Livienne walked out of the restaurant and sat on the bench by the roadside. The street was quiet with only a few cars passing every now and then. She crossed her legs and brought out her phone.
She dialed a number on it and placed the phone to her ear. Before the person on the other end could speak, she started talking. "Why didn’t you do as you said? You told you would be here before I finished eating. I’m done already and there’s still no sign of you."
She frowned, tapping her foot on the ground repeatedly. Just then, a black car slowly stopped in front of her. Livienne paused and looked up.
This was definitely not Riven’s car.
The car looked expensive, the kind owned by filthingly rich people. The windows were dark, and the body shone under the street lights. She quickly ended the call and straightened her back.
The car window rolled down slowly and a young man’s face appeared. He was not extrely handso, but he didn’t look bad either. Well that doesn’t matter, what caught Livienne’s attention more was the wealth that seed to surround him.
She quickly put on a sweet smile and waved lightly. "Hi... how may I help you?"
The man gave a small nod in greeting, then he spoke up. "Miss Livienne. Could we have a mont?"
Livienne’s heart skipped.
Miss Livienne? How did he know her na?
She felt both nervous and excited. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and walked to the other side of the car, she opened the door and got in without hesitation. Her mind was already running with many thoughts.
Mr. Diero was unreliable anyway. If she could get close to this man instead, things might turn out better. He even looked younger than that old man. And Riven... that useless—
Her thoughts stopped when the man cleared his throat.
Livienne quickly sat straight and adjusted her dress, pretending to smooth the fabric. But In truth, she was only making sure her cleavage was more noticeable.
"Em... I’m Harris," the man said.
Livienne’s cheeks turned slightly red. He was even introducing himself with his first na. "I’m Livienne," she replied softly.
The man, Harris nodded. "I know. I just addressed you by that."
Livienne’s smile froze.
"Oh... I forgot," she said awkwardly.
He’s quite straightforward, she thought.
Then Harris spoke again.
"Miss Livienne, I’ll be brief. Soone sent here. He knows about everything that happened at the Rising Voice live showcase. About Elara. The microphone. And the technicians. We found out you were the one behind it."
Livienne’s smile disappeared. For three seconds, she did not know what to say. "I... I don’t know what you a—"
"No need to deny it." Harris said quickly, raising his hand to cut her short. He took out his phone and showed her a photo.
"This technician already told us everything. Not just him. The others too."
Livienne slowly dug her nails into her palm. Those inexperienced n.
Knowing that she had been caught. She let out a cold snort. "And how does that concern you?"
Harris smiled calmly as he stared at her. "It doesn’t matter much to , but it matters to soone who can crush you into dust." he said. As he said that, a small look of admiration passed through his eyes.
Livienne stared at him. Maybe this was soone Elara had clung to. No wonder she was doing well in Starfall already.
Well, she also got many rich n who wouldn’t hesitate to give her whatever she asks for.
"So, what should happen now?" Livienne said coldly.
"I would advise you to stay away from Elara." Harris said quickly while Livienne narrowed her eyes.
"And what if I don’t?"
Harris’s smile remained the sa. "Then the result will be... a very interesting show." he said.
Livienne snorted but before she could speak again, Harris cleared his throat once more. "Lovely to et you Miss Livienne. Have a good night." he said, indicating he’s done and Livienne may leave.
Livienne sat there for a few seconds, anger burning inside her chest. Then she pushed the door open and stepped out. Before she could fully get away from the car, it sped off suddenly. The strong wind almost made her lose her balance.
"Fuck you," she muttered under her breath. She walked back to the bench, her mood already worse than before. She grabbed her phone and dialed a number again.
"Where the hell are you, you fu—"
She stopped suddenly, breathing hard. A confused voice ca from the other end of the line.
"Uh... I thought you already left. I even went back to the restaurant to check. They said you had gone."
"Co here right now!" she shouted, gritting her teeth.
"Oh... sorry, the fuel in the car ran out. Should I co with the motorcycle instead?"
Livienne’s face turned red with anger. "Motorcycle my foot!" She said and suddenly threw her phone onto the ground. How was she supposed to ride a motorcycle in a gown like this?
A few people walking along the road glanced at her from ti to ti, whispering quietly.
Livienne stood there, breathing heavily through her nose, feeling both angry and humiliated.
Elara you’ll surely regret all these...
_
Relanie was driving along a road in Veston. Her car moved slowly and smoothly. But she seed lost in thought. Her eyes were on the road, yet her mind was sowhere else.
Suddenly, her car almost ran into another car in front of her. The other driver quickly slowed down and moved beside her. The window rolled down and a man leaned out angrily.
"Are you driving with your eyes closed or your brain asleep?" he shouted while Relanie sighed softly. She rolled down her own window.
"I’m so sorry," she said calmly.
The man was about to continue shouting, but when he saw her face, his expression changed imdiately to that of surprise.
"Oh... Miss Relanie, is that you!"
He quickly waved his hands in panic.
"It’s fine! It’s completely fine!"
Relanie gave a small nod, then simply drove away not waiting for him to say anything more.
Not long after, she stopped in front of a restaurant. She checked the ti on her watch for a mont. Then she stepped out of the car. She went inside quickly, bought so fast food, and left imdiately, clearly trying to avoid too much attention.
A few minutes later, her car stopped in front of the Vale Group headquarters. Relanie walked inside and as usual, no one stopped her. The employees who passed by greeted her politely.
"Good evening, Miss Relanie." they kept saying while Relanie also nodded lightly in response as she walked past them. Soon she stopped in front of a door and knocked.
"Co in," a voice said from inside.
Relanie opened the door and saw Harris sitting on his desk. When he saw her, he quickly stood up.
"Miss Relanie! Long ti no see. How have you been these days?"
Relanie smiled faintly.
"I ca to Veston for a charity show, after it ended, I thought I should stop by and say hello." Relanie said smiling faintly.
Harris didn’t say anything but his eyes dropped to the bags in her hand. Relanie noticed and smiled again. She stretched one of the bags toward him.
"I bought sothing for you too."
Harris’s face lit up imdiately. "Really?" he said and quickly took the bag from her hands. "Thank you very much!"
"Is Adrian inside?" Relanie asked while Harris nodded.
"Yes, completely."
Relanie gave a small smile and walked toward the door of Adrian’s office. She knocked once before entering. When she stepped inside, she noticed that Adrian was not in the room but she could hear the sound of running water from the restroom. So she guessed he was inside washing up.
She walked to the coffee table and placed the food bags down, then she took a deep breath. She felt very tired. Just then, she heard sothing.
A voice of soone was singing.
Relanie looked around the room, her eyes finally stopping on the laptop on Adrian’s desk.
"Oh," she said quietly.
"He forgets things quite a lot. Maybe he was watching sothing and forgot to turn it off."
She walked over to the desk and reached out her hand to turn the laptop off but her hand stopped midair before doing so.
On the screen, a video was playing. A young woman was standing on a stage singing without a microphone or any voice amplifier.
The video was short and it kept repeating the sa mont again and again, as if the person who watched it was very interested in that scene.
Relanie stared at the screen, not realizing that her own breath had seized. She had heard about Elara winning the Rising Voice challenge organized by Rye. She had also heard that Elara sang with her own voice when the microphone stopped working. Relanie had not cared much about it at that ti for she simply thought Elara was soone who just liked showing off.
But that was not what was troubling her now. What troubled her was sothing else.
Why was this video playing on Adrian’s laptop? When did he start watching things like this?
Relanie’s eyes slowly drop. If this video was here... Then maybe there were other things too.
After a small mont of hesitation, she gently tapped a few keys on the laptop and just as she expected, more files appeared.
Several photos of Elara. Why is he with all these.
Relanie’s hand slowly tightened. At that mont, she suddenly felt like she did not know Adrian as well as she thought.
Her hand moved to click another file.
And then—
A cold voice sounded from behind her.
"What are you doing?"
Relanie’s heart jumped and she quickly stepped back. Adrian was standing right behind her...
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