Boyce and Maria simultaneously turned their attention to the door.
Matthew stood in the doorway, his features partially concealed by the overhead light casting shadows. He meticulously unbuttoned his cuffs, revealing his muscular forearms as he slowly rolled up his sleeves.
Despite his seemingly calm demeanor, Maria’s heart grew cold. She knew all too well what Matthew had in mind.
Her heart quivered with fear. “If you kill me, you’ll never find out where she is.”
Matthew sneered, “Boyce, leave us!”
Boyce hesitated, realizing that impulsively harming Maria would only complicate matters further.
“Um…”
“Get out!”
“I want to see my lawyer!” Maria panicked.
She longed to escape, but her hands were handcuffed to the chair, rendering her immobile.
“You have no evidence that I kidnapped Dolores. Assaulting me would be a crime!” Maria yelled in a panic. “Boyce, make him leave, quickly!”
Boyce raised both hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, but this is beyond my control.”
With that, he turned and walked out of the interrogation room. It was evident to him that she wouldn’t speak unless they employed some clever tactics.
Boyce exited the room, shutting the door behind him.
“Matthew, don’t act impulsively!” Maria pleaded anxiously.
She feared he was truly intent on killing her.
Matthew stood arrogantly before her, reaching out to lift her chin and scrutinizing her eyes intently. His gaze grew colder. “You claimed it was you that night.”
Maria grew flustered. “What… What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
It was impossible for him to know the truth about that night. Everyone who knew was dead, and the one who was still alive would keep her secret.
He couldn’t know. He would never know!
“Don’t understand?” Matthew sneered. “Then let me enlighten you: I never touched you.”
Upon hearing this, he had believed her words, grateful that she had saved him, and had refrained from investigating what had truly transpired that night.
But it was this very mistake that cost him six years.
Matthew’s grip was merciless. Maria couldn’t move, her body wracked with pain.
He glared at her viciously, his fingers tightening around her chin.
Maria sobbed, desperately attempting to call out his name, but he quickly silenced her by placing a finger over her lips.
“Why do you pretend?” he demanded.
Maria’s eyes widened. He knew?
How had he found out?
How could he possibly know?
Tears streamed down her face as she laughed maniacally. “Now that you know, I won’t hide it any longer. Yes, it wasn’t me that night. It was another woman I arranged.”
She glared resentfully at Matthew. “I met you first and saved you when we were children. Later, you kept me by your side, but you never gave me an official status. I am a woman too, and I long for love and care. But you… you never provided that.”
“Later, when you were poisoned, I saw an opportunity. However, by then, I had already lost my virginity. So, I paid to find a local woman who was still a virgin and had her sent to that room. I waited for her to leave, then I entered again, making it appear as if it had been me the entire time. I intentionally led you to believe that you had taken my virginity, manipulating you into taking responsibility.”
She smiled. “And I was right. You felt guilty and responsible for me. You treated me well and even promised to marry me.”
Her expression darkened. “I planned and calculated, but I miscalculated. That woman wasn’t a local of Country A; she was a Chinese local. To my surprise, she was the same woman who had a marriage contract with you. I panicked. I was afraid you would discover her true identity, so I lied, claiming I was pregnant. Later, I staged a car accident and said I had a miscarriage. My ultimate goal was to make you divorce her.”
She gazed at him, her smile filled with obsession. “Do you know? To make her disappear from your life, I even orchestrated a car accident for her. I wanted her to taste the pain I’ve endured. I thought she would die in that accident, but fate was on her side.”
Her smile turned sinister. “This time, she won’t be so fortunate.”
Smack
Matthew’s lightning-fast slap caught her off guard. Her face swelled instantly, the pain surging through her like an electric shock. Her ears rang, momentarily deafening her. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
Matthew grasped her chin once more, exerting enough force to nearly dislocate her jaw. “Tell me! Where is she?”
“I don’t know!” Maria ground her teeth. “It’s beyond my comprehension, just as it is beyond yours.”
She clenched her teeth stained with blood. “Even you can’t fathom her whereabouts!”
With that, she erupted into laughter.
Her madness left him feeling helpless.
At that moment, the door to the interrogation room swung open, and Boyce swiftly entered. “We’ve found a lead.”
“My team traced her near Pal Club and discovered her phone,” Boyce informed Matthew, handing him a piece of paper with a meaningful glance.
Matthew wiped the blood from his hand, his gaze fixed sternly on Maria. “If anything happens to her, consider yourself dead.”
With those words, he turned and left.
Boyce glanced at Maria, sighing inwardly. “Why bother?”
How could someone’s mind be so twisted?
Maria, tearfully swallowing her own blood, replied, “He let me down first.”
Boyce struggled to find the right words to explain to her.
Matthew had kept her by his side and given her a good position as a way to repay her for saving him.
How had she mistaken that for love?
Oh!
Boyce sighed and instructed his men to lock her up before quickly following Matthew, hopping into the waiting car outside.
Having witnessed Maria’s deranged behavior, Boyce had already prepared himself for the worst. He attempted to speak several times but couldn’t bring himself to ask.
“It’s just a lead; we haven’t found her yet,” Boyce cautioned him in advance.
The look Matthew shot back at him was sharper than a knife, piercing him to the core.
“Ms. Flores will be fine. She’s a lucky person. We will find her, and she will be safe and sound.”
Boyce promptly changed his tune.
Clearly, Dolores had become an untouchable subject.
He wouldn’t dare utter a single negative word about her in Matthew’s presence.
From a distance, Boyce spotted his subordinate. He parked the car, stepped out, and opened the door.
Seeing them approach, the subordinate hurried over. “Mr. Nelson, Captain Shawn, this is the cellphone we found in the corner.”
Handing it over, he turned the laptop in his hands toward them. “This is the surveillance footage I obtained from nearby cameras. Only this one managed to capture something.”
He pointed to a corner of the screen. “It shows her getting into a van. Investigating this van is proving to be quite challenging due to the sheer number of them, and…”
“This must be thoroughly investigated. Hurry!” Boyce interjected.
The man was speechless for a moment. “Okay, I’ll get right on it and assign more people to the search.”
The sky began to lighten.
An entire night had passed, yet there was still no sign of Dolores.
Matthew leaned against the car, his head bowed as he stared at the phone in his hand-the very phone that belonged to Dolores.
As he gently swiped his finger across the screen, it lit up. Dolores hadn’t set up a password, allowing Matthew easy access.
He checked her WeChat, MIS, QQ, but found nothing suspicious.
It wasn’t until he clicked on her text message history…