Chapter 5

Jayleen looked at Joshua and said something ambiguous, "I'll listen to Joshua's orders."

"Joshua, are you willing to show me?" Cynthia's beautiful eyebrows lifted slightly.

Joshua looked at her feigned innocence and, without saying much, picked up a phone from the table, opened WhatsApp, and handed her the conversation after scrolling through the chat history.

Cynthia took it and read the contents.

[Mrs. Neal: If you help me get rid of Jayleen, I'll pay off your debt and give you another hundred thousand.]

[Driver: How do I know you'll keep your word?]

[Mrs. Neal: I'm Joshua's wife; a hundred thousand is nothing to me.]

[Driver: I'll trust you this time, but if you back out, I'll make a scene at Neal Group!]

[Driver: Send me a photo.]

[Mrs. Neal: Picture]

[Mrs. Neal: Make it clean.]

Cynthia finished reading and asked, "That's it?"

Joshua looked down at her, searching for a hint of panic on her face but found none. "That's it."

Cynthia returned the phone, calmly analyzing the situation. "It wasn't me. With Mr. Neal's resources, it shouldn't be difficult to find out who's behind this account."

"The account is new and unverified," Joshua replied coldly.

Cynthia suggested, "You can track the IP address."

Joshua's eyes narrowed, sweeping over her. He had never known her to be particularly clever. In the past, he had always solved her problems. Now it seemed that she was a different person.

"You're not going to tell me the IP address is hidden, are you?" Cynthia prompted when he did not respond.

Joshua did not answer her directly but instead gave an order, "Cheyne, have the tech department traced all the IP addresses associated with this account."

"Yes, sir."

Cheyne left with the phone, genuinely afraid that if he stayed any longer, Mrs. Neal would trick him again.

"Are you sure it wasn't you?" Joshua's voice remained cold, his eyes unfathomable.

Upon seeing the chat logs, his first thought was that Cynthia was responsible. After all, her recent actions had shattered his previous impressions of her. The woman who did not care about money demanded so much in the divorce. Her gentle demeanor suddenly turned confrontational. Who could say whether her kindness and nonchalance during the divorce were genuine?

"Instead of wasting time with me, you should investigate how the hit-and-run driver knew Miss Shaw's itinerary for the day," Cynthia reasoned, not engaging in an argument.

Before Joshua could speak, Cynthia continued, "Also..."

"What?" he asked.

"In situations like this, the first thing you should do is call the police." Cynthia reminded him, her gaze resting on his handsome face, "Not come after me, an unrelated person."

Joshua's eyes darkened slightly. He did not know why, but when he found out it was Cynthia, his first reaction was to confront her instead of calling the police.

For a moment, their eyes locked, and an odd atmosphere grew between them. In Joshua's eyes, all he could see was her reflection. Her usually smiling eyes blinked gently, her curled lashes fluttering like butterfly wings.

They maintained eye contact until Jayleen's voice interrupted Joshua's thoughts. "Joshua."

"Yes?"

"I want to rest now."

Her simple statement carried an unmistakable undertone of dismissal. Cynthia, however, had no intention of letting her rest. She stood by the bedside, a faint curve at the corner of her lips. "Before you rest, Ms. Shaw, shouldn't you apologize to me?"

"What?" Jayleen asked and bewildered.

Joshua understood Cynthia's meaning and called her name with a hint of warning. "Cynthia!"

"We'll set aside the issue of you seducing my husband for now. Let's discuss the fact that you falsely accused me," Cynthia said, unfazed.

"I'm sorry," Jayleen quickly apologized, her voice full of regret as her nervous fingers tightened. "I saw the name Mrs. Neal and assumed it was you."

Cynthia replied, giving her a taste of her own medicine. "I see, I thought you might have staged this accident out of jealousy because Joshua was with me."

"I didn't!" Jayleen instinctively defended herself.

"Cynthia!" Joshua was angry.

"What's the big deal? Can't I make a joke?" Cynthia chatted amiably, seemingly unbothered.

"Is that how you make a joke?" Joshua instinctively protected his beloved. "I know you don't like her, but there's no need to smear her. Take it out on me if you're angry."

Cynthia's lips curled into a smile as she looked at him. "You get so angry over a joke. Did you ever get this upset for me when she seriously told you I hired someone to hit her?"

Joshua paused, and his deep and cold eyes were unreadable.

"Joshua," Cynthia called him with a more formal tone.

Joshua's heart felt inexplicably unsettled. He furrowed his brows, casting aside the strange emotion.

"Do I need to remind you that we're still bound by a marriage certificate?" Cynthia's emotions surfaced, and if not for her strong pride, she would have told him that she, too, had feelings when he protected another woman in front of her.

Jayleen interjected at the right moment with an considerate expression. "Joshua, this was my fault, so don't be mad at Mrs. Neal."

Cynthia was speechless. She had no interest in dealing with such low-level and innocent pretense, but that did not mean she could tolerate being trampled on repeatedly.

"When did our family matters become your business?" Her tone was indifferent and her words were light.

"I just don't want to see you two argue," Jayleen explained.

"It's because of you that we're arguing," Cynthia retorted.

"Sorry."

"Does an apology work now?"

"Enough!" Joshua was somewhat irritated, grabbing Cynthia's arm gently as he led her out. "Come with me."

Cynthia did not linger. She grabbed her purse and followed him.

Joshua pulled her to the end of the hallway, suppressing his emotions and resuming his indifferent demeanor. "What do you want?"

"To be mean to her."

Joshua was speechless.

"I want to call her a mistress."

"She's not."

"So I'm the mistress?"

"No."

"Then who is?"

Faced with Cynthia's question, Joshua could not find an answer. The atmosphere grew tense. He wanted to explain something to her, but when he saw her beautiful face filled with disdain and her once gentle eyes now void of warmth, he managed to say, "You didn't use to be like this."