Chapter 68 Stay Away from Quinley
Just as David's fist was about to connect, Zachary's right hand shot out, catching it in his palm.
"Stay away from Quinley."
Fury blazed in Zachary's eyes. The two men faced off, neither giving ground. David tried to break free, using all his strength, but couldn't escape Zachary's grip.
"Quinley is my girlfriend. I'll get as close to her as I want." He cursed viciously, but the next second, Zachary backhanded him across the face, twisting his mouth to one side.
"In your dreams!"
David howled in rage. Unable to gain advantage with his hands, his legs weren't idle either—kicking and striking out, but every move was countered by Zachary's retaliation. After several rounds, Zachary had twisted both of David's arms behind his back, pinning his entire body against the wall so he couldn't move.
But his mouth refused to surrender. "I'm going to anyway!" He craned his neck, stubbornly shouting his defiance. In this fight, he was completely outmatched by Zachary.
Quinley stood just outside the laundry room door, intending to break up the fight when a phone call came at just the wrong moment.
"Okay, I'll come find you right now."
She hung up, set down the laundry basin, and hurried away.
The moment she left, David went crazy. He struggled and fought back, all to no avail. So he gathered all his strength and slammed his head backward into Zachary's. To injure Zachary, he completely disregarded his own safety.
There was a dull thud as David's skull crashed hard into Zachary's brow bone. Crimson blood flowed down the back of his neck, and David laughed—a wicked, triumphant sound.
Zachary's right eye was bruised purple-black from the impact, nearly swollen shut. Furious beyond measure, he swept David's legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor.
"Harass Quinley again, and I'll make the entire Brown family disappear."
Zachary delivered his threat and walked out sporting his black eye.
At the coffee shop, Quinley stood at the entrance looking for someone. She quickly spotted her target—a thin man in a trench coat, not very tall, wearing a hat and sunglasses, sitting in the most secluded corner. After brief pleasantries, Quinley got straight to the point.
"Detective Wilson, do you have news about what I asked you to investigate?"
The night she'd left the police station, Quinley had contacted Wilson, a private investigator she'd worked with during her time at Apex Global Group. He was cautious and reliable.
Wilson nodded and pulled an envelope from his coat's inner pocket. "As you suspected, the footage was switched, but I still found some traces."
The envelope contained several surveillance video screenshots. Quinley examined them one by one. The images were somewhat blurry, but strangely, she could see herself in all of them—same body type, same plaid dress, even the same ponytail.
"This person isn't me. I never went to Omega Mall."
Wilson shrugged and looked at her intently. "Unfortunately, I enhanced the image clarity, and that person really does look exactly like you. This level of similarity can't be achieved through makeup."
"Could there be something wrong with this video? Isn't there an editing technique called green screen? Maybe it could be achieved through technical means?" Quinley frowned, voicing her doubts.
"Highly unlikely." Wilson immediately dismissed her theory. He pulled his hat brim lower and warned, "Ms. Elikin, you'd better be careful. If that person really isn't you, then there's definitely someone who looks exactly like you out there. You'd better find her quickly, or you're going to be in serious trouble."
After saying this, he bid farewell and hurried away.
Detective Wilson was gone, but Quinley's heart couldn't settle. The situation was far more complex than she'd imagined. Those people had stolen her phone and mimicked her tone to send messages to Sylvia—she'd found Iris and discovered that truth. But they'd actually found someone who looked exactly like her to forge evidence of her presence.
Who was this woman who looked identical to her? Where was she? Why was she doing this? Question after question flooded Quinley's mind. She tried to force herself to calm down but simply couldn't. An invisible black hand seemed to lurk ahead of her, ready to grab her by the throat at any moment for a killing blow.
"Ms. Elikin, what are you doing here?"
While Quinley was still lost in thought, Adela suddenly appeared, looking at her with surprise.
"Ms. Gomez, it's been a while." Quinley greeted Adela coolly and stood up. Adela was holding a stack of files marked "URGENT," and Quinley had originally planned to buy coffee but abandoned the idea.
"Ms. Elikin, did you go to Apex Global Group today?" Adela walked alongside Quinley toward the hospital, unable to contain her curiosity.
"No, why?"
Adela's heart skipped a beat. When she'd left earlier, she'd clearly seen Quinley in the company lobby wearing that same beige dress, leaning against the sofa in the reception area while talking on the phone. Adela had gone over to greet her, but she hadn't responded. Since she was rushing to deliver documents to Zachary, she'd headed straight to the hospital. But she never expected that when she arrived here, Quinley would already be here ahead of her.
"Nothing... nothing, I probably mistook you for someone else." Adela lowered her voice. Quinley only caught the first part but missed the rest.
They entered the hospital together. Quinley headed for the inpatient building while Adela walked toward the emergency room.
"Mr. Jennings should be on the twenty-fifth floor of this building." Quinley offered helpfully, knowing Zachary was devoted to his mother and came to keep Sylvia company whenever he had time.
Adela nodded. "Mr. Jennings is in the emergency room. He's injured, and these documents are too urgent—I have to bring them for him to sign."
Quinley hadn't seen the end of Zachary and David's fight, so she didn't know about his injury. "Is that so?" Her eyes couldn't help but darken slightly.
Adela was Zachary's closest work associate, required to keep his activities confidential. But just now, she seemed to have said too much, almost as if she were testing Quinley. Being cautious, Quinley gave Adela an innocent smile.
"Mr. Jennings really doesn't take care of himself. Ms. Gomez, you'd better hurry over. He has a terrible temper—if you're late, he'll definitely yell at someone."
She showed no concern for Zachary's condition and didn't ask a single question. This made Adela think Quinley was rather cold and heartless, but this coldness was reassuring.
"I'll go ahead then." Adela nodded and quickly left.
Quinley was about to leave as well when Alicia called out to her.