Chapter 27 TRIP
\[BLACKTHORN AUTOMOBILE\]
Ixora had been focused on her work. She decided to come to the company today. Drexton didn't try to scare her as usual, and that made her happy.
But she couldn't stop herself from checking the entrance. He wasn't at work today, and that was so unlike him.
Kian was the one who attended the conference meeting. She saw Kian coming out of the office, and she was sure he was going on his lunch break.
"Kian," she called after him.
He answered, giving her his attention.
"Uhm, I was wondering why the boss wasn't at work today," she said.
Kian narrowed his brows while staring at her.
"He's on a trip," he replied, still looking at her.
He was surprised how she wasn't even aware despite being his secretary.
Ixora's mouth formed an 'O'.
"Lunch?" he asked.
Ixora glanced at her desk. "Sure."
They wanted to leave when their eyes caught the murmurings outside.
"What is going on?" she muttered.
"I will go take a look," he said, leaving while Ixora followed behind.
\---
Bonnie Cat walked into the company, heading straight towards Drexton's office.
"I'm sorry, but you can't go further. Boss is not around," Kian said respectfully, standing in front of her.
"Move," she glared.
Kian sighed helplessly, taking two steps towards the right.
"I'm not here for Drex," she smirked, then continued walking ahead, stopping right before Ixora.
"I'm here for her." The smirk disappeared, being replaced by a dark look.
"Good morning, Miss," Ixora bowed, though indifferently.
She doesn't know why, but for some reason, she just doesn't like her.
"Why are you here, Miss ?" Ixora asked, trying to maintain the smile on her face.
"Have lunch with me," Bonnie said, already leading the way.
Ixora turned to Kian. "We can have lunch some other day," Ixora said.
Kian smiled and nodded.
"I wonder what she even thinks of herself," Ixora sighed and followed her.
\---
"What do you want to have?" Ixora asked.
"What's your relationship with Drexton?" Bonnie asked instead.
"Pardon?" Ixora frowned in confusion.
Bonnie let out a short smile, "I'll have steak."
"Okay," Ixora placed the order while exhaling softly.
Shortly, the food arrived, but Bonnie didn't bulge.
"Your steak," Ixora said.
"Hmm," Bonnie took the fork and stabbed the steak brutally, earning a short gasp from Ixora.
"Drexton seems to take some sort of interest in you," Bonnie said without looking up at her.
"I think you must be mistaken here. I am just his secretary," Ixora let out a short smile.
If only Bonnie knew what she had to go through.
"I'm not a fool, Ixora," Bonnie said darkly.
"Or....are you satisfying his urges?" She added with a dark smirk.
Ixora frowned deeply. She was slowly losing control.
"I won't take insults from you," she glared.
"Don't try to deny it," Bonnie chuckled. "Drexton doesn't go after women, so obviously, you are the one who offered yourself to him."
"Who the hell do you think you are!" Ixora sprang from her seat.
"Just because you are some sort of shitty model, you think you can spill trash to anyone you deem fit! If you are one of those girls who go about sleeping with men just because you find them good-looking, then count me out of the crew, okay, because I have my dignity to keep," Ixora retorted with a rising chest.
"I won't say this again. Let Drexton be a nightmare you'd want to wake up from. To you...let him be a demon you'd want to escape. Let him be your worst reality—a meaningless realization. Stay away....else, you'll end up even worse than this steak ever did." Bonnie said slowly, giving the steak one last stab.
"Don't make me visit you again. Have a nice day," With that, she stood up and left, leaving Ixora to ponder over her words.
"She must be so close to Drexton, that's why she even talks like him." She shook her head.
"Aside from an international model, who is she?" Ixora mumbled to herself, tracing her gaze to the steak.
The poor steak that had suffered from her brutality.
\[CAIUS HOUSE\]
Lorraine sat on a swing chair in an eerie, dark room, a whiskey in her hand as the chair swung back and forth. Her palm was tightened on the glass cup. It could break at any moment from now.
The only light in the room was Drex's eyes (her robot), giving her a gentle massage on her feet. Despite that, her mind rotated around two words,
Ixora Castellan.
The background check was useless. She couldn't find anything meaningful. She would have ignored the girl if Bonnie hadn't felt threatened by her, but she did and now...
Caius' expression turned dark the moment Bonnie mentioned the Castellan. She feels like she is left in the dark. Her eyes went to the cup, and she folded her fist around it so tightly that the cup shattered into pieces, piercing deeply into her palm.
Lorraine glared at her palm, not feeling the stinging pain.
Drex took his gaze to her hand, stood and went to the ward rope. It returned with a first aid kit. It lowered her hand and began dressing the wound.
Lorraine smiled. "Who do you belong to?"
"I belong to you and only you, Lorraine," it replied.
"Who owns you?"
"You do."
"Who has the right to touch you?"
"You do."
"And you?"
"I belong to you. Every part of me, my body and soul belongs to you, Lorraine."
Lorraine's eyes turned dark while her smile deepened a lot. Her face became darker.
"You belong to me, Drexton, no one else but me...not even my daughter," she muttered, laughing crazily.
\[ITALY\]
A person was seen, high on her heels, and a scarf wrapped around her neck. She looked back and seeing the men that were after her, she sprinted quicker.
The chilly air slapped her skin, and the scarf kept flying around her neck.
"Hurry up, we can't lose her."
She heard their voices behind her. Her muscles tightened as she increased her speed.
They were after her life, and she had no idea.
She looked back and saw them closely behind her.
"Hurry up!"
She bolted quicker, but—
"Ahh!!!"
\---
Drexton stepped out of his car. He opened his palm and saw the tracker beeping repeatedly.
"She's close," he muttered, slowly following the tracker's red dot.
It got to a point: the tracker started beeping repeatedly.
He darted his gaze around and saw a girl's body lying on the ground.
He pocketed the tracker and hastened his steps.
On getting to the person, he saw blood pooling beneath her body.
Her head was bleeding profusely. He shook his head before squatting beside her. He checked her pulse, and he met dead silence.
"She is dead," he muttered and stood back on his feet.
He took out his phone to call the station when his memory snapped.
In the video, it looked like she was hiding. Somebody wanted her dead. She was murdered right before he could get here, but by whom?
She was the only one they needed to get answers. Was she hiding something?
He brushed the thoughts off as he phoned the station. He took a few steps away from her before dialing Jaxon's line.
"Dead," he said when Jaxon answered.
Crash.
A glass was smashed against the wall. He didn't flinch, his eyes emotionless as he waited for Jaxon to finish cussing and tantrum.
The background slowly died down.
"I'm coming back. Until then, find out if she had any enemies," Drexton said, and hung up the call.
He took a last glance at the dead body before getting into his car.
One hand was placed on the steering wheel while the other was on his phone.
He wasn't driving, his gaze boring into whatever he was staring at.
Ixora.
She was in her room, her hair packed in a double bun, loud music and a remote in her hand. She was singing the song and dancing at the same time while shouting—
There was no Drexton today.
Drexton's expression remained neutral.