Chapter 135 The Revenge Organization
The pair restraining Cressida looked at Alison with surprise and doubt, and the red-haired man driving also seemed a bit nervous.
Cressida, who had been frightened and panicked just moments ago, suddenly changed her attitude. She raised her hand to push away the knife at her neck and asked calmly, "How did you figure it out?"
"I deliberately acted like I didn't care about your life, hoping they would let you go. But these people still insisted on taking you away, so I suspected that their goal from the start was to take you, and they only decided to take me along after they saw me."
Alison rolled down the car window. The car was driving on a bridge over the sea, brilliant sunlight spreading across the distant water surface, seagulls circling in the air, and the sea breeze brushing past her cheeks, gently lifting the hair by her temples.
She leisurely enjoyed the view outside the window. "If your initial targets were me and Oliver, there was no need to poison Cressida's bodyguards. I'm guessing the person who suggested taking me was you, Cressida. You didn't want to actually hurt me, so you pretended to be a hostage to lure me in."
Cressida clapped her hands. "Smart. No wonder Oliver thinks highly of you."
"Who are you people?" Alison asked.
The red-haired man said, "It's enough that Oliver knows who we are. You don't need to know. You're a bit smart, but knowing too many secrets isn't good for you."
Alison glanced at him and suddenly pulled a gun from the red-haired man's waist.
The red-haired man was shocked and immediately tried to hit the brakes, completely ignoring that they were on a bridge with many cars behind them.
But the next second, Alison pressed the gun against his temple. "Drive properly."
The red-haired man cursed Alison in his mind for being beautiful and kind on the outside but vicious inside, but he didn't dare disobey.
"Do you dare to shoot?" the knife-wielding man in the back seat said viciously. "Go ahead and shoot if you dare, we'll all die together!"
Without hesitation, Alison raised her hand and fired backward, shooting the knife-wielding man in the thigh. He screamed in pain. The red-haired man instinctively wanted to look back, but the gun was pressed against his temple again.
The cold barrel now had a trace of warmth—the residual heat left by the bullet that had just been fired.
Alison didn't say a word, but her meaning was clear—of course she dared to shoot.
"Don't be rash," Cressida said, trying to calm things down.
"Tell me your real identities," Alison said. "No matter what secret it is, if I want to know, I must know. Understand?"
The red-haired man smiled bitterly, realizing it was his earlier words that had angered Alison.
"We're a civilian organization called 'Aurora Syndicate,' meaning we illuminate the darkness like the polar lights." Cressida was best at reading situations, so she didn't hesitate and began to explain.
"Each of our members is called an Aurora Disciple. We've gathered together to take revenge on Thomas Holdings."
A strange gleam flashed in her eyes. "Since the police have investigated Thomas Holdings and suspected Dorian, you should know about the shady dealings Thomas Holdings does behind the scenes, right?"Alison sighed and thought, 'Could it be that Cressida is testing me?'
She simply answered bluntly, "I don't know."
Cressida paused. "You should know Santos, the founder of Thomas Holdings. When he was young, he poached and smuggled rare animals. Although he served three years in prison, after his release he had a large amount of money and established Thomas Holdings. To this day, he's still involved in smuggling—not just art, antiques, and minerals, but also human trafficking."
"Not just him, but his dear wife and children too! The whole family are demons!" said the man who'd been shot in the thigh, wrapping his wound while hissing in pain.
His tone was full of anger and hatred.
Alison had heard Oliver mention Santos's background before, but this was the first time she'd heard about smuggling antiques and minerals.
"Do you have evidence for what you're saying?" Alison asked.
The wounded man suppressed his anger and hissed at her, "Isn't finding evidence supposed to be your police's job! It's because you cops don't do anything that so many people are separated from their relatives and children! You people take taxpayers' money but collude with criminals and help cover up their crimes."
Alison fired another shot, again hitting his thigh.
"I'm not a cop, and also, I have a very bad temper."
The wounded man was covered in cold sweat, the seat beneath him soaked with his blood, the smell of blood lingering in everyone's nostrils.
Cressida helped stop his bleeding and scolded him, "Shut up!"
Then she answered Alison, "The organization does have some evidence, but the specifics aren't clear to us. You can ask our leader when you meet him."
Alison changed the subject. "What grudges do you all have with Thomas Holdings?"
The first to speak was the woman beside Cressida who had little presence.
She was young, with delicate features, wearing her hair in a low ponytail and black-framed glasses, like the most common quiet literature-loving girl on campus.
"My parents were both history professors. My family collected some antiques. Marshall wanted them, but my parents wouldn't sell. He set up my uncle to owe huge debts, then set fire to our house, forcing us to hand over the antiques to pay the debt." The woman couldn't help choking up, her hands clenched into fists. "My father and the dog I'd raised for many years were burned to death. My uncle killed himself out of guilt, and my mother couldn't take the blow and became bedridden."
Hatred surged in the woman's eyes. "So I must get revenge!"
The red-haired man said, "My brother was taken, whereabouts unknown. Black Wolf's situation is similar to mine, except he lost his daughter."
So the wounded man was called Black Wolf—clearly his nickname.
Only Cressida hadn't spoken yet.
Alison guessed, "It's related to your miscarriage?"
"Yes." Cressida took two deep breaths. "My boyfriend and I met in college and joined Thomas Holdings together after graduation. When I became Dorian's secretary, there were rumors that I was Dorian's mistress. My boyfriend didn't believe the rumors and always trusted me, but I—"
Cressida forced a smile. "Dorian really knew how to pursue women. I gradually fell for him. But I was afraid that betraying the board would end badly and would implicate my boyfriend. Dorian thoughtfully said I could be his secret lover, so we kept our relationship secret."
"I lost my child while having an affair with Dorian. I didn't know I was pregnant because I was cheating, and I was afraid if I got pregnant I wouldn't be able to explain whose it was, so I always took precautions."
"After the accidental miscarriage, my relationship with Dorian naturally couldn't be hidden from my boyfriend, so we broke up."
Cressida closed her eyes, tears sliding down from the corners. "But later I discovered that Dorian deliberately got me pregnant and deliberately made me miscarry! He also had someone beat up my boyfriend and threaten his family, but made them think I did it."
"I regretted it. I hated Dorian and wanted to kill him."
"So you did kill him, right?" Alison asked calmly.
"Yes." Cressida opened her eyes. Alison's eyes were bright and clear. From their first meeting, she felt that Alison had seen through her.