Chapter 41 The Study Darkroom
“Lexie?”
Tina called out to her in alarm.
Lexie subconsciously turned her head back, bumping into this kind of thing made her more embarrassed.
“You … don t misunderstand … ” Tina’s face went pale.
Lexie didn’t understand for a moment why she was so flustered, although it was embarrassing, she and Bob Walsh were already going to be engaged, and making love was not something unseemly.
But in the next second, she understood when she saw the man behind Tina.
He was not Bob Walsh.
[I’m here to get the wine.]
Lexie pretended to be calm and raised the wine in her hand.
She had never seen Bob nor did she know what he looked like, but she had just seen yesterday this man behind Tina in the Howard family’s summer resort on the outskirts.
If she remembered correctly, this man was the Howard family’s driver.
“Lexie … no … cousin-in-law,” Tina was clearly a bit overwhelmed at this moment, and couldn’t even speak too well, “It isn’t what you think like that, we’re just …”
“She saw it.”
A male voice came from behind Tina with a tone of certainty.
Lexie shivered coldly.
Tina gradually calmed down and looked at Lexie with a slowly sinking gaze, “You saw it?”
Lexie shook her head violently in denial.
“Don’t pretend, you’ve seen it all, right?” Tina looked at the wine she was holding, “How long have you been here?”
Lexie took a step back, her face embarrassed, not knowing how to explain.
“Now that you’ve seen it, it’s okay,” Tina took a deep breath, her face grim, “If you dare to tell anyone, I can guarantee that you definitely won’t be able to stay in J City.”
Lexie hugged the red wine bottle tightly and nodded.
She certainly would not ask for trouble.
It wouldn’t do her any good to tell anyone about Tina’s personal affairs.
Watching Lexie leave from the wine cellar, Tina’s hands still couldn’t stop shaking and was soon held by the man behind her, a low voice fell into her ear, “Can she be trusted?”
Tina’s face was tense, “I have to, she is a mute and has a hard time in the Howard family, what can she say? Besides, what evidence does she have?”
The man’s gaze sank.
Lexie ran out of the wine cellar in a panic, managed to get upstairs and run to an occupied area, and stumbled when she ran head-on into a waiter.
“Miss Lexie, are you all right?”
Lexie shook her head in panic and gradually eased up.
Listening to the sound of music in the distant room, Lexie handed the bottle of red wine to the waiter, [Please give this to Edith].
A piece of her dress was torn in the wine cellar.
Time was running out, and she still deal with what Alan had ordered her to do, and she would be taunted by Edith again if she went back.
The banquet hadn’t officially started yet, and Peter was meeting his guests in the hall, so she had to take advantage of the gap to go to the study and find the safe that Alan had mentioned.
The winery was huge, and it was lucky that Peter’s bedroom and study were on the third floor where the banquet was being held.
Following her memory, Lexie successfully found the location of the study.
There was a click, and when the door opened, she was greeted by the smell of soot in the house, but like the ashes of incense lit in a temple.
Lexie looked around and eventually found the source of the smell, the bookcase with the burnt out incense burner on the first tier, behind which the Bodhisattva of Medicine was worshipped.
The Mitchell family was a family of medicine, and it was traditional to worship the Bodhisattva of Medicine, and in this aspect, Peter was still very old-fashioned.
According to what Alan had said, Peter’s safe was in the cabinet to the right of his desk.
She walked over quickly and pulled the cabinet door open.
As expected, as Alan said, there was a silver safe in the cabinet door, embedded in the bookcase inside with a code lock, unless she had the code, it was impossible to open it. And she could not take it away, for the safe and the bookcase was connected together.
After taking a picture of the safe, Lexie sent the photo to Alan.
[The safe is here, can I go now?]
There had been no reply on the other end.
Lexie was flustered in her heart and as she was about to leave, the sound of talking suddenly came from outside.
Peter was back.
She looked around, not finding a place to hide.
A hand suddenly reached out from behind her, covering her mouth and dragging her towards the back.
By the time she came back to her senses, she was in the middle of a dimly lit environment, and the strong smell of incense was so choking that she would have coughed out if her mouth hadn’t been covered.
“Don’t talk.” A low voice came to her ears.
Lexie’s back stiffened.
It was Alan. She could not believe he’d been here all this time.
Peter seemed to have brought in a guest, and through a partition of the bookcase, she could clearly hear the conversation outside, which seemed to be about medical equipment shipping.
At the moment, Alan pressed one hand against the partition of the bookcase and listened to the movement outside for a while, the light coming through the gap hitting the bridge of his nose with coldness.
Lexie gradually calmed down.
After confirming that they wouldn’t be discovered, Alan let go of his hand and Lexie was able to breathe normally.
It was dark inside the room, and nothing could be seen, except for a point of light flickering eerily behind them.
Lexie shrank back, not daring to move.
Her back pressed against Alan’s chest and their breaths mingled together, and only the two people’s misplaced heartbeats could be heard the quiet room.Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.
They didn’t know how long it was before the sound of laughter came from outside.
“That’s it then, Mr. Gardner, I’ll have my assistant draw up the agreement.”
“Okay, no problem.”
It wasn’t until a slamming door sounded outside that Lexie sighed in relief.
Alan let go of her.
She did not know what button he moved, but with a gentle push, the bookcase pushed a corner outwards, and light from outside leaked in, illuminating most of the dark room.
“They are gone, come on out.”
Lexie returned to her senses and nodded.
[What are you doing here?]
Why did he need her to make this frightening trip since he could do it himself?
Alan glanced at her, his gaze cold, “Can you open this safe if I don’t come?”
[Can you open it?]
Lexie looked at him in surprise, but quickly regained her normal color.
Alan was a man of great power, and nothing seemed difficult for him, let alone a small safe.
Alan didn’t pay her any attention, glancing behind her thoughtfully and snorting coldly, “How many people has your Mitchell family killed? What age is it now and Peter even worshiping such a thing?”
Lexie’s expression froze, following Alan’s gaze, she saw the full view of the dark room, which was actually a small Buddhist hall, and the light point that just flickered on and off was the incense lit in the incense burner.
Lexie couldn’t help but walk a little closer, and when she saw the ‘Buddha statue’ enshrined inside, her face suddenly turned white.