Chapter 71
The bar.
This was where Leo and I first met.
Tonight, my emotions were a wreck. If I didn't let off some steam, I might actually lose my mind.
I found a bartender and asked about Leo.
"Excuse me, is Leo here?"
But the bartender looked completely confused. "Leo? Do we have someone by that name working here?"
My heart seized. "How can he not be here? He's always worked here. Think again."
The bartender thought carefully. "But we really don't have anyone by that name. Why don't you just call him directly?"
I pulled out my phone to contact Leo.
But the instant I was about to dial, I hesitated.
I pulled up a photo I'd secretly taken of Leo from my camera roll and showed it to the bartender.
"Look. Do you recognize him?"
"This..." The bartender studied it, sounding uncertain. "We get a lot of guys who look like this at our bar. I can't say for sure if he works here."
I didn't give up. I handed him my phone directly. "Then can you ask around for me? If there's any news, I'll pay you for your trouble."
Hearing that, the bartender immediately called over several others to help identify him.
Every single one said they'd never seen him.
I calmly took back my phone. After transferring payment to each of them, I left the bar and headed straight for Leopold's villa.
Standing outside the villa gates, I could see lights on inside through the entrance.
I knew Leopold and Sophia had both returned.
I immediately sent Leo a message.
[Where are you right now? Home, or the bar?]
After sending it, I leaned against the wall to wait.
Everything around me was quiet.
Only my heartbeat sounded unusually loud.
I couldn't quite explain why I'd come here, but a voice deep inside kept insisting I should.
A notification chimed.
I quickly opened the message. Leo had replied.
[I'm working the late shift tonight. Why?]
My breathing quickened. The hand gripping my phone trembled uncontrollably.
[Then why did I go to the bar looking for you, and they said no one by your name works there?]
Just then, across the distance, I heard faint movement from inside.
I turned and ducked around the corner, peeking out.
Leopold, wearing only a thin dress shirt, walked out onto the second-floor balcony.
A cigarette was tucked between the fingers of one hand. His other hand held his phone, tapping rapidly.
I kept glancing at my phone screen.
But it never lit up.
Had I guessed wrong?
"Who's lurking over there?"
Someone suddenly called out. I jumped, making eye contact with them.
Sophia!
Sophia looked shocked to see me and immediately rushed over.
"Lucinda, why aren't you home this late at night? What are you doing here?"
"Are you plotting something shady behind my back again?"
Seeing how on edge she was actually made me relax.
"I wasn't planning to do anything, but now that you mention it, maybe I should."
Sophia went on high alert. "I'm warning you—don't come here again without my permission, or you'll regret it!"
I studied her for a moment. Something felt off.
"Sophia, didn't you say your mother went missing, and you couldn't sit still? Why aren't you anxious now?"
Sophia's expression shifted slightly. "Who says I'm not anxious? I just—"
"You just lied." I finished for her.
Sophia's eyes went wide with shock. Then she stubbornly deflected, "What are you implying? You think I'm faking it?"
I smiled faintly. "I wouldn't mind chatting at the coffee shop by the gate. If you refuse, I'll just have to come inside and chat with you there instead."
Sophia looked wary but had no choice but to agree.
At the coffee shop, the moment we sat down, I got straight to the point.
"So, did your mom really go missing or not?"
Sophia clutched her purse. "Of course it's real. Why would I lie about something like that?"
"That's what I'm wondering too. Why would you lie to Leopold and me?"
I stared directly at her, watching her grow increasingly uncomfortable.
"I must be crazy to sit here alone with someone like you." Sophia shot to her feet. "I have things to do. I'm leaving."
Unhurried, I pulled out my phone and opened the two voice recordings I'd sent Leo earlier.
"What do you think would happen if I played these recordings for Leopold? Would he still believe you're the victim?"
Sophia froze instantly, turning back with a dark expression.
"Are you threatening me?"
"You can interpret it that way." I set down my phone. "Can we talk properly now?"
Sophia returned to her seat warily. "What do you want to know?"
"I want to know if you and your mother really got kidnapped. And why did my senior and Leopold get into a fight?"
Instead of answering, Sophia eyed me suspiciously and told me to turn off my phone.
I complied, powering it down.
Sophia examined me further, making sure I wasn't hiding any other recording devices, before finally relaxing.
"Lucinda, you still haven't grasped the reality of the situation."
"Whether this thing is real or fake doesn't depend on the thing itself—it depends on what I say."
"As long as I say it's real, Leopold will believe it's real and do everything he can to help me find her."
Of course, it was another one of her performances.
I didn't want to hear this. "Answer my second question," I said coldly.
Sophia leaned back leisurely in her chair with a light laugh. "What else could it be? It was because of me, obviously. I pretended your senior pushed me down. Leo thought I was being bullied, so naturally he stepped in."
I'd known there had to be more to their fight, but that alone wouldn't be enough.
"No other reason?"
"Nope."
She answered with such certainty that I believed her even less.
I shifted to another question that had been bothering me.
"What did Leopold mean tonight when he said I fooled him?"
At the mention of this, Sophia's expression visibly tightened.
"Why are you asking about that?"
"You don't need to know. You just need to answer my question."
"I don't know."
Sophia evaded.
The more she did, the more suspicious I became.
"Do you want me to go ask Leopold right now?"
Sophia's brow furrowed in irritation. "Lucinda!"
"No need to call my name," I said calmly. "The choice is in your hands."
Sophia's chest heaved violently. Finally, as if venting her frustration, she smiled at me mockingly. "Leo said you lied to him. That you were intimate with another man behind his back—and he caught you red-handed."
"That's impossible!" I slammed my hand on the table. "You're lying!"
Sophia's smile deepened. "Lucinda, you're such a masochist!"
"When I don't tell you, you force me to. When I do tell you, you don't believe me."
Waves of shock crashed through my chest. I couldn't bring myself to believe her words.
"None of what you're saying is true. I want the truth!"
"This is exactly what Leo told me himself."
Sophia's smile faded. She continued, enunciating each word, "And he also said the biggest regret of his life was meeting you."
Those words were like poison-tipped needles, striking precisely into my heart.
How could this be?
I would never be intimate with another man behind his back.
And I certainly wouldn't be stupid enough to get caught by him.
I demanded furiously, "Then tell me—who was this man I was supposedly intimate with?"
"How should I know who your boy toys are?"
Sophia's tone shifted mockingly. "Though I'll give you credit, Lucinda—you do have some talent. You've kept Leo wavering all this time."
"But that's all it is. I won't let you influence Leo anymore! And—"
"Don't think that just because Ethan rejected me, I can't get into the Royal Ballet. Leopold said as long as I want it, every top dance company will open their doors to me."
"And you? You'll always be nothing more than my defeated rival!"