Love’s Change of Heart novel Chapter 285
After half an hour, she heard the vibration of her phone on the bedside table.
Taking the phone into her hands, she found that it was Aidan on the line.
She waited for the phone to ring several times until it was nearly cut off before answering it.
Soon, Aidan's voice rang out. "Were you asleep?"
Leanna replied, "Not yet."
"Still have trouble falling asleep?"
Leanna kept silent.
On the other end of the phone, he added, "I'm taking a flight back tomorrow afternoon."
After some time, she responded by affirming with a hum.
Aidan mentioned, "Did something happen?"
She replied, "No, I'm totally fine. What can happen?"
"You're not being yourself."
Leanna was exasperated as she said, "You're the one who's not being yourself!"
At that moment, a voice on the other end seemed to be asking for Aidan, so he lowered his voice and replied, "Let's talk about things when I'm back. If you really do have an emergency, then seek out Oscar. Don't take any risks by yourself."
"Okay, I got it."
The person on the other end seemed to be quite frantic as they pestered Aidan furiously, prompting him to emphasize, "I'll get Oscar to contact you shortly. Don't turn off your phone."
"Okay."
After Leanna hung up the phone, she took a deep breath and felt as if the frustrations and uneasiness that she felt before had dissipated without a trace.
Still, she did not manage to get much sleep at all for the entire night.
The time and date stated on the extortion letter was 8.00PM the following day and Leanna did not even bother to prepare five million. Instead, she merely arranged an empty luggage.
She maintained the same stance that the person who had sent her the extortion letter should be related to the person who forced her into Patheon Club three years ago. Otherwise, they would not have all this information in their hands.
Meanwhile, those people back then were mostly Ron's men. Ever since Ron sent her to the hospital last time, he had disappeared without a trace and she never saw him again thereafter.
Those were a bunch of seedy men and the photos might be in the possession of more than one person.
As soon as Leanna thought of that, she felt weak all over her limbs. She knew that it was useless to report these people to the police because they were completely unaffected by the law.
In the afternoon, Oscar sauntered in casually and scrutinized the studio as he stood in front of the room. Finally, he turned to look at Leanna. "Actually, I should have sent you a gift during your official opening day, but back then, I believe you must have been quite reluctant to see me."
Leanna smiled perfunctorily. In fact, she did not wish to see him —the apparent inept advisor for Aidan—even at this moment.
Oscar leaned against the front counter. "I heard Aidan mention that something happened to you. What's the situation?"
Leanna responded, "It's not a big deal."
After some consideration, she finally mentioned, "Could you arrange some men for me?"
"I can arrange for some men to help you of course, but Aidan wants me to keep a close eye on you until he gets back. Just tell me what's going on first. If things aren't too complicated, then I'll assign some men to help you and I won't tag along."
Leanna glanced at him with a slight frown and she seemed rather hesitant.
Sensing her worried state, Oscar rapped the surface of the table with his fingers. "Do you not want Aidan to know?"
Indeed, Leanna had not planned on letting Aidan know about this matter from the start, but she knew clearly that even if she had Zoe to tag along with her, with just the two of them, they would not be a match for the other person.
That was why when Aidan suggested for Oscar to contact her, she did not reject the offer.
After a brief moment, Leanna finally took out the extortion letter from her bag and explained solemnly, "I don't plan to actually give him the money. I didn't ask Aidan for money either. I just want to head over there and find out what's going on before finding a chance to call the cops."
Oscar was speechless at that point. However, he could fully understand Leanna's concerns. After all, Leanna was a money-minded woman in Aidan's eyes not long ago before this and Aidan found her to be someone who would resort to anything to get her way. If this had happened before Leanna and Aidan's divorce, then she would surely be in a very tight spot right now.
Oscar took a look at the contents of the extortion letter and instantly asked, "Do you have the photos?"
Leanna pursed her lips and nodded slightly.
He asked another question, "Are you sure that the photos were taken back then?"
She took a deep breath. "Yes."
"That's strange."
"What's strange?"
"Back then at Patheon Club, everyone involved in this matter was properly dealt with accordingly, and there was no reason that there would be photos left behind.
As soon as Leanna heard that, she was stunned. "Properly dealt with?"
Oscar put down the extortion letter and looked at her. "You were Aidan Pearson's wife after all. Even though he claimed repeatedly that he disliked you, there was no way on earth he would let this matter be exposed."
As such, everyone knew that Leanna had been sold into service at Patheon Club, but no one knew exactly to whom and what had happened that night.
Furthermore, even Leanna herself had never thought of that incident again.
After some time, she finally responded, "Anyway… Just don't tell him this. I'll head over there tonight to scout things, and if the other party is just after money, then I can try and figure out a solution."
Since the other party had sent her those photos, that was surely an indication that he had the original copies of the photos. If she reported this incident to the police at such an early stage and alerted the other party, then she would definitely waste all her efforts and the photos would end up being revealed to the public as well.
Oscar replied, "I'll go with you."
"But then, they specified that I had to go by myself," said Leanna.
"Just say that I'm your driver." Oscar glanced at the empty luggage next to her. "You've got to make sure that the facade you put up is realistic enough. You wouldn't have the bargaining power if you went ahead like this."
He handed the luggage to his men standing behind him and instructed them to make the necessary arrangements before saying to Leanna, "Don't worry, I won't let Aidan know about this. I'll go with you tonight and I promise to sort things out perfectly."
Leanna nodded. "Thanks."
At night, their car came to a halt in front of the residential area close to a middle school.
Leanna had just gotten out of the car when she heard a hoarse male voice ring out in the dark. "Head over to the top floor over there."
She glanced in that direction and noticed that there was a flat area on the second floor not too far away.
At that moment, Oscar alighted from the car.
The mysterious man instantly exclaimed, "I told you to turn up alone!"
Oscar lifted both hands in surrender. "I'm just the driver who sent her here. It's dangerous for a woman to come out late at night. You're just after money, so don't be petty about this. You still have the original copies of the photos, so we can't do anything to you anyway."
In the dark, the man paused before saying, "Stand right there, and don't move a single inch!"
"Okay. Fine. I won't move at all." As Oscar spoke, he shot a look at Leanna. She then lifted the luggage and headed over to the flat area on the second floor.
After reaching the final step, Leanna heard the man's voice ring out from afar. "I told you to bring five million, didn't I? How much is this here? Are you trying to play me for a fool?"
She replied in a calm voice, "This is just a part of it. Once you hand me the originals, then I'll hand over the remainder."
"Bullsh*t! Stop trying to wind me up and hand over the rest of the money, otherwise, I'll post the photos on the internet and you won't be able to hold your head up for the rest of your life!"
Meanwhile, Leanna kept her eyes on the dark area as she frowned slightly.
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