However, the woman was stubborn. “I know he’s busy, so I’m here to see him. Just for a bit, and I’ll go back. Oh, right! Why did you call?”
I replied, “Oh, I wanted to ask if a tall and muscular man come to find you these days.” Before I left A City, I reminded her to help Danny if he came to look for her.
She said, “Nope. No one came to see me recently.”
I figured Danny had followed Abe to Moranta, so I nodded and reminded her, “Don’t stay in Moranta for too long. I’ll give you a number, and just in case you need help, you can call this number. Don’t wander around there and always be careful.”
Nora hummed in reply and hung up after that. After a while, I sent her Holden’s number and texted Holden, asking him to take care of her.
Moranta’s security wasn’t that good, so at least Holden could help her if she got into trouble.
After that, Anthony went to the study on the second floor, while I went to my bedroom. It was at this moment when I realized that Renee had given me Sasha’s journal when I was at the hospital.
I wanted to read the journal, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Right when I was scratching my head in frustration, I realized I had left the journal in another bag as I was in a rush when packing my stuff.
Well, I guess there’s nothing I can do with that.
Without Armond’s participation, the lawsuit went on smoothly, while the cooperation between the Featherstone Corporation and the Murphy Corporation could only be called off. Besides, the product launch was delayed, and it had affected the Featherstone Corporation’s profits.
Rachel had paid a lot of effort on the project, so she was reluctant for it to end that way. After discussing with Anthony, he agreed to hold a public tender in A City to look for a new business partner.
On the other hand, I had nothing to work on at the Murphy Corporation anymore. But because of the public tender, Anthony and I continued to stay in A City for the time being. Meanwhile, Holden called me once and told me that Nora almost got into trouble at the hotel, but he took her to his villa.
When I heard that, I was relieved as that was something to be happy about.
For the following days, Anthony and Rachel were busy with meetings for the new public tender. On the other hand, I was looking for Danny in A City, and it was rather difficult to do so, as he didn’t give me his contact number.
What surprised me the most was Tessa contacting me personally. She asked to meet as she had some matters to discuss, but I was reluctant to see her because I had nothing to discuss with her.
However, she was determined to meet me. Bringing up the incident in Venria, she insisted on inviting me out for a talk, so I had to agree.
We agreed to meet at a café. It was November, so the weather in A City was chilly. Tessa wore a stylish orange coat with a green turtleneck. As she was rather chubby, the turtleneck covered her neck and made it seem shorter.
I sat at the seat in front of her. She looked frazzled as if she had been staying up late for a long time. The heavy makeup didn’t do her face justice, either. It seemed dirty and made me feel uncomfortable just looking at her face.
“What would you like to drink?” She asked and sized me up.
I answered, “Anything would do.”
The woman nodded and fell silent for a while before saying, “Long time no see. You’ve become prettier.”
I was stunned, as I didn’t expect to hear compliments coming from her. I looked at her for a while and went straight to the topic. “What do you need from me?”
She shrugged and refused to answer my question. “Why don’t we have something to drink first, and we’ll talk later? After all, we’re friends, so don’t treat me like an enemy. Anthony is irresistible, but since I can’t make him fall for me, I might as well give up. Besides, it’s not worth offending you because of him.”
Listening to her words, I knew she was up to something.
After staying silent for a while, I urged, “What do you want me to do? I’ll help if I can.”
She looked at me and still didn’t tell me her intentions. Placing a glass of fruit juice in front of me, she smiled faintly and said, “Here, have a drink. Like I said, we’re not enemies, so there’s no need to rush.”
I didn’t know what she was trying to do, so I could only take a sip of the fruit juice. Maybe it was because she had touched the glass that there was an unfamiliar scent coming from the fruit juice. I had heard from Laurel that Tessa had a praying hall in her house, and she would always light sandalwood incense inside it.
The smell of sandalwood always lingered on her body, and that made me feel uncomfortable.
“I heard that Nora went to Moranta. Why is she there?” She brought up Nora suddenly.
I replied indifferently, “I’m not sure.” Since she didn’t want to tell me her intentions, then there was no point in asking. Thus, I put up with her and waited.
As expected, she finally got to the point after talking about a lot of unrelated stuff. “I heard that Mr. Featherstone is going to hold a public tender to look for a sponsor for the AI project. Has he found a potential partner already?”
I furrowed my brows slightly. “I know little about this. Plus, he’s preparing to hold a public tender, and this will have to be a fair competition. I can’t help you with anything related to this.”
Hearing that, she chuckled. “There’s no need for your help. I’m just introducing someone to you.” Listening to her words, I got sleepy suddenly.
My eyelids got heavy and were trying to shut themselves uncontrollably. However, I tried to pinch my arm to wake up. The pain inflicted upon my arm made me snap out of my stupor. I looked at the glass of fruit juice and noticed something was off. “What did you make me drink?”
She smiled faintly and said, “Nothing much. It’s just something that will make you… sleepy.”
As soon as I heard that, I immediately got up, trying to leave. However, my body felt weak, and before I could regain my consciousness, I had fallen asleep.
When I woke up, I initially thought I would be in an abandoned factory, but to my surprise, I was in a room that was tidy and looked as if someone stayed in here before.
I got up from the bed and went to the living room. No one was there, but I heard a woman reciting her prayers in another room.
Heading toward the room, I halted when I was at the entrance. A few statues and books in Sanskrit characters were placed in the smoke-filled room, whereas Tessa was kneeling and putting her hands together as she recited her prayers.
When I saw her, I knew running away was impossible, so I went to the living room and sat on the ground. The apartment was comprised of three rooms and a living room. She stayed in a room, and the other room was used for her prayers and worship, while the third room was for storage.
There was nothing in the living room except for a coffee table, and it didn’t even feel like home. Laurel once told me Tessa was in her forties, but she wasn’t married and lived alone.
Seeing that the apartment was rather empty, I figured she didn’t have a boyfriend and was staying by herself.
After a while, she came out from the worshipping room with prayer beads in her hand and looked at me. “Would you like some tea?” As she spoke, she sat at the coffee table and started boiling a pot of water.
I pursed my lips and asked, “What do you want?”
“Call Anthony and tell him to withdraw his lawsuit against Armond. Then, let Armond return from Moranta.” She cut to the chase and took out some tea leaves to brew me some tea.
I pursed my lips and looked at her. “You’re doing this for Armond? How surprising! When did you guys get so close?”
She shrugged and wore an indifferent expression. “As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. Mrs. Featherstone, you’re used to living comfortably, so you won’t understand our lives.”
I asked, “So, how much did Armond give you?”
The woman looked at me and laughed out suddenly. “Why? Are you going to say that you’ll give me double the amount he gave? How great it is to be rich! You guys take care of everything using money.”
I pursed my lips and waited to see what she wanted to say next.
After a while, the woman continued, “Forget it. Now that I’ve done all of this, I have no intention of backing out now. If you don’t wish to trouble Anthony, you don’t need to call him. However, you’ll have to stay here for a few days. Let’s see what Anthony will do to find his missing wife.”
I was puzzled at how calm and poised she was. Something was odd about how she brought me here directly without leaving any traces.
Hence, I was reluctant to do as she said and was just waiting for the time to pass. The sky was getting dark, and throughout this period of time, she drank some tea and recited her prayers. Meanwhile, I got more and more suspicious of how she remained that calm all the time.
If she just wanted me to call Anthony, she could’ve resorted to violence or used some extreme measures to force me into doing it. However, she did nothing to me and was just waiting calmly.
“Eat some noodles. Who knows what Anthony would do to me if he heard that you were starved.” The woman cooked some instant noodles and added some vegetables. I didn’t have an appetite, so I looked at her indifferently. “When will you let me go?”
She raised a brow at me and asked, “Are you going to call him now?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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