Chapter 32 The Night Before They Stayed
The strong wind howled past, as if it had been blowing from seven years ago until now.
Leaves in the woods scattered down sparsely. Seeing that she didn't answer, William urged, "Speak."
Looking at William's long shadow on the ground, Amelia said, "You should ask her what she said to me."
William frowned slightly. "Isabella doesn't know you."
The implication was that she was making things up.
"Mr. Brown." Amelia looked up, meeting William's eyes. "Do you trust her that much?"
William didn't answer right away. That familiar feeling rose in his heart again.
"Mr. Brown, targeting Isabella does me no good."
She continued, "Isabella is your person. With your reputation and status in Shadow City, Mr. Brown, I'm nobody who could compete with you."
"If there wasn't a reason..."
She smiled. "Why would I dig my own grave?"
William frowned deeper.
What the woman in front of him said did make sense.
But why would Isabella, who only had six months to live, target someone she didn't know?
In the end, the scales in his heart still tipped toward Isabella.
"Lika, whatever happened between you two, I hope you can consider that she's a patient with only six months left."
"Part of the reason she came on this show is to give strength to people suffering from illness like her."
Amelia looked at William, at his furrowed brow, his dark eyes, his confident words. She remembered what Isabella had said to her earlier today.
"In this era, it's all about marketing."
"You came on this show—did you really think it was just to compete in songwriting?"
"The Adams Group's investment in you needs returns. It's about commercial value, about monetization. Understand?"
-
Did Isabella really have the ability to fool him, or was he willing to believe her?
She didn't understand.
And didn't want to guess.
So Amelia looked away.
"Mr. Brown, sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees. What you think is beautiful may not be as you imagine." This was her final warning.
William's eyes turned sharp.
She had guessed his thoughts.
From asking him to come to the woods, to the questions and answers just now, to that last sentence—she seemed to see right through his hesitation, wavering, and uncertainty, his entire thought process.
She could even guide him to think along her words, influencing his judgment.
Only someone extremely familiar with him could do all this!
"Who exactly are you?"
The woman's mask was unbearably annoying at this moment.
He reached out to remove it.
Amelia instinctively stepped back, but the grass in the woods caused her stiletto heels to sink. Her ankle twisted.
William instinctively reached out to steady her arm.
Lightning tore across the sky, thunder rumbling.
The lightning lit up the woods. As the woman lost her balance, her long trench coat slipped down.
He held her thin arm. The lightning illuminated patches of purple bruises covering her smooth skin.
They looked worse than when she was on stage.
"Boom..."
The delayed thunder exploded in William's heart.
Deep in his memory, there had been someone else with similar injuries.
Extremely serious injuries.
It was Amelia from seven years ago.
Those sad eyes of Amelia from seven years ago were still vivid in his mind.
"You..."
William wanted to say something, but the next moment, the woman had already pulled her arm from his hand.
She wrapped her trench coat back around herself and stood steady. "Thank you for catching me, Mr. Brown."
That form of address brought William back to his senses.
Right, Amelia had always called him "William."
The woman in front of him was much thinner than Amelia.
Besides, the woman was Jeffrey's woman who had miscarried for Jeffrey ten days ago.
He and Amelia had gone to the marriage registry six days ago. The day before going to the registry, they had still been making love.
So she couldn't be Amelia.
Jeffrey, seeing something was wrong, was already heading their way.
"Injured this badly, and Jeffrey still made you come on a variety show?" William found himself speaking.
Even he didn't understand why he said it.
"That's not your concern," Amelia answered.
William frowned deeply. He wanted to say more, but Jeffrey had already arrived.
Amelia's vision blurred. She really couldn't hold on anymore and leaned against Jeffrey.
"...Lika!" Jeffrey was beside himself with worry. He immediately supported Amelia properly, then glared at William.
Jeffrey wanted to say something, but Amelia just waved her hand.
William's lips pressed into a tight line.
Watching their intimate manner, inexplicably, he spoke again. "She's injured this badly—how could you still let her come out to work?"
Jeffrey rolled his eyes.
Wasn't her injury caused by William himself?
When he went to the hospital to see Amelia that day, he heard from Mia.
Originally, Amelia had a mild concussion from being hit, but the baby could have been saved if she stayed in bed.
It was William who pushed Amelia down the stairs to protect Isabella.
The baby was lost, and she got multiple bruises and injuries from the fall. It was lucky she didn't break any bones!
Just now they were about to get back in the car, but wasn't it William who insisted on talking to Amelia?
What right did William have to say these things now?
Jeffrey really wanted to curse William out!
But seeing how uncomfortable Amelia was, he just threw out one line: "None of your business!"
Then he picked up Amelia and strode toward the car.
William frowned, watching them leave. The woman's hair draped over Jeffrey's arm, making him inexplicably jealous.
The wind kept blowing, leaves falling in the wind. One landed in William's palm.
He looked down at the leaf in his hand.
Can't see the forest for the trees.
Was it really like that?
Before he could figure it out, rain began falling from the sky.
Drops of rain fell on the leaf in his palm.
Like someone's tears.
...
The car drove for a while, then they switched to another car heading to the hospital.
Amelia had recovered somewhat. She looked out the car window.
Jeffrey was still cursing about William, but she didn't want to think about it anymore.
William's status in Shadow City was unmatched. Even if she and Jeffrey joined forces, they couldn't threaten him one bit.
So what was the point?
What she needed to do was hold onto what she could hold onto and accomplish what she wanted to accomplish.
That was enough.
Her phone vibrated again.
Amelia glanced at it. It was a message from William.
...
The rain was coming down hard.
After leaving the "Voice of Heaven" variety show recording site, people left using various means of transportation.
For the live broadcast effect, audience members weren't allowed to bring electronic devices into the recording site.
So now that they were out, they could use their phones.
All day, the trending topics had been dominated by "Voice of Heaven." Many audience members were now checking them out.
Many people were participating in the gossip, but a few raised questions.
Why didn't "Yesterday Once More" have the same effect as it did live?