The Real Heiress Is Coming Back (Hannah Carter) novel Chapter 145

Chapter 145

It was already ten at night. Hannah wasn’t sure if Ethan was asleep, so she sent him a message instead of calling.

Hannah: [Ethan, I think Lauren might just be a fall guy.]

To her surprise, Ethan replied almost instantly.

Ethan: [Hannah, you’re awake? I’ve been thinking the same thing. I just found a new lead. I’m on a mission right now, but I’ll come see you as soon as it’s over. We’ll talk in person. Get some rest.]

Hannah kept staring at the words “new lead,” lost in thought. Suddenly, she reached for her pocket, only to realize she was wearing a hospital gown.

“Who changed my clothes? Where are my old ones?” she asked, looking up.

“Barnaby?” Magnus looked totally confused. Barnaby was the one who brought her to the hospital, so he had no clue. He turned to Barnaby. “Guess they’re gone, huh?”

Hannah froze. ‘Wait, did Barnaby change my clothes? Did he see everything?’ she thought, her cheeks instantly flushed.

Her ears burned, and she felt a mix of embarrassment and irritation.

But then she took a deep breath and calmed herself down. ‘Even if he did see me, so what? Barnaby probably thinks seeing a girl naked is no big deal, just like how girls see each other,’ she told herself.

“The nurse changed your clothes. Your old ones are gone,” Barnaby said, oblivious to her inner drama.

Percival finished patching him up, and Barnaby got up, fished a small bag from his pocket, and handed it to her. “Is this what you were looking for?” he asked.

Hannah realized she’d been overthinking for nothing, and now Barnaby just said it was the nurse who did it.

She felt all tangled up inside. She never used to be like this, but ever since she ran into Barnaby again, he always managed to mess with her emotions every single time.

“This is so messed up. Am I seriously catching feelings for Barnaby?’ Hannah thought, a wave of panic hitting her.

The thought came out of nowhere, and it startled her, too.

She glanced up at Barnaby, thinking, ‘Seriously, out of everyone, why did I have to fall for a guy who’s not even into girls?’

Barnaby caught her gaze, noticing the hint of sympathy mixed in, and found it a little strange. He looked at the small clear bag in his hand. “Isn’t this what you wanted?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Hannah said, snapping out of it as she took the bag from him.

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Percival could sense the tension in the air and said, “It’s getting late. Barnaby, Ms. Carter, we’ll leave you two alone to rest. We’re heading out.”

As he spoke, he elbowed Magnus, telling him to get moving.

“Goodnight, sweet dreams,” Magnus called out, waving as he left and pulled the door shut behind him.

With just the two of them left in the room, Hannah checked her missed calls. Four were from Van, and the rest were from the Scott family, probably trying to reach her.

She opened WhatsApp and sent a message in the Scott family group, saying she’d been out with friends for a few days and had no signal, so she missed their calls.

Arthur called her right away.

“Hannah, where are you? Are you really okay?” Arthur asked, his voice full of worry.

Hannah checked her location. “I’m in Southmart, just having fun. I’m fine,” she replied.

“That’s a relief,” Arthur said, his voice finally relaxing. “Lauren dropped by two days ago, said some strange things, then just left. I tried calling you, but your phone was off, and I was pretty worried.”

‘Lauren actually went to see Arthur?’ Hannah blinked, surprised.

Not wanting to make him worry, Hannah replied, “I was out hiking with some friends. There was barely any signal up in the mountains. What did she say?”

“Baby, drink some water,” Barnaby said, handing her a glass with a few pills in his palm.

On the other end, Arthur heard Barnaby’s voice and his frown deepened. “Are you with Barnaby right now?” he asked.

Hannah shot Barnaby a look, pretty sure he was doing it on purpose. She swallowed the pills without protest and answered, “Yeah.”

Arthur still had his reservations about Barnaby, but as long as Hannah was with him, she’d be safe. So whatever Lauren said probably didn’t hold water.

“Do you want to talk to him?” Hannah asked, noticing Barnaby eyeing her phone.

“Sure,” Arthur replied, thinking she was talking to him.

‘Seriously? These two are hopeless,’ she thought, exasperated.

She handed the phone to Barnaby, feeling like these two guys were up to something right in front of her.

Barnaby looked a bit confused but took the phone anyway. “Yeah, what is it?” he asked.

“Barnaby, if you dare do anything indecent to my sister, I swear I’ll ruin you!” Arthur spat, practically grinding

his teeth.

“Whatever,” Barnaby replied, sounding completely uninterested.

Arthur was fuming at Barnaby’s dismissive tone, but before he could even get another word out, Barnaby had already hung up on him.

He thought about calling back to chew Barnaby out, but then realized how childish that would look. ‘He’d just think the Scott family is a pushover and keep pushing his luck, Arthur grumbled to himself, finally deciding to let it go.

Hannah shot Barnaby a look when he hung up so fast. ‘Seriously, what kind of secret talk did those two have right under my nose?’ she wondered.

“Your brother told me to look after you,” Barnaby said, handing her the phone back and answering her unspoken question.

“Oh,” Hannah replied, mimicking his earlier indifferent tone.

‘No wonder he sounded so reluctant,’ she thought.

Barnaby was at a loss for words.

Hannah was passing the time scrolling through her unread WhatsApp messages, planning to text Van once Barnaby finally left.

But even after a while, Barnaby still didn’t look like he was going anywhere.

She was about to tell him to leave, but caught him zoning out, his eyes fixed on the black pearl earrings she was playing with in the little bag.

“Look familiar?” Hannah asked.

“Those are the earrings you made for Rosalie on Mother’s Day when you were five,” Barnaby said, finally snapping out of his daze.

Hannah stared at him. “You remember that?”

“Uh-huh. You cut your finger and started bawling, snot and tears everywhere, looked just like a little stray kitten,” Barnaby teased, reaching out to hook her left index finger and gently rubbing his thumb over the tip. “Right here.”

Her heart did a little flip at his touch, and she quickly snatched her hand back, dumped the earrings out of the bag, and dangled them in front of his face.

“They’re just regular black pearls. How do you even know these are the same ones?” she asked.

“Try opening up the base where they’re joined, see if you spot that tiny hole you made off to the side when you were little,” Barnaby said, totally confident.

Hannah quickly picked at the rusty mount, and sure enough, there it was, a small, crooked hole underneath. ‘No way… These really are Rosalie’s earrings!’ she thought, her heart fluttering with excitement.

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‘I’ve been inside that cave before… So what the hell is actually hidden in there?’ Hannah wondered, her curiosity burning.

‘Gemma locked someone up in the hills in Linxire, and that cave in the deep woods isn’t far from there. Was it just a weird coincidence, or was there something more going on?’ she thought, suspicion creeping in.

“Where did you find these?” Barnaby asked, noticing how eager she was to check them out. He could tell she hadn’t had them with her for long, more like she’d just gotten her hands on them.

“My grandma gave them to me,” Hannah replied, not wanting to mention the cave just yet. She snapped the mount back on and slipped the earrings into the little bag.

Barnaby didn’t ask any more questions. Just then, his phone rang, and he headed to the bathroom to answer it. Hannah quickly logged into her Raven account on WhatsApp and pulled up Piggy’s chat.

They’d agreed before, if it was urgent, send a message; if it was super urgent, call. He’d called her four times, so this had to be something serious.

Sure enough, when she opened their chat, the latest message read: [Boss, you’re wanted by Interpol!]

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