The Captain I Married by Chance novel Chapter 404

She had genuinely been worried that Nathan might get annoyed, thinking she was trying to draw a line between 'his' family and 'hers'.

After lingering in the villa for over an hour, Nora personally gave Grace a sponge bath and changed her into fresh, comfortable clothes. Seeing that her mother showed no immediate signs of waking up, and knowing she and Nathan still had an active case hanging over their heads, they had no choice but to head out.

Valerie eagerly volunteered to stay behind and hold down the fort.

"Someone has to be here to tell your mom all about the wedding when she wakes up!" Valerie insisted. "I know for a fact she's going to be dying for the details. Don't worry, I'll stand guard right here. The second she opens her eyes, I'll be her personal entertainment."

Nora realized she was right and shot Valerie a look of profound gratitude. "Thank you so much. If you need a ride back later, just call me or Nathan, and we'll send the driver to pick you up."

"Will do. Now go catch some bad guys!"

Deep down, Nora felt a terrible pang of guilt. Valerie had finally managed to get some time off work to visit, and Nora hadn't even had the chance to take her out and properly show her around Luminport City.

"Once this case is wrapped up, I promise I'm taking you on a proper tour of the city," Nora vowed.

"Awesome, I'm holding you to that!" Valerie knew exactly how Nora felt, but as a true best friend, she wasn't about to make her feel bad for doing her job. As a corporate grinder herself, Valerie completely understood the demands of a high-pressure career.

"Alright, stop stalling and get out of here. Shoo!" Valerie playfully pushed Nora out the door.

Laughing helplessly, Nora let herself be ushered out and left the villa with Nathan.

Just as Nathan's car pulled out of the hospital's main gates, Nora caught a glimpse of a familiar luxury van out of the corner of her eye.

"Wait, is that Michael's sprinter van?"

Over the past few hours, the task force group chat had been pinging nonstop. It seemed the divided investigation teams were operating at maximum efficiency and had already unearthed a solid pile of clues. Realizing this case was mostly going to be a massive information-gathering operation rather than a dangerous street-level manhunt, the tight knot of anxiety in Nora's chest began to loosen.

Back at the precinct, the task force reconvened for another briefing.

They had definitively confirmed that a total of twelve celebrities had been targeted by the extortionist.

"After digging into the backgrounds of all twelve victims, we found a glaring common denominator," the reporting officer announced, bringing up several scanned contracts on the projector screen. Judging by the yellowed edges and fading ink, the documents were practically ancient.

"All twelve of these artists originally debuted under the exact same agency: a company called VU Media."

"The company filed for bankruptcy less than six months after its launch. Afterward, these artists had their management contracts bought out by various other entertainment agencies across the industry."