Chapter 126 A Good Show
"Lady, you don't care about your life, but I care about mine!"
The taxi driver flat-out refused.
Panic rising, Quinley blurted, "I'll pay more! Isn't that enough?"
She scanned the payment code and immediately transferred five hundred dollars. "Please, I'm begging you. Help me catch up to her."
The driver let out a heavy sigh. For that kind of money, he'd do what she asked.
But the motorcycle had vanished like it never existed. The driver took Quinley halfway around Rosewood City without finding a trace of it. Eventually the tank ran low, and he refused to go any further. Quinley had to give up.
Days passed like that.
Susan had appeared for one brief moment, then disappeared completely again. Quinley called that unknown number over and over, but every time it went straight to voicemail.
Then the day of Quinley and David's wedding arrived.
The night before, Zachary left on a business trip.
"Mr. Jennings, do we really have to go on this trip right now? That project hasn't even broken ground yet," Lucas said, genuinely confused.
Since returning to Apex Global Group, Zachary had become even more of a workaholic. Meetings back-to-back all day, and after hours he was either working late or... working late. He'd turned himself into a machine, and since the CEO was grinding nonstop, everyone else at the company had no choice but to follow suit.
As his assistant, Lucas was exhausted.
"How's it supposed to break ground if we don't go?" Zachary said coldly, not looking up from his files.
Lucas knew the real reason. Zachary was channeling his pain into work. Quinley was about to marry someone else, and this urgent business trip was just his way of avoiding the wedding.
"Mr. Jennings, are we really not going to Ms. Elikin's wedding?" Lucas ventured carefully.
They'd all worked together. A wedding was a major life event. Not showing up seemed wrong somehow.
Zachary shot him a look that could kill. "If you want to go, go by yourself."
Lucas froze. That shut him up real quick. He did want to go, but... could he really?
On the morning of the wedding, Lucas had someone deliver a gift and his best wishes to Quinley, hoping she'd have a long and happy life. He'd considered sending something on Zachary's behalf too, but he was scared of overstepping and getting chewed out again.
[Ms. Elikin, wishing you so much happiness! Got a work thing, so I can't make it in person.]
Lucas typed out the message and sent it. But almost immediately, he deleted it and tried again.
[Mr. Jennings and I are on a business trip, so we can't be there to celebrate with you, but I hope you'll be really happy.]
This time he included Zachary's name.
Quinley didn't accept the money transfer or reply to the message. Even though this was a fake marriage, David had insisted on going all out with a big ceremony. Quinley went along with it, playing her part, though it exhausted her.
She didn't have many friends. She'd lost touch with most of her old classmates. Hardly anyone even knew she was getting married.
She never replied to Lucas's message. Adela sent her congratulations too, which also went unanswered.
At the hotel, Quinley sat stone-faced while they did her makeup. Today wasn't just about the wedding with David—she had something else major planned. Something no one could know about.
"Quinny, this is for you."
While the stylist was pinning up Quinley's hair, Marlee slipped a silver bracelet off her wrist and pressed it into Quinley's hand.
"Mom, no. I don't need this. You keep it."
Quinley was caught off guard. That bracelet was a family heirloom—nothing fancy, but Marlee had worn it forever. She couldn't give Quinley any kind of dowry, and it was clearly eating at her.
"Quinny, don't think it's too little. I just... I can't give you anything else." Marlee's eyes were already red.
"You raised me. That wasn't easy. I don't need these things. As long as you and Dad are healthy, that's enough."
Quinley's throat tightened painfully. No matter how much Colin and Marlee favored the others, they'd raised her. She owed them that gratitude.
Colin's health kept him from attending the wedding. Dennis was still pissed off, so he wasn't coming either. This whole performance of a wedding, and Quinley was like an orphan standing alone in it.
In Rosewood City tradition, the bride rode alone in the wedding car to the groom's family home. After paying respects to his parents, the couple would ride together to the ceremony venue.
Marlee saw Quinley into the wedding car. The sadness melted off her face, replaced by something almost cheerful. Everyone around them wore bright smiles. Everyone except Quinley.
She got in, and the car pulled away.
Quinley took out her phone and texted Detective Wilson.
[I've left. Proceed as planned.]
[Received.]
The reply came instantly. Quinley deleted the conversation thread. She was orchestrating an elaborate scheme—director and lead actress all in one. In her pocket, she already had a brand new identity.
Now all she had to do was disappear in a way no one would notice.
"Ms. Elikin, we're going this way?" the driver asked.
Detective Wilson had already handled things with him.
Quinley nodded. "Yes."
Halfway through the route, the car slowly peeled away from the convoy and turned down an alley with no surveillance cameras. Quinley got out. A black van was already waiting.
The wedding car drove off along its planned route. Quinley's van headed in the opposite direction.
According to the original plan, the wedding car would suffer brake failure on the road, then plunge off a bridge into the sea. Whether Quinley was in it or not, no one would know the difference. A car at the bottom of the ocean—they might never recover a body.
So this escape plan could actually work.
She rolled the window down a crack. Free air rushed in.
Quinley closed her eyes halfway, letting herself imagine the life ahead. Detective Wilson had already bought her a little house with a yard in some small town. She'd get a dog, a cat, plant tons of sunflowers in the garden. When the baby came, she'd take her to see blue skies and white clouds, play by streams. Watch that child grow up while she grew old.
Let everything in Rosewood City become ancient history.
"Ms. Elikin, the engine seems to be acting up. Let me take a look."
The van was climbing a hillside road when the driver suddenly pulled over.
Quinley didn't think much of it. "Okay."
The driver popped the hood and bent over the engine with his tools. Quinley leaned back in her seat, enjoying the cool breeze.
Ten thirty-eight. The wedding car she was supposed to be in—it should be on the bridge right about now, shouldn't it?
That thought flickered through her mind for just a second.
Then suddenly, a massive force slammed into the back of the van. The vehicle lurched forward, completely out of control. Quinley grabbed for the door handle, but it wouldn't budge—like it was locked from the outside.
She pounded on the window. Nothing.
The van tumbled down the slope, rolling over and over...