Ch. 91..100
Chapter 91
“Professor Terry and the others were acting funnily earlier,” Ivor probed. Bonnie wasn’t surprised he was asking her about this. Something would be wrong if someone as smart as him hadn’t questioned.
her.
“What do you mean?”
He responded by staring at her. “What do you think?”
“I didn’t notice anything,” She replied.
He smiled. “Color me curious. Why were you with Ms. Bonita’s researchers?”
“Oh. That was just a coincidence.”
“You ran into them by chance? Do they know you?”
“What’s so strange about that? After all, I won the Best Scholar Award this year.”
“Many people get that award every year, but none of them become particularly close to those researchers because of that.”
“Maybe it was because I got a perfect score on my SATS. Would you say there are a lot of Best Scholars like me?”
Her answer wasn’t exactly convincing, but he couldn’t really argue with her.
“You say that, but Professor Terry and the others acted very differently around you…” He lowered his gaze and fixed his eyes on her.
She raised her brow. “Did they?”
They locked gazes for a full minute before Ivor conceded. He shook himself off and asked, “Did you see Ms. Bonita?”
When he had seen Bonnie leaving the private room with the professors, the door hadn’t been pushed all the way back, and he thought he heard them complimenting Ms. Bonita.
“I didn’t see her,” Bonnie responded.
She was lying. He was sure of it, but he didn’t expose her. He wondered just how many secrets she had. He felt as if he was a traveler braving the dragon’s lair in search of treasure. He’d love to search for the ‘treasure‘ within her.
“They’re gone.” Hadwin tugged at Trina, who was rooted to the spot.
“Huh? Oh.” She came to her senses, part of her still reliving what happened earlier.
He squinted. It was hard to read his thoughts, but there was a hint of disdain in his eyes.
“I told you we shouldn’t stay here and try to see Ms. Bonita. Look where it got you. You can kiss your chance of a career at her research institute goodbye.”
Trina felt as if someone had stabbed her in the heart. She cursed Bonnie. She wouldn’t have ended up
here if it wasn’t for her.
“Huh?” Something occurred to Trina. Whipping her head toward the private room, she asked, ”
Where’s Ms. Bonita?”
Hadwin came to his senses. He was so focused on what happened to Trina that he had forgotten about
this important business.
She was right! Where was Ms. Bonita? Why hadn’t they seen her? Wasn’t it her research institute’s anniversary today? She should be here.
“Is she still in there?” Trina took a wild guess.
Hadwin walked to the door and found that it was shut tight. He wasn’t sure if there was anyone inside.
Trina reached out, about to push the door open, but Hadwin stopped her.
“You’re out of your mind! Do you realize you might disturb her if she really is inside?”
Chapter 92
“It’ll be okay. I know how to deal with it.” Trina was dead set on going into the private room.
Things had gone bad enough. What did she have to lose? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. She might as well roll the dice and see if she was lucky.
She could recommend herself to Ms. Bonita if fortune smiled on her. Maybe Ms. Bonita would be impressed by her talents and take her in.
She didn’t want to think about it any longer, so she pushed the door open decisively.
No one was inside..
How anticlimactic!
“This is weird. Where’s Ms. Bonita?”
“Could she have quietly left in all the commotion?” Hadwin guessed.
Trina felt disappointed. All her hopes were dashed. At that moment, Vera called.
“How did it go, Trina? Did you manage to see Ms. Bonita?” Vera asked excitedly.
Trina clenched her fist and she said softly, “Luck wasn’t on my side. I didn’t bump into her.”
She couldn’t tell Vera and Gresham that Bonnie had lunch with Ms. Bonita’s researchers. If they found out how well–connected Bonnie was, it might threaten her standing in the family.
She would never tell anyone about this. She needed to move fast and find something Bonnie. How on earth had she managed to meet the researchers?
10 hold over
Bonnie had moved out of the family home because she was preparing for the SATS, but she hadn’t come back home even after it was over.
Could it be possible that she wasn’t living on her own? She could be living with a sugar daddy. She might be someone’s mistress! She could be sleeping with a man!
Trina was shocked. If that was true, then Bonnie had better prepare herself for some sweet revenge.
“It’s been a long time since Bonnie was home, Mom. Let’s invite her back for breakfast.”
“I would have completely forgotten about that if you hadn’t brought it up. The SATs are over. Why hasn’t she come back home?”
“We’ll know when we see her tonight.”
“Hmm…”
There were five more days until the end of Ivor and Bonnie’s engagement. However, Vera asked Bonnie to return home early in the morning.
Ivor watched as the car pulled out of the villa. He stared at it for a while before averting his gaze.
Floyd entered his room with a frown.
“I sent my men out to investigate Tim, Mr. Ivor, but they didn’t get anything on him.”
Ivor turned around to look at Floyd, who continued, “He’s squeaky clean.”
Floyd handed a document to his master and kept going. “His background checks out. He was born in an ordinary family. If it was a forged identity, we would have been able to figure it out since we have the power of the Knights behind us.
Ivor paged through the document carefully, his sharp eyes growing darker.
“Don’t you think his background is a little too clean?
Floyd seemed to catch his master’s meaning, but he couldn’t exactly say what it was. He merely looked at him. Ivor was extraordinarily perceptive. If he thought something was up with Tim, Tim would definitely have some secrets.
“I’ll figure out a way to get something out of this.”
“Okay.“Ivor nodded, satisfied, “But there’s no need to move too quickly. Tim hasn’t shown any animosity toward us yet. I’m wondering if he came here to protect somebody.”
“Who is he trying to protect? Could it be Ms. Bonnie?” Floyd asked.
Chapter 93
“It’s possible,” Ivor said slowly. Just like that, Floyd was lost in thought.
Trina couldn’t wait to get down to business the moment Bonnie returned home.
“You’re back at last, Bonnie. Are’t the SATs over? Why are you still staying out there on your own?”
“What does it have to do with you?” Bonnie wasn’t going to waste any words on Trina. She walked straight to the couch, sat down, and started peeling an orange.
Trina deliberately looked at Vera with sad eyes and turned her head aside. Then, she lifted her hands and pretended to wipe some tears away.
Vera was enraged. “Trina was just expressing her concern for you, Bonnie. That was too much.”
Bonnie smiled faintly and said, “That’s true! She was so concerned about me that she nearly charged into Ms. Bonita’s private room at the hotel restaurant. The nerve of her.”
Trina’s heart gripped with fear. Vera was gobsmacked.
“What did you say?”
Trina tried to cut them off to put an end to the topic. “You must be tired, Mom. How about I give you a massage?”
Bonnie smiled more widely. “You’re terrible at covering up what you’ve done, Trina. Did you really think Mom would be so gullible?”
“Tell me what on earth happened.” Vera grabbed Trina. What Bonnie had revealed was so serious that she shuddered. She knew Trina had found out that Ms. Bonita was going to celebrate the
anniversary of her research institute.
When she called her daughter, Trina had made it sound like she hadn’t found out where Ms. Bonita was having lunch. But if what Bonnie said was true, then it meant Trina had kept something from her..
Vera looked at Trina and found that her face had turned pale. That made her even more suspicious.
“Nothing much, I guess. Trina just hid outside Ms. Bonita’s private room, but got caught red– handed. by the researchers,” Bonnie said. Her tone indicated that she wanted to blow up the whole thing.
Vera was shocked again. She looked at Trina with wide eyes. “Is this true?”
Trina’s face turned even paler.
Good. That was all the answer Vera needed.
“How dare you do something like that, Trina?! You told me you were just trying your luck to see if you’d run into Ms. Bonita. I can’t believe you hid outside of her private room at the restaurant!” Vera lectured.
That had been bad enough, but Trina had gotten herself caught, too!
Chapters
“I’m going to ask you again. Did you manage to see Ms. Bonita?”
Trina Tried to make her mother feel sorry for her by tearing up. “I–I didn’t see her.”
“Well Did you offend anyone?”
“Um…” Trina bit her lips hard, and then harder still.
Bonnie crossed her legs and looked at Trina, pleased, “You’d better tell the truth. Otherwise, even t won’t be able to help you.
Damn that Bonniel She was the one who had gotten her into this mess. How dare she imply that she’d help her:
“I’ll say it since you won’t. You accused me of seducing one of the researchers right in front of them. You implied that Ms. Bonita’s research institute had wicked, corrupt people. Because of that, you offended all the science researchers. Mr. Terry even proclaimed they would never hire you.”
Vera was shocked to the core. Gresham, who had just heard the commotion from his study on the second floor, was equally stunned. He almost stumbled and fell down the stairs.
“T That’s not true,” Trina denied hastily.
“How are you still denying it, Trina? Do you think that’ll help? Are you going to say that I’m lying?” Bonnie said lightly.
Trina’s eyes
widened. She didn’t get it. Bonnie had never bothered to fight her when this had happened in the past. Why did Bonnie have to kick her while she was down today?
It was clear to both Vera and Gresham who the real liar was.
#You made a huge mistake, Trina. You’re lucky Ms. Bonita wasn’t there in person. Otherwise, our family could very well be wiped out from Pyralis. I want you to go to your room and reflect on your mistake. Do it until the end of summer.”
Trina’s tears fell onto the floor, but her parents were infuriated with her. It didn’t matter how sad she tried to look. It wouldn’t help her.
Bonnie watched as Trina went upstairs, alone.
She was going to teach Trina the lesson of a lifetime and make her see the magnitude of her mistake. That way, Trina would never dare approach her researchers again.
“I’m going to ask you again. Did you manage to see Ms. Bonita?”
Trina tried to make her mother feel sorry for her by tearing up. “I–I didn’t see her.”
“Well Did you offend anyone?”
“Um…” Trina bit her lips hard, and then harder still.
Bonnie crossed her legs and looked at Trina, pleased, “You’d better tell the truth. Otherwise, even f won’t be able to help you.”
Damn that Bonnie! She was the one who had gotten her into this mess. How dare she imply that she’d help her?
“I’ll say it since you won’t. You accused me of seducing one of the researchers right in front of them. You implied that Ms. Bonita’s research institute had wicked, corrupt people. Because of that, you offended all the science researchers. Mr. Terry even proclaimed they would never hire you.
Vera was shocked to the core. Gresham, who had just heard the commotion from his study on the second floor, was equally stunned. He almost stumbled and fell down the stairs.
“T That’s not true,” Trina denied hastily.
“How are you still denying it, Trina? Do you think that’ll help? Are you going to say that I’m lying?” Bonnie said lightly.
Trina’s eyes widened. She didn’t get it. Bonnie had never bothered to fight her when this had happened in the past. Why did Bonnie have to kick her while she was down today?
It was clear to both Vera and Gresham who the real liar was.
“You made a huge mistake, Trina. You’re lucky Ms. Bonita wasn’t there in person. Otherwise, our family could very well be wiped out from Pyralis. I want you to go to your room and reflect on your mistake. Do it until the end of summer.”
Trina’s tears fell onto the floor, but her parents were infuriated with her. It didn’t matter how sad she tried to look. It wouldn’t help her.
Bonnie watched as Trina went upstairs, alone.
She was going to teach Trina the lesson of a lifetime and make her see the magnitude of her mistake. That way, Trina would never dare approach her researchers again.
Chapter 94
She wouldn’t have wasted her time if she hadn’t wanted to teach Trina a lesson.
Vera turned to look at Bonnie after she sent Trina to her room upstairs.
“What are you doing with Ms. Bonita’s researchers?”
“I know them.” Bonnie had no intention of explaining anything.
“Who?” Vera pressed.
“I can’t tell you.” Worried that Vera wouldn’t give it up, she added, “He wouldn’t let me tell anyone, so I can’t.”
Vera frowned. “I have no idea how you met any one of them, but I need to tell you something.
Everyone at Ms. Bonita’s research institute is extraordinary. I know what you’re like, so it’s highly likely you’ll offend one of them.
“I want you to stay away from them. Don’t try to approach anyone because you want to make connections. I don’t want you to make a mess so big it’ll drag me and your father down, or affect the entire family.”
Bonnie remained quiet.
“Beep!” It was a text from Ivor.
“Are you coming home tonight?”
Another text came before she could reply.
you don’t come home, we’ll have to extend our engagement for ten more days, just like last time.”
Bonnie was speechless for a few seconds before she composed a reply. “I’m coming back now.”
Trina stood by the window of the second floor and stared at Bonnie from behind the curtain as she
left through the gate.
“Do you think you’ve won the war by humiliating me today, Bonnie? Hah! Dream on. We won’t know who the real victor is until the very last moment.
Trina called someone. “Follow Bonnie. Remember, be careful. Don’t let anyone find out about you. Take videos and photos and send them to me when she goes back to her place.”
Instead of returning to the Knight premises, Bonnie took a stroll in the pedestrian zone. She hadn’t taken a walk just for fun ever since she started working on the nanomaterial.
Then, she realized that someone was following her!
Bonnie stopped in her tracks, turned, and looked around. A crowd milled around in the pedestrian zone. All sorts of people were here.
One of them caught Bonnie’s attention. It was a man around six–foot–five, wearing a bucket hat mask, and a pair of sunglasses. His face was almost entirely covered.
When he realized Bonnie had noticed him, he tried to squeeze into the crowd.
Bonnie shook her head helplessly and said, “You’re not built for disguise.”
Jim heard what she said and decided to give up hiding. He walked out of the crowd sheepishly.
“Was I really that bad at disguising myself?” He said as he took his sunglasses off.
“You should put the sunglasses back on. Someone might recognize you. There’s a lot of people here. You won’t have anywhere to hide if someone figures out who you are.”
Jim was wearing his real face instead of disguising himself as Tim.
“You have a point.” Jim wasn’t concerned that someone would recognize him, but he was worried about the chaos that would follow if that did happen. It could put Bonnie in danger.
“Why are you following me?” She asked.
“I’m your bodyguard. I have to keep you safe at all times.” He swept his eyes across the place as he spoke.
Bonnie slapped her forehead. He protected her as Tim when he was on duty. Then, he had to protect her with his real identity when he was off duty.
Forget it. Nothing she could say would change his mind.
“There’s a barbeque stall over there. It’s pretty quiet. How about we grab a bite?” She suggested.
“Sure.”
Bonnie and Jim sat down in a spot near the corner and ordered some barbeque and beers.
Jim had just taken his mask off when he sensed something and whipped his head around.
Chapter 95
Bonnie, who was taking a bite out of some squid, didn’t notice anything going on around her. When she saw Jim’s reaction, she asked, puzzled, “What’s wrong?
He squinted. “I think someone just took our picture.”
“Are you sure?” She swept her eyes around her, but didn’t find anyone suspicious.
Jim continued to squint and responded, “I’m not too sure.
“Could someone have recognized you?” She took a guess.
“Maybe.”
“Don’t waste your time and effort on something so insignificant. Hurry up and eat the barbeque. They just made it. Eat it while it’s hot.” She handed Jim a squid.
“I guess you’re right. They can take a picture if they want. I wasn’t doing anything bad anyway
In a dark corner, a man pulled down his mask and panted heavily. It took him a long time to compose himself. He checked his pictures and gulped.
“Holy crap. It’s Master Jim! I didn’t think I’d see him in real life,” the man mumbled to himself. He
sent the pictures to Trina.
Trina’s eyes nearly popped out when she saw the pictures. “I–Is that Master Jim? Good grief! He’s Arvandor’s King of Combat! What’s that bitch doing with him?”
“Wait a minute! Is Master Jim the reason Bonnie had lunch with Ms. Bonita’s researchers? Was he the person she said she knew?”
But what were they doing with each other?
Trina checked the rest of the pictures and saw the one where Bonnie was handing Jim a squid.
“They’re kind of intimate. I’m sure they’re very close. Could they be a couple?”
A shiver ran down her spine. If that was true, taking Hadwin from Bonnie would just be a joke.
Trina wasn’t really related to the Shepard family because she was adopted. She had gotten everything she had today because she had put all her hard work into her academic achievements and made her family proud.
If her parents and the Shepards learned that Bonnie was together with Master Jim, Bonnie’s standing in the family would see a sharp rise.
That was simply too terrifying to even think of
“No. Maybe it’s not what it looks like. Maybe they’re just friends.”
But Bonnie was still a big threat to her.
After a while, Trina transferred some money to the man.
“This is just part of your payment. Keep your eyes on her. I’ll send more your way when you track her
to her place.
The man felt pumped up after receiving the money.
Floyd’s jaw was wide open as he stared at Master Jim from where he was hiding in the pedestrian
zone.
Master Jim and Bonnie were talking and laughing. It was plain to see that they were close.
He had followed Tim when the man left the Knight’s place, hoping to find out something more about him. He didn’t expect to lose the man. He had just been walking along without thinking.
Instead of finding Tim, he had found the King of Combat, the man he admired most, sharing some barbeque with Bonnie.
Floyd took a picture and quickly sent it to Ivor.
Ivor went cold the moment he saw the picture. His face grew as dark as thunder.
“What are they doing together?”
Floyd got Ivor’s text and cursed internally.
Chapter 96
How was he supposed to know? He was so shocked that he was having trouble closing his jaw.
“Why don’t you try asking Ms. Bonnie?”
Floyd could sense that his master was unhappy and jealous.
“Should I send this location to you, Mr. Ivor? Maybe you can come over here yourself?”
Ivor would love that. “I’m not going to do that. She would misread the situation and think I was following her on purpose.”
“Should I leave, then?” Floyd asked.
“Keep following them. Let me know if anything happens.”
Sweat streamed down Floyd’s forehead. Ivor wanted a report if anything happened? He sure as hell hoped nothing would happen. He would be too scared to see Bonnie and Master Jim getting more
intimate.
Floyd thought they really were a couple. If he saw something he shouldn’t, should he send the pictures to his master?
Ivor looked so stern and agitated that he almost scared a servant into spilling some coffee she was serving him.
His fingers intertwined, Ivor placed both his hands on the table and pursed his lips, his face as cold as
ice.
Bonnie had lunch with Ms. Bonita’s science researchers. It looked like the person she said she knew had been Master Jim all along.
More than an hour passed, and Bonnie and Jim finished eating.
Jim stood up and said, “I’ll drive you home.”
She looked at him. “Are you going to drive me home looking like that?”
He touched his cheeks and said, “I’ll disguise myself.”
She looked around. “Didn’t you suspect someone took our pictures? I’m worried they’re still around somewhere. You’ll expose yourself as Tim. We should go our separate ways.
“No way. It’s late. You might run into some thugs on the way home. It happened before, after all. More than once, even.”
Bonnie was exceptionally beautiful, and her beauty would bring her trouble at any given time.
She waved her fists at Jim. “I can take care of myself.”
Jim thought about it for a while before saying, “I know I’m being annoying, but I’d never let you go
back home alone at this time of night. I’ll follow you even if it costs me my life, so don’t try to stop me. Don’t worry. I’ll leave once I take you somewhere near the Knight Villa.”
“I guess that’ll do.” Bonnie gave in.
Floyd immediately told his master that they were leaving. “Judging from the direction they’re going, it seems they’re headed to the villa.” He might have sounded calm, but a storm was brewing in his
mind.
Master Jim was an important man! He was Ms. Bonita’s personal bodyguard, and he was taking Bonnie home himself! Did that mean they really were a couple?!
He gulped. He could tell that his master had fallen in love with Bonnie. If Bonnie and Master Jim really were together, he could only imagine the worst….
Sheesh… He couldn’t finish his thought. All he could do was pray that they weren’t a couple!
Ivor went cold again when he saw Floyd’s text.
“Achoo!” Bonnie sneezed.
“What’s wrong? Did you catch a cold? You didn’t wear enough layers. I have some spare coats in the back. Put them on, quick.” Jim was concerned about her.
She sniffed and said, “I didn’t catch anything. It was just a sneeze that came out of nowhere.”
“You should still put it on. Prevention is better than cure. If you really do catch a cold, the old professors will nag at you again.”
Chapter 97
Bonnie put Jim’s coats on when she heard what he said. That had happened before, especially when she had a fever once. That had also been because she hadn’t worn enough layers.
The old professors at the research institute had reacted as if they were her grandparents and lectured
her.
“You’re a pillar of our nation, Ms. Bonita. You can’t afford to be sick.”
“You might be young and strong now, but you still have to take care of yourself. Otherwise, you’ll regret it when you’re old,
“I told the kitchen to make some herbal soup for you. Make sure you drink it. And you should try to sleep at the same time every night. It’s good to sleep and wake early. Your nutritional balance is important as well.”
They might be respectful of her in their research, but they all nagged like grandparents when it came
to her health.
Suddenly, Jim said, alarmed, “Something’s wrong.”
Bonnie came to her senses. “What do you mean?”
Jim looked in the rear–view mirror. “Check out that car. I think it’s been following us for a long time.”
She hadn’t noticed it at all, but she believed it since Jim thought something was wrong.
“Do you think the driver is the same person who took our pictures?”
“It’s possible.”
Bonnie touched her chin, her beautiful eyes exuding a trace of wisdom.
“I don’t care if he just took our pictures, but he might have an ulterior motive if he’s following us around. This road leads to the Knight Villa. The Knights own this area too. There are no cars on this road usually.”
“You have a point. What should we do?” Jim asked.
Bonnie looked in the rear–view mirror and smirked. “Turn around and ram into it.”
“Huh?” Stunned, Jim turned to look at her.
Bonnie seemed very excited.
“Are you serious?”
“Don’t you think this is exciting?” She was very caught up in the idea now. If she had been driving,
she would have turned the car around already.
“You’re in the car, though.” Jim frowned.
“I’ll be fine. Ram it!”
He gritted his teeth and said, “Hold on tight.”
“Alright.”
Ivor had gotten the latest update from Floyd and was standing by the window with a telescope. As he expected, he saw another car behind Bonnie’s car.
Who in the world was following them?
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Bonnie’s car turn around, accelerate, and ram into the
other car.
‘Bang!‘ The crash sounded exceptionally loud in the dead of night.
Ivor’s eyes widened and he grew furious. If anything happened to Bonnie, he would make the stalker wish he was dead!
Ivor put down his telescope and charged downstairs toward the cars.
dram
Floyd was shocked as well. He hadn’t expected Bonnie’s car to turn around and ram the other car without any hesitation.
That was ruthless of Jim! He had rammed the other car without a second thought or worry about Bonnie getting hurt.
Bonnie opened the car door as Jim got out of the car as well. He seized the man who had been about to
escape.
“Talk. What are you doing? Why are you following me? Are you the one who took pictures of us in the pedestrian zone?” Jim yanked at the man’s collar.
His name was Lane.
Lane was extremely dizzy from the crash, but he was also more afraid of Jim at the moment.
“T–There’s been a misunderstanding. I’m not following you. I’m just…”
“How dare you!” Jim yanked harder and almost choked him.
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Since it had come to this, Lane had no choice but to deny it to the end.
“I didn’t follow you, I swear!”
Jim frowned. “Looks like we’ll have to do this the hard way.
“Are you going to hit me? I know you. You’re Jim Ray, the King of Combat. I have the right to press charges if you hit me without proof of your claim!”
Sheesh! He was good.
Bonnie stepped forward and threw Jim a glance. “Let me handle this.” Jim nodded in response.
Bonnie looked at Lane condescendingly. Before she could say anything, he said, “It won’t work. I swear I wasn’t following you. You can beat me to death for all I care.”
“Chill. We won’t beat you to death. I just wanted to tell you something.” She said nonchalantly as she looked at Lane.
“W–What is it?” A sense of unease started to up on him.
creep
“To be accurate, it’s my analysis of the situation. It wasn’t really a big deal that you followed Jim, but you’re forgetting that he’s Ms. Bonita’s bodyguard. It’s possible you were trying to get to her through
him.‘
When Bonnie brought up Ms. Bonita, Lane was so shocked he turned pale.
“y–You’re wrong…”
Bonnie ignored his denial and kept going, “Ms. Bonita has just developed a new nanomaterial and. announced she would collaborate with the Knight group. I suppose some other factions sent you here to locate her and coerce her into working with them.”
“That’s not what I’m doing! I swear!”
“If what you say is true, then you might be a foreign agent, sent here by some other countries envious of our success. For all we know, you could be trying to assassinate Ms. Bonita.”
Bonnie slapped those serious accusations at Lane, which made him panicked and drained.
Lane had only been hired to tail Bonnie. If someone believed what she was saying now, he’d have no way to explain himself and clear his name!
That was when he decided to save his own skin and damn everything else.
“I wasn’t following Master Jim. I was following you. You can’t accuse me of trying to hurt Ms. Bonita!”
Bonnie and Jim swapped glances and stifled their laughter.
Lane didn’t realize he had been following the person he was so afraid of.
“Oh? So you were following me? I’m not anyone famous. Why would you want to follow me?”
Lane could no longer hide the truth.
“A woman from the Shepard family asked me to follow you to your place.”
Then, it hit Bonnie. She had probably made Trina suspicious because she hadn’t stayed at her family home for quite a while.
“Did you take my picture at the pedestrian zone?”
Lane took out his phone bitterly and gave it to her.
She checked the gallery and asked, “Did you send these pictures to Trina?”
“T–That’s right.”
She didn’t say anything after that. Suddenly, she heard footsteps.
“Who’s there?”
Floyd emerged from a nearby bush, looking embarrassed.
“It’s
you.” She frowned and looked at Jim.
Floyd cleared his throat and was about to say something when he saw Ivor making a beeline for them.
“H–Hello, Mr. Ivor.”
Bonnie turned to look at Ivor and saw that his dashing face was contorted in rage.
Chapter 99
“What are you doing here?”
“Why can’t I be here? Don’t you want me to be here?” Bonnie and Jim were standing side by side, and Ivor looked at them grimly
Bonnie instantly understood why he was so angry. He had been displeased when she had talked to Tim back then. He hadn’t been happy when she had shown up with Heath to play chess either.
Did he really think she would cheat on him?
In any case, she still needed to explain everything to him so he wouldn’t cause any further trouble.
“Don’t read too much into this.”
“Alright. I won’t. I have some questions for you. How long have you known him? Why have I never heard about this? You told me you knew someone from Ms. Bonita’s research institute. Is that
someone Master Jim?”
Ivor had endless questions for Bonnie. The more he got to know her, the more mysterious she became.
“That’s right. He was the person I was talking about. I met him a few years ago. I can’t remember exactly when, though.”
He was a little pleased to hear her explaining herself to him.
“I’m curious. How did you meet him?”
“What’s with all the questions? This is like a police interrogation.” Bonnie was overwhelmed.
“You can choose not to answer them.” Ivor stared at her firmly.
This was a pain. To be honest, Bonnie didn’t want to answer him, but she knew what Ivor was like. If she chose to be quiet, he would be okay with it, but he’d be annoyed as hell.
“Alright. I’ll talk. I met him at an underground fight.
“You’ve been to underground fights?” That surprised him a little.
“I used them to hone my combat skills when I had the time. There’s nothing surprising about that. I had an even match with Jim and we became close friends after that. But I probably can’t keep up with him anymore.”
It wasn’t that she was worse at combat than Jim. She had just thrown herself into her research. She had poured a lot of effort into it too. Now, she just thought of combat as a way to break herself out of monotony.
“You might be close friends, but did he really have to take you back home in the dead of night? He’s Ms. Bonita’s bodyguard, after all.” Ivor kept watching for Bonnie’s reactions.
Naturally, Ivor meant more than what he said.
Jim stepped forward and said, “It’s really late, and she’s a woman. There’s no way I wouldn’t worry about her. Anyway, she saved my life. It’s only right that I keep her safe.”
“She saved you? You’re way stronger than her. How did she pull that off?” Ivor pressed.
“Back when I was still into underground fights, one of my opponents knew he couldn’t beat me in a fair match, so he got himself a set of brass knuckles and tried to sneak up on me. I ended up maiming
him
After that, he tried to get revenge on me by poisoning my drink and leading me to a quiet place to ambush me. If Bonnie hadn’t happened to pass by and fend them off, I would have died a long time ago,” Jim said, truthfully.
Brass Knuckles: A melee weapon made of four rings linked together that is worn on the fingers.)
Chapter 100
Ivor could tell that Jim wasn’t lying, so he decided to let this go. He was worried that Bonnie would get
mad at him.
Casting his glance at Lane, Ivor said, “How are you going to handle him?”
Bonnie raised her brows, looked at the man in question, and said, “Call Trina.”
“W–What should I say?” He responded in a trembling voice.
“Just call her. I’ll do the talking.
“A–Alright.”
Lane quickly called Trina. She picked up and asked excitedly, “How did it go? Did you find something?”
Bonnie took the phone from Lane and said, “If you wanted to know where I was staying, you should have asked me that to my face. I can’t believe you wasted money on hiring someone.”
Fear gripped Trina’s heart!
She almost lost her grip on the phone and hung up on Bonnie out of pure instinct. Before she could do it, Bonnie spoke again,
“Don’t hang up just yet. You can’t run away from everything. If you do, I’ll tell the entire country you hired someone to follow Jim and locate Ms. Bonita. I’ll tell everyone you want to harm her too. That
crime alone will…”
“You wouldn’t!” Trina roared with rage in her eyes. She gritted her teeth and wished she could rip
into Bonnie right now.
Bonnie chuckled calmly. “Why wouldn’t I? You dared put Ms. Bonita in harm’s way. What do I have to
be afraid of?”
“That’s a load of crap! Stop slandering me! I really admire Ms. Bonita. There’s no way I’d do anything terrible to her! I’m warning you, Bonnie. It’ll be slander if you don’t have any proof to back up your claims. I–I’ll press charges against you!”
“How do you know I don’t have proof? Jim’s a witness. It’s a fact that you hired someone to follow him. Lane will be more than happy to admit that.”
“Bullshit! I didn’t hire anyone to follow Master Jim. I sent him to follow you! Stop dragging someone. else into this. The way I see it, you don’t come back here because you’re out there sleeping around with other men!” Trina roared, her face and ears turning red.
Bonnie casually leaned on the car. “Do you think anyone will believe you? Jim’s identity is a sensitive topic. He’s Ms.Bonita’s personal bodyguard. Do you think what you said will be credible in the eyes of the court?”
Hander 100
272
“Why, you! You’re… I I…Ahhh! Damn you, Bonnie! You obnoxious bitch! You know that isn’t the truth, but you still want to push me off the cliff! How could you be so vicious?
“I know I’m not really related to you, but I’m still part of the Shepard family. I’m still our parents‘ daughter. Don’t you know you’ll drag them into this if you do this to me? You’ll be dragging the entire Shepard family down!”
Trina wished she could tear Bonnie to shreds through the phone.
She was about to lose her mind! Bonnie had just made a huge, serious accusation against her. Anyone would have lost it!
On the other hand, Bonnie twirled her hair leisurely. None of Trina’s rage had any effect on her.
“Am I the vicious one? If this is vicious, you’d be worlds ahead of me, Trina. I vividly remember all those moments when I first came here from the suburbs. You foolishly risked your life by falling down the stairs on purpose and blamed me for it.
“You even smashed a vase on your head just so our parents would punish me. I lost count of the times you put your stuff in my room and said I stole it. Things like that happened all the time. You’re way more vicious than I could ever be, Trina.”
“Hmph! Don’t blame everything on me. You tried to explain everything to them, but they never believed you. You even showed them some security footage, but I told them you forged it and they bought my words without so much as confirming the facts. So if you want to blame anything, you can
blame the fact that I’m their favorite!” Trina raised her neck and retorted righteous/”