Chapter 64 Empty.

Chapter 64 Empty.
Ariel

I don't know how long I spent in the parking lot, just sitting in my car and crying before I started the ride back to my apartment. It was currently 7 am, and I had only about two hours before Jonas was going to start calling me.

I rolled down the window as I sped down the highway, Chloe's words echoing repeatedly in my head. “You think we'll feel protected if something were to happen to you?”

I mean… I still had no answer even after almost an hour. I don't think there was a right answer to that. 

Will they feel protected if something were to happen to me? But I don't want anything to happen to them either. I mean, that was the reason I was doing this in the first place but if me doing that was the reason they get broken, what exactly was the point of it then?

Like, what do I… do?

Chloe was probably already doing the thing I'd dreaded for her to do the most, which was seek answers and Mom, what do I do about Mom?

What do i do about the danger Chloe was obviously going to put herself in right now and what do I just do about my situation myself?

I don't want to be the reason my family gets broken. I don't want to destroy them. But… what do I do then?



I was surprised to find Kael gone when I got back to my apartment. I mean, it made sense since it was already morning but I thought he would have at least said something to me before leaving. 

Nothing, and nothing in the guest room where Vincent was either. 

I popped my head back out of the room after doing a quick sweep with my eyes right there at the door. He was still unconscious, of course, unmoving and now topless. Like his whole chest was out, tattoos and all. 

I shut the door before I could make any of the patterns out. 

I needed to get ready. It was almost nine o'clock.



By exactly 8:45 am, my phone started ringing with Jonas's call. I didn't even bother to look at the ID before picking it up. “Please tell me you're ready.”

I blinked my eyes multiple times to keep the fatigue at bay. I'd got no sleep throughout the night; I was running on an empty stomach and I was worried. About a lot of things, might I add?

“Yes.”

“Okay. Good. I'm almost at your place.”

“Okay. And oh, I'll meet you in the parking lot, so just call me when you arrive, okay?”

“Okay.”

He cut the call. 

By the time I got into the van downstairs, it was 9 am. “And you made it," Jonas said as I settled down in the back seat.

“Yeah.” 

“Did you go through your schedule for the day?”

No, but I know we're starting with the creative directory meeting for my album today by 10:30 am, a shoot by 12, fittings for a magazine event by 3, rehearsals and then… something else.

“Yes.”

“Good. Oh, Felix wants to see us in his office before the meeting.”

My head shot up. “He wants to see us?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Why could the CEO of my agency want to see me in his office? There were a variety of valid reasons but for some reason, I felt anxious about this one.

“I'm not sure… but I think it has to do with the article that came out last night.”

“An article?” My heart skipped. “Which article?” I started to fish into my sling purse to get my phone.

“Not about you. About Adrian and her manager.”

“Oh.” I paused the search. 

“They were having an affair.”

“What?!” My flabbers were gobsmacked. “Adrian was sleeping with his manager?!”

“Yes and she's also engaged. It's a whole thing and is causing a huge buzz. He probably wants to pass a warning or something.”

Oh shit. That is crazy. Adrian is another way more popular artist under Star Entertainment, and the fact that he was in the mud right now means trouble in paradise for the company.

I leaned back in my seat and took out my phone anyway to go through my contacts. I stopped when I saw Chloe's name right at the top of the list.

What was she doing now? Hopefully not digging up answers to her questions, right?

I sighed and looked out the window. At least Kael had said there would be nothing to dig up by the morning. Meaning she wouldn't find anything.

Hopefully she doesn't dig any deeper.



Chloe (Interlude)

I read through the article I'd found again as I paced around the room.

"Lady caught on camera murdering three men. Found dead in a lake three days later.”

That was that girl from the hospital, no? Iris or what was her name? That was her. Red hair, sharp eyes, thin lips. The similarity was uncanny between her and this lady in the picture.

But if that was her, how was she at the hospital, helping around and even interacting with my mom? If she were dead, what? Two years ago. How was she just alive last week when I went to visit my mum?

I sat on my bed and stared at the picture for the hundredth time. This was the proof I had that something was off about that hospital. Everything, actually, but what do I do from here?

Who do I meet? If that was even a reasonable option in the first place.

And then the fire, that whole thing about it being kept under wraps because it was a private establishment.

I scoffed. 

She must really think I was stupid, huh, if she thought I believed that.

I just don't get why she wouldn't talk to me. Like…

Fine, maybe things do go awry when I get involved, but there was a time when we told each other everything. When we worried about Mum together.

I lay completely on my back and just stayed with my thoughts for God knows how long. At least I know she was telling the truth when she said Mum was safe and settling down. She wouldn't lie about that. 

Right?

Minutes later—I checked—a thought popped into my head. 

What if I went back to the hospital and found something?

I did just that but when I got there, what I found was more baffling than any of the other things that were still bugging me, including that article.

“The fuck," I muttered as I stared at the empty land before me. And when I say 'empty', I mean 'empty'. No building, no ruins, no human in sight.

Just a large empty land and a gate with a sign that says 'Private property' around it.

I scoffed in disbelief. I must be imagining this.