"So, what did you find?" Cadence asked his assistant as he stared at the man.
His assistant cleared his throat, hesitated, then stepped forward. His hands were clasped behind his back, but his shoulders were too stiff for it to seem casual. Cadence gave a amused smirk. The man was too scared of him even now.
"Sir... there were indeed two won in the car at the ti of the accident."
Cadence said nothing, even as his eyebrows raised. He’d thought that lody was being ridiculous by insisting that she was not lody but lanie. But if there were indeed two won with the sa face.... Cadence remained seated, eyes focused on the paperweight spinning slowly beneath his fingers. The only sound in the room was the faint tick of the antique clock on the wall and his assistant’s slight trembling as he continued.
"Our n had been staking outside her ho when they received news of her leaving. But they couldn’t confirm which door she had entered. The angle was off. They saw her approach the car, but whether she got into the driver’s side or the passenger’s, they weren’t able to see. And form what I understand they didn’t focus much on that, intent on only following her.
He shifted slightly.
"When the accident was staged, the goal had been simple- to make it look like a robbery gone wrong with the people kidnapping lody as the hostage. A quick job. No questions. But..."
Cadence’s hand stilled. The paperweight stopped spinning.
"Since, there were two won, both with the sa face. Sa build. Sa hair. The n didn’t expect that and got confused. It is why, in a hurry and panicked, they grabbed both the won and hauled them to the car.. One of them lost consciousness in the crash. The other was conscious... barely. They questioned her. Asked her na. And whehn she said her na was lanie, they robbed her and roughed her up a bit and then threw her out of the car, bringing lody with them.
Cadence looked up then. Just a slow lift of the eyes, calm and unreadable.
"They believed her. Or at least, they didn’t know what else to believe. Why would soone randomly tell them the naSo they roughed her up a little, took what they could—jewelry, a purse, a watch—and left. The usual. But they were confused, sir. There was no clear way to tell who the real target was."
Cadence leaned back slightly in his chair, expression unreadable. His fingers returned to the paperweight, but this ti, he didn’t spin it. He gripped it and said nothing. His eyes were fixed on a point sowhere beyond his assistant’s shoulder, unfocused. Thinking.
So it was possible. There was a chance that the woman who had been fighting against him was lanie who was telling the truth. Interesting..." Tell more about this lanie."
But then, the assistant stepped forward again and placed a slim folder on the desk, very gently.
"We tried to pull her records. But there’s not much. lanie Collins’ information is being restricted. Every request gets blocked. Even our most secure lines get redirected or hit dead ends." Cadence didn’t touch the file. "There is sothing else we have found though... lanie might be your lady’s older sister. It is why they have the sa face and features."
That got a flicker of movent. Just a twitch at the corner of Cadence’s mouth. He still didn’t speak. "But again, everything about it is sealed. There are no birth records. No school files. No trail. It’s all locked down. This is all the information we have been able to gather other than the fact that lanie Collins owns her business and is quite successful."
There was a beat of silence, for a mont. Then, with no warning, the paperweight flew across the room.
It hit the wall beside the assistant’s head, exploding into glass and tal. The man flinched but didn’t step back.
"All you can give is ’classified’ this, and ’restricted’ that," Cadence said coldly. "You expect to act on scraps and guesswork?"
The assistant’s voice was tight as he shook his head hurriedly, "There’s more information, Sir.."
Cadence didn’t speak.
So the assistant continued in a harried tone. "Sir, while your lady claid she is lanie... but the real lanie Collins has returned. She’s gone back to her husband. We’ve looked into it. When our n threw her off the car, she walked to the nearest hospital and was admitted under her own na.
Cadence didn’t move, but sothing in his eyes changed as they flickered and narrowed. "And the police," the assistant said slowly, "have just registered a missing person’s report. Not for lanie Collins. But for Miss lody Thomas."
The room went still.
The words settled like dust in the air. And then the silence cracked as Cadence stood abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor.
His hands curled into fists. So. She had indeed lied to him in order to escape him. His chest rose and fell and then his fist slamd down on the desk with a violent thud, rattling the glass and making the assistant flinch again.
"She dared to lie to ," he said, voice low and dangerous now. "Looked in the eye and fed her sister’s na. She thinks this is a ga? Pretending to be soone she’s not. So that she can escape ?
He walked slowly to the window, staring out at the garden below. His reflection in the glass looked colder than the man himself.
"Fine," he whispered to himself. "If she wants to play, I’ll play."
Behind him, the assistant stood motionless. Cadence turned back and slowly walked towards the room where his girl was waiting for him, probably thinking that he had been fooled by her.
Once outside her room, he paused for a mont before entering directly as she looked up and glared at him, giving him the sa look she would to sothing disgusting. Already angry, his rage threatened to blow up at her look and angrily he stomped towards her bed.
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