Armond was clearly rewarding Tessa handsomely. What is Tessa doing for him that warrants such a hefty sum? I wondered. Armond wasn’t a spendthrift character. I thought of what had happened in Moranta. A niggling thought arose within my mind. Has Tessa been part of Armond’s numerous evil schemes?
I had no access to the residential area at Nuthana Gardens. It boasted tight security, and external visitors had no way of entering without permission from a resident. I could thus only observe discreetly from one of its exits.
It was the only method available but also the most labor-intensive. I waited an entire afternoon before Tessa’s car pulled up at the entrance around four in the late afternoon. She drove a black Mercedes- Benz that was the latest model.
I watched as the car entered the basement carpark, then fished out my phone to call Laurel. I had intended on inviting her out along with Tessa. Before I could dial her number, however, my phone rang with a call from Anthony.
I picked up the phone. Anthony immediately demanded, “Why were you sitting out there for the entire day? Did anything happen?”
I was baffled for a moment. Then, I suddenly recalled that Anthony had arranged for a bodyguard to watch over me from afar. I giggled sheepishly. “It’s nothing! I wanted to snoop on Tessa a little, so I waited outside her residence to see when she came back. The security here at Nuthana Gardens is way too tight, and I have no way of entering. So sitting out here was the best I could do.”
Anthony was silent on the other end of the line for a while. When he next spoke, there was a note of resignation in his tone. “Sienna, when will you finally remember that your husband isn’t a poor man?”
Sensing my confusion, Anthony continued, “Nuthana Gardens’ developer gave me a few units within the residence when it had been completed. I’m sending the key over to you right now. What are you investigating Tessa for, though?”
“She has adopted Brandon’s child. I wanted to see if there was anything there I could use to win Brandon over,” I replied. I’d already reasoned that Brandon’s testimony would be the most damning weapon against Armond.
Anthony was silent for a while. Then, he said slowly, “Sienna, don’t interfere anymore in this matter. I’ve already made plans to handle this. Go back to K City and take care of yourself. If you’re bored of that place, come over to Moranta.”
I could detect undercurrents of meaning rippling beneath Anthony’s casual manner. He seemed unwilling to tell me just what he’d planned. Exasperated, I fumed, “I’m going to stay in A City. Armond took all of us for a ride from the start. If I don’t get to witness his conviction and imprisonment, I won’t be able to rest.”
Anthony sounded helpless. In a patient voice, he soothed, “It’s not time yet. Don’t rush into things. Just leave everything to me.”
I bit my lip in frustration. Anthony was once again treating me with the same patronizing manner as he would a child. It made my blood boil.
I hung up the phone. Someone arrived shortly thereafter with the keys. I was still harboring resentment towards Anthony for his condescension earlier. I was in no mood to continue with the investigation any further that day.
With that, I turned and headed back to the villa.
I headed into the bedroom and flopped onto the bed, ruminating over the events that had occurred. I felt as if everything I’d done had been rendered worthless and grew even more infuriated.
Just then, a phone call came from Hannah, reminding me that I had to go to K City to attend her wedding. Amidst my busyness, I’d totally forgotten about it. I hurriedly replied to Hannah that I would definitely be there.
The wedding had been scheduled for two days later.
After much deliberation, I decided to head back to K City first. After Hannah’s wedding, I’d immediately return to continue scrutinizing Tessa. I thus booked my tickets for the flight to K City.
…
Hannah’s wedding was to be held at Chandler’s childhood home. The house was situated rather near K City’s suburbs. It wasn’t much of a drive away at all. Hannah had familiarized herself with the customs there. She had no intention of being caught by surprise by any rituals she hadn’t prepared herself for in advance.
As she sat in a cafe in the city center, Hannah’s radiant smile nearly filled the room. When she caught sight of me entering, Hannah looked overwhelmed with elation. She greeted me enthusiastically, then fired, “Why did you stay in A City for so long? Chandler has been clinging to me so much lately. I haven’t even been able to tear myself away to go shopping!”
I listened to Hannah’s rapid prattle in amusement. “Wouldn’t you want him to stay by your side every day? What’s so annoying about that?”
Hannah pursed her lips. She grandly got to her feet and did a small pirouette. Noticing that all eyes in the cafe had immediately fastened themselves upon her, Hannah immediately sat down bashfully once again. “Did you see how fat I am now? I think Chandler’s been stuffing me too much food!”
I guffawed, then stopped at the sight of Hannah’s sober face. “Don’t you think you look beautiful now? Even as another woman, I can’t take my eyes off you!”
Hannah rolled her eyes dramatically, then wailed, “You’re not serious, are you? My wedding’s happening in a couple of days! What if I can’t fit into my dress? I can’t possibly ask his mother to alter it on the spot, can I? The dress was custom-made and embroidered by hand! It cost an absolute fortune! I’m on the verge of moving out. I have to lose weight, or there’ll definitely be a problem.”
Hannah’s noisy complaining could not hide the traces of a smile hovering over her lips. I grinned at that. If a little weight gain was all that Hannah had to worry about for the rest of her marriage, she’d have many blissful years ahead of her.
Hannah’s endless rambling was finally put to a stop by an incoming call from Chandler. She answered the phone only to redirect her flood of words into the mouthpiece. On the other end, Chandler just absorbed everything patiently.
I suddenly found myself very much an outsider in this romantic display of affection. I surveyed around the cafe casually. Abruptly, a familiar face popped up within the field of my vision. I froze.
I was slightly myopic, so I couldn’t be certain that the figure was indeed who I’d taken it to be. I squinted as hard as I could in that direction, but to no avail. I thus reached out and tugged on Hannah’s sleeve, gesturing subtly in that direction.
Hannah paused and looked over. She was similarly taken aback. Hannah quickly mumbled into the phone, “Chandler, I just saw someone I know. I’m hanging up!”
After she’d ended the call, Hannah hauled me out of the cafe. When we’d gotten outside, she immediately shrieked, “That woman was Rylee, wasn’t she?”
I wavered, unable to say for sure.
We didn’t approach her, however, but merely continued observing from a distance.
K City was a bustling, modern city. Life here was fast-paced, and it was common to see people dashing from place to place. Nobody paid any heed to the sight of a woman pulling on a man and shamelessly begging him for money.
Hannah glanced at her watch, then looked at me with a horrified expression. “It’s only seven in the evening! It’s not even midnight yet. Is she doing what I think she’s doing?”
I bit my lip and continued gazing in Rylee’s direction. She had on a thick layer of makeup and wore a revealing dress that exposed various areas of her body with utter disregard for the winter cold. She looked as indecent as she was legally permitted to be.
Rylee had a gorgeous face and a lovely figure. It was usually sufficient for attracting stares anywhere she went. If the scene unfolding before our eyes had played out anywhere else, I would never have given it a second thought.
Where we were presently standing was K City’s most notorious red-light district. Vice oozed out of every pore of her. Rylee’s scantily-clad self, placed against this surrounding, made our suspicions perfectly reasonable.
Hannah dragged me closer to take a better look. We could hear the sound of Rylee’s cries now, clear as a bell. “Mr. Tuffin, you promised that as long as I agreed, you’d give me the money! Now that I’ve done it, how can you go back on your word? You can’t do that!”
The man looked visibly irked by Rylee’s constant pleas. He fished out a couple of bills from his wallet and flung them roughly at Rylee, vehemently cursing her all the while.
I was dumbfounded. Did we just witness Rylee selling herself? How can this be?
Even if Anthony no longer cared for Rylee, Joe clearly worshipped her. He would never have sanctioned this degradation of Rylee’s dignity.
Rylee stooped to pick up the bills, utterly focused on counting them while shivering helplessly from the bitter cold. Clutching herself to preserve what little bit of warmth she had, Rylee scampered off and disappeared into the nightclub behind her.
Hannah’s stupefied expression mirrored mine exactly. We were stunned while we looked at each other as if to confirm what we’d just beheld. Haltingly, Hannah asked, “That was Ms. Lorraine, wasn’t it?”
I craned my neck in the direction that Rylee had slipped off to, then nodded reluctantly. “I think so.”
“What happened to her? How did she end up that way? Wasn’t she so glamorous previously? How did she suddenly end up like this? What in the world happened?” Hannah asked urgently. She was evidently still in shock. I could see the cogs in Hannah’s mind turning as she struggled to process what she had just seen.
I didn’t have the answers to Hannah’s questions and said so frankly. “I don’t know what just happened either. I think Anthony gave her an apartment and a car that we never asked her to return. Joe has also given her lots of money. There’s really no logical reason as to why Rylee would be so desperate for money that she’d need to sell her body!”
Hannah bit her lip. Soberly, she said, “Come on, let’s go over and take a look!”
The incident at the Imperial Hotel had left me with a lingering uneasiness. I hesitated, then shook my head. “I don’t really want to. It’s too chaotic over there and isn’t safe.”
Hannah was insistent, however. She pouted, then wheedled, “It’s not. I’m going in with you. Don’t worry. As long as we don’t cause any trouble, nothing will happen to us. Don’t worry!”
Without waiting for my consent, Hannah dragged me across. Upon entry, the dance floor rose to meet us, packed with teenagers wearing the barest slips of clothing. The DJ’s hollers were deafening over the speakers, and the drunk partygoers gyrated to the pulsing music without a care in the world.
Hannah burst out, “What’s wrong with all of these people? Have they gone insane?”
She tightened her grip on my arm as we move through the crowd, searching for Rylee. But, she seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. Hannah puzzled, “Why isn’t Rylee on the dance floor?”
I pondered this, then realized, “She’s in terrible need of money, isn’t she? She should be hard at work right now.”
Hannah smacked her forehead exaggeratedly. “That’s right! Why didn’t I think of it?”
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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