Chapter 222
She could guess why Eugene had done it. He wanted to cut off Zac’s hopes once and for all and make sure he stopped getting tangled up with her.
She couldn’t let that go, but she had never brought it up in front of Zac.
For one thing, even though the whole mess had started because of him, it was still true that he had been hurt saving her. For another, she didn’t want to put him in an impossible position.
She couldn’t return his feelings, so how could she drive a wedge between him and his father?
But now Eugene was under investigation. Someone was clearly pulling strings behind the scenes, and whoever it was had more power than the Davis family.
In Liono City, only the Xanders and the Zellers had that kind of power.
William didn’t know Eugene was the one who had hired people to kidnap her.
And Eugene had come under investigation just yesterday afternoon, right after Mrs. Xander Sr.’s funeral.
Was it Chris?
When the light turned green, Winter took a deep breath and forced herself not to think about it for now. Instead, she drove toward the funeral home.
Today was the anniversary of her parents‘ deaths. New Year’s Day was supposed to be a time for families to be together, but it was the day she had lost both of hers.
There was a staff member on duty at the funeral home. After swiping her card, Winter went inside.
Back when the Scott family went bankrupt, they were already drowning in debt. After her parents died, seven–year -old Winter had no money to buy them a burial plot. With help from relatives, she arranged to keep their ashes in a rented niche.
Over the years, she had saved enough from her salary to buy her parents a proper burial plot. She was only waiting until after the holiday so their ashes could be moved there.
She reached out and touched the faded photo of her parents, and tears instantly spilled down her face.
That day, when she had chased Chris to Blackwood Manor demanding the truth, he had sent her the black box records from the plane crash that killed Mr. and Mrs. Xander. It was the change log from the flight control system.
And Warren had been the engineer on that plane.
The access key for those code changes could only have been in the engineer’s hands. It wasn’t supposed to be shared, and it would never have been shared. If it ever fell into the wrong hands, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Afterward, she had wondered whether someone had framed him.
But she had asked Gavin where the black box had been found, and he had told her it was hidden beneath the treehouse in Westbury.
If someone had really framed him, then how could the black box have ended up under the treehouse?
Every board of that treehouse, every part of its foundation, had been built by Warren himself. The base was directly connected to the structure. If anyone had tampered with it later, the treehouse would have collapsed.
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+25 Bonus
So there had only been one chance to hide the black box under it.
During construction.
And now, with every fact laid out in front of her, she vaguely remembered how strangely emotional Warren had been when he came home one day when she was five.
He had been excited, but nervous too, like both feelings were tangled together.
He had scooped her up and said, full of excitement, “Our Winnie’s going to be a little princess someday p>
Winter closed her eyes in despair. “Dad, can you please tell me why p>
After leaving the funeral home, Winter didn’t notice the dark figure standing at the corner behind her, watching her walk away.
When she got home, a dull ache spread through her lower abdomen.
Then, when she sat down on the toilet, she saw faint pink spotting on her underwear.
After counting the days, she realized her period had been late again this month. At least it had finally come.
After changing her underwear and putting on a pad, a wave of exhaustion suddenly washed over her.
She went back to her room, lay down on the bed, and drifted off not long after closing her eyes.
Then, through the haze of sleep, she had the vague feeling that someone was moving around in the room.
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Florence
A passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.