BXBX NOVEL Chapter 179 - Gathering Information (1)
Chapter 179 – Gathering Information (1)
Logan and I were finally separated after a long talk with each other. He still didn't want to spill the beans about his secret mission, despite me continuously telling him that I would be alright.
But he said that he was afraid I'd be targeted, so he didn't want to tell me anything.
I returned home quite late today, and when I arrived home, Mom's car was already parked outside.
I entered the house and found Mom sitting side by side with Grandma. Her face looked so bright as if she just got a bonus or something good.
Her joyous smile also brought happiness to me. I approached her and asked, "What's the good news, Mom?"
"Ah, Emmy! Do you know what I just got at work?"
"What? Tell me, I'm curious."
"I… got a salary increase!" Mom announced happily. I was happy with the good news, but I was a tad surprised and confused.
"That's great, Mom! But, what did you do to get that salary increase?" I asked.
"I'm not sure either, but my Boss said the director just got an order to increase my wage, and I also got a private letter from someone important in the company. Here's the letter. I haven't opened it," Mom said as she handed me the letter.
I read it out of curiosity and was surprised by the content when I opened the letter.
—
Dear future mother-in-law,
My father happens to know a few important people in your company, so I asked him to raise your wage. This is my New year gift for Emmy and her family. I hope you can support our relationship.
—
Mom read the letter and was also surprised by the content, "Wow, Emmy, your boyfriend is really serious. He's very gentle, and understanding and also comes from a rich family. I bet he would be a great husband for you in the future!"
…
"Yeah, Mom," I forced a smile and then went back to my room. I didn't know how I should react to her statement. Of course, I appreciated that guy who kept helping me in so many ways. But at the same time, I felt like he had silently closed any external path, making him the only choice of my future.
I still hadn't decided on which man my heart would harbour. Heck, I was still underage, 15 years old right now!
I already told myself not to get romantically involved with anyone, and this…
I decided to call him just to make sure about his intention here. I couldn't rest if I hadn't got any answer yet.
After a few beeps, he finally picked up the call.
__Phone call with the red rose man__
"Good evening, my darling. Is there something you want to talk about?" The red rose man asked. His heavy and husky voice filled my ears. I wouldn't lie that he had such a nice voice.
But that wasn't what I wanted to talk about right now.
"You—why did you raise my mom's wage?" I asked.
"Hm? Isn't it obvious? I want to help your family's burden, of course. I just don't want my beloved and her family to live a hard life. I want to help you directly by giving probably around 1 million dollars first. But you might not accept it with open arms. Because I know that you're still on a long mission to take everyone down, Emmy."
"That's why I will support you and your family in any means possible, to make sure that you have the best the world could offer. Until you have completed your mission, then I will show myself and show you my real identity."
"… so you're helping my mom solely to make me feel indebted to you?" I accused him because that was what I felt right now.
"Indebted? Hmm… probably, but I just think that my future mother-in-law works too hard for such a small salary. I don't want her to get sick after years of backbreaking work and miss our wedding day, right? Hehe," the red rose man joked around, but it wasn't a joke for me. I felt like he didn't really understand the long-term effect of what he did.
If he said that he did this just to help my Mom, he didn't know that would force me into marrying him in the future due to feeling indebted.
"Don't think too much about it, my darling. I just want to make you and your family happy," the red rose man said with such a warm voice. "Anyway, I know that you're going to take down Natasha Zest and Barbara Cornwell, right?"
"How do you know that?" I asked warily. I just talked about it with Elise around six hours ago, and this guy already knew about it? How?
"It's just a chain of action-reaction. I know those three stooges were ordered by Natasha and Barbara. That's why you and that girl named Elise would eventually target Natasha and Barbara. Since both of you have animosity towards each of them, right?"
…
Well, I wouldn't lie. That was actually a great observation. It was spot on.
"Naturally, I will help you to take them down, just like what I always did. But this time, I will help after I gather enough information. You only know about Barbara, right?"
"Yeah," I confirmed. I didn't know anything about Natasha because she wasn't on my hit list originally. She was just another one recently added because of her malicious behaviour towards Elise.
That was why I knew nothing about her, unlike Barbara. I knew plenty of things about Barbara in my previous life, and I planned to use one of her secrets to taking her down.
She was basically the queen bee before Jessica took her down and became the new queen bee of the school. Thanks to her, I would be the one who took Barbara first.
"I know nothing about Natasha Zest as well. Because we're not entangled with her in our previous life," the red rose man said. "I'll find few things about her before returning to you. Make sure that you will have enough information, okay?"
"… thanks."
"Anything for you, my love. So you will know that you don't need Logan Walker's help if you need information. I can do anything for you."
My eyes widened instantly as my heartbeat skipped for a second, "Wait—"
Beep.
__Phone call ends__
I was left speechless when the red rose man suddenly hung up the call. Just like that, I didn't expect him to know about my meeting with Logan.
But this was the red rose man we were talking about. Of course, he knew everything.
"Hehe, why am I not scared anymore?" I asked myself. That fear about the red rose man slowly diminished every time I talked with him, and I slowly opened my heart for such a creep.
I knew that was stupid and dangerous, but maybe… what the red rose man said was true.
'We are destined to be together.'
I closed my eyes as I threw my phone on the bed and then threw my body there.
"I don't want to get hurt like my Mom. If I ever fall in love with a man, I just wish that he would not hurt me. That's it. I won't ask for anything else," I said to myself.
**
I woke up early the next day because there was something I wanted to do in school. I wanted to meet with Elise and started searching for information about Natasha Zest. Because I had been holding the secret of Barbara Cornwell for a while.
I arrived at school and met with Elise, who also came early. She had returned to school after the three stooges were sentenced to 15 years in prison and had gradually regained her confidence once more. But it seemed that her anger towards Natasha hadn't diet down, which was understandable.
Because my anger towards everyone who hurt me in the past also hadn't' died down as well. In fact, it turned into an undying flame that drove me up to this point.
"Good morning, Em," Elise greeted me first as I was sitting on the bench in the schoolyard.
"Morning, Elise, come and sit with me," I patted the spot beside me. We were sitting and started discussing our next move in a lower voice, of course. Thankfully, the school was still empty because we came a lot earlier than most people.
"So, do you know anything about Natasha Zest? I have zero ideas about her since she is a sophomore, and I have had zero contact with her before," I said truthfully.
"I've found something after asking a few people about her, though I'm not sure if it is relevant," Elise looked hesitant.
"Just spill it. Any rumour is still valid and might bring us closer to some truth that we can weaponize."
Elise took a deep breath and started explaining, "I just got a rumour about her from one of the girls in cheer club.. She simply said that Natasha Zest is a cheap whore of Darthmorth with no class."