The Devil's Secretary

Chapter 342: Need to meet her

Ryle’s words were so cold that it felt like he wouldn’t take what he did not want to hear as an answer.

But Aunty Lu’s face fell.

Her face said that her response was only going to disappoint him further.

Aunty Lu’s breath hitched as she tried to speak, a fresh wave of tears spilling over her wrinkled cheeks.

She gripped Daisy’s arm for support, her voice trembling violently as she opened her mouth, "The maid... the one your grandparents paid to handle the switch and stage the kidnapping... it was one of your mother’s closest maid. Back then, she vanished with the child..."

Ryle’s chest rose and fell, completely unsteady, "And?"

"I have been quietly investigating this for years, Little Master, trying to clear my conscience before I meet the Late Madam in the afterlife," Aunty Lu cried, "That wretched woman fell into absolute ruin. She became a prostitute, dragging herself through the mud until she finally died of illness a few years ago! But she didn’t die alone. She left behind a daughter."

Seeing the look on Aunty Lu’s face, Daisy felt an inexplicable prickle of dread at the back of her neck.

"That daughter... she knew!" Aunty Lu suddenly snarled, her tear-stained face contorting with anger, "She must have known something! Why else would she purposefully infiltrate your circle? Why else would she worm her way into the Chen family’s graces? That girl, Ivy... she must have her ulterior motives to stay close to all of you on purpose."

The revelation hit the helipad like a shockwave. The color slowly drained completely from Ryle’s face.

"Aunty Lu, stop!" Daisy’s voice left no room to speak. She stepped between the old woman and Ryle as she coldly said, "I don’t know what you are talking about. We will get to the bottom of it. The situation is not ideal but you can’t just blame Ivy blindly for things in the past."

"But I’m not lying. I have seen that bitch’s picture. The timeline matches perfectly—"

"It doesn’t matter!" Daisy cut her off, her eyes narrowing coldly, "Ivy has never betrayed any of us nor did she manipulate anyone. My brother-in-law knew Ivy from long before she was befriended by my sister. Ivy never once approached Ryle.

She never sought out the Harper Societies, nor did she ever ask the Chen family for a single dime. If she wanted to leach off us, like you suggest, she’s had a hundred opportunities to do so but nothing like that has ever happened. I know a calculative person when I see one, Aunty Lu, and Ivy isn’t it."

Aunty Lu opened her mouth to argue, but a low command from the wheelchair instantly silenced her.

"Enough."

Ryle was staring blankly at the concrete, his hazel eyes completely unreadable. The storm that had been raging in them just moments ago had suddenly crystallized into something unreadable.

"Locke," Ryle murmured, his voice flat. "Get the car."

Locke blinked, momentarily thrown off by the sudden shift, "Boss? Where are we going?"

"I need to meet Ivy," Ryle said softly.

Daisy turned to him, her brows pulled together in utter bewilderment.

Ryle remained quiet, his mind reeling with the events from some time ago.

*Flashback*

The room was filled with the stifling scent of antiseptics as Locke showed the paperworks to Ryle.

"Boss, everything is ready, Once we leave, it would be difficult for anyone to track you down..."

Ryle sat on the edge of the bed, his coat draped over his shoulders, looking like a man preparing to exile himself to the ends of the earth.

The door had clicked open without a warning page.

Both Ryle and Locke had snapped their gazes toward the entrance, only to find Ivy walking in, holding a thermal flask of soup she had brought from the hospital cafeteria. She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes instantly dropping to the packed duffel bag near Locke’s feet, and then to Ryle’s fully dressed form.

A heavy silence had settled over the room. Ivy looked absolutely stunned for a moment before she tried to regain her composure.

But Ryle caught onto that change in her expressions, "You overheard everything?"

Ivy shoved her hands into the pockets of her oversized hoodie, her gaze steady. She didn’t flinch away from his dangerous aura even as though she seemed a little unsettled, "Yes..."

The air between Daisy and Ryle had been simmering with an unspeakable tension. In the current situation, it was either Maxim, Ryle’s best friend or Ivy who visited him to update him about the situation outside.

Except, Ryle hadn’t expected her to show up at this hour suddenly.

"But... Don’t worry. I won’t tell Daisy."

Ryle arched a brow, as if barely believing it.

Ivy had let out a small laugh, tilting her head back, "If you want to run from her, you should leave right now, before she comes back up to check on you."

Ryle was been genuinely surprised, "And you are going to help me keep this a secret from Daisy?"

Ivy shrugged, "I owe this. You... you’ve all taken care of me, given me a safe place when I had nothing. If not for you, I would have died under the hands of those goons ages ago... I don’t know what’s going on between Daisy and you. But out of the gratefulness I feel in my heart, I wouldn’t meddle in your decisions... I respect your decision, and I respect hers. I’m not going to meddle in your private affairs."

She had stepped forward, turning to Locke with a calm air around her, "If you take the standard elevator to the underground garage, you’re going to get spotted by the guards Daisy has stationed around the hospital. Go down and make the preparations in the car instead. I will escort him out myself," she pointed to Ryle.

Locke looked at Ryle for confirmation. ƒrēewebnovel.com

Ryle, emotionally exhausted and desperate to leave before his resolve crumbled, gave a brief nod.

As Locke slipped out of the room, Ivy walked behind the wheelchair, her hands reaching out to grip the handles. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

As she pushed the sleeves of her hoodie slightly back to get a better grip, the fabric shifted.

Ryle looked up slightly to adjust his coat but his gaze briefly caught sight of something.

There were faint scars lining the Ivy’s skin around her wrist. And they led up to her palm, But what caught his attention was how those scars led to her palm, looking brutal and painful.

Ryle opened his mouth to say something, but in the end no words came out of his mouth. At this moment, her sleeve slid back down, covering her scars entirely.

"Are you fine, Ivy?" Ryle frowned.

The girl who was in the middle of helping his escape, laughed as she looked around, "So far, so good. I doubt I would be fine when Daisy finds out though...’’

"Oh, I’ve found another route through the old pediatric wing," Ivy added, "Let’s go that way."

"Thank you."

*Flashback ends*