The Devil's Secretary

Chapter 281: A guest

Ryle’s heart pounded. "What happened to Angel?" The question shot out of him with more urgency than he intended. The contents of the email that he received were fresh in his head.

’I haven’t been able to reach you, but know this: I’m keeping tabs on everything you’re doing out there, from the work you do to the company you keep. Don’t force my hand, son—you won’t like it when I take action.’

No... No... Not Angel. Not Daisy. Ryle’s grip on his phone tightened, his palms turning clammy.

Ivy paused for a second, then sighed softly. "Angel misses you a lot. She’s been asking for you since you left. Daisy doesn’t allow her to disturb you but she is... you know how stubborn she can get. She refuses to eat. Daisy has yet to come back from work so I took this chance to call you..." Ivy’s voice trailed off.

A hint of relief settled in and his grip on the phone loosened.

"It’s good that you called me," Ryle said, his voice steady this time. "Put Angel on."

There was a brief rustling sound, followed by Angel’s soft voice, "Daddy?"

Ryle’s heart melted. It seemed like just yesterday when the little girl started addressing him as such and he was still unused to it. Everytime she did it felt like the first time, "Little princess, have you been?"

"Miss... home..." She mumbled a few things incoherently before emphasizing on the ’home’ word a few times over and over again.

Ryle could imagine a soft pout on her little mouth and her fingers fiddling with any nearby objects as she talked. He swallowed hard, his throat tight. "I miss you too, sweetheart. I promise I’ll be home soon, okay?"

"Promise.. Promiseee...’’

A smile broke on Ryle’s face, ’’I promise.’’

After a few more sweet exchanges, the line disconnected. Ryle stood still, staring at the phone in his hand. The warmth he felt from speaking to Angel was quickly drowned by the coldness in his heart. The things over here should be dealt with this time, once and for all.

...

Beijing, Chen Mansion

The soft glow of the sunset seeped into the living room, casting long shadows across the floor. Ivy sat on the couch, watching Angel play with her dolls. Ivy’s phone sat in front of them on the coffee table, its screen still faintly illuminated from the call.

The door to Daisy’s bedroom was slightly ajar, revealing just a sliver of her and faint sounds of intense typing came from the distance. Ivy slowly pushed herself to her feet when Angel was distracted and walked towards Daisy’s room.

Inside the dimly lit room, Daisy’s fingers danced across her laptop’s keyboard, the soft clacking of the keys the only sound breaking the stillness. Her eyes flicked across the screen, her brows furrowed in concentration as lines of code scrolled past.

Diana’s words across the call earlier echoing in her mine as she focused on the screen in front of her.

’Ryle isn’t here, Daisy. Maxim says it feels fishy...’ Worrying that she would stress herself out, Diana quickly added, ’But I don’t think you should be worried about this. Maybe he had a change of plans at the last moment and he didn’t come here...’

A change of plans?

She would have found it believable had she not talked to Benjamin who convinced her how busy his Boss was at the company, busy to the extent of starving himself. In his muddle headedness, he probably forgot that Daisy had a biological sister settled right there in LA. And more so, he probably failed to calculate that Daisy would intend to shove some food down his ’starving Boss’s’ throat.

Daisy inhaled a deep breath, suppressed the irritation kicking up inside her. She would have suspected something was off the moment Benjamin answered her call or the way the man was stuttering. The excuses, the subtle avoidance — it would not have sat right with her had there not been a legit reason that could validate all of this.

The woman who lived there in Ryle’s mansion, the one who could possibly be his sister. Daisy instinctively associated all this to her and her potential suspicions somehow turned into worries.

The intense typing sounds gradually slowed down. Her fingers paused briefly, her gaze narrowing as she stared at the coordinates on the screen. There it was — Las Vegas.

The location flashed on the screen followed by a string of words that was precisely the address of the place where Ryle was staying at the moment.

For a moment, the room seemed to be still. Daisy’s expression remained calm, but the coldness in her eyes betrayed her emotions.

Las Vegas. The Kingsley Family.

A soft knock at her door broke her focus. Ivy peeked in, "Daisy, did you get it? I got Angel to talk to him for long enough to keep his phone from going inactive in the process but I could not hold him for longer.’’

Daisy’s lips twitched into a faint smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. "Thank you, Ivy."

Ivy sensed something was wrong, but she didn’t press. She strode inside the room, letting the door close behind her, ’’Don’t thank me. I didn’t even do anything...’’

After a while, Ivy could not hold herself back anymore. But just as she was about to speak, she saw Daisy pushing her laptop aside as she got up and walked towards her closet before pulling out a suitcase. freewebnøvel.coɱ

Her hands moved with precision, folding clothes and carefully tucking them into her suitcase. Her expression remained cold, calculated even. The soft shuffle of fabric was the only sound in the room until Ivy’s voice broke the silence.

"Where are you going?"

Daisy’s movements paused briefly before she folded the last shirt and placed it inside the suitcase, ’’I will not be around for some time, Ivy. I...’’

Just then, a knock echoed on the door. Ivy opened the door to reveal the butler who bowed to Daisy slightly, ’’Missy, you have a guest.’’

Daisy’s brows furrowed, but before she could ask who it was, a man appeared into her view, standing behind the butler. freēwebnovel.com

Lu Xian.