Chapter 1544:
Why had the bikers taken the money and left her phone behind? Because the cash was merely a cover. The real target had been the device. Disabling its tracker was their priority.
Corrine lifted her gaze to him, catching the dark shadows beneath his eyes—proof he hadn’t rested a second.
Her head pressed into his chest, her tone soft with a teasing lilt. “I’m sorry for making you worry. Again.”
She had thought she could handle it on her own. But she had underestimated Amelie, who poisoned the wine to sap out her strength.
Her expression shifted suddenly. She pulled back, brows knitting in concern. “Where’s Karina?”
Nate let out a quiet breath, part relief, part exasperation. “She’s safe. We sent her back to Lyhaton. She’s alright.”
Corrine nodded. “And the people on the ship?”
Her mind filled with images—the frightened women, the children, the pregnant women…
“They’re safe too,” Nate assured her. “Everyone was rescued. You don’t have to worry anymore.”
He softly cupped the back of her head, his lips brushing her forehead with quiet affection. “Now go. Take a bath. Then come eat something.”
Corrine offered a small smile and rose weakly from the bed.
In the bathroom, the warm water enveloped her like liquid silk, melting away the strain that clung to her muscles. She sank deeper into the bath, letting the soothing heat draw the fog from her mind. As the tension began to ease, the fragments of last night started to fall into place.
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The mastermind, Amelie, had revealed a deep-seated hatred for Corrine just before the latter lost consciousness.
Corrine pondered the origin of Amelie’s malice. She couldn’t recall ever crossing paths with Amelie, yet it seemed Amelie had been aware of her, possibly even before their arranged encounters.
Amelie’s request to take her measurements in Riverveille was just a facade, a clever ruse to draw Corrine into a meticulously laid trap. Their subsequent meetings seemed casual, designed to build Corrine’s trust and lower her defenses.
It was at the dinner in the hotel restaurant where Amelie chose to spring her trap. Even now, Corrine couldn’t understand what had motivated it all.
Could Nate be at the center of this animosity? Or perhaps Amelie was merely a puppet, acting on someone else’s directive?
Corrine’s suspicions leaned toward Nate playing a role, not just from conjecture but from Amelie’s consistent prying into her romantic affairs and her visible scorn upon seeing the diamond ring Corrine wore. It seemed not the ring itself, but the sentiment it symbolized, that Amelie despised.
Was the root of Amelie’s animosity truly Nate, or did it stem from another, deeper cause?
Sending her off to a foreign place torn apart by crime and poverty wasn’t just malicious—it was merciless.
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