Chapter 149
“Elara—” Andrew opened his mouth to interrogate Elara if she knew anything about what happened to Carla. Still, remembering the last time he had accused her without evidence, he stopped himself.
Elara, as if already knowing what he wanted to say to her, smiled.
“What? Do you want to accuse me of something just like your father accused me of stealing?” Elara asked, her sharp gaze landing on Heather, who shook his head begrudgingly before Thomas.
“It was a misunderstanding, of course. I didn’t know—” Heather started to justify his behavior, but Elara scoffed, her defiant attitude catching him off-guard.
“You didn’t know where your precarious fake gift went, and you were quick to judge me because, according to you, I belong to slums and never had the chance to enjoy any luxury. Thanks to your humble hospitality, I never enjoyed it at your home either,” Elara said before she looked at Thomas.
“I have other things to attend to. If you are not free and are busy with some lousy business, let’s schedule it later,” she said without hesitation.
Andrew, who stood there, like a stranger in her story, like a passing viewer, felt a sudden pang in his heart when he realized what transpired here, and his gaze moved to his father, a little accusingly.
“Why would you think she stole it?” He asked.
Heather opened his mouth to reason, not wanting to look like a complete fool and to show he had a valid reason to act like that, but one look at Thomas’s expression toward Elara stopped him from explaining himself.
“I was in the wrong,” Heather said.
“I don’t have any scheduled meetings with anyone. Also, it looks like I’ll have to warn my subordinates about who to allow to approach me.” Thomas turned before he grabbed Elara’s hand and pulled her away with an elderly affection, leaving Heather stranded with his thoughts.
He looked at Andrew, but the man had already left to attend to his sister at the hospital.
With a regretful sigh, he looked at Elara’s back, wondering how the dynamics around her had changed suddenly. And if there was anyone to blame for what happened today, it was definitely Sophia, who kept telling him how poor Elara’s character was.
“What was that all about?” Thomas asked once they reached their table, and Elara shrugged.
“What do you mean?” She asked, feigning innocence.
Thomas smiled. His subordinates had already ordered the food in advance, and he knew what she liked like the back of his hand.
He looked at the girl taking a slice of pizza and stuffing it in her mouth without a care in the world, but the emotions she was hiding were too raw for him not to notice.
As a man who had years of experience dealing with all kinds of convicts and how cunning they could be, he was well aware that Elara could dodge this bullet too many times. Still, she deliberately took it and orchestrated all this just to insult Heather.
“What if I hadn’t backed you?” Thomas asked casually, putting a slice of cucumber in his mouth as he munched on the seasoned veggies and rice.
Elara looked up before smirking at him.
“You are too arrogant to think your backing is the one thing that brought me to where I am today,” she said without hesitation.
The subordinates standing behind Thomas coughed to hide the shock on their faces.
Only this girl could talk to the army general like that and still look him in the eye without remorse. They thought.
“If you were so strong, why not get out of it earlier?” Thomas asked.
“You taught me to keep my word. That’s how it is,” she said simply, and the man sighed before he rose from his seat and flicked her forehead, making her scowl.
“Hey! What was that for?” She squinted before resuming eating.
Andrew, who had reached the hospital after a thirty-minute journey, rushed to the room where Carla had been admitted and stopped at the entrance when he saw Carla sitting there with a neutral look.
She didn’t look like someone who had gone through anything. Her body was free of wounds, not even a scratch.
“What’s wrong?” He asked as soon as he entered.
Beatrice rushed to him and held his hand before pulling him to where Carla’s bed was.
Andrew’s gaze flickered to Beatrice’s hands on his hand, and he gently pulled his hand away.
This wasn’t right. A voice inside his head told him.
“Are you listening?” Beatrice asked, and Andrew focused on her.
“Someone kidnapped Carla when she was on her way home. They took her to some kind of adventure island and tormented her,” Beatrice said.
Andrew arched his brows.
“Tormented her?” He asked.
“It wasn’t just anyone. It was Elara. That’s what she has been murmuring,” Beatrice added.
“Did you see her?” Andrew asked Carla.
Carla opened her mouth before denying.
“That’s your answer. If you didn’t see Elara, how can you be sure it was her?” Andrew asked.
“Are you saying I am lying, brother? It was her. The man who tormented me on those rides said he was doing it because I pushed Elara too hard at the set today, and he was a fan,” Carla said.
Andrew furrowed his brows.
He looked at Carla before he turned to the doctor, who entered at the same time.
“How is she?” He asked.
“A bit traumatized. Her test results are fine. She is mentally disturbed. It’s best not to stress her,” The doctor said before he checked the IV and left.
Andrew sighed.
“Carla, you were a pop star for so long. Do you not know how crazy some fans can be? To what extent can they go for their idols? I’ll increase the security. And you did push Elara too hard today. I know you don’t like her. But if something like this happens again, I’ll personally forfeit all your contracts,” Andrew said before he turned to leave.
“She was there too, brother. Trust me. I recognized the same perfume she wears,” Carla said.
Andrew massaged his forehead.
“What was the time?” He asked.
“Hmm?” Carla asked, surprised.
“What was the time when you guys found her?” Andrew looked at Beatrice.
“It was 8:30 pm,” she answered.
Andrew nodded.
“Our father was accusing Elara of theft in the Bonita restaurant, which was false, too. And because of that, he lost a billion-dollar meeting too. So there’s no way the person was present at two different places 30 minutes apart at the same time,” Andrew explained before he walked out.
Jason, who had heard the exchange inside the room because it was pretty loud, looked at his boss, surprised.
Since when did his boss really start using his brain when it came to Miss Elara? Wasn’t he always the first one to side with her haters without any evidence?
So how come he was producing the reasoning himself? It was so unlike him.
Did the divorce finally open his eyes? Jason thought.
“What are you looking at?” Andrew asked when he saw his secretary staring blankly at him.
“You are finally starting to think clearly and not blaming Miss Elara. Maybe this divorce opened your eyes,” Jason said without any fear.
Andrew looked at his subordinate and pursed his lips.
He wanted to ask him if he had been so partial earlier and had really made it hard for Elara, but he kind of knew the reason himself.
Maybe he was so sure that Elara would never leave him that he took her affection and presence for granted. And now that she was gone, it was too late to regret.
The least he could do now was protect her from his family’s useless accusations. Andrew thought before he realized where his trail of thoughts was going.
Protect her from his family? Was his family always wrong? He wondered.
“Sir, about the paradise project, we have a problem,” Jason finally said when he saw his boss was out of his little self-talk.
“What about that project?” Andrew asked.
“A new company, Green Dream, has emerged recently. And I got a little insight news that they would be fighting us for the tender of the Paradise project. Though this would be their first project in this city, their proposals in the last meetings have been excellent. They can become a problem for us,” Jason said.
Andrew thought about it before nodding.
“In that case, we just have to focus on making our proposal better than theirs,” Andrew said.
He looked at Jason, who seemed to have more to say but was hesitating.
“What is it? Something is bothering you,” he said.
“Well, sir. All the data collected by Miss Beatrice for the recent project was false. The recent data I collected doesn’t look so good. And it might create some problems for us in this project. These problems could’ve been dealt with earlier if we had the correct data,” Jason explained.
Andrew looked at Beatrice, who was smiling from ear to ear, and his brows narrowed a little.
He remembered how she was juggling between the company and acting and sighed before shaking his head.
“It’s okay. Let’s focus on correcting the mistake now,” he said before walking out of the corridor, wanting to breathe in some fresh air.