Chapter 86 Who are you?
ANNA'S POV
The rest of the questions passed in a blur, and I noticed that the journalist that asked about James was no longer in the crowd. As soon as I got down the stage, my mom was by my side immediately.
“Do you seem to know who that was?” she asked immediately. I could feel the tears pricking the back of my eyes as I shook my head.
“I'll come with you,” Daniel said, and for the first time, I didn't refuse. I couldn't help but wish that Ryan was somewhere around. He knew how to handle things like this. “Ryan had a business meeting with foreign clients. He would have been here,” Daniel added, like he could read my mind.
“I'll come too,” my mom said, but Daniel was quick to stop her.
“You don't have to bother. You and dad can go home. Anna and I will take it up from here.”
The both of us watched my mom literally disappear as she walked away. I turned up to look at Daniel, finally calming down a bit.
“You don't have to come either. I'll handle everything. Besides, it's all my business.”
He frowned. “You should have thought about that when you involved me in buying shares. No one messes with my sister.”
Warmth spread across my chest as he took my hand, urging me to follow my assistant into the building, where the journalist was supposedly staying.
“In here,” Lita said calmly. I could see the tension on her own face. I didn't know how the journalist got that bit of information. Even if Lita was going to make sure that none of that part got to the news, the journalists were still going to be talking amongst themselves. They were still going to suspect something.
I wasn't quite ready to release the evidence yet. And the backlash that I was going to get wasn't something that I was ready for as well.
I exhaled sharply as I pushed the door open, taking in the sight of the petite woman that sag down in the chair comfortably. She looked too posh to be a journalist.
It was the same journalist that asked about James kneeling down right in front of the gate.
“You…” I started.
“Who are you?” Daniel asked immediately.
She gently kept her cup of coffee on the table, before standing up, smoothening her skirt. “A journalist,” she answered so plainly that it was getting on my nerves.
“What do you want?” I asked her, trying to maintain my cool. “Money?”
“I actually want nothing,” she whispered as she took a step towards me. She was so close that I could feel her hot breath on my face.
Daniel stepped in between the both of us. “You can say whatever you want to, all the way from where you're standing,” he said without second thought.
She cocked an eyebrow. “I just want you to know that you're being watched. Not everything you think you know is a secret.”
It was immediately getting harder to breathe, but I was masking it well.
It turned out that not everything I was doing was hidden. I had to be even more careful with the next steps that I was taking.
“I dont think you know anything more that whatever you tried to expose there,” I said, tilting my chin. She seemed smaller for a second, and I knew that I was right. I looked around her neck for any kind of name tag or collar, and there was none.
“What's your name?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.
“Joyce,” she said. Her voice was now shaky. Good.
I took a step towards her, feeling Daniel's eyes in my back. “You don't even work for the press, do you?” I asked her.
She slowly shook her head, and I found myself letting out a breath of relief. She was just a distraction. But she couldn't have come here on her own. That was where Daniel stepped in, towering over her. He was calm, but I could literally sense the anger brewing underneath.
“And who sent you here?” He asked, almost in a growl.
Joyce's legs shook in her heels.
“That, I can't say. Please just let me go,” she whispered. I could already sense the tears in her eyes. My only thought went to Melissa or James. They were the only ones that were capable of pulling such a cheap trick.
But this was a warning. I didn't have much time to keep this whole thing a secret. At least to keep my image safe and expose James to the world. The world needed to know that he was a thief. They needed to know that he was the one putting the lives of patients at risk.
“Let her go,” I told Daniel, and he gently took a step back while Joyce scrambled out of the office, all her poise gone.
Daniel slowly exhaled. “Do you want me to go ahead and find out who actually sent her?” He asked. I wanted to nod, but there was no use of adding to the work load that he already had. He wanted to find the person that framed me with the family heirloom. Even if I asked him to leave it alone, he didn't want to.
He was playing the role of the protective brother, and I couldn't even complain. It was the one thing that I never had.
“Have you heard from Isabel?” I asked him, and he groaned.
“Please don't tell me you're expecting her to show up here and congratulate you for releasing something that powerful.”
“She could at least show up once. I really want to cultivate the perfect sister relationship with her.”
Daniel seemed to snort. “Well, the both of you have been at it for too long. You might as well talk to her once. See how it all comes along, and then you'd know what to do.”
I cocked my head to the side, giving him a small smile. “You think so, Dan?” I asked him, and he nodded.
“She might ask you to offer Ryan to her on a silver platter. If you're ready to do that, then sure. You'd have Isabel at your side.”
Daniel was watching me, waiting for me to say that I could do that. But even as I tried to convince myself that Ryan and I were nothing but friends, I could never fully make myself believe it.