Chapter 5: Chapter 5

The next day…

Warm sunshine filled the room, bringing with it a gentle flowery aroma that added to the tranquillity of the morning.

Miranda awoke at a predawn hour. Anna brought her breakfast after she had cleaned herself. A bowl of chicken noodle and a drink of orange juice were on the table.

"Anna..." With a nervous expression, she said.

"What?" Anna inquired casually.

"Has Stephen already left the house?" Miranda inquired gently.

Anna was taken aback by Miranda's question. She glanced at her, her eyes searching for a minute, as if analysing Miranda's demeanour, before slowly responding: "Today is Monday, therefore he must arrive at company headquarters early."

Miranda instantly questioned, "All Mondays?"

"Right." Anna gave Miranda a distrustful look. "Is there a problem? Why are you asking so many questions about that?"

"Oh, no!" Miranda shrugged, attempting a sincere grin.

Then she pointed to breakfast and said to Anna, "All right, you leave them to me. I would want to do them by myself. You may now do something different."

Anna inquired again, this time with mistrust, "Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

Miranda attempted a bright grin, nodded slightly, and replied, "Sure. Can I tell you a lie? Please delegate this task to me. Thanks."

She quickly said, as if recalling something:

"I'd like to ask you a question…"

Miranda wasn't in a rush to express her wish. She left it out in order to observe Anna's demeanour.

Anna maintained the same demeanour she had when she first walked in, asking her, "Do you have anything difficult to say?"

"It isn't." Miranda gave a shaky nod. "But I'm not sure if it's on my to-do list."

"Just say it," Anna insisted.

"Could you please get me some paper and a pen?"

"And for what?"

"You see, I'm locked here, and if I don't do something all day, I'm going to die."

Anna gazed into Miranda's imploring eyes, knowing deep down that what she said made sense. As a result, she kindly stated: " I'll ask Stephen once again. If it's all right, I'll bring it to you."

“Okay, thanks Anna.” Miranda said.

And she moved to grab Anna's meal plate from her grasp. Despite her reservations about Miranda's expression, Anna was unable to elicit any further information from her. She could only reiterate the warning:

"Don't even think of fleeing this place. Stephen will track you down no matter where you go."

Miranda maintained her smile, saying, "Oh, I know."

Anna stared into Miranda's eyes one more before turning toward the door and exiting the room. Miranda hastily placed the plate of food on the table and went out onto the balcony as soon as her figure vanished. She examined its layout. This balcony is arched and has an iron railing in a neoclassical style. Stephen had a big frame made to conceal the railing. Miranda was unable to get down from this location.

Miranda, on the other hand, did not abandon her plans. She kept looking about the room, hoping to find a way out.

Meanwhile,...

Downstairs, Anna was chatting with the bodyguard. It seems the suspicion just now made her more alert. Suddenly, the phone in her pocket vibrated. Anna quickly assigned the job to the bodyguard. Waiting for him to leave, she pulled out her phone from her pocket and looked at the screen of the phone. It was Stephen's call.

"Anna, is everything all right?"

Stephen quickly asked her as soon as the phone announced the call connection. Anna calmly replied:

“Yes, sir, everything is fine. I brought her breakfast as usual.”

"Very good. Doesn't she have a strange expression?"

"I'm not so sure, sir." Anna hesitated.

“What do you mean?” Stephen leaned back in his chair and asked slowly.

“She seems very interested in your schedule.”

"Is she worried about my schedule? "What did she inquire about?"

Anna then told Stephen about what happened this morning. Stephen smiled slightly as he listened to her narrative. A icicle-cold grin. His eyes betrayed his disgust. With a commanding voice, Stephen said to Anna,

"Anna, keep a close eye on her. I need her for the auction next week."

"I got it, sir," Anna answered solemnly. “What about paper and pen?”

"Bring it to her"

“Okay, sir.”

Stephen gave a satisfied smile and then turned off the phone and placed it on the table and looked thoughtfully ahead. He is thinking about something.

Stephen believes that Miranda is the one who assassinated Andrea by Brian, his business rival, because of the bouquet of flowers his fiancée ordered that day. The bouquet contained cyanide, a poison that can damage the brain and heart.

Thinking back to that day, Stephen's chest hurt again. His heart constricted like someone was squeezing it in the palm of his hand.

When he arrived at Andrea's residence to fetch her up from his birthday celebration, he discovered her dead and in severe condition. She didn't have any reaction at all. Despite the fact that she was rushed to the hospital, it was too late. On Stephen's birthday, Andrea and their kid returned to God. That made him want to lose his mind.

Stephen immediately asks Anna and his assistant to look into Andrea's death. When they saw their boss's rage, they did not hesitate and swiftly located a bouquet of flowers laced with cyanide gas in Andrea's living room. They soon determined the bouquet's origin based on its features and the paper wrapped around it. Miranda's floral business was there.

That news quickly reached Stephen. He was extremely angry, immediately ordered Anna to buy a mansion in the suburbs, far from the city centre, and sent bodyguards to kidnap Miranda.

Stephen once thought to kill the woman immediately, but for some reason, when he saw her, he ignored the idea. Instead, he slept with her. Obviously, he was not a lover of love and the other girl was not a man with a body that could make a man fall in love with him, but Stephen couldn't stop it. No matter how much she yells, he simply wants to spew it all out on her body whenever he's around her. Stephen, on the other hand, realised that a part of him truly wanted to sleep with her.

Stephen scowled and shook his head slightly. Then he stretched and sat up, his hands interlaced and propping himself on the table, his gaze still peering into the emptiness.

"Brian, you sent a girl to check on me?" Stephen murmured. “You're also good at picking people.”