Chapter 4

My phone lit up.

It was an unknown number.

I picked it the call.

It was Ethan.

“Ms. Sterling,” a deep voice came through.

“Dr. Lynch was intercepted by my people at the airport. He was trying to leave the country.”

“Did he confess?”

“He did. Chloe instructed him to poison your dad. It’s a chronic neurotoxin. Long-term ingestion will result in brain death.”

I gripped my phone tightly.

My knuckles turned white.

“What about Julian?”

“Dr. Lynch hasn’t seen him. But Chloe’s account has off-the-books funds from Vance Group moving through foreign exchange.”

He paused for a moment.

“Ms. Sterling. You’re not quite like the rumors say.”

“They say I’m an idiot.”

“Looks like rumors can’t be trusted.”

He let out a low chuckle.

“What’s next?”

“Hold onto to the guy,” I said coldly.

“Chloe is panicking. She’ll go to Julian. They’ll have to speed things up.”

“Just what I have in mind,” he said.

I hung up the phone.

I looked out the window at the gloomy sky.

It was about to rain.

Julian, Chloe, it was time to bring your plan to ruin.

Chloe’s car sped through the street.

She didn’t return to her apartment.

She drove to a villa on the outskirts of town.

That was her and Julian’s secret place.

In my past life, they spent countless intimate nights here.

All paid for with my family’s money.

She pushed open the door.

Julian was sitting in the living room reviewing financial reports.

Seeing her flustered state, he furrowed his brows.

“What’s the matter?”

“Hazel knows!” Chloe shouted.

She poured a glass of water, her hand shaking violently.

The glass fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

Water came splashing everywhere.

“What does she know?” Julian stood up.

“Everything!”

Chloe’s face was deathly pale.

“Dr. Lynch. The kickbacks. Also... the peanut. She even said she died once.”

Julian froze on the spot.

“She said ‘once’?”

“Yes.”

Chloe grabbed his sleeve.

“Julian, did she... come back as well?”

The living room descended into a dead silence.

Outside the window, thunder rolled.

Rain started pouring down.

Julian slowly sat back down on the sofa.

His expression turned frightfully dark.

“Came back...” he muttered to himself.

“If we could come back, of course she could too.”

“What do we do now?” Chloe asked, on the verge of tears.

“What if she calls the police...”

“She doesn’t have proof,” Julian sneered.

“What happened back then is erased. Dr. Lynch is in our hands, and I’ve kept the books clean. What does she hold against us?”

“But the guy is missing!” Chloe cried out.

“I haven’t been able to reach him since this morning.”

Julian jerked his head up.

“Missing?”

“Yes.”

He immediately pulled out his phone, dialed a number.

It didn’t go through.

Then his expression shifted.

“It’s Ethan,” he gritted his teeth.

“Someone saw his assistant at the airport last night.”

“Ethan?” Chloe was stunned.

“Why is he helping Hazel?”

“Because of Sterling Group shares.”

A cruel glint flashed in Julian’s eyes.

“She must have used her shares as leverage to recruit his help.”

He stood up and start pacing anxiously around the living room.

“We can’t wait any longer,” he said.

“We must secure that plot of land on the west side of town now.”

“What about Hazel?” Chloe asked.

“If she keeps causing trouble...”

Julian stopped in his tracks.

He turned to look at Chloe.

There wasn’t a trace of warmth left in his eyes.

“We let the fire have her last time.”

He spoke each word with deliberate weight.

“This time round, we’ll just do it again.”

Chloe stared back at him, trembling with fear.

It was as if the man before her just turned into a ghastly devil.

Just then, the big screen in the living room suddenly lit up.

It was the villa’s smart TV.

On the screen, no show was playing.

Only a clip of surveillance footage.

It showed an abandoned warehouse.

In the torrential rain, a pair of brand new cremation urns were placed in front of the warehouse doors.

On them were photos of the two of them.

The photos were black and white.

Just then, both of their phones buzzed at the same time.

They received an identical text message.

“The fire from our past life is lit again.

This time, it’s your turn to burn.”

Sender: Hazel.