Cindy was so eager that it made her ears ring. She asked with eyes wide open,"On his bed... Did you two... do it?"
Becky flushed as soon as she heard that. She grumbled shyly,"Wow. Have a little class. It's just that I got hurt, so he took me in his arms and brought me upstairs. And then.."
"Then you're on his bed!" Cindy curled her lips and said,"Becky, can't you push for more? Brian tried to seduce you so many times over the years, and you stopped him at the last second. Now you're strutting around like a proud peacock."
As Cindy talked, Becky suddenly realized that she was kind of undemanding. She hadn't even given Brian the time of a day in the early days. He had been infatuated, she had been bored. She didn't know what she had until it was gone.
With those thoughts rolling around in her mind, Becky could not help but sigh helplessly. Then she decided to pursue another topic. She said,"Cindy, I met the woman here."
"Which one was that?" Cindy asked while scratching her hair. She got out of bed and trudged off towards the bathroom.
"The woman he brought back here..."
"What?" Cindy abruptly stopped walking and asked,"So he didn't kick her out? She's still there? Even though you're there now?"
"Yeah. She's still here. But for some reason she's a maid now. You remember I can't see anything? Well, I heard her voice and they introduced her, saying she was a maid. But Lucy says she's really not. Well, I can't see, and she can't talk. So when she was supposed to serve me a glass of juice, I couldn't see her, and she couldn't tell me she was there. Clumsy bitch dropped the glass and freaked me out, so I fell into the broken glass. I have a bandaged leg and hand. And that's why I'm here."
Cindy laughed grimly and said,"Since when has Brian so devoted to someone else besides John and his family?" Besides, like you said, he doesn't even need a servant."
"So I got injured!" Becky said in a cool tone. "I can't wait till I get to move in!"
Becky remembered the phone conversation with Lucy. She told Becky that Brian fought with Molly in the courtyard, and that their fight ended with a kiss.
Thinking of that, her eyes grew hot with hate, but her expression cooled soon enough. She said,"Cindy, I can't see, and I've been told that Molly is mute. We can't communicate right now."
"So?" Cindy said. Cindy's voice became small, helpless, tentative,"You have to drive this woman away."
"I'm afraid... it won't be easy," Becky frowned and said. "She's here during the day, but at night she works at Grand Night Casino. It's odd!"
"What?" Cindy sounded like someone told her the world was ending. "I know you got this Becky! You can be a real bitch sometimes. You need to pull that out of your hat now, and get her out!"
Hearing that, Becky squeezed the phone tighter, straining her one good hand. She said slowly,"I know that."
Becky just gossiped normally the rest of the time, and finally got Cindy off the line. She lay in silence for a while, and then an expression of cruelness and malevolence began to dominate her face. She traced her fingers over the phone, figuring out the layout of the keypad. She dialed Rory's number -- her muscle memory taking over and dialing the number for her.
Now it was early summer in South Africa. The harsh sunlight penetrated through thick leaves and shone on the grassland like fine gold particles. A breeze made the heat more bearable, and brought the faint scent of leaves and grass to people's noses.
Richie was listening to intel while sitting under a big tree in the training campsite of XK Intelligence Agency. He frowned when he was told that Brian had been shot, but he went back to his normal icy gaze soon enough. He only said coldly,"Don't let her know!"
"Yes, sir!" the scout answered, cap in hand.
"Don't let me know what?" Shirley asked from a distance. She walked over to Richie with an expression of distinct anger coloring her face.
With an almost imperceptible smile at the corner of his mouth, Richie nodded, giving the person reporting to him a hint to go away. Then he stood up to receive Shirley. His voice sounded haughty but full of love,"Didn't you say that it's hot outside?"
As soon as she heard that, Shirley pulled a long face and said,"I don't know why, but I feel a bit out of sorts today, as if something has happened."
Richie clapped a hand on Shirley's shoulder and said gently,"You're just restless thanks to the weather changing."
Shirley looked at Richie, an unasked question in her eyes. With worry on her face, she asked,"Richie, has anything happened to Brian?"
Looking at his sensitive and smart wife, Richie didn't want to lie to her, though he was originally going to hide what happened to Brian from her. But he scrapped that idea. She was Brian's mother, after all. She had a right to know. So he said,"Brian got shot yesterday trying to protect Molly."
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