Love's Cunning Ruse novel Chapter 314

"Wait, you're just here to clean the place?" Julie asked.

The lady nodded, a warm smile on her face. "Yep! The owner settles my pay annually. I swing by every week to tidy up. Besides me and old Chuck, no one else has set foot in here for ages."

Anticipating Julie and Kieran's confusion about Chuck's identity, she added, "Old Chuck is the villa's guard. He went back home for a couple of days. He'll be back soon. By the way, what brings you two here?"

Julie and Kieran had come hoping to dig up some useful information within the villa's walls, but the cleaning lady’s words left them momentarily speechless.

Just then, the lady peered at Kieran with a spark of recognition. "Sir, you look awfully familiar!"

Julie chuckled, "Really?"

She casually looped her arm through Kieran's, her laughter easing the tension. "Perhaps he's just got one of those faces!"

"No way, with looks like that, you can't just be anyone!" The lady insisted, her expression serious as she pondered before she realized something. "Oh! Aren't you that guy? The big boss from Simpo Co.? I've seen you on TV."

Caught out, Kieran didn't deny it and smoothly shifted the topic. "Ma'am, the person who settles up with you yearly, do they pay cash in person, or is it done online?"

"They hand it to old Chuck, and he passes it on to me. Same time every year," she explained.

"And do you know when exactly Chuck is due back?" Julie inquired further.

The lady shook her head, "I didn't really ask, but let me give him a call for you, okay?"

"That'd be great, thank you," Julie said graciously.

Assured of Julie and Kieran's identities, the cleaning lady felt at ease and went to make the call. Kieran watched her intently, a contemplative look on his face.

After a short while, the cleaning lady returned with news. "Chuck will be back the day after tomorrow. Maybe you come back then?"

Leaving the villa arm in arm, Julie glanced back at the house number, which reminded her of Rankin as if he were still standing there. Smiling, she said, "Your house number is the same as my birthday. What a coincidence."

Rankin had responded with calm, not a smile, "Then you should feel honored."

Thinking back, she indeed felt honored—not for the coincidence with the house number, but for having known Rankin during those carefree, youthful days. After learning of Rankin's death, she tried to access an old email account they'd once shared but found she couldn't remember the password. Once she recovered access, Julie opened the last few messages.

She had written, “Is Los Angeles beautiful? Do you like it there?”

He replied, “They call it the City of Angels, but it's not as lovely as Whispering Pines. The city flower is the bird-of-paradise. It's an odd, angular thing—not smooth like a rose, but with a name that sounds heavenly. When you come, I'll show you around.”

Attached was a photo, true to his description, “the flower wasn't smooth or gentle like a rose, somewhat sharp, yet indeed resembling a bird in flight.”

She said, “Someday, I'll drag Kerry to LA, and you'll have to play tour guide!’

He didn't reply.

Another week passed, and she sent another email - “Is it because you don't want to be my tour guide that you didn't reply? I guess I'll just buy a map. Rank, Kerry's birthday is coming up. What do you think would be a good gift?”

There was no response.

After that, Julie got caught up in planning Kieran's birthday, and she stopped checking the email as frequently. That birthday of Kieran's turned out to be an unexpected affair.

Years later, the last email Julie sent to Rankin was to announce her wedding.

She wrote - “I'm getting married to Kieran. Can you come back for the wedding? There might not be one, though.”

Following that message, she and Kieran went through with a civil marriage—a transaction more than a celebration. Her life soon unraveled: her mother passed away, her father followed, and her only sister ended up in a coma after a car accident. Then, as if things couldn't get worse, Lucian was 'killed' in a plane crash. The only glimmer of hope was her pregnancy, but even that joy was overshadowed when Bertha entered the picture, and things spiraled out of control.