Ashton sneered and pinched my cheek. “I hope you’re telling the truth.”
After Ashton departed, I planned to return to bed and take another nap before starting my day, but my phone on the nightstand had started buzzing.
I took a peek and noticed I have an incoming call from an anonymous number. The first call was hung up by the person on the other end because I had no intention to pick it up.
After several consecutive calls, I picked it up and heard a man’s hoarse voice the moment the call got through. “I’m at your doorstep!”
“John?” I was surprised.
“Are you trying to avoid me?” he replied, utterly irritated.
“N-No! I’m not in K City! Currently, I’m at J City!”
He got worked up all of a sudden and yelled, “Stop it! I’m currently at Peakville Estate! Are you going to open the door or not?”
I finally figured out the reason behind his frustration – it turned out he was right at my doorstep, yet I refused to pick up the call.
After I changed and headed downstairs, I noticed the maid had gotten the breakfast ready. I told her to get me another serving and pack it for me.
By the time I reached the entrance, I saw the Bugatti that was parked right in front of the gate. The driver of the eye-catching vehicle winded down the window and instructed, “Get in the car!”
As soon as I boarded the car, I caught a whiff of a pleasant scent. Perhaps it the air freshener that was applied to conceal the awful stench of tobacco.
John laid the seat flat and stared at me with his pale and haggard face while he took another whiff of smoke. “Why have you blacklisted my contact number?”
I was confused. A few seconds later, I asked, “Huh? Since when have I done such a thing?”
John sneered and asked, “Have you spent the night with Ashton again?”
I nodded and affirmed his thoughts while he scoffed, “Hmph! He must be the one behind it!”
Does that mean Ashton was the one who had blacklisted John’s contact number? Though, why would Ashton pick on John out of the blue?
“Have you called me last night?”
John nodded and told me he called me at three o’clock in the middle of the night.
“3 a.m.? Well, you should have seen that coming!” I blurted out the things in my mind. After all, no ordinary man would reach out to others in the middle of the night.
The man, who was in a foul mood, told me, “Rebecca was rushed to the hospital last night, and I don’t think her child will make it through.”
I was astonished by his statement and recalled the conversation Cameron had with Ashton at three in the morning. “What have you shown Rebecca?”
John squinted his eyes and yawned as though he didn’t have enough sleep last night. “I have shown her the photos of all sorts of children and given her a special souvenir.”
“Which was…”
“Have you heard of a voodoo doll?” He queried with an odd expression that made it hard to read his actual mood.
It took me a few seconds to grasp the things he was talking about. In the end, I stared at him with my eyes widened in disbelief. “Is that what you have shown her?”
He nodded and explained, “I told her it would take a seven to eight-month-old fetus to produce a custom-made voodoo doll. Coincidentally, her child is about eight-month-old.”
I was baffled by his words and couldn’t be sure if I should be delighted or not. “Fine, I guess I should be grateful because you have gotten rid of her on my behalf. At least I don’t have to go through the trouble of dealing with her anymore.”
John rolled his eyes and asked, “Where’s your phone? I want you to unblock me at once.”
I nodded and reached for my phone, going through the contact list to search for John’s contact. There was no way John could reach me since Ashton had blocked both John’s phone and WhatsApp account on my phone.
Later on, John started dissing Ashton for his unbelievably childish act.
“I think Ashton is the only person who will resort to such a childish and despicable trick on this planet!”
I remained silent throughout the session and handed over the set of breakfast I had brought along with me to him. “Have you been staying up throughout the night?”
John nodded and shared, “Initially, I wanted to call you and tell you everything about Rebecca, but I ended up being frustrated for the entire night because I couldn’t reach you at all.”
He was such a sentimental man and tend to overthink things whenever he was on his own.
“Have you gotten rid of the evidence after sending those nasty things on Rebecca’s way?” Judging by Cameron’s words, I was pretty sure she was suspicious of me being the mastermind behind everything.
He stuffed a sandwich into his mouth and muttered with a scowl, but his words were inaudible. “H-Have you always perceived me as such a foolish man?”
I shrugged my shoulders and told him, “Rebecca and Cameron aren’t much of a threat, but you have to keep an eye on Zachary because we’re both doomed if he dispatches the men from the underworld society to come after us.”
In spite of my sincere warning, John scoffed as though it wasn’t a big deal. “Don’t worry. He’s not much of a threat because he will be doomed soon.”
I asked with a baffled look, “What do you mean? Is anyone going to take the Moore family out?”
“They can’t blame others for their miseries when they’re such an easy target, can they?”
John was right – the Moore family had been around for many years. They must have a lot of foes that were constantly going after them.
“When are you going back to K City? Uncle Louis is going to make a trip back to K City soon, and he’s planning to acknowledge you as an official member of the family. He told me to share his plan with you because he wants you to get yourself ready by then.”
I was slightly astonished when I heard the things John told me.
When I recalled the incident that occurred during Marcus’ mother’s birthday banquet, I lost myself in a train of thoughts and nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind because I’ll be heading to the countryside soon. I wonder if they are fine because it has been quite some time since we last got in touch.”
He responded with a nod and assured me, “Forget about Rebecca for the time being. I’ll deal with her for now and keep you updated.”
I took note of his words and got out of the car. Staring at the gloomy weather, it felt as though everything was part of God’s greater plan.
All along, I had never intended to get Rebecca’s innocent child involved, but since things had turned out as such, there wasn’t anything else I could do to turn the tables.
Shortly, Marcus gave me a call and inquired when would I be back.
“It’s going to take me another two to three days. I have stricken a deal with OrbitTech. All you have to do is to get in touch with the person in charge regarding the progress of the project.”
