Brendan’s expression darkened. His motive had always been securing Ophelia McKinnon—that much was true. Still, he asked, “How can I be sure that you’re not going to send me an impostor in exchange for Connor’s life?”“You don’t have to worry about that, Mr. Brighthall,” replied Louis. “You’ll be receiving a spectacular gift at your villa. Once you take a look at it, I’m sure you’ll start to understand.”Exactly at the moment the call ended, they heard the doorbell. Brendan answered it and found only a parcel-delivery guy. He texted Shea, telling her to check all surveillance cameras in proximity remotely before receiving the parcel.Deirdre could not sit still at all. Wrapped in her blanket, she strode straight toward him, her hands shaking. “W-What is it?”“It’s okay. It’s just a delivery,” consoled Brendan. He opened it and found useless trinkets crowding out its true core: a tube of blood. While he held it, though, Brendan suddenly understood what it meant. Deirdre could not
Louis chuckled. “You don’t have to worry about this, Mr. Brigthall. Ophelia McKinnon is an important asset to us, so if any harm befell her, the loss would be ours to bear! So, we provided her with quite a comfortable lifestyle. In fact, it’s even better than the life you gave her the last time, Mr. Brighthall.“We’ve planned to reveal her in the most dramatic fashion, but Mr. Brighthall’s sharp wits removed our surprise by tripping us up, didn’t you?”Louis’ last line was quite the insinuation. Brendan snickered. “How’s this exchange supposed to work?”“There will be a cargo ship arriving at the eastern port a week from now. Mrs. McKinnon will be there,” said Louis. “Before the ship docks, you’ll be able to observe her from a distance of ten-odd meters. Should you release Connor then, he’ll leave on his own accord.”“Fine.”The call ended. Louis turned to the man behind him. “Sir, it is done.”The man stayed silent, but the air seemed to be heating up. It grew hotter and heavier
Charlene poised as a long-suffering fiancee who just wanted to vent out injustice, but her word choice was specifically meant to degrade Deirdre’s personality by insinuating that she was only popular with males because she was a flirty pick-me girl.Brendan’s eyes turned cold, but that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared when he appeared to frown. “You’re overthinking it. I’m not interested in any woman who’d make eyes at any man in her vicinity.”Charlene bit her lips. “But… What about today? You…”“When I came home from work, Deirdre fainted from some unknown discomfort, so I brought her to the hospital. She fell asleep in the car while we were on our way back. I couldn't possibly leave her there, so I carried her to her room.”“Oh! So that’s what happened!” Charlene’s eyes twinkled with joy. A faint shadow of smugness—she believed Brendan’s excuse, after all—surfaced to her grin before it faded from new doubt. “But you were staying in her room for a long time.”Brendan ca
“Alright,” Charlene said and showed Brendan a smile. As the days passed, things began to settle. The Internet had bigger scandals to fry and gravitate toward, and slowly but surely, the commentaries were reduced. Charlene felt great. She was sure that given more time, she would finally be the undisputed Mrs. Brighthall who bore him a child. She would no longer have to fear anything. As for Deirdre McKinnon…Malice pooled into Charlene’s eyes. She had never planned to let that fiasco during her botched wedding go, and now that she was finally freed from the storm, she could go back to plotting for that.She knew a doctor privately and asked if he could recommend any slow-acting but potent poison. “I want it to be the kind that can ruin that person’s face over time. I want it ruined so badly, not a single surgeon in the world can recover it!”“There is such a drug, but you can’t get it from my clinic.”“Then give me a venue. I’ll take it from you personally.”The doctor gave h
”S-Sir—”“Hush now,” the man interjected. “Please, don’t lower yourself by calling me that. You’re Brendan’s b*tch, not mine, remember? You wanted a piece of him so hard, you’d tell him everything about our plan and sell Watson out. You’re so out of my control I can hardly be called your master.”He sounded humorous, but Charlene shuddered. The look in his eyes screamed murder—and it oozed out of his contempt. Charlene’s teeth chattered as she threw her arms around the man’s thigh. “No! It’s not what you think, sir! I’ve always been loyal to you! Always! How could I possibly, willingly, betray you? He forced me to do it during the wedding! I had no choice! I just want Brendan to trust me… And then I can get Connor out of his bind!“Don’t you get it? I’m doing all of this for our plan, too!”The man snickered. Before she had a chance to understand him, someone flanking the man swung his leg at her, sending her flying several meters away. “Who do you think you are, touching our m
Shea could not tell which flood it came from let alone which room. But she knew one thing—that voice belonged to Charlene! Why would she let out such a bloodcurdling scream if she was the one who came here of her own volition?A thought struck her. Shea reeled in realization and immediately called Brendan. The man himself was in a meeting. When he saw her number, he declined the call noncommittally, only to immediately receive another. It was out of Shea’s usual character—she usually knew to wait patiently for his replies when he declined her calls. Frowning, he signaled the meeting to pause momentarily and answered, “Hello?”“S-Sir!” Shea was sweating cold. She briefly described following Charlene to a certain residential area before losing her completely, only to then hear such a skin-crawling shriek a few seconds later.“I… I think the people Miss McKinney had been working with were taking their grudge out on her, sir! This might be their base of operation. But I can’t pi
Brendan turned to an underling who had just returned from checking outside. He shook his head. “No other passage leading anyone out of here, sir.”Shea had been guarding the only way in or out of the high-rise. Combined with the fact that sawing off Charlene’s leg and treating her wound would require too much time, it was almost impossible that these people could possibly have left before Shea got to the entrance. Brendan mused over the possibilities and asked, “Have you checked upstairs?”“But they are all normal residents. How could they possibly house a syndicate—”Shea left her own answer hanging and bolted out of the room. Brendan immediately brought his people to follow her all the way to the 11th floor. “Here! Over here!” She said, “The rooms here are all vacant. Someone died in these units before, so nobody had wanted to stay here since then. If anyone were to hide in here… the residents here would be none the wiser.”Someone checked the locks and reported, “Sir, the lo
“W-What!?” Charlene cried out in sheer panic and terror that her voice just went an octave higher. “B-But that would mean… they could c-come for me and k-kill me!”“They won’t.” He snickered. “You no longer have the chance to die.”“What?” She looked up in surprise. Her mind was in such a state of disarray that she did not manage to catch what Brendan said. “I said, I’ll protect you. They were after you because of me, after all.”Charlene nodded with tears streaming down her eyes. Secretly, her glee ballooned within her. Her lost limb was never coming back to her, and she would do whatever she could to guilt-trip Brendan with it. He needed to feel guilty—he needed to think that the only reason she would even lose her leg was because of him. That way, she would be more than rightful to be by his side forever.“That reminds me…” Brendan suddenly said. “Weren’t you in the mansion? Why did you go to that unremarkable neighborhood in the first place? Had Deirdre not told Shea to tail