Chapter 397: Chapter 397

"What are you doing here?" Murray asked, looking at the older driver, Albert. The same one that Aliya had wanted to drive her to the event.

"The boss said that I should come so that you can be relieved to work on your other tasks."

Murray frowned and then nodded. He understood the ’other’ tasks very well, but he wondered why there was such a sudden change.

Murray handed the car keys to Albert, and the older man went to look for the car in the parking lot.

Albert swung the keys in his hands and whistled happily. This was a good day for him. He thought back to the dinner plans he had with his daughter that evening. It was rare for them to have that time to themselves, so when the boss asked him to do this for the second half of the day off, Albert was all for it.

Albert went first towards the trunk. He placed the hand on it and then,

"Oh, jeez! This old age crap is going to be the death of me! What was I coming for from here?" He asked himself, but Albert could not remember. He let go of the trunk and then slid into the driver’s seat instead. He reclined the seat back and turned on some classical music.

Only the heavens knew how much Royston had perspired in the trunk from this near encounter. He trembled and clasped his hands together tightly, wishing that the driver would not come back to the trunk. The heavens did listen to Royston’s prayer but on the other hand, maybe they shouldn’t have. Who knows?

After Albert left, Murray received a mind link from Ian,

’I feel uneasy for some reason. Pay extra attention to everything!’ Those words coming from Ian were very much a surprise to Murray as well as Currey, who was by Ian’s side.

The two brothers thought that they had planned for everything, but they never thought that things had a funny way of changing last minute.

At that time, Murray’s thoughts only rested on Royston,

’I have to pay extra attention to that twerp!’

"I will head over as soon as I complete the task I have on hand."

"Yes, your Highness!"

Also, this coming from Ian should have started ’CODE RED’ for them, but at that time, the two did not think much of it; rather, they only cross-checked all security details as they did not know the nature of the threat and what was triggering Ian’s unease. After this, someone handed a glass of juice to Murray and a few of the valets.

In the restaurant, only a few minutes had passed, but the whole ambience had changed. The change was so drastic that Shelby was still struggling to understand what had happened within those few short minutes. She knew that these rich madams mostly did not have much doing and would usually resort to gossip most of the time, but what was going on was a bit too absurd for Shelby to fathom.

She turned to look over at Aliya and at that time, Shelby seemed to understand many things.

"Is it true?" The girl closest to Shelby asked again when she did not get an answer for the first time.

"Is what true?" Shelby turned to ask the girl, feigning ignorance.

"Is true that Miss Aliya’s children as Chairman Ian’s children?"

Shelby looked at the girl, who had asked the question, as well as all the other women, who seemed to be so interested in her answer,, and she sighed.

’How am I supposed to answer this question? To the outside world, Ian was a widower and this is his second marriage. If I had not married in, Mum would not have told me this. I am not sure why this tale exists, but If I deny it, what would happen?’

Shelby was unsure, and she felt that she was in a dilemma. It was not in her hands to acknowledge or deny this....

However, the more she kept quiet, the more the misunderstanding spread.

"It’s a little more complicated than a YES or NO answer," Shelby decided to say in response to it., but little did she know....

Aliya smiled to herself. It was a little smile that disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

"I can simplify it for you. Miss Aliya was presumed dead, but the poor girl was neglected in a coma in a hospital when her husband went and married himself this younger and pretty little thing here!"

"OH MY! There was a story like that?"

"You guys should learn to read the blogs and news outlets"

"But.... Does the second marriage hold if the first wife is alive?"

Someone asked the question that plunged the whole room into silence.

"Oh I get it! She was only presumed dead, so therefore, this one here, is not legally, Mrs Thornston!"

The few girls who had been trying to get closer to Shelby, suddenly distanced themselves. If Shelby was no longer the legitimate wife of the Thornston family, then she was a nobody!

The question that had been playing through an iteration popped back into Aliya’s head, ’What would happen if this old wife came back to life? Will his current marriage be void?’

"This is a scandal for a soap opera!"

"Wife wakes up from a coma with no memory of her accident, but another woman has already taken her place? Oh my! This is too juicy!"

Shelby was stunned! When she had come in, they had been a bit cordial, with a few fawning over her, but all it took was a singular question and some speculation. She looked at the way the ladies were animated in their conspiracy theories on how she had supposedly wormed her way into the Thornston household with her looks and Shelby bowed her head.

"I even heard that the children were not allowed to visit their mother in the hospital that often! It is so sad! What did she do to deserve this? Poor Aliya!"

"You need to answer to us!"

One woman stood up angrily on behalf of the rest,

"We do not accept such shameless people in our circles! We-"

"Are you sure that you want to complete that statement? Do not forget whom you are talking to. Do you think that the Thornston family is that idle and unreasonable? Do you think that with all their power, you can reason better than them? You better watch your mouth and your actions before it is too late for you!"

Shelby stood up, holding her head high.

"Wh-o ar-e you to s-ay that to me?!" The woman spat out but all could hear that her tone had turned slightly respectful and hesitant.

Shelby’s gaze swept across the room and met Aliya’s. She stared deep into Aliya’s eyes. Usually, Shelby never did this as it made people flustered and uncomfortable, but she was pissed beyond reason.

They all waited for the new wife in name to have a show-down with the older legit, wife but they were in for nothing. Never once did Aliya say anything to dispel their talks. In fact, she looked pitiful and wronged instead!

Shelby’s piercing gaze disoriented Aliya, making her look away and use all of her self-will not to appear flustered.

Shelby did not say a thing!

She picked her small clutch from the table and swung on her heels. All eyes followed her out of the restaurant. They were all flustered. Never had they felt such raw power from a singular person!

Ava looked around as if memorizing their faces and ran after Shelby.

This action left the whole restaurant flustered.

’Was it false?’ They wondered, but at the same time, they knew that the news could not be wrong!

Everything went downhill from here. After they came back to their senses, they turned to ask Aliya the truth of the matter, but she was not in her seat. She had taken advantage of the chaos to slip out.

Murray saw a livid Shelby coming out, and he immediately called Albert,

"Bring the car around, now!"

It took a few seconds for the car to arrive, and Murray opened the door for her to enter.

Murray sat in the front and then looked over at Ava, asking her what the issue was.

As the car sped along the highways, Ava narrated as much as she could to them. Murray brought out his phone to check on what was going on online, and he blanched.

’What the hell was happening?’ It would have been nothing, but Shelby had been a literal ticking time bomb in the recent days, so Murray knew just how livid she was then.

"We’re being followed, Murray!"

That snapped Murray from his thoughts to look at the rearview mirror. His gaze hardened. Nothing was making sense, but everything was happening too quickly for him to piece things together. It looked like a news station van of a sort but since when did the news houses have no fear of the Thorsntons?

However.... None of the people in the car was sure of the sequence of activities or how and what happened.

Suddenly, the sound of tires screeching and tearing against asphalt echoed into the silence of the highway, followed by a deafening crash. The highway in that part of town was usually busy, but on this day, it was not. The car swerved wildly, losing its grip, before it somersaulted into the air as if gravity itself had been momentarily suspended.

Inside, screams mingled with the sickening sound of crunching metal.

Glass shattered, scattering like tiny shards of chaos. The world seemed to spin in slow motion. In all of this, Ava unbuckled and reached for Shelby as if she wanted to shield her from the pieces of flying glasses. Shelby’s eyes widened as a silent scream seemed to burst out of her before Ava was violently flung out through the shattered windshield, her body soaring like a rag doll before hitting the ground with a bone-jarring thud.

The remaining passengers clung desperately to whatever they could grasp—the edges of seats, the door handles. Their eyes were wide with horror, knuckles white from their death grips. Gravity reclaimed its hold as the car’s nose pointed downward, hurtling toward the edge of a cliff right on the edge of the highway.

For the second time in his life, Murray felt helpless. He could not do anything! None at all! All his skills seemed to have become useless at that moment.

’I’m sorry, Your Highness! I couldn’t fulfil your last command, and your servant will pay with his life. I will take care of Her Highness!’ ... were his last thoughts as everything turned dark!

For a fleeting second, everything was suspended—time, sound, movement. Then, with a stomach-turning lurch, the car teetered over the precipice, the jagged rocks below waiting like open jaws. Shelby held on to the seat, afraid to even breath. The screams inside the car reached a crescendo as the vehicle tipped, plunging into the abyss.

A final, harrowing silence followed, broken only by the faint echo of metal colliding with the earth below.

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