Chapter 21: Chapter 21

ANGELIQUE SLOAN's POV

The past days felt too ordinary, knowing how the detective, Joy, was already dead, I could rest assured that no one else out there would keep on interrogating me as the prime suspect. Though, I still have to be wary of anyone who might have a clue about my secret. Greyson still has the video as evidence, and that’s the only string that keeps us together for now.

“Where’d you run off to? Didn’t I tell you not to go out without my permission?” Greyson asked, then crossed his arms in front of his chest.

I sighed and copied his current posture. “What did you expect me to do? Stand by in the same room while watching you being so intimate with everyone else?” The delivery of my message sounded kind of harsh, so I avoided having eye contact with him.

His hand reached for my chin, forcing me to look at him. “What’s so wrong with that? We’re not officially a couple, and I believe that our declaration of being engaged to one another can now be put on hold or totally revoked, since that officer is no longer alive with us.” Greyson smirked at the same time that he stepped back. “Let’s go,” he invited me to go back to his office.

I went in without talking back, especially when I noticed that Lian was still there. She seemed to be in a state of panic when she saw me. Even her hands were literally shaking.

“Is there something wrong?” I went closer to Lian, but she suddenly moved away a bit. “Do you want me to get out and give the two of you some space to continue where you left off?”

Lian shook her head. “N-no…”

I gave her a small smile before I attempted to sit right beside her. I made sure to place my hand above her own, so that she won’t have any chance to run away. “Speak up, Lian. What’s the matter? Is this about your mother?”

Her eyes widened. “H-how’d you know? I didn’t tell anyone about my problems…” Lian was surprised, which erased the fear that she had earlier.

“Sorry. I overheard through the phone call that you’ve made plans, which your mother knew. I figured that you merely lied about it, and kept your real intention to come here as a secret.”

I saw how Greyson sat down on his swivel chair from the corner of my eye with the same posture a while ago. From the gist of everything as of now, it’s like Greyson also had a hunch regarding this issue, and he relied on me to console Lian as a part of my tasks as his secretary.

“My father is currently in critical condition at the hospital as we speak. He has to undergo some sort of operation, but our family doesn’t have at least twenty-five percent of the amount that we are supposed to pay in cash,” Lian said with a frown on her face. “I saw your website’s offer, so I took the risk. I don’t care about myself. I just want to find a way how I’d be able to help my mom to pay my father’s bill as early as possible. The longer that we have to wait, the longer the operation gets delayed.”

I glanced at Greyson after I understood Lian’s situation. I didn’t know what to tell her, considering how he recently changed the policies of his job, so I walked beside his chair.

“What are you going to do to her? She’s expecting to be paid, and not the other way around. She might’ve seen the old benefits and not the new ones,” I whispered to him.

Greyson shrugged his shoulders. “Is that supposed to be my problem? She went here and barged in like she already knew about the new rule, didn’t she? There’s nothing else to think twice about. Lian came as a client, she’d have to bear the full responsibility of a client as well. That’s that,” he answered in a straightforward manner, as if he had a heart of stone.

I hissed in frustration as I went back to Lian. “Why didn’t you choose to be honest with your mother instead of doing something on your own? She would surely be worried if she ever gets to hear about what you’ve done today.”

Lian’s eyes began to get surrounded by her tears. “She won’t allow me, of course. This was the easiest way to get the money for my father’s operation,” she answered as her tears rolled down her cheeks.

“If that’s the case…” I stretched out my arms to embrace her as I caressed her head gently. “Don’t fret. We’ll help you pay under one condition,” I said before I let her go.

“What is it?”

“You have to either send a proof on our website or bring us together with you to where your father’s admitted, so we can verify whether you’re telling us the truth or simply taking money from us for your own benefit,” I explained my condition, even without Greyson’s approval. Though it doesn’t really matter to us if it’s for her own sake, since she’s already an adult who can decide for herself.

Lian’s face brightened up with a glimmer of hope. “That… I’d gladly take you to where he is!” she mumbled while wiping her tears off of her face.

Right after our conversation had been settled, I assisted Lian as she went out of Greyson’s bar. I was able to let out a short sigh of relief when I saw her finally entering a taxi nearby.

“What do you think would be the outcome of your unnecessary kindness, Angelique?” Greyson sounded somehow bitter.

As if he has always been neglected every single time that he used to ask for help.

“Just a sense of satisfaction. It’s such a lovely feeling to be of help. It makes me think that the purpose of living here wasn’t entirely for nothing at all,” I genuinely replied, but Greyson didn’t have any rebuttals. Instead, he lent me his bank card that he picked up from his wallet. “What’s this for?” I asked out of pure curiosity.

“You’re going to Lian’s father, right?” Greyson muttered without any sort of emotion. “Pay up his bill within the night and return to our house,” he instructed, then turned to face the other direction.