Chapter 17
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Weary, he asked, “How much do you want?”
Hailey, overjoyed, was about to quote a large sum when she saw Tom pick up his phone.
Then his expression changed, and his gaze towards her became as cold as if he was looking at a corpse.
“Tom, what’s wrong?”
She instinctively shivered and cautiously moved closer to him.
Tom sneered. “When you sent messages to Jane before, did you also have this expression?”
The words froze Hailey in place.
She forced a smile and said, “What messages? Jane has gone missing, how could I contact her…”
It couldn’t be, Jane should have given up on Tom by now!
Tom couldn’t be bothered to say more.
He simply raised his hand and showed her the screen of his phone.
Just moments ago, the private detective he had hired in Cheria had made new progress and had forwarded the recovered data from his phone.
Hailey stared at the provocative messages she had sent to Jane.
For a moment, she panicked, but then gritted her teeth and said, “Tom, these weren’t sent by me. Someone must be framing me. Yes, it must be Jane, she’s always disliked me…”
“Shut up!” shouted Tom.
The surroundings fell into complete silence, and even breathing seemed to disappear.
Tom’s hand holding the phone trembled.
He looked down at Hailey from above and asked in a cold, authoritative tone, “Did you force Jane to go abroad?” The clues that had been ignored before suddenly all connected in that moment, and the truth was about to surface.
Hailey looked at the drastic change in Tom’s attitude.
It would have been a lie to say she wasn’t scared, but she still couldn’t bear to give up on this opportunity.
She softened her voice and tried to act coquettish.
“Tom, I’ve always liked her, how could I have bullied her…”
Her voice grew quieter and quieter until it disappeared completely.
After locking eyes with Tom’s frosty expression, she didn’t dare speak anymore.
This time, things didn’t seem like they could be easily resolved.
Tom’s mind buzzed, filled with anger and regret to the extreme, but there was no way to turn back time.
So, he could only blame himself.
He refused to look at Hailey again and coldly tossed out a final line.
“I told you, Jane is my bottom line. You can cooperate with me for the act, but it’s only to force her to realize how
+25 BONUS
Chapter 17
important I am. But you can never hurt her! Now, you can leave.”
Hailey trembled.
She tried to grab the hem of Tom’s clothes, but he dodged, leaving her hand hanging in the air.
With a sobbing tone, she argued, “I really didn’t…”
Tom was utterly disgusted with her.
He turned his back to her with complete indifference, not even looking again.
At that moment, the servant from his house called.
He turned his back to Hailey and answered the phone. “What is it?”
The servant was reporting on the progress of an investigation.
“Mr. Howard, the expert you sent to restore the surveillance footage has completed the job. The video has been sent over, and as you suspected, someone did provoke Ms. Lawson.”
The veins on Tom’s hand bulged.
“Who is it?”
He had a vague guess in his mind and, as he spoke, he slowly turned to look at Hailey.
