Chapter 38 Who Exactly is York
Elodie's POV
After hanging up the phone, he looked at me.
"Nelson, what's wrong? Is there... something wrong with York?"
He didn't answer me. The room fell into a deathly silence.
A few minutes later, his phone vibrated. He looked down at the message.
"Elodie, there's no man named York in tonight's check-in records at this hotel."
My blood froze instantly.
"Not only that, after the hotel explosion, all the surveillance cameras in that building and the surrounding blocks malfunctioned."
What a coincidence!
I looked at Nelson's grim face, and a chill shot from my feet straight to the top of my head.
"What does he look like?" Nelson's voice pulled me back from my shock. He stared at me intently, not missing any subtle expression on my face. "Tell me everything about him, Elodie. Don't leave out a single detail."
I didn't dare hide anything. I forced myself to calm down and described every detail of my two meetings with York—his appearance, his clothes, his tone of voice, his expressions—everything.
I spoke quickly and urgently. Nelson listened in silence the whole time.
I don't know how long passed before Graham and Rod arrived. They looked a bit disheveled, but thankfully they weren't hurt.
Seeing me safe and sound with Nelson, they both visibly relaxed.
"Boss, we failed in our duty." Rod hung his head, looking guilty.
Nelson didn't look at him. He just gave Graham a cold order. "Get paper and pencil. Draw according to what she says."
Without a word, Graham turned and quickly returned with a drawing board and charcoal pencil.
She sat across from me, her wrinkled hands holding the pencil with surprising steadiness.
"Miss Elodie, please describe that man's appearance again."
Guided by Graham's calm gaze, I carefully described York's appearance once more.
The charcoal pencil made scratching sounds on the paper. In just over ten minutes, the face of a refined, gentle man wearing gold-rimmed glasses appeared on the page.
The person in the drawing was exactly like the York in my memory, down to the smallest detail. Even the perfectly measured smile in his eyes behind the lenses was captured vividly.
Nelson picked up the sketch. After just one glance, the darkness in his eyes grew even heavier.
He handed the drawing to Rod. "Send this face out. Use everyone we have. Turn Chicago upside down if you have to, but find this person."
With that, he grabbed his coat and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" I instinctively grabbed the corner of his coat.
He paused, looked back at me, and reached out to smooth my slightly messy hair. "To handle some trouble. You go with Graham and the others to another place. It's safe there."
His figure quickly disappeared outside the door. Rod and Graham didn't give me any time to pack. They immediately took me through a secret passage in the hotel and into an inconspicuous black car.
The car drove through Chicago's night, finally stopping in front of a standalone villa hidden in the suburbs.
The security here was tight, isolated from the world, like an impregnable fortress.
After settling in, I sat alone in my room, my mind a complete mess.
York's gentle smile and Nelson's cold warning alternated in my head.
I took out my phone and, almost possessed, opened that number and sent a message.
[Who are you really?]
Almost the instant I sent the message, a reply came back. No explanation, no defense, just a brief question in return.
[Elodie, do you really have no memory of me at all?]
My heart jumped. What did that mean? Did we know each other before? I desperately searched my memory, but that face—aside from these two encounters in Chicago—had no other trace.
A strange panic gripped me. I didn't want to be led around by the nose by these unclear mysteries anymore.
I completely deleted York's number and all the messages.
Nelson came back late at night.
"Did you find anything?" I went up to him and asked softly.
"No. This person appeared out of thin air. All the leads are dead ends." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "The other side's power is deeper than I imagined. The Council of Elders has also been putting a lot of pressure on me about the explosion."
Looking at the bloodshot in his eyes, my heart ached.
I reached out and hugged his waist, pressing my face against his cold shirt. "It's okay. We'll find him eventually."
His body stiffened for a moment, then he raised his hand and hugged me back.
The next evening, the Council of Elders' banquet went ahead as scheduled.
When I walked into the banquet hall in that lake-blue dress, holding Nelson's arm, almost every eye stuck to us.
All those stares made me uncomfortable.
I was so nervous my palms were sweating, and I unconsciously tightened my grip on his arm.
He whispered in my ear, "Don't be afraid. Stay close to me."
The banquet was full of clinking glasses and elegant figures, everyone wearing exquisite masks. Those women in fancy dresses looked at me with especially hostile eyes, as if I were some lowlife who had tainted their noble circle.
A woman in a red dress with heavy makeup, holding a wine glass, walked toward us as if by accident. The moment she passed by me, she tilted her wrist and the red wine in her glass splashed toward my dress.
I instinctively dodged to the side. The cold liquid barely missed my dress and spilled all over the polished floor.
A flash of surprise and anger crossed the woman's eyes, as if she hadn't expected me to dodge.
Before I could react, my wrist suddenly felt warm.
Nelson had somehow already taken a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter's tray and put it in my hand.
He looked at me, the corner of his mouth lifting in a very faint smile with a hint of indulgence and encouragement.
I instantly understood what he meant.
The anger I'd been suppressing inside found its outlet in an instant.
I stopped holding back. Copying the woman's move, I turned my wrist and splashed the entire glass of champagne back in her face.
The crisp sound and the woman's scream made everything around us go quiet instantly.
She wiped the liquid from her face, her eye makeup smudged, staring at me in disbelief.
I set the empty glass back on the tray and gave her a cold look. "Oops, my hand slipped."
"Well done." Nelson put his arm around my waist and, without even glancing at the woman, led me straight through the crowd.
My heart was racing from his praise, and all my nervousness and anxiety vanished in that moment.
Passing through the noisy banquet hall, Nelson brought me to a relatively quiet lounge area.
"Wait for me here," he said, adjusting my dress. "I'm going to chat with a few guys. I'll be back soon."
I nodded obediently.
After he left, I sat alone on the sofa, idly eating the delicate pastries in front of me. The sweet cream melted on my tongue, slightly easing my tense nerves.
"All alone?" A gentle male voice suddenly spoke beside me.