The following day, when Leanna awoke, the room was filled with sunlight. Her entire body was aching. After lazily stretching, she checked her phone to realize it was nearly noon. The realization shocked her out of her sleepy haze. Why doesn't my alarm sound?
When she was about to scramble out of bed, she received a phone call from Aidan.
"Are you still sleeping?" he softly asked.
"I just woke up," she replied, dashing into the bathroom as she spoke. "Did you turn off my alarm?"
Aidan gave an affirmative hum. "You have Freddie at the Crossley Group. You can go in the afternoon."
Leanna then pouted and tilted her head to continue speaking on the phone while squeezing out some toothpaste, saying, "I see. I have to brush my teeth now. Talk to you later."
"Alice made lunch. Eat before you go."
She instinctively glanced out the doorway. "How do you know that?"
He smirked. "There is nothing I don't know. I'll pick you up tonight."
After hanging up, she freshened up as quickly as possible before changing. As soon as she reached the bottom of the steps, she was greeted by the scent of food.
Hearing her footsteps, Alice looked up at Leanna. "You're awake, Madam. Come eat."
Before Leanna moved back into Castor Villa, she somewhat disliked that place. After all, there were a lot of unhappy memories here. Still, perhaps it was because the whole home had been renovated, but that uneasy feeling had vanished. Presently, she only felt a sense of life and a comforting warmth. Moreover, she had lived in many places, but only this place felt like home.
After lunch, she drove to the Crossley Group. The assistant told her Freddie was out on business and would only be back an hour later. She nodded and sat down to wait.
Not long after Leanna arrived, Raymond walked over to her. "Miss McKinney, I haven't seen Richard anywhere today. Do you know where he's gone?"
"What is it?" she asked.
"Nothing much," he replied with a smile. "I merely have some information I'd like him to confirm."
"I don't know where he went. If it's urgent, you can call him."
Richard was in charge of many things and would frequently be away from the office. Hence, she never kept track of where he was unless she needed to talk to him.
"Well, it's not that urgent. I'll wait for him to return."
Raymond then placed the documents in his arms on her desk. "These documents all need your signature."
Leanna looked down and spotted a glimpse of a bite mark hiding under his right sleeve.
Sensing her gaze on his hand, he quickly pulled it back to hide behind him. "My daughter had a temper tantrum last night and bit me. My apologies," he said with a smile.
"It's fine," she calmly said.
Leanna then glanced at the documents on her desk. Every one of them was about trivial internal matters in the company. Still, she did say that every tiny thing that happened in the company required her signature before being implemented. After she had signed the documents, she handed the files back to Raymond. "Is Jimmy still kicking up a fuss?"
"Mr. Ollander has been to the police station once, but nothing much happened. The police said to wait for the investigation results." He paused. "Miss McKinney, I think he's in quite a rush. However, he's not in a rush because he doesn't want to be considered a murderer. Instead, he wants to leave Highside."
Her face remained as calm as ever. "If he has not killed anyone, he is free to go wherever he pleases once the results are out. If he did do the deed, then being in a rush does not mean he can leave."
Raymond opened his mouth to continue speaking but soon saw that she had already ducked her head down to look at her work. It seemed like she was not all that interested in this matter. Seeing that, he kept quiet and left.
There was no way Aidan did not know what was going on with Jimmy. Raymond had already placed the documents in Richard's office. The rest had nothing to do with him. If he tried to rush things, the results would be the opposite of what he wanted.
Leanna waited for him to leave before looking back up. She stared at the door, deep in thought. She recalled Raymond's right-hand bleeding when she bumped into him the day before, and he said he had tripped back then. However, today he said it was because his daughter bit him.
Even if everything he said was true, he had both tripped and been bitten. The only wound on his right hand was a bite mark; there were no signs that he had tripped. Furthermore, that bite mark was quite severe. The blood on his sleeve had likely originated from that wound. In that case, Raymond lied. At that thought, she frowned. Why would he lie about something like that? Was there some secret hidden behind that bite?
In the afternoon, she received a call from Zoe.
"Nana, are you free right now?" Zoe asked in a very soft voice.
"I am. What is it?" Leanna replied.
There was a moment of silence before Zoe answered. "Can you... go with me to the hospital?"
Leanna knew what was going on when she heard that. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I decided long ago."
"What did Daniel say?" Leanna asked.
"I tried asking him this morning," Zoe replied. "He did not give me a proper answer. Well, that's how things are. There's no point pushing him too much. He's also out this afternoon. I want to get this thing done fast. I don't want to drag this out any longer."
Leanna pursed her lips. "Okay. I'll drive you."
"It's fine. I've already booked a cab. Let's meet at the hospital."
After hanging up, Leanna heaved a heavy sigh before grabbing her things and standing up.
She had just reached the door when Freddie returned. "Where are you going?" he asked.
"I have to attend to something." She stopped walking and continued to speak in a lower voice, "I think something's wrong with Raymond. Can you see what he has been up to these past two days?"
He stared at her for a moment. "Got it."
Raymond was quite a big problem, and he was sly. The other day, Oscar said their men had been following him the entire time, yet they still lost him for more than an hour. Perhaps, it was due to the heavy rain.
Meanwhile, when Leanna arrived at the hospital, Zoe was waiting for her.
When Leanna appeared, Zoe nervously grabbed her hand. "I'm honestly scared, Nana. Will it hurt?"
Leanna hugged her and softly replied, "It will. It will hurt a lot."
It was not the body that would be in pain, but the pain Zoe would feel in her heart would be worse.
Then, Zoe took a deep breath. Even though she had mentally prepared herself for this moment, she was still trembling. No matter what happened, the child in her womb existed. She could not bear to kill it. Still, she had no choice. She was not capable or brave like Leanna. She could not give birth to a child and take care of them all by herself. Rather than letting that happen, perhaps she should be less selfish and be kinder to everyone.
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