Chapter 221 The Corpse Was Stripped
"Amara, stop right there."
"Mom..." Amara awkwardly stopped in her tracks. Seeing Harper sitting in the living room reading, she put on a goofy smile and sidled over.
"It's so late, why aren't you asleep yet?"
"My daughter hasn't been home for three days - how could I sleep?" Harper shot back sarcastically.
Amara awkwardly touched her nose. "Not that bad! The hospital's been pretty busy lately."
Harper let out a laugh. "Oh really? Because when I called your director, he said you've been leaving right on time these past few days, not willing to stay even one second longer."
"When he asked why you were leaving on time, you told him your parents were sick and you needed to come home to take care of them? Tell me, which one of us - me or your dad - is actually sick? Who needs you to stay away from home all the time to take care of them?"
Amara: What!
Busted!
"Didn't you tell me to spend more time on myself? I've been socializing!"
"Then where have you been staying at night?"
"At my brother's place."
Harper was getting angry. "They're newlyweds who need time to bond, and you keep showing up to mooch food and lodging? What, just because you're single doesn't mean you'll let others be happy?"
That stung.
"Maple Grove Villas is huge - they probably don't even notice I'm there! Besides, if I came home to see my mom every day, people would think I'm a mama's girl. The biggest turn-off in dating these days is mama's boys and mama's girls. I need to shake off that reputation."
"Right, and nowadays dating also requires having a car and a house but no parents! So to find a boyfriend, maybe you should think of something!"
Amara acted cute and snuggled up to Harper. "I was wrong! Don't curse yourself like that, it breaks my heart."
"If you really cared about my heart, you'd give me less to worry about."
"I got it. Where's Dad?"
"Someone asked him out," Harper glanced at Amara. "There's steamed bird's nest in the kitchen, go have some."
"You've been staying at your brother's place lately - have you heard if anything happened to him?"
Amara was crouching in front of the steam oven getting the bird's nest when Harper's words made her heart skip a beat. "No, why do you ask?"
"It's nothing. I just saw your dad's face looked off when he took a call tonight. I vaguely heard the other person mention your brother's name, so I'm a bit worried."
Amara: ...
No way!
They've come looking for Vaughn.
Amara had doubts but didn't dare show it in front of Harper. She reassured her: "My brother's so smart, he can handle whatever comes up. Don't worry."
As soon as Harper left, Amara immediately messaged Thalia on Messenger.
She told her about Vaughn being called out.
At that moment, Thalia was sitting on a boat, phone in one hand, fork in the other. She was eating while casually scrolling through the crew group chat on Messenger. When Amara's message came in, she immediately screenshotted it and sent it to William.
She craned her neck to see William on the shore, noticing he hadn't taken out his phone. She called him, then hung up as soon as she saw him pull out his phone.
This way she wouldn't interrupt his conversation but could still make him see the message - killing two birds with one stone.
Before long, William came back with his phone, seemingly on a call with Vaughn. Just a few brief words, not much.
William hung up and saw Thalia holding her phone, about to reply to the message.
"The food's getting cold."
"Just a sec."
"Was that person just now your friend?"
"Sort of."
Thalia responded without saying more.
Meanwhile, Finn led his people to an abandoned factory. He bent down to go in and take a look, but before he could enter, he found the body they were looking for on the factory lawn.
Unlike in the morgue, this body had all its clothes stripped off, leaving only underwear.
"What kind of pervert drags a body out just to strip its clothes?"
"Could there be something in the clothes we didn't find at first?" Ethan said, waving his hand to have people spread out and search.
He and Finn crouched by the body to examine it. "Did William piss someone off?"
"Hard to say."
"Is it hard to say or are you afraid to say?"
Finn glanced at Ethan, knowing he was one of their own and didn't need to hide things. "The boss is still investigating, but he's not quite sure. It probably has something to do with the capital."
"Just tell me straight - is this a business rivalry or a family feud?" Ethan was direct.
Finn shook his head. "Not clear, we're still investigating!"
Some things weren't for him to know. He just needed to do everything the boss assigned him.
"Let's take the body back first. We took lots of photos at the scene last night - we can look for clues in those."
...
Thalia returned to the crew two days later. Aaron thought she'd take more days off, but she actually showed up right on time.
"Aaron, why so happy? Good news?"
"Someone's planning a special variety show just for you and Gregory."
"What variety show?"
"Country life, but different from the livestream you did before."
"Who's so generous to invest in a variety show for us?"
"Supposedly a big shot in the investment world, last name Ward," the makeup artist had only heard half the gossip. As she was trying to remember the name, Thalia smoothly finished her sentence: "Rainey?"
"Yes, that's him. He also sent you two endorsement deals."
"Aaron said he's treating you like a lucky charm."
"Says you bring in money."
Thalia: ...
Others might not know what Rainey meant by this, but Thalia understood. He was just looking for an excuse to apologize.
Sure enough, no one in the business world is stupid.
"Aaron also said everyone should have dinner together tonight to bond. He'll probably come tell you soon."
"Can I not go?" Thalia was thinking about this.
Hearing this, Isla got the feeling Thalia was about to cause trouble again and pulled out her phone, ready to tip off Layla.
"Sure, you're the investor in this show now. If you don't want to go, you don't have to. Aaron can't do anything about it. But I heard this Mr. Ward is a major investor in entertainment. If Aaron wants to introduce you to the investor, it wouldn't hurt to meet him."
The makeup artist's words were tactful and appropriate. Thalia seemed pleased, but thinking of Rainey's real purpose, she didn't continue the conversation.
She went on set and worked until 7:30 PM when Aaron finally found Thalia.
"Want to have dinner with an investor tonight?"
"No," Thalia slowly unscrewed her water bottle and took a sip, her gaze drifting to Aaron. "Alfonso was brought up by Rainey. Rainey knows he offended me, that's why he's sending endorsements and variety shows now."