Claudia POV
"The investigation is still ongoing and they will interrogate Miles first. Though you should know that he is seen as a witness rather than a potential suspect like you," Ray replied with his back turned away from . "The police cannot put you under arrest because there is no substantial evidence just yet, and since I’ve diagnosed you as ntally sane, you are not going to be put in a ntal ward as well."
"In the end, the police are still waiting for both girls to wake up, because they are the key witnesses. If one of them wakes up and points her finger at soone, then that person is dead at."
I was relieved that the investigation had slowed down considerably after Ray helped with the diagnosis. But for how long could this continue until they made an arrest?
What if Aurora and Lara took too long to wake up?
As if he could read my mind, he suddenly added, "And don’t worry about your case. They cannot arrest you until there is any hard proof. Just because Miles and Clarissa said so doesn’t an that they can arrest you easily. Though you are still a pri suspect, and if you break any law during this period, they might put you under tight watch."
He tilted his head slightly as he looked over his shoulder and said, "So don’t test , Claudia. I have a lot of ways to put you under scrutiny."
I swallowed nervously and my head nodded on its own. With my current position, I was basically walking on eggshells. One small misstep and everything would fall apart, with serving a jail sentence for a cri that I didn’t commit.
Ray left the penthouse and I was once again alone in this golden cage. I was relieved by the information that I obtained, but I still hadn’t felt settled.
At this rate, Clarissa and Miles might co up with sothing heinous to finally put in jail. The only saving grace I had was the fact that both Aurora and Lara were still unconscious.
Surely, once they woke up, they’d tell the truth, right?
I was 100% sure that my daughter would definitely tell the truth. Aurora had always been a very honest girl and also had a strong sense of justice, since she often spoke up about the bad things that other kids did in the playground.
Then, what about Lara?
I hadn’t paid much attention to her that night. She stayed quiet the entire ti, clinging to Clarissa. From the way she behaved, it seed she was dangerously close to her mother.
I just hoped that she wasn’t as crazy and manipulative as Clarissa, because if that was the case then...
My blood ran cold as fear crept from my feet up to my head. I recalled all the terrible torture I had endured while living with my family.
And Clarissa...
Despite her big, innocent eyes as a kid, she was still cruel enough to tell lies repeatedly so I would get beaten weekly by either my father or stepmother.
**
I spent the entire morning feeling restless about the possibility. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do while being trapped in here. Maybe I should ask Ray to bring out later, because there might be sothing else I could do while outside.
As I was busy thinking about the possibilities, the door opened again, and this ti it was none other than Jane Jiang.
Our eyes t, but she rolled her eyes and walked right past .
"Wait, Jane."
Jane halted her step and turned toward , waiting for an order. I didn’t know what Ray had said to her, but she had beco as silent as a corpse.
At least I preferred her this way rather than her uncanny and unhinged smile from yesterday. The way she twisted her smile made it obvious that she was trying to mock , at least I thought so. I just couldn’t give a damn about listening to insults from a girl who was probably ten years younger than .
"What?" she asked crudely.
"Nothing, I just want to make sure that you are alright. Since Ray seed to be very angry at last night, I guess you got the flak too."
"Of-fucking-course, Miss Oldbag," Jane rolled her eyes. "Mr. Gatlin said that I’m not allowed to speak to you unless necessary. He also said that if I dare say anything that gives you the wrong impression, then I’d be fired. Can you believe that? I didn’t even say anything wrong! You are one of the dozens he dated. You fit his type, but you are nothing special! How co he wants to fire over a dozen like you!"
Her out-of-the-blue rant caught off guard. I found it a little funny, because it reminded of a high school girl trying to be a "an girl."
"Ouch, that’s a little an," I said with a smile. "Well, at least he didn’t do anything bad to you. It’d be awkward between us if he fired you over it, right?"
Since it had been cleared up, I turned toward the living room. As I turned, Jane seed to notice the hickey on my neck and grabbed my wrist so tightly that I winced in pain.
"O-okay, what is it now?"
"H-how could this be—did he..." Jane pointed at my hickey with her shaking hand. Her eyes widened as she fought the tears at the corners of her eyes.
"Kissed ? Uh-huh. He gave the hickey last night." I rolled my eyes, recalling the confrontation and the awkward morning that followed.
Jane certainly knew about the pet contract, but I doubted Ray ever explained the circumstances behind our complicated relationship to her.
Besides, I didn’t want to tell Jane—or anyone else in this world—about the ss between Ray and I.
"It’s just Ray being Ray. He’s the most logical man I’ve t—very smart, but also a little... crazy. He acts on his whims, and he whimsically gave a hickey last night. Can you believe that?" I sighed as I tried to rub it off. "It’s such a deep hickey too, it’d take four to five days to disappear."
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