“So according to you, Elissa is the one responsible for poisoning me? But what motive did she have to do that? I barely know that woman at all.Killing me wouldn‘t benefit her in any way.”
Natalie was wholly taken aback by what she had been told.
At the same time, however, she felt that it would be highly unusual for Elissa to have any desire to poison her.
All it would have done was expose her, which, in all honesty, was somewhat stupid in the grand scheme of things.Sebastian said with absolute certainty, “I think that I must have been her prime target.Perhaps you became the victim purely by accident.”
In the past, Elissa had tried to murder him on numerous occasions.However, she was yet to succeed.She probably just wanted to take another shot at it now.However, he was no longer the Sebastian he used to be.
After that, Sebastian took Natalie to the hospital for two more thorough check–ups.They didn‘t leave until Sebastian was absolutely certain and convinced that she was fine.
Natalie sat in the car, watching the passing scenery flash by, when she asked, “Sebastian, do you remember we went to a Michelin star restaurant for dinner a few days ago? We haven‘t had a chance to have dinner together lately, except for that night.Do you think that was when I was poisoned? She wanted to poison you.I could have eaten the food that was originally meant for you by mistake, so I inadvertently became victim.”
The Michelin star restaurant left a long–lasting and deep impression on Natalie.It had an amazing ambience, delicately balanced cuisine and delicious wine.
When Sebastian heard her words, the restaurant also popped into his mind.
Recently, Natalie had become very busy with her work, so they seldom spent time together.
During that time, Sean was the person who was responsible for bringing Sebastian his food to his office.
Sean was his right–hand man so he was certain that the safety and quality of the food he brought him was guaranteed.
If anyone did want to poison Sebastian, they would have to take the chance while he was out eating at a restaurant.
Last time Sebastian ate out, he had dined with Natalie at that three star Michelin restaurant.
“True.It must have happened at the restaurant,” he conceded after some thought.
His sixth sense told him that something was amiss.He immediately instructed the driver, “Take us straight to Iris.”
*******
Outside the Iris restaurant, Natalie got out of the car and saw the ‘closed‘ sign on the door of the restaurant.She had an even more peculiar feeling about the place.
“I passed by here yesterday and it was still open.Why did they suddenly close for no reason?”
Sebastian snorted and called the security of the Larson Group.
After a while, three minibuses arrived at the door of the restaurant.More than a dozen bodyguards got out of the minibuses and waited for Sebastian‘s order.
“Break down the door.”
Sebastian then took Natalie back into the car and waited leisurely The restaurant was now closed.This was a clear indication that something was indeed wrong.
A dozen of bodyguards smashed the door of the restaurant in a few minutes, and then found the restaurant manager.One of the bodyguards grabbed the manager by the collar and dragged him to Sebastian.
The startled manager asked in a trembling voice, “Sir, what can I do for you? Let‘s be civil and talk it out, shall we?”Sebastian didn‘t like people playing dumb with him.He raised his chin slightly and said, “Get all your waiters here.”
Sebastian remembered the waiter who brought them the complimentary drinks that day.The manager didn‘t dare to refuse his request, so he summoned all the employees to the front.
Sebastian soon recognized two familiar faces among the crowd.He made a beckoning gesture with his finger, and the bodyguards immediately understood his command.
They directly took the two waiters away.In less than a day, the two waiters fessed up.They had received a woman‘s money and put something in Sebastian‘s glass that day.
After the collapse of the cinema in Barnes, Patrick warned Elissa and took away most of her power over Klein Silk Fabric.She dared not to act rashly and had been lying low since then.But Elissa was so anxious to get Sebastian out of the picture.He was a huge threat to her, and the sooner she could get rid of him, the better.
Sebastian had been a threat to her ever since he was born, like his mother, whom Elissa had viewed as her arch enemy.And she knew that if Sebastian found out that she was behind this, he wouldn‘t let her go.She couldn‘t just sit still any longer, waiting for Sebastian to take his revenge.She had to do something From that day on, Elissa had been spending all her time thinking about how to eliminate Sebastian once and for all.It wasn‘t until Ritchie mentioned it in passing that an idea finally occurred to her.
“How did Sebastian‘s mom die anyway? From some kind of heart condition, right? Maybe Sebastian has it, too.I heard that heart conditions are genetic.”
“You idiot, Sylvia didn‘t have—”
Just as Elissa was about to roll her eyes, she abruptly fell silent and her eyes lit up.She knew exactly how Sylvia died.
Twenty years ago, she got her hands on a newly developed poison by chance.
When ingested by a human, the poison could cause palpitation and consequently, sudden cardiac arrest after two or three days.
Moreover, it was difficult to trace and therefore made for the best murder weapon.
And this is the very poison she used to murder Sylvia.
As expected, her death was chalked up to natural causes, and nobody suspected foul play.
Recalling this, Elissa wondered if she could use the same trick on Sebastian., Because of the heavy workload these days, there had been many cases of cardiac arrest caused by stress.
As the CEO of the flourishing Larson Group, Sebastian was always neck deep in work.
Elissa was sure that if he suddenly died from cardiac arrest, no one would suspect it was a murder.
Thinking of this, Elissa bought another vial of the very same poison she used to kill Sylvia.
Although Elissa had lost her power over the family business, she still had a lot of money of her own.So she hired someone to follow Sebastian.
When she found out that he had made a reservation in a restaurant, she bribed two waiters to spike his wine.
When everything was set in place, Elissa returned to Seacisco.She waited confidently for the news of Sebastian‘s death.
Unexpectedly, that news never came; instead, it was Natalie who suffered from a sudden cardiac arrest–and she had survived, nonetheless! How could this have happened? Hearing the news, Elissa grew increasingly flustered.
Since Sebastian was alive, it meant that he would definitely look into this incident.
Moreover, his mother had died from a similar instance.He might get suspicious and eventually trace it back to her.
Elissa immediately contacted the owner of the restaurant and managed to get him to agree to suspend their business for a few days.
At least, she had to do something to cover her tracks.
Despite all her effort, Elissa wasn‘t able to get rid of the waiters that had been bought off by her.
When she rushed over to Barnes, she was too late.
The two waiters had been taken away by Sebastian.
Worried that she’d be caught, Elissa flew back to Seacisco right away.She didn‘t know how things went, but Sebastian was a resourceful man.
Now that he had the witnesses, Elissa knew he‘d find a lot of evidence that‘d point to her.
Elissa was so flustered that she didn‘t dare to leave her home for the next few days.
One day, a servant knocked on the door urgently.
“Mrs.Klein, we have received an indictment for you.”
Sebastian had been very busy these days.
Seeing him go out so early and come back so late every day, Natalie started to wonder what he was up to exactly.
Sebastian was indeed very busy, but he didn‘t tell Natalie why right away.
When he found the evidence that Natalie was poisoned, he hired the best private detective in Seacisco.
“What? A twenty–year–old case? The streets have been torn down and rebuilt and houses have been demolished and reconstructed; the world has changed a lot.This is going to be complicated, to say the least.”
This private detective used to be a journalist for Seaciscso‘s famous Gossip Weekly.He was well–informed and resourceful.
“Be that as it may, I believe in you.” Sebastian pulled out a newspaper from that year and slid it across the table.
“I want the information of everyone who had had contact with this woman and Elissa Klein.”He had to dig deeper into the death of his mother.This had to be a lead.Time passed.It took the detective a lot of effort and resources to find the people related to the case Sebastian brought up.
Most of the witnesses had either aged or died over the years, while the rest had moved away.However, there was still a glimmer of hope.Most of the people who had had contact with Elissa still lived in Seacisco.They relied on the Klein family to make a living.
Everyone covered up for Elissa, trying hard to conceal the truth.It probably never crossed their mind that Sylvia‘s death would be investigated again after twenty years.
The detective gathered all the information he could find and passed it on to Sebastian, who then found the man who had sold Elissa the poison.
Now that the evidence was stacked up against Elissa, Sebastian sued her under two charges: murder and attempted murder.
Afraid that things might go awry, he put the best lawyers of the Larson Group in charge of the case.
The indictment instantly became a sensation.
Two major cases, the poisoning of Natalie and the death of Sylvia, was enough to draw in the attention of the public.
*******
It didn‘t take long before the news reached Patrick‘s ears.It wasn‘t the first time Elissa had humiliated him.He felt both shocked and angry, but at the same time, he began to worry about the stock price of Klein Silk Fabric.
