Victor’s voice was low, but Rachel still heard him clearly.
It was a good thing she was about to get out of the car-she could pretend she didn’t hear his
response. With her
one foot already outside, she managed to pause imperceptibly to absorb what she had heard, then
soon returned to normal as she moved the rest of her body and turned to look at Joey in Victor’s
arms. “Let me carry him inside.” Rachel reached out her hands, preparing to take Joey with her.
Victor dodged her hands and responded in a cold voice, “No, thanks.”
He then walked away towards the house so fast, leaving no chance for Rachel to speak to him again.
Clearly, he succeeded. Rachel stood by the car alone and watched his back go further away. She
could only purse her lips, withdraw her numbing hands, and slowly shake her head as she heaved a
sigh.
After collecting herself, she saw that Victor was already deep in the vestibule. She tried to ignore
what he had just done and quickly followed him inside.
As soon as Lukas saw them in the driveway, he waited for them in the foyer so he could welcome
them both. He was delighted to see them come in one after the other, even more so with the little boy
in Victor’s arms.
‘The three of them were together tonight!’
At first, Lukas felt a tad worried when he saw the fire in Gentlefolk through the news. Now, seeing the
three come back together warmed his heart.
“Mr. Sullivan, Miss Bennet.” Unable to hide his joy, Lukas ended up greeting them with a big smile.
Aside from a nod, Victor didn’t say a word in response and went upstairs as he carried Joey. Rachel,
on the other hand, was still taking her shoes off at the vestibule.
When she raised her head, Victor was already up the landing. She pressed her lips and unwittingly
checked the time on her phone.
“Have you had dinner yet, Miss Bennet? The food in the kitchen is still warm. Would you like me to
bring it out?” Lukas curiously asked.
“Oh, I ate out.” Right then, Rachel remembered something that urged her to cut eye contact with him.
Before they left this afternoon, Lukas asked if they would have dinner at home. However, due to the
fire in Gentlefolk and * Andy’s injury and hospitalization, she had forgotten to call him.
“How about you, Lukas?” Rachel had always been nice, so she had invited him to dine with them
these days. Since she failed to inform him that they wouldn’t get to eat at home, knowing Lukas, he
must have patiently waited for them to come back first so they could all eat together.
“Yes, I have,” Lukas replied immediately.
“Really? What did you have for dinner then?”
Lukas got caught off guard. He wasn’t prepared to answer such an unexpected question, so he
struggled to find the words. “Well… I had…”
Of course, based on his reaction, Rachel instantly confirmed her hunch.
“Lukas, you don’t have to do this. Starting today, if it’s already dinner time and I haven’t called you, go
ahead and eat first.” The thought of Lukas waiting for them with an empty stomach at such an old age
made Rachel feel a little guilty. “It’s my fault. Sorry that I forgot to call you tonight.” “No, Miss Bennet.
Please don’t say that. I’m already too old to have much appetite.” Lukas chuckled. “It’s okay for me to
wait.”
“I’ll bring the food out.” Fully aware that she wouldn’t be able to persuade him, Rachel decided to
change the subject.
“Oh, no. Let me do it.” Lukas hurried to the kitchen with a smile.
His reaction made Rachel laugh and shake her head twice. She was reminded that Lukas wouldn’t
allow her to take care of him even if she wanted to, so she no longer rushed to take the dishes.
Instead, she looked at the bag in her a thought about putting it down in het room first. When she
turned around, however, she saw that Victor had already come downstairs, standing on the landing,
looking at her. Without even meaning to her evne met his. They locked eves for a few seconds. As
soon as Rachel realized her inadvertent staring, she swiftly averted her eypa
Lukas then emerged from the kitchen, asking the servants to bring the rest of the dishes to the table.
While he was setting the food down, he caught a glimpse of Victor by the stairs with a suit jacket
hanging on his arm.
“Mr. Sullivan, are you going out?”
After hearing his question, Victor shifted his attention from Lukas to look at Rachel, but he didn’t say
a word.
“I’ll go upstairs and put my things down.” Finally, Rachel broke the silence and then passed Victor on
the way to her room.
All this time, Lukas thought the relationship between the two had already eased up. By the looks of it,
though, it seemed it was only his wishful thinking. He looked at Ivan with curious eyes and furrowed
brows as though he was asking him what was happening.
However, Ivan simply shrugged with his palms up, as if saying, “Don’t ask me. I know nothing.”
“Ivan.” In his signature low and deep voice, Victor called him.
“It’s getting late,”
The abrupt mentioning of his name startled Ivan. Without much thought, he blurted out, “What?”
Victor narrowed his eyes at Ivan. The glare made Ivan shiver so much that he instantly came to his
senses. “Mr. Sullivan, I’m leaving now.”
“Hmm.” Along with a slight nod, Victor’s Adam’s apple moved from his subtle approval.
Hastily heeding the order, Ivan headed for the door.
However, he only made one step forward when his phone rang. Feeling the oppressive aura behind
him, Ivan frowned and wondered who could be calling him at this dreadful time. ‘Ugh. Couldn’t you
have waited a little later? Why must you call me now?’. With scrunched brows, he grudgingly took out
his phone. When he saw the caller ID flickering on the screen, he suddenly stopped muttering in his
heart.
He pressed the green icon on his phone and quickly took the call.
At the other end of the line, police and ambulance sirens were blaring in the background as the caller
tried to break through the noise to report something. As the man on the phone kept going, the look on
Ivan’s face became more and more serious.
The call lasted two minutes. After the call, Ivan took a deep breath.
Noticing that Ivan must have heard something wrong during the call, Victor asked, “What’s up?”
“Dr. Turner has been found, sir.” Ivan put his phone away with a frown. “But when they took him
away, they encountered a serious car accident. One of our people died and two were injured. Dr.
Turner died on the spot.”
In a flash, Victor’s eyes darkened.
Ivan’s intuition was telling him that something was strange with what had happened tonight, but he
didn’t know where the feeling was coming from.
In fact, the fire prevention system of Gentlefolk had always been top-notch. Tonight, however, it got
caught on fire.
It seemed that the fire prevention system had malfunctioned and didn’t detect the fire, causing the fire
to spread rapidly before it was found.
Other than the fire, the death of the driver was a mystery.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda