Just then, a loud boom of thunder echoed through the air.A lightning bolt cast light upon the woman's and Lena's faces. The woman looked pale as she clutched the baby girl in her arms. She wanted to turn back and run. However, behind her was a wall. It was a dead end. There was no way out behind her, and Lena was standing in front. The woman realized she could not escape. She stopped in her tracks and then turned to face Lena.The former's eyes were red-rimmed. "Why?" she questioned Lena.However, Lena did not say a word. She stepped on the puddles, closing into the woman. Between her fingers was a blade. It was sharp and gleamed with a chilling light. It seemed like the infant had sensed the danger. In an instant, she cried loudly. The woman lowered her head to look at the baby in the swaddle blanket. Her voice choked with tears as she comforted her child. Her tears, together with the raindrops, trickled down. Drop by drop, it fell onto the baby's tender face. As L
Belle was crying silently. "I-I'm scared," she sobbed.Grayson subconsciously gulped. He couldn't bear to push her away. "Are you scared of thunder?" he asked.He still remembered that one night when a loud thunderstorm had startled her awake. She had sat up screaming and ended up curled up and trembling in a corner.He had since come to the conclusion that she was afraid of thunder.However, she replied, "I'm scared that she's dead."Grayson was surprised. "Who?"Belle shook her head. "I don't know.""Did you have a nightmare?" he asked.Belle didn't budge. She knew it was a dream, but it felt so real.Lena was the only one she recognized out of everyone in her dream. Even though she didn't know who the mother and daughter duo in her dream was, she still didn't want them to die.In her nightmare, she stared helplessly as the woman's throat was slit, causing her to die from excessive bleeding. Belle's heart clenched at the sight.As Lena reached out toward the baby, Belle wa
He opened his eyes to see Belle giggling to herself. He narrowed his eyes and stared at her. He began to feel slightly happier at the sight of her laughing.However, Belle slowly stopped laughing when she noticed him next to her. Her smile froze, and she yelled, "Why are you next to me?"As if Grayson had already anticipated how she would react, he held her down before she could jump off the bed. "Wait. Why don't you see for yourself why I'm still here?"Belle looked down and saw her own hands wrapped tightly around an arm. It was Grayson's arm.Belle blinked in confusion but quickly realized that she was the one who had forced him to sleep next to her last night.He hadn't taken advantage of her. On the contrary, she had taken advantage of him.Belle chuckled awkwardly and quickly let him go. In a much gentler tone, she asked, "Didn't I fall asleep on the sofa? What am I doing on the bed?"Grayson narrowed his eyes and asked, "You don't remember, do you?""Let me try to recall
Simon sighed inwardly. Not only did Lena have Grayson in the palm of her hand, but she had also managed to rope both Grayson and Simon's grandmother in.He would have been clueless about the whole thing if Belle hadn't said anything. Simon paused for a second before saying, "Don't worry. You still have the scented sachet, right? Besides, I feel like you're doing better without the reed diffuser. You were in seriously bad shape yesterday. You sound a lot better today."Grayson let out a long breath to calm down. "Yeah. I do feel better.""Ms. Walters really knows her stuff!""What?""Huh? Oh, nothing."Simon meant to praise Belle's medical skills, but he didn't dare to tell Grayson the truth since Belle didn't let him.He did his best to gloss over what he had just said and changed the topic. "You should be nicer to Ms. Walters. She's so nice to you."Grayson didn't understand. "How is she nice to me?""She's a good young lady. She's one of the most talented girls I know."
While Meredith was talking to Grayson, Belle got into a taxi. She was just about to tell the driver her location when he passed her a phone. "Ms. Walters, you have a call from Mrs. Jenkins Senior," he said.Belle hesitated and glanced at the driver before taking the phone. "Mrs. Jenkins Senior?"Dorothy replied cheerfully, "Yes, it's me. The driver works for me. Just relax."Belle let her guard down. At the realization that Dorothy had actually personally sent someone to pick her up, she said, "There was no need to go through that trouble. I could have just called for a taxi.""I feel more at ease having someone pick you up," Dorothy replied with a chuckle. "Come over quickly. I'm waiting for you. I'll make you something delicious for lunch.""Okay!" Belle hung up and returned the phone to the driver, thanking him as she did so.Lena was on the way to Plums Café.She was looking out of the backseat window with a nonchalant expression.The driver was a Maltford local and had alw
Lena wiped her hands clean with some tissue. She glanced at him one last time before getting out of the car.She only spared him that extra glance because she didn't completely hate him. Usually, she wouldn't look at her victims after killing them.However, just because she didn't hate him didn't mean he could live. She hated hearing about other people's happy lives. If she couldn't have that, then no one else could.Killing people felt the same to her as squashing ants. She couldn't care less about it.She continued walking to the café in her pristine, unblemished white shoes. After checking some things at the counter, she walked toward a booth.Lena opened the door to the booth without a second thought. She hadn't felt the need to worry about Dorothy tricking her.She was extremely confident that Dorothy was no match for her.However, when the door swung open, the person she expected to see was nowhere to be found.Instead, there were a few middle-aged men in suits who seemed
There was chicken soup boiling in the pot and vegetables on the cutting board. There were also some vegetables still covered in soil."You're in charge of the fire," Dorothy said to Belle. "I'll continue cooking. It will probably be noon by the time I'm done. You should be hungry by then.""Okay!" Belle nodded.She liked spending time with Dorothy. She felt as comfortable with her as she did with Noah.She wanted to talk about Lena but didn't want to ruin the atmosphere. Instead, she began talking about her parents."Can you tell me about my parents? I want to know more."She had never directly asked about her background ever since Dorothy and Noah gave the same answer when she asked. "It's not the right time yet," they had said.Dorothy chuckled. "Your parents were geniuses. Your mom was a medical genius. Remember the frostle pill I gave you back then? She made that when she was pregnant. A lot of the medicine that your grandfather and I used were her creations.""Was my mom a
"Did they keep treasure with them or something?" Belle asked.Dorothy sighed gently. "You could call it a treasure. It certainly was something a lot of people wanted.""Something a lot of people wanted? Was it money?"Dorothy shook her head. "It was more precious than money.""What was it?"Dorothy fell silent again. After a beat, she said, "When the time is right, your grandfather will tell you. He'll tell you when he tells you about your background."Belle nodded helplessly and suddenly thought of something. She asked, "Mrs. Jenkins Senior, did my parents die because of someone else?"Dorothy looked at Belle in shock. "Who told you?""I guessed on my own."Dorothy simply looked at her, still taken aback.Belle replied, "I usually have nightmares during stormy nights. I always dream of this woman running for her life in the rain with a baby in her arms. "There would always be a lot of people chasing after her and trying to kill her. I often end up dreaming of how she died,