“But why?” Rose was clearly stumped by my sudden estrangement. Nonetheless, she was the wife of the general manager of Cruise Corporation, so she had the ability to read between the lines. In no time, she nodded in acknowledgment. “I got it. Don’t worry, Scarlett. Nick and I will remember to do as you said.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than the elevator came to a stop. Rose insisted on seeing me out.
When we arrived at the entrance, a boy of about Audrey’s height blocked our path with a toy gun in his hand.
The boy was all smiles and appeared exceedingly cheerful. He seemingly knew me, but he mistook Rose for me. Looking up at Rose with a silly smile on his face, he inquired, “Are you Ms. Scarlett?”
Rose chuckled the moment she heard that and self-deprecatingly remarked, “Nick often tells me that I used to look just like your biological sister, Letty.”
As she said that, she crouched. Pinching the boy’s arm, she asked, “Why are you looking for Ms. Scarlett, sweetie? Why don’t you tell me?”
“Are you Ms. Scarlett?” The boy was still smiling, but the toy gun in his hand was so realistic that it transported me back to the scene on the cruise ship the day before. I remembered that Garrett’s subordinate’s gun was of the same model.
Rose was tickled pink by his stubbornness. “Haha, just tell me what it is. When I hear it, Ms. Scarlett will also know about it!”
“Then, you must be Ms. Scarlett,” the boy affirmed in emphatic tones this time.
“All right, stop teasing him,” I urged since I was in a hurry to leave.
Only then did Rose shrug and decide to tell him the truth. “Okay, then. Actually, sweetie, you got the wrong… person-”
Bang!
Before she had finished speaking, the sound of a gunshot broke the silence at the mall entrance in the blink of an eye.
I could only look on helplessly as blood splattered onto the ground a near distance from where Rose was crouching.
Subsequently, the second and third gunshots rang out.
The bullets pierced Rose’s body and whizzed past my cheek, spattering my face with her blood.
It was as though there was a drizzle, and the raindrops were her fading life.
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