After answering the call, I heard Nora’s voice from the other end. “Babe, I’ll have to return to the city. See you there.”
I froze for a while when I heard her sudden declaration. “What’s wrong? Why are you going back suddenly?” From how I know her, she will follow Armond around. Armond’s still here, so why is she leaving?
She explained, “I’m here for quite long. There’s nothing left for me to enjoy. I’ll go back to the city and hang out with Tabitha and Laurel for a few days. I’ll wait for you, and once you’re back, let’s go out and have fun.”
I nodded. She must be bored with Lavelian Village. After all, we were all busy with work and didn’t have the time to hang out with her. Days went by, and I could see that her interest was running thin.
“Okay, have a safe trip then. I’ll call you when I get back.” I still had some work on my hands, so I couldn’t see her off.
She hummed a reply and said, “Oh, by the way, what’s with Ashton and Rebecca yesterday? Don’t tell me she’s one of his admirers. She seems gentle, but I can tell that she’s way difficult than that Rachel. Can you handle it?”
I smiled gently at her concern. “It’s fine. Ashton only sees her as his sister. It’s no biggie, so don’t worry.”
After gossiping for a while, we said our goodbyes and hung up.
Leedon looked at me and asked, “Ms. Stovall, have you had lunch yet? Let’s eat together.”
I nodded and got up from my seat. As we were leaving the office, he said, “I’ve heard that the representatives of the third party for this project reached Lavelian Village today. We’ll have to meet up with them for the next few days.”
I gave a brief reply since I was rather unbothered by it. These types of extensive projects would naturally involve third parties as the construction and funds were enormous.
This was one of the unwritten rules in construction projects. Truth be told, those people were only here to supervise the two companies.
The construction progressed rather smoothly, so it was inevitable for a third party to show up. I nodded after digesting his words, as we would have to meet up with them.
Before we reached the restaurant at the base, we met Ashton and Rebecca. It seemed like they came here on purpose.
When the woman saw me, she greeted me naturally, “Ms. Stovall, where are you going? Ash and I are here to fetch you for lunch.”
Upon hearing her words, Leedon immediately left after bidding goodbye to us.
I looked at the two of them and frowned. “Where is Mr. Quinn?”
It seems this woman had gotten used to following Ashton around.
Ashton walked toward me and held my hand. “Joe has some matters to attend to. It’s getting late, so let’s go.”
Since they were here, I had to go with them. Lavelian Village was a small area, so the restaurants were rather limited, and there weren’t many types of food to choose from.
Hence, we just went to one of the restaurants. I didn’t know if Rebecca was just pretending to be adorable or if that really was how she would normally behave. For the entire time, she had on an innocent expression and would even act coquettishly now and then.
I stayed silent as I couldn’t bear with her behavior.
After ordering the food, she tugged at Ashton’s sleeve, asking him to go get some ice cream with her. However, the man didn’t feel like going, so she went alone.
After she left, I rested my chin on my hand and asked, “Aren’t you worried about her now that you’re not with her?”
He looked at me and smiled. “Are you jealous, Mrs. Fuller?”
I shrugged. “Not really. There’s nothing to be jealous about.”
He held my arm and shoved something into my hand. I was stunned for a while before lowering my head to look at it. It turned out to be an exquisite box.
I raised my head to look at him and knitted my brows. “What is it?”
The man only smiled and urged, “Open it.”
I did as told and found a necklace with intricate designs lying inside the box. I turned to look at him while he smiled. “Put it on?”
“When did you buy this?” I studied the necklace and knew that it wasn’t your usual necklace that one could just buy from the stores.
“Once, when I was attending an opening ceremony at K City, the organizer gave it to me. I heard that there are only three of these necklaces in the world. It looks beautiful, and I figure you’ll like it, so I brought it here for you.” He reached out and helped me put on the necklace while explaining.
“It looks good on you!” He sized me up and gave an apt answer.
Feeling his gaze on me, I felt uncomfortable, so I quickly changed the topic.
“Oh, by the way! How’s the investigation going?” We didn’t talk about the matters at the base yet. Now that I thought of it, I blurted out.
“It’s not that urgent. Just finish your work on hand.” He didn’t intend to tell me about it.
The dishes were served, but Rebecca had not returned to us. I couldn’t help but look at Ashton and said, “Rebecca has been out for so long. Will she be fine?”
He froze for a while before dialing a number. “Where is she?”
He must be asking the bodyguard who had been following Rebecca.
Suddenly, Ashton furrowed his brows, and his expression turned grim. “Go search for her.”
