Love’s Change of Heart novel Chapter 458

After they reached downstairs, Leanna said, "I'll go by myself from here. My car's parked by the roadside."

Elijah smiled. "Alright. I'll sound Daniel out about Zoe, but the words you said to provoke him just now will probably work."

Leanna's lips curled into a smile. "Hopefully. Still, I hope Zoe will find someone nice to her as long as she lives."

Elijah replied, "She will."

"Well, then, I gotta go. Bye."

"Goodbye."

Elijah kept watching her from behind until she was out of his sight. After that, he withdrew his gaze, turned around, and went upstairs.

Meanwhile, Leanna drove back to Jethro's former old house after leaving Constellation Tech. Opening the door with the key, she said softly toward the balcony, where the curtains were swaying in the wind, "It's me."

It wasn't until a few seconds later that Ron climbed onto the balcony from the outside.

Leanna said, "Don't worry. Nobody would come here at the moment other than me, so you can stay here with peace of mind."

Ron replied, "Thank you."

Leanna took out the various medicines that she'd bought on her way here. "Your wound was still bleeding the last time I saw it. Just treat it properly. You don't have to thank me for this, though. To put it bluntly, we're just getting what we want from each other."

"Have you found Jethro?"

"I have," Leanna replied before pausing for a moment. Then, she said with a smile, "But I didn't get anything out of him."

Ron asked, "Need my help with that?"

Leanna shook her head. "No, it's not necessary. Let's leave it at that," she said while producing a card from her purse. "Here's the three million that I promised you earlier. Also, you've done a lot of stuff on my orders lately, and I've told Aidan about it. He's dealing with the Pearsons now. Their men will pull out very soon, by which time you'll be able to walk out of here in broad daylight without having to hide anymore."

Ron frowned upon hearing this. "Don't you hate me for what I did to you?"

"As I told you before, what happened between us is already dead and buried. Now we're just tying up some loose ends." Leanna let out a heavy breath. "You probably have no idea how important to me the stuff that you helped me take out of the Crossley Residence a few days ago was. You deserve this."

Ron stared at the card on the table without saying another word.

Leanna said, "I gotta go. Just make yourself comfortable here. I'll call you after the Pearsons are dealt with."

After she left, Ron sat on the couch and lifted his shirt; blood was seeping out of a hideous-looking wound in his stomach. He took out the medicines and the gauze she had bought and applied them to the wound. Then, having treated all the wounds on his body, he cleaned up the trash and began scrutinizing the old house.

Jethro was addicted to gambling and had started borrowing from loan sharks many years ago. Not only that, but he'd even gone so far as to sell his own daughter. Still, he never mortgaged this old house. Why is that so? This place can't sell for a lot of money, but it won't be a problem to sell it for a few hundred thousand. It's already routine for someone like Jethro to gamble away all his property, but it's never crossed his mind to sell this house. This is strange.

Well, I've got nothing else to do while staying here, anyway, thought Ron. With that, he began to search every corner of this house thoroughly.

…

On her way back from the old house, Leanna noticed that it was getting late, so she phoned Zoe and told the latter that she wasn't going back to the studio. The fridge in her apartment was almost empty, so she felt like doing some grocery shopping.

To her surprise, however, she ran into Celia in the grocery store.

Celia was shopping for fish when Leanna saw her. When she saw the latter, her pupils dilated at once; it took a long time before she finally made a sound, saying, "M-Miss McKinney…"

Leanna smiled as she greeted her. "Do you live around here?"

The word 'yes' sprang to Celia's lips, but she bit her tongue and choked it back. Instead, she made an excuse, saying, "No, I don't. I'm just hanging around here with my friends today. I noticed that the fish here are quite fresh, so I thought it'd be nice to buy a couple of fish and make some fish stew at home."

Leanna darted her eyes toward the fish counter. "They're fresh, indeed."

At this moment, Celia promptly said, "I've got something else to do, so I gotta go. See you next time, Miss McKinney."

"Hold on a minute."

Celia felt her blood freeze the very instant Leanna stopped her. Her neck stiffened, and she turned around, asking, "I-Is there anything else?"

Leanna handed the shopping bag nearby to her. "You forgot to take your fish."

Celia quickly took the shopping bag from her while forcing a weak smile. "Thank you, Miss McKinney. Well, then, I gotta go."

"See you around."

Carrying the shopping bag in her hand, Celia dashed to the payment counter, paid the bill, and left without buying anything else.

At the sight of this, Keaton, who was following Celia at a short distance, let out a quiet sigh of relief and left as well. Luckily, President Pearson has instructed before that Madam Fletcher and Celia are not to go out at the same time during this period. To think they ran into each other here today! He seems to have some foresight indeed.

Leanna also bought two fish. Just when she was about to leave, though, she saw a card left on the floor; she picked it up and saw that it was an access card to one of the floors of Aidan's apartment complex. Seems like Celia has dropped this. Putting the card away, she put the two fish in her shopping cart and continued with her grocery shopping.

As she left the grocery store after buying two large shopping bags full of groceries, she happened to get a phone call from Aidan. He asked, "You've gone to meet Elijah?"

"Uh-huh," Leanna replied. "I left his office long ago and have just done some grocery shopping. When are you coming back? There's too much stuff; I can't carry them all by myself."

"Wait for me there. I'll come over in a minute."

"You don't have to. I'm already in the car. It's just that I can't carry them upstairs."

"Well, then, wait for me downstairs in the neighborhood. I'll be there in half an hour."

"Okay."

After ending the phone call, Leanna put her phone away and slowly drove back. The grocery store was very close to their apartment; it'd only take about ten minutes to cover the distance on foot, while a step on the gas pedal was all it took if one were to drive. Still, she got stuck in traffic for a few minutes since it was the evening rush hour.

It'd only been ten minutes since the phone call between her and Aidan just now when she arrived downstairs. She didn't want to stay in the basement, which was stuffy and poorly ventilated. Leaving the groceries in the car, she went upstairs to the ground floor and took a stroll in the garden.

Sitting on a bench nearby, she fished the access card out of her purse. However, it had only the building name and the floor number on it; no unit number was labeled on it.

After sitting there for a while, she got a phone call from Aidan, who had arrived in the basement. "Oh," she said, "Give me a minute. I'll be there right away." With that, she put the card back in her purse and went to the basement.

No sooner had she reached the basement than she saw Aidan. She showed him the way, saying, "Over there!"

Aidan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at the sight of the two large bags of groceries when she opened the car door. "Did you have to buy so many things?"

Leanna replied, "Yeah. I've decided not to move back into the Castor Villa for the time being. Let's put it off until sometime later. I like this neighborhood, after all."

Aidan was rendered speechless.