Free Web NovelChapter 148: Chapter 148: Drawing Silk from the Cocoon
Not long after Lydia Wynn left with the car keys, Preston Chase knocked on the president’s office door, holding a file from the investigation he had just received.
"Come in," Alaric Blackwood called out. Preston Chase pushed the door open and walked in.
He walked up to the large desk and handed a thick file to the man, whose eyes were lowered as he signed a document. "Mr. Blackwood, the information has arrived."
The man took the file, finished signing the document on his desk, and set it aside. He then flipped open the file he’d just received and asked as he read, "You sent someone to the orphanage?"
"Yes, we learned some important information there."
Alaric Blackwood looked at the file seriously and found that it contained Ava Sterling’s detailed records from the orphanage—a photocopy. Attached behind it were the files of two other people, a man and a woman. The man was named Aaron Sterling, and the woman was named Laura Sterling.
"Director Sterling at the orphanage revealed that Aaron Sterling and Laura Sterling were very close to Ava Sterling. They all shared the surname Sterling, having taken it from the director. However, both Aaron and Laura were eventually adopted, while Ava Sterling was not, due to her unattractive appearance."
The moment Alaric Blackwood saw the orphanage’s name, a suspicion began to form in his mind.
He flipped directly to Laura Sterling’s file. Just as he’d suspected, after her adoption, Laura Sterling’s name was changed to Lydia Wynn. She was the same one from the news years ago: a high school student whose adoptive parents had died in a car crash, leaving her unable to pay tuition. Her grandmother had knelt before the school’s leadership, begging for help. The incident had grown into a huge affair, attracting reporters. And now, that same Lydia Wynn was his assistant.
He silently flipped to Aaron Sterling’s file. After being adopted, the man’s name was changed to Aiden Lloyd. He had graduated from law school and was currently working at a law firm, where he’d been for three years.
Seeing the name of the law firm, Alaric Blackwood’s mind buzzed.
It was Garland Chase Law Firm, the firm he had invested in and opened with Jaden.
He stared at Aiden Lloyd’s photo in the file. The man’s features were plain, with monolidded, phoenix-like eyes—the sort of face that would be lost in a crowd. He wasn’t short, though, standing at about five-foot-eleven.
"This man..."
Alaric Blackwood wasn’t sure if his intuition was correct, but since Aiden Lloyd was close with Lydia Wynn and Ava Sterling, it was highly likely they had kept in touch privately after being adopted.
He recalled the night before his wedding. Jaden had thrown a party for him at the club, and Ava Sterling had secretly drugged his drink. Afterward, a fake designated driver had taken his car and driven him over sixty miles away...
That designated driver seemed to have those same phoenix-like eyes. But he’d had a lot to drink that night and had been drugged on top of it, so his memory was too hazy to be one hundred percent certain.
"Mr. Blackwood?"
Seeing him staring blankly at the man’s photo, Preston Chase pulled his wandering thoughts back to reality. "Is there a problem?"
"The three people in this file—are they in contact now?"
"According to the information we’ve gathered so far, they haven’t had any interaction since they were adopted and started their new lives."
Alaric Blackwood fell silent.
Preston Chase was confused. "Mr. Blackwood, do you think they conspired together that night?"
"My gut tells me they did."
"What would be their motive?"
"Lydia Wynn wanted to stop me from attending the wedding."
Preston Chase processed Alaric Blackwood’s words, his understanding dawning. He stated bluntly, "So, you believe Assistant Wynn has a crush on you, and she had her friends secretly drug you and drive you over sixty miles away, just to prevent you from showing up to your wedding on time?"
"Yes."
Preston Chase nodded, his expression as impassive as ever.
The more deadpan he was, staring fixedly at him, the more awkward Alaric Blackwood felt. "What’s with that look? You think I’m narcissistic? Overthinking things? A conspiracy theorist?"
Preston Chase said, "Mr. Blackwood, I haven’t said a thing."
"..."
After an awkward moment of silence, Alaric Blackwood tossed the file onto the desk. "You said last time you suspected Claire Sterling and Ava Sterling are the same person. Do you have any proof?"
"There’s no direct evidence. However, after Ava Sterling left the orphanage as an adult, her whereabouts were unknown for several years. For the last two years, she’s been appearing at various bars and clubs in Kingsport, working part-time as a waitress. She never stayed long at any job—the longest was half a year, the shortest less than a month. After quitting her job at The Nocturne Club, her trail has gone cold again."
Alaric Blackwood leaned back in his leather chair, twirling a pen in his hand. He thought for a moment, then said to Preston Chase, "Have someone tail Claire Sterling. If she and Ava Sterling are the same person, she’ll slip up sooner or later."
"Yes, Mr. Blackwood."
"Book a restaurant for lunch. And send a driver to Heart of the Ocean to pick up Mrs. Blackwood."
After giving his instructions, Alaric Blackwood lowered his gaze and went back to the documents on his desk.
「At the same time.」
「In the coffee shop across from the car wash.」
Lydia Wynn ordered a coffee and sat alone by the window. While watching the workers wash cars across the street, she took out her phone and called a contact named "Mr. M."
The call connected after a single ring. freewebnσvel.cøm
"What is it?"
"Mr. Morgan, when do you plan to make your move?"
"Don’t be hasty. I have something to take care of right now."
"Are you having second thoughts, Mr. Morgan? Or are you just reluctant to part with your first love, Sophie Shaw?"
A disdainful scoff came through the receiver. "What first love?"
"Isn’t Sophie Shaw your first love?"
"Of course not."
"Your relationships with women are certainly complicated, Mr. Morgan. You have an ex, a wife, and a mistress. I wonder if there are any other women besides those three."
"Don’t go digging into things that don’t concern you."
Lydia Wynn chuckled. "I was just curious. A casual question."
"Being curious about everything will only get you hurt."
Damian Morgan’s cold warning sent a chill down Lydia Wynn’s spine. ’If I had a powerful enough backer, why would I have ever stooped to conspiring with him just to get rid of Sophie Shaw?’
"If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up. I’m helping my boss wash his car right now."
Hearing this, Damian Morgan’s eyes darted around, and he said urgently, "Wait, don’t hang up."
"Something else?"
"I’m sending you a location. After you finish washing the car, drive it over."
After hanging up, Damian Morgan sent the address to Lydia Wynn.
Then, he picked up the hot tea from the coffee table, took a sip, and looked at the private investigator across from him. "When is your boss coming?"
He had arrived at the investigation firm first thing in the morning and had already been waiting for an hour.
The private investigator before him was the same person who had leaked the story about Vianne Kane and Conor Sullivan to him. He thought about it afterward—the matter had been so private, and the Kane Family had completely sealed off the news. Only a handful of people knew. How did this private investigator find out, and in such clear detail? If the man before him weren’t a middle-aged man in his early forties, Damian would have suspected he was Conor Sullivan himself.
It was this suspicion that led him to secretly look into the investigation firm’s records. The legal representative was the middle-aged man before him, Troy Wright, but the investor and the firm’s true boss was someone else entirely.
The real boss was named Timothy Quinn. A background check on this man revealed that, in addition to the investigation firm, he also owned several internet cafes, arcades, and bars. Damian had sent people to stake out those locations and had actually managed to get a photo of Timothy Quinn.
He was very young, in his early twenties, and was chauffeured around in a private car, always accompanied by several professional bodyguards. The key detail was that Timothy Quinn had difficulty moving. His legs were not agile, and he always used a cane when he walked.
He couldn’t help but suspect that the Timothy Quinn of today was none other than Conor Sullivan, who had vanished without a trace after his parents went bankrupt and jumped to their deaths.
