Faced with my slew of questions, he replied, “I’ve been well. But how do you know Brandon?”
“Do you know him too?” I asked, surprised.
He nodded. “Yeah, Dante works with him. I’ve met him a couple of times. They operate in the black market, so why are you meeting him? Are you sick?”
I shook my head urgently. “No, I’m not sick. But my daughter is.”
Shocked, he said, “I see. It’s better to steer clear of them if you can, though. If you get involved in the black market, it’s hard to get them off your record.”
I didn’t quite understand his warning but nodded. “Ok, I know.”
Since he didn’t have more to say, I spoke up again. “Since you’re here, shall we grab a bite together?”
He shook his head. “No, I have other things to do. I’ll be off then.”
Seeing that he was ready to leave, I called out to stop him. “Danny, how should I keep in touch with you next time?”
He turned his head back to look at me. “I’m very grateful for how you’ve helped me in the past. If you have any questions for me, you should ask them now. I’ll tell you everything I know, and then we’re even.”
This statement confused me. His brows were furrowed in impatience as he watched me. I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d underestimated the complexity of our history.
After a pause, I asked, “What are you doing in A City? Do you know about Abe’s death?”
He pursed his lips before replying, “I know what happened to Mr. Langston. As for my job in A City, it’s exactly what Dante is doing.”
I frowned. “But it’s illegal!”
He mumbled an agreement but continued matter-of-factly, “I know, but I gotta do what I gotta do to survive. A City isn’t a good place to make a living for us foreigners. At the end of the day, we need money to live.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. I couldn’t deny the truth in his words. We are but slaves to the money that governs our lives in this world.
“Is it true then, that as long as there’s money, you can carry out a perfect crime?” I blurted.
He knitted his brows uncomprehendingly at my question. A moment later, he said, “You should go home. It’s not safe out here.”
I had more questions to ask but he’d already walked away.
If Hailey is telling the truth, then Armond is really engaged in shady dealings. I couldn’t imagine the number of innocent lives they had harmed each year.
I was caught in a dilemma. If I pursued this to the end, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to accept the consequence. After all, I was a willing participant in an illegal deal, and losses and gains always came hand-in-hand. My decision to seek out Amy in the countryside was entirely due to my wish to save my daughter.
Hailey’s father could bring himself to harm a perfectly healthy child to keep his daughter alive. It’s hard to pin the blame on anyone, but someone was undeniably killed in the exchange.
I knew I couldn’t sort out these dilemmas alone. I called Ashton when I was in the car. The phone rang for a while before he answered. I could hear his clear voice through the receiver. “What’s up?”
Ashton was still angry at me over the name card incident. I sighed before asking, “Where are you? I miss you.”
My words seemed to surprise him, and there was a pause before he replied, “See you at home.”
He hung up on me. Perplexed, I stared at my phone. Why did he just hang up on me like that?
I put down my phone and headed straight for the villa. Ashton was sitting in the living room when I arrived, looking like he’d just reached home not too long ago. His dark eyes showed a hint of surprise as they landed on me.
He pursed his lips and put on a somewhat petty air. “Why did you call me?”
So he’s still angry at me then. I walked toward him and said gently, “I did meet Armond when I was in K City; you knew about that already. When I came to A City to find Amy, it was based on information that Armond had given to me. Ashton, I wasn’t lying to you. I just didn’t want you to overthink things. That’s all.”
Sensing the cloud of anger around him, I let out a frustrated sigh. “I know this is my fault. I shouldn’t have lied to you. Will you please stop being angry at me? Ashton, we shouldn’t be upset at each other over such small things. I suspect that Armond has dealings in the black market and probably the deaths of countless people on his hands. I don’t know anymore if I can proceed with Summer’s surgery. Can we stop arguing and start discussing more important things?”
He frowned slightly as he stared at me. “Black market?”
I nodded. “I found out from my contact that they have their own operating theatre and equipment. On that note, do you remember how we met a girl named Hailey at the public tender in the Oasis Hotel? She has heart disease. Her father colluded with Armond to kill someone so that she could get a heart transplant, though he ended up in jail later on after he misappropriated some funds for his company.”
