“Antony,” Queena summoned the courage to say Antony’s name for the first time. Before this, she had always been cautious, constantly watching Antony’s mood, afraid that one wrong move would lead to her downfall.
Antony furrowed his brows slightly but didn’t speak. He didn’t hang up either.
Queena paused for two seconds and realized that the call wasn’t disconnected. She let out a sigh of relief and continued, “Let’s make a deal. As you said, I’m not in prison right now; I’m overseas. But if you help me successfully return to Guavo, I’ll do anything for you in return. Whatever you say goes as long as it stops Patrick and Jane from getting engaged at their upcoming ceremony in a few days’ time.”
As expected, Antony burst into laughter after hearing Queena’s proposal.
He had been keeping an eye on Patrick’s movements lately and found Queena pitifully foolish for wanting to stop the engagement between two people who clearly weren’t meant to be together.
But… what Queena said wasn’t entirely unreasonable either. He had wanted to bring down Patrick for a long time now and although Queena was hardly useful as his pawn, she wasn’t completely useless either.
“You said it yourself,” he said with an unsmiling face that belied his amusement at her expense. “If you betray me again… you know what will happen.”
Antony made it clear he was referring to their previous plan involving North Bay when he uttered those words with no hint of humor in them whatsoever.
Queena brightened up at his response; she already knew what she wanted: returning home was top priority so she could disrupt Patrick’s engagement ceremony. Everything else could wait until later.
“I understand,” replied Queena eagerly while Antony smirked knowingly before ending their conversation once and for all by saying, “Alright then! In two days’ time I’ll arrange suitable flights back home for you along with someone who can buy your ticket back home too! If something goes wrong or if there are any delays due to missed flights or other unforeseen circumstances beyond my control, then don’t come crying back here!”
The phone went dead, leaving Queena holding onto her phone feeling both helpless yet elated knowing that there was still hope left…
Jane… you can’t be with Patrick…absolutely not!
Two days later, Queena walked out of the Guavo city center airport with her luggage. A white car parked not far away caught her eye. It was one of Antony’s cars.
“Miss Dillon, you’re back,” said the driver in a nonchalant tone when he saw Queena. He treated her like a stranger.
Queena got into the back seat without saying a word, feeling nervous and excited at the thought of seeing Antony again. It had become a habit after so many years.
When they arrived outside his office, Queena took a moment to compose herself before pushing open the door. Antony looked up at the sound and when he saw Queena, he just smirked.
“You finally came,” he said.
“Mm-hmm,” replied Queena slowly as she walked over to him with some distance between them. “What do you need me to do?”
Antony nodded in satisfaction. “Looks like you still have some vision.”
He turned around and took out a small ball-shaped object from behind his office chair. There were also several wires on it that made it look like something from an action movie explosion scene.
“What is this?” asked Queena curiously.
“This?” laughed Antony as he handed over the box to her. “This is one of my latest mini bombs I acquired recently. In seven days time will be Patrick and Jane’s engagement ceremony; I’ll find ways for you to get an invitation card then all you have to do is put this bomb at their ceremony…”
Antony stopped talking abruptly and made a throat-slitting gesture while staring ominously at Queena.
“Do you understand?”
Queena was stunned by what she heard; she didn’t expect such malicious intentions from Antony towards Jane but hatred for Jane had already taken root in her heart along with disappointment towards Patrick due to love gone wrong.
She lowered her eyes down on the box containing what seemed like destruction before taking it reluctantly.
“Okay, I understand.”
As each day passed leading up to Patrick’s engagement ceremony, his excitement grew more palpable than ever before; even when going into work every morning, there would be an evident smile plastered across his face which left other employees looking bewilderedly upon him in confusion.
And now, besides work, Patrick spent all his free time with Jane. For example, today he finished work early and was at home with Jane doing a puzzle.
As they were putting down the last piece of the puzzle, Jane still looked unhappy.
Patrick had noticed this for a long time and asked her sincerely, “What’s wrong? Why do you look so upset today?”
Jane shook her head with some helplessness in her eyes. She had a vague feeling of unease all day long and sometimes felt that their engagement ceremony would not go as smoothly as she imagined.
“I…” She hesitated for a moment before slowly saying, “I don’t know why, but I feel very uneasy today. Sometimes I even feel like something will go wrong during our engagement ceremony.”
Patrick paused for a moment and naturally thought that Jane was just too busy at work recently and under too much mental pressure. He reached out to pat her head affectionately.
“It’s okay, I have everything prepared perfectly well. Are you thinking too much because of your busy schedule or designing clothes? You’re tired.”
“No…” Although Patrick said so, the sense of unease in Jane’s heart did not dissipate completely yet. She looked up into Patrick’s eyes and forced herself to smile cheerfully because she didn’t want him to worry about her anymore.
“Never mind; maybe it’s just me overthinking things again,” she said lightly.
“Okay then,” replied Patrick reassuringly while stroking her hair gently. “Just stay at home comfortably; if you don’t want to be busy working anymore after we get engaged, then prepare yourself well as an elegant bride-to-be! If you don’t want to work anymore in the future either way, Pansy Group is big enough. I can take care of you!”
Thinking about marrying Jane made him truly happy from deep within his heart; how could he bear seeing such small things make his beloved unhappy?