Free Web NovelChapter 576: She Had Overestimated Herself
"Oh, Wendy..." Mrs. Tanner wanted to run after Wendy with the keys, but she was rather old and could not catch up with Wendy and Michael.
Mrs. Tanner looked at the keys in her hands and could not help but sigh. She said, "Zen is really fortunate to have a friend like Wendy. I heard from Zen the last time that she had betrayed Wendy several times because of Christian. Wendy did not hold that against her and even helped her. We have to remember this."
"We will. We definitely will." Mr. Tanner sighed as well. "Zen was really blinded by love. I hope that she will be okay this time."
Wendy and Michael went downstairs and got into the car.
After fastening her seatbelt, Wendy thought of the call Michael received earlier.
She turned and looked at him, asking, "Who called you earlier?"
"Someone who’s spying on Christian." Michael’s expression looked grim as he placed his hands on the steering wheel. He said, "Things are not going as smoothly as we expected."
"What happened?" Wendy’s brows furrowed slightly.
"Christian did not bring Zen home. He’d brought her to another place," Michael said.
"Christian came out from that estate alone and then went to the office. Zen did not come out after that."
"Do you mean that Christian had his guard up and is not letting Zen go back home with him?" Wendy asked again.
Michael hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "He might not be guarding against Zen. He could be feeling guilty."
"Does Christian even have a conscience?" Wendy asked in disbelief.
"That’s a possibility. After all, Zen had just tried to commit suicide. Then, he had forced her to leave the hospital once she recovered. I guess he is afraid that Zen might attempt to take her own life again if he forces her to do anything again," Michael analyzed. He continued, "Or perhaps he isn’t guilty. He is busy with work right now and I guess he did not want to have Zen by his side. Of course, it could also be possible that you are right, and he’s guarding against Zen."
"In that case, Zen will not have any plausible reason to return to Christian’s home."
Wendy’s expression grew solemn. "I had been thinking we could depend on Zen to check if the safe is at Christian’s. We have searched all other possible places. Now that Christian is not allowing her to go back, aren’t we back at square one?"
"Let’s see if Zen has any way to make Christian take her back home." Michael felt rather defeated. However, since things had already turned out this way, they had no other better solution. "Christian isn’t doing anything for now. We have a couple of days. But we have one week at most. Clement wouldn’t have much patience. If Zen still hasn’t returned to Christian’s home by then, we would have to turn to our previous plan of storming into his home with men."
Storming into Christian’s home was Michael’s last resort.
That was because they did not have any evidence of Christian’s wrongdoings. And if they do not find the safe at Christian’s, Christian could use this incident against Michael.
"Yeah." Wendy nodded.
"I’ll send you home before returning to the office," said Michael.
Wendy had wanted to say that she could hail a taxi. But she knew that Michael would not agree. So she didn’t object.
Michael was very busy at work lately and there were a lot of things he had to do. He had to watch Christian’s every move closely too.
...
Christian hired a nanny for Zen to take care of her daily needs. He had even prepared a drawing materials for Zen so that she could continue designing when she was had the time to.
It was a pity Zen no longer had any inspiration. When she put her pencil on paper, she could not draw anything.
The nanny that Christian had hired was a woman in her early forties. She seemed rather gentle.
The nanny stood behind Zen and lowered her head slightly. She said gently and respectfully, "How are you, Miss Tanner? I am Lydia and I will take care of you from now on. Please tell me if you need anything. You can also let me know if there’s anything I need to improve on."
"Is that so?" Zen sat on the couch and sized up Lydia. She said intentionally in a disdainful tone, "I am not a nice person to wait on."
Zen knew very well that the nanny was not simply here to take care of her. Christian had probably arranged for the nanny to watch her.
"You must be kidding, Mis Tanner. You seem like an even-tempered and reasonable young woman." Lydia said with a smile.
"There’s no need to pander me," Zen said coldly before continuing, "I don’t need a nanny, you can leave."
"I am sorry, Miss Tanner. I will continue taking care of you as long as you are staying here," Lydia said, indicating that she would not leave.
Zen had already expected this answer. This also proved once again, Christian had sent someone to watch her.
Zen said nothing. She knew that there was no use saying anything anyway. What she had to think of was how she could make Christian take her home without being suspicious of her.
Lydia smiled and said, "I shall prepare dinner then. Is there anything that you like or dislike in particular?"
"No," Zen replied coldly.
Lydia did not try to talk to Zen further. She turned around and headed to the kitchen. She had only just taken a step when she turned around and said, "Oh, right, Miss Tanner, you can do anything you want in this house. But if you leave this house, I will follow you closely. Even if you are going to the bathroom, I will wait for you at the door. So please let me know before you leave. Also, your activities are limited within this estate. You can’t leave the gates of this estate."
When she heard that, Zen could not help but scoff. Christian was not only going to keep her under surveillance, he wanted to control where she went too. He would not even let her leave the estate.
Lydia frowned slightly when she saw Zen smiling. However, she did not say anything else.
Zen was still given some freedom at home. Lydia did not stop her from doing anything. However, Zen did not try to sneak out.
Firstly, it was meaningless. Secondly, she knew that even if she managed to throw Lydia off, Christian would definitely have bodyguards out there watching her. If Christian did not want her to leave the estate, she would never be able to get out.
Since Christian had sent people to watch her, he would know her every move. Based on his personality, would he bring her back if he knew that she was very happy here?
Zen thought about how Christian had brought her here during the day. Even though Zen had not managed to antagonize him so that he would take her away from this place, he had gotten angry. He had even asked her then if she would be happy to leave.
...
Zen did what she should for the next five days. She would go downstairs for a stroll.
But she had never tried to leave the estate. She had not even gone to the main gate.
She seemed to be very obedient and was happy.
She knew that Lydia would call Christian every day to report what she did every day.
She could tell that Christian still cared very much about how she was.
That day, Zen heard Lydia talking to Christian.
"Yes, Miss Tanner seems quite happy every day. She did not try to leave and carries out her activities within the estate..."
Zen stood outside the bathroom. She could not hear very well what Lydia was saying inside. The soundproofing was rather good. But even so, she could guess what was being said.
Zen banged on the bathroom door.
Lydia asked with a trembling voice, "What’s the matter, Miss Tanner?" As she spoke, her hand that held the cellphone shook slightly.
"I need to use the bathroom," Zen said lightly.
"Isn’t there another bathroom?" Lydia hurriedly asked.
"I just want to use this bathroom, can’t I?" Zen intentionally tried to make things difficult for Lydia. "Don’t I even have the freedom to use the bathroom?" fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"Sure, please hold on a second. I will come out right now," Lydia said.
Then, Lydia said into the cellphone softly, "Mr. Lucas, I will find an appropriate time to call you later."
"It’s alright. She knows that you will report to me every day," Christian said. "Let me speak to her." freewёbnoνel.com
Lydia gasped. She was taken aback, but quickly followed Christian’s instructions.
Zen was not surprised when she saw Lydia coming out of the bathroom and handing the cellphone to her.
Zen had done this intentionally. She wanted Christian to know that she was very happy without him. She wanted him to know that she did not want to talk to him or listen to his voice.
Zen did not take the phone from Lydia. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, and then reached out to push Lydia as she said, "Don’t block the way."
"Miss Tanner, it’s a call from Mr. Lucas..." Lydia said before the door was slammed closed violently.
Christian heard everything. He hung up. Lydia had already reported to him what had happened over the past few days.
Zen would eat and sleep on time every day. She would watch the television when she was bored and would go down for a walk every day. She even signed up for a gym pass and a dance class. Her days were spent leisurely and comfortably.
Christian gripped his cellphone tightly, his eyes flashing with anger. He said in a deep voice, "Are you really that happy when you are not with me? Do you really want to leave me so badly?"
Lydia was shocked when she heard the dial tone. She was worried that Christian would blame her for not doing her job well. But there was no use worrying. She dared not call Christian to ask him what was going on.
Zen thought that Christian would come to look for her that night. But it was a pity that she had overestimated herself.
Christian did not come. In fact, he did not even call.
Zen sat on her bed in the room alone and carefully thought about what had gone wrong. According to her understanding of Christian, he should be very annoyed to see her so happy.
Even though he did not love her, he wanted her. He also wanted to have control over her. How could he bear to see her so happy when she was not with him? Or could it be that she had not antagonized him enough?
Did she not only have to show how happy she was away from him, but also show how much she hated him?
Zen suddenly had an idea. She turned to look at the sheet of paper next to her.
