about to be confirmed."I don't really know. I didn't see his face clearly, but based on what I saw, it looked like the two were having an argument... no, it looked like the man was harassing Veronica while they were shopping but she came to pay and left first." Anna responded as she remembers the incident clearly from earlier."What the hell? Harassing?" Ashton blurted out in disbelief."Before I could approach them about the commotion, it seemed to stop and she came to pay and then, Veronica left
Ashton exited the mall after thanking Anna and also getting her phone number. He went to his car and had a little time with his thoughts about all what he just witnessed before driving off and heading back to the hospital.He drove through the dimly lit highway, the video he watched earlier kept replaying in his head as he clutched the wheel tightly while driving.After driving for what seemed like forever, he finally pulled over inside the hospital compound and got off the car. Things around the area were already calm unlike before.Without wasting any time, he swiftly made his way into the building and headed straight to the elevator that led to the ward.*PING*The elevator pinged with the door sliding open, and Ashton dashed out of it and headed straight to the room.Damien could be seen sitting on a bench outside alone, and he was currently lost in thoughts."Hey..." Ashton speaks up, unsure about what to say to a man who's wife was in an accident, Damien shifted his gaze towards