Cindy was so eager that it made her ears ring. She asked with eyes wide open,"On his bed... Did you
two... do it?"
Becky flushed as soon as she heard that. She grumbled shyly,"Wow. Have a little class. It's just that I
got hurt, so he took me in his arms and brought me upstairs. And then.."
"Then you're on his bed!" Cindy curled her lips and said,"Becky, can't you push for more? Brian tried to
seduce you so many times over the years, and you stopped him at the last second. Now you're
strutting around like a proud peacock."
As Cindy talked, Becky suddenly realized that she was kind of undemanding. She hadn't even given
Brian the time of a day in the early days. He had been infatuated, she had been bored. She didn't know
what she had until it was gone.
With those thoughts rolling around in her mind, Becky could not help but sigh helplessly. Then she
decided to pursue another topic. She said,"Cindy, I met the woman here."
"Which one was that?" Cindy asked while scratching her hair. She got out of bed and trudged off
towards the bathroom.
"The woman he brought back here..."
"What?" Cindy abruptly stopped walking and asked,"So he didn't kick her out? She's still there? Even
though you're there now?"
"Yeah. She's still here. But for some reason she's a maid now. You remember I can't see anything?
Well, I heard her voice and they introduced her, saying she was a maid. But Lucy says she's really not.
Well, I can't see, and she can't talk. So when she was supposed to serve me a glass of juice, I couldn't
see her, and she couldn't tell me she was there. Clumsy bitch dropped the glass and freaked me out,
so I fell into the broken glass. I have a bandaged leg and hand. And that's why I'm here."
Cindy laughed grimly and said,"Since when has Brian so devoted to someone else besides John and
his family?" Besides, like you said, he doesn't even need a servant."
"So I got injured!" Becky said in a cool tone. "I can't wait till I get to move in!"
Becky remembered the phone conversation with Lucy. She told Becky that Brian fought with Molly in
the courtyard, and that their fight ended with a kiss.
Thinking of that, her eyes grew hot with hate, but her expression cooled soon enough. She said,"Cindy,
I can't see, and I've been told that Molly is mute. We can't communicate right now."
"So?" Cindy said. Cindy's voice became small, helpless, tentative,"You have to drive this woman away."
"I'm afraid... it won't be easy," Becky frowned and said. "She's here during the day, but at night she
works at Grand Night Casino. It's odd!"
"What?" Cindy sounded like someone told her the world was ending. "I know you got this Becky! You
can be a real bitch sometimes. You need to pull that out of your hat now, and get her out!"
Hearing that, Becky squeezed the phone tighter, straining her one good hand. She said slowly,"I know
that."
Becky just gossiped normally the rest of the time, and finally got Cindy off the line. She lay in silence for
a while, and then an expression of cruelness and malevolence began to dominate her face. She traced
her fingers over the phone, figuring out the layout of the keypad. She dialed Rory's number -- her
muscle memory taking over and dialing the number for her.
*
Brian felt like something was wrong all day. He even got lost in thought several times. Tony and Harrow
exchanged a look. In the end, Harrow bit the bullet and asked him,"Come on man. You don't look so
hot. How about... dealing with this stuff later?"
Brian came back to himself. He frowned secretly for again being lost in thought but he looked the same
on his cool chiseled face. He said coldly,"It was only a bullet."
Of course Harrow and Tony knew that the wound did not matter much to Brian, but... both of them felt
that there was something wrong with Brian today. He was off his game, and they didn't know why.
"It shouldn't be done in the open," Brian said. "But since Justin was so generous to Eric and me, it's
pretty important to pay him back. However, I don't want it to have any effect on Dragon Island.
Capisce?"
Both Harrow and Tony nodded, but both were stressed out about the plan they were talking about. After
all, the person they were going to assassinate this time was a key leader of a country. Once they
figured out that Brian was involved, then Dragon Island would be involved, regardless of the
relationship between Brian and Dragon Island at present. And if that happened, the accident would
develop into a political struggle instead of a personal one.
But on the other hand, Justin struck the first blow. Eric, then Brian. They were right to be worried, but
wasn't it more important to act? Otherwise, Justin would have made them into a laughingstock.
Regardless, Harrow was still worried. He said,"Mr. Brian Long, as for Mr. Long..."
"He won't step in as long as Dragon Island is left out of it!" Brian said quite confidently. Richie had
stopped him from getting too deep into it once, but later he had left Brian to his own devices. Obviously,
he would not have a problem as long as Brian's actions didn't affect the "communication" between the
two parliaments. So Brian did not need to take Richie into consideration. He wouldn't let this get out of
hand.
And Brian guessed correctly. Richie wasn't going to intervene in this, because he believed that Brian
could deal with it, whether for a woman or anything else.
Now it was early summer in South Africa. The harsh sunlight penetrated through thick leaves and
shone on the grassland like fine gold particles. A breeze made the heat more bearable, and brought
the faint scent of leaves and grass to people's noses.
Richie was listening to intel while sitting under a big tree in the training campsite of XK Intelligence
Agency. He frowned when he was told that Brian had been shot, but he went back to his normal icy
gaze soon enough. He only said coldly,"Don't let her know!"
"Yes, sir!" the scout answered, cap in hand.
"Don't let me know what?" Shirley asked from a distance. She walked over to Richie with an expression
of distinct anger coloring her face.
With an almost imperceptible smile at the corner of his mouth, Richie nodded, giving the person
reporting to him a hint to go away. Then he stood up to receive Shirley. His voice sounded haughty but
full of love,"Didn't you say that it's hot outside?"
As soon as she heard that, Shirley pulled a long face and said,"I don't know why, but I feel a bit out of
sorts today, as if something has happened."
Richie clapped a hand on Shirley's shoulder and said gently,"You're just restless thanks to the weather
changing."
Shirley looked at Richie, an unasked question in her eyes. With worry on her face, she asked,"Richie,
has anything happened to Brian?"
Looking at his sensitive and smart wife, Richie didn't want to lie to her, though he was originally going
to hide what happened to Brian from her. But he scrapped that idea. She was Brian's mother, after all.
She had a right to know. So he said,"Brian got shot yesterday trying to protect
Molly."
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