Dear sweetheart novel (Rayna and Julian) novel Chapter 734

The two returned to the house only to find Cassidy missing. “I'll go upstairs to check on her,” Rayna told Curtis before heading up the stairs.

After Rayna left, Curtis took out his phone and sent a message to Theodore: Investigate Cassidy's life in the past few years.

Theodore sent Curtis a confirmation, after which Curtis pocketed his phone.

After hanging around in the living room for a moment, he went to the backyard to admire the flowers in the garden. He reached out to gently touch one and discovered that the petals were coated with a powder the same color as the petals themselves.

It had rained quite a bit in the past few days, so he didn't think someone had deliberately applied the powder.

Curtis stood before the flowers, comparing them with the flowers in Ashley's garden.

Yet, even after an extensive examination, he could not see a problem with them.

Other than the distinct sensation of the petals, the flowers before him seemed pretty natural. Although he couldn't tell if the powder was pollen or something else, the roses in Ashley's yard had petals that felt significantly smoother than those in Cassidy's garden.

Curtis took out his phone and dialed J's number.

The phone rang for quite a while before being answered.

“Did you take soil samples from the flower beds at the Wayne residence for testing?” Curtis asked directly.

“Vance did. The composition was the same,” J replied from the other end of the phone. “However, the concentration was higher than the soil from the Gilroy residence. Vance and I suspect there's something beneath the Wayne residence.”

“All right, let's discuss this in person later,” Curtis said, having gotten the answer he sought, and hung up the phone.

He had initially suspected Cassidy's place was the primary location, but now it might not be the case.

It was Ashley's family that had direct communication with Mr. Zeller.

However, he couldn't understand why Ashley's father-in-law had died. Why now, of all times?

As Curtis pondered the mystery, he heard noises coming from upstairs. Glancing up, he saw Yasmin moving a stool on the balcony.

Once she positioned the stool, she stood on it, tiptoed, and reached for the wall of the balcony. After feeling around for a while, she seemed to have found something.

Curtis watched as she pressed a part of the wall with force, causing a small section to sink inward.

As he prepared to go upstairs, he heard a sound echoing behind him.

Turning around, he noticed the flower bed sinking gradually, revealing a small section of exposed ground. As Curtis approached, he noticed countless writhing, unidentifiable white creatures in the exposed area.

There was also a crack near the opening. Curtis picked up a dried twig and probed inside. Soon, a large, white, transparent-bodied Serekos crawled out. It was larger than the ones he had seen before.

Curtis looked up at the balcony to see Yasmin watching him. Once she was sure he had seen the creatures, she climbed down from the stool and disappeared into the house.

“Curtis, what's going on?” Rayna, who heard the commotion from upstairs, came down and approached Curtis. Upon seeing the split flowerbed, she was taken aback.

Cassidy, who followed Rayna, also froze in place upon witnessing the scene.

“Ms. Cassidy, I think you should explain this to us,” Curtis said, flinging away the dried twig in his hand and looking intently at Cassidy with his gloomy eyes.

Rayna also looked incredulously at Cassidy upon seeing the scene. “Cassidy...”

Knowing she could no longer hide it, Cassidy took a deep breath and slowly said, “This is a queen Serekos.”

“So what's the deal with the Serekos that kept appearing in the courtyard before?” Rayna couldn't help but suspect Cassidy of staging all those appearances herself.

“Serekos are either male or female. I guess there's a male one in Ashley's house,” Curtis said solemnly. “That's why the flowers in Ashley's house and yours are the same variety but grow differently.” Curtis reached out and touched the flower petals. Rayna noticed that his fingers were now coated with powder. “What's going on?”

The flowers in Ashley's house didn't have pollen.

“This pollen is probably what Mr. Zeller wants to cultivate,” Curtis continued. “He just doesn't know that Serekos also need certain conditions to grow, and they also have genders.”

“Does... Ashley not know about this either?” Rayna immediately recalled Ashley's reaction when she mentioned the differences. She mentioned it casually to instigate Ashley's innate competitive nature as a woman. But as it turned out, she hit the nail on the head.

“Could it be that Ashley's original purpose in coming here is to look into this?” Rayna glanced back at the Serekos on the bottom of the flowerbed.

Curtis added, “Ashley probably came here as a cook to make money initially without thinking too deeply about it.”

“But her family doesn't seem short of money,” Rayna disagreed with Curtis.

“They do need money.” Curtis looked at Rayna, giving her an affirmative look. “The Wayne residence might not even belong to her family anymore.”

“How could that be?” Rayna became more confused upon hearing Curtis' words, which differed from her speculation.

“The death of Ashley's father-in-law is the best explanation, as well as... Ashley's mother-in-law's behavior. Didn't you notice her indifference toward her husband's death?” Curtis hinted at Rayna.

Recalling her previous encounter with the old lady, Rayna admitted that the older woman appeared normal and unaffected.

After all, losing her husband would be hard on her at her age. In the worst-case scenario, it could even lead to severe illnesses.

But she was still thinking about lighting a fire... “Now that you mention it, it does make sense.” Rayna nodded in agreement.

“Do I need to continue explaining?” Curtis asked Cassidy.

In response, Cassidy curved her lips into a smile. “What you said should be mostly correct.”

“Cassidy, is it really like that?” Hearing Cassidy's confession, Rayna was shocked. She stepped forward, took Cassidy's hand, and said, “Why didn't you tell us? Don't you trust us?”

“It's not that I don't. I didn't want to involve you.” Cassidy looked back at Rayna. “After all, I'm also responsible for that thing in you.”

“When you first arrived, I recognized you immediately. I was initially surprised to know that you had lost your sight, but after I examined your body, I realized that things were not as simple as they seemed,” Cassidy continued softly. “Producing these things was originally not a big deal, as they can be used as medicinal ingredients.”

“But you didn't expect things to get out of control, did you?” Rayna asked gently.

“Yes.” Cassidy nodded. “I don't know how Mr. Zeller's godfather learned about the Serekos. He fooled the government under the pretext of investment and development, and without the community's knowledge, he began to produce Serekos.”