Chapter 57 : The Truth Uncovered Part 2

"Stop protecting her!" He suddenly raised his voice, unable to contain his anger until he saw Aishleen flinch at his loud voice.

"I didn't know!" Aishleen shouted at him, her anger finally rising as she recovered from her shock.

"She's been keeping secrets from me long before you came to me with this contract. She hated your family for years and always blamed you for everything that happened—your brother's case, the incident at my father's company, and even Darrel's death."

"Why does your mother think I have something to do with all this? Why does she hate my family so much?"

"It might have something to do with the fact that your grandfather once betrayed both my parents, and my mother feels hurt by that. To be honest, I don't have any more details," Aishleen looked at him sharply as she spoke. She knew there might be things he hadn't known about either of them, but still—"She'd been close to Darrel, too, so Darrel's death affected her, as had Darrel's death several years before."

Keenan took a deep breath to calm himself. "She insisted that Darrel was murdered, that it wasn't an accident. At first I dismissed it, I had no concrete reason why someone would kill him and I believed it was an accident until I learned the truth. She even told me that whoever did it would show up soon after Darrel's death, along with their true motives. And then you showed up."

He laughed bitterly. "Is that all you believe? I thought you were smarter than that, Ash."

"No, that's not the only thing that crossed my mind," Aishleen took a deep breath. Although her mother suspected all sorts of things and disturbing thoughts, Aishleen actually had her own personal suspicions about her mother's intentions.

"When your brother was arrested for this case a few years ago, I saw him live on the news. I saw what he said to the camera." She pauses as she recalls the moment that is etched in her memory, the one moment that caught her attention and made her feel suspicious.

" *'None of this was supposed to happen,'* he said at the time. So I thought there was something deeper or someone behind all of this."

"And how can you connect that to me?" this time Keenan's voice was strained with anger, and she could feel the pain and disappointment in his words. "Why do you think I'm involved—"

"I don't know, Keenan," she replied unintentionally. Aishleen was annoyed by his questions, and at that moment she just wanted him to stop. She wanted to get something in return, because so far she had gotten nothing.

"Maybe it's because everything seems too random. I mean, just think about it—your brother started his own business after your grandfather announced him as his successor, and then your girlfriend decided to leave you for him. And then all of a sudden he's involved in all these accusations? What am I supposed to think, but—"

"That I did it? That I set him up or did whatever it took to make sure he failed? And that I marked you as the next target?" His voice remained calm as he spoke. And had she not been caught up in her own emotional turmoil, she would have noticed Keenan's lips curl in cynicism and disbelief.

After that, there was a tense silence that filled the room.

The only sound was her own breathing as Aishleen took deep breaths until she felt calmer. With all those troubling thoughts out in the open, a weight seemed to be lifted from her shoulders. However, she realized that if her accusations were true, she could be in danger. She had to be ready to run.

Then she looked up and met his gaze.

"Do you believe it now?" Keenan asked her, seeing that she was beginning to calm down.

"I don't know anymore, Keenan," her voice faded as she stood there, feeling almost helpless.

Aishleen had no more arguments, no more secrets to burden her. Yet she remained steadfast, unwilling to waver from her conviction. At least until he proved himself and all the accusations against him were false.

"But what if I am? What if I'm the one who sent Darrel to kill you and destroy your father's company?" Keenan spoke in a calm yet threatening tone, leaving his desk and slowly approaching her.

Gritting her teeth without turning her face to show her helplessness, Aishleen kept her feet firmly on the floor and her head up as she answered without doubting herself. "If that is the truth, then I will face it. I will fight you and your family without hesitation. Without blinking an eye."

"Is that so?" he challenged her, now standing right in front of her, almost touching her. So close that she could even feel his breath and the pulse of his heart beating through her chest. "But you won't," he said calmly. "You're not going to do it, are you? Why not? What's stopping you?"

"Because I've been going through some of your old files. And I found that your company's data has been tampered with in much the same way as my father's company," Aishleen took a deep breath as her eyes locked intensely with his. "Judging by the timeline, I think it happened while your brother was still working there."

"Digging into the past, huh?" he muttered as he shook his head. "Just to prove my involvement? Or is this just your way of finding a way to bring me down?"

"I will do whatever it takes to get the information I need," Aishleen replied, standing tall and speaking firmly. "But I will not be able to confirm it until I know if Rachella, your ex, is also involved in the same way that Darrel is in my case." His eyes narrowed.

"How can that be?"

"I'm looking into it as well, just as I've been digging into the background of you and your family," she replied, without revealing that she hadn't been able to find much data on his brother, as much of it had been deleted.

He lifted his face briefly, but Aishleen could still see the disappointment and anger creeping into his gaze. "How deep—" he paused, his voice deep with conviction, "how deep did you dig?"

"I tried to get as much as I could—" she was surprised to see his eyes staring at her intently, "—in every way I could."

With an angry sigh, he grabbed Aishleen's wrist and pulled her closer. "By risking your life like that?" she was startled when he let go of his anger so abruptly. "Do you have any idea of the danger this situation is in?"

"I know exactly what I'm doing, Keenan. What more do I have to fear? I've already been targeted, there's already a price on my life and head. What difference does it make if I face them head on instead of waiting to see if they'll come back in another form and send someone else to catch me?" Aishleen tried not to fight or push, but she could not help staring as he became part of what she suspected.

"Do you really want me to succeed in killing you? Don't you realize that doing all this without any protection will only speed up their pace and make it easier for them to finish their work?" He clenched his jaw to keep his anger from exploding when he saw the flash of fear in the woman's eyes.

"How could you even think of doing this alone?" he expressed his unease in a soft voice, his words filled with concern.

"Because there is no one I can trust!" She replied, her voice shaking with desperation.

"Even me?"

"Especially you," a sob escaped her lips. Aishleen hated to be emotional, but the pain that was building up inside her just exploded without giving her a chance to control it.

"I couldn't even trust my father, and for a long time the only choice I had was to believe that you were the brains behind it all!"

He bit his lip, slowly releasing his grip on her hand. Still, he stayed close to Aishleen. "What made you suspect everything? If you suspected me for so long, what made you stop?"

Aishleen let out a long breath, and suddenly her body went limp. She moved her body a little closer, so that she was standing close to his chest, and finally answered, "Because I'm still not sure if you're the one behind the curtain, or—" she looked Keenan sharply in the eyes, "—or if you're a target, too. Like me."

His gaze softened as he leaned down and touched her forehead with his. His body slowly relaxed as he felt Aishleen begin to relax. "So which one is right? Who am I? Am I the next target or the enemy?"

"Whoever you are—" she whispered softly, "you're still the reason I'm being targeted, aren't you?"