“Don’t forget our agreement, Captain Gleeman,” Elise reminded.
“I’m a man of my word.” Jackson was as cold as ever. “But your friend got me fired. I’d love to help you,
but I simply can’t.”
“Right, Simon Bull! How could I forget about him!” After a sudden realization, Elise muttered to herself, “I
should have gone to Mr. Bull right away, and I didn’t have to let you go…”
Hearing that, Jackson was dumbfounded. “You know, Miss Sinclair, I’m still here. Maybe you could’ve
omitted some words from your mouth.”
“Nah, it’s fine. We’re literally best friends. It doesn’t matter whether you heard them or not.” After giving
him a pat on the shoulder, Elise exited the room.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Jackson stopped her.
“Nothing.” She explained, “I’ll have the mayor look for Claude.”
“What about me?” The man was somehow disaffected.
“Do whatever you want. Who cares.” Elise waved her hand as she walked out.
“I now know Max’s identity. Are you not afraid that I might arrest him?” Jackson warned.
“Be sure to tell me when you do. I don’t mind seeing for myself how the self-proclaimed justice enforcer
Captain Gleeman would look like when he abuses his position to handle private affairs.” Elise halted her
steps, though she didn’t turn back.
*
“What are you trying to say?” Jackson squinted his eyes as he grew more hostile.
“What I’m trying to say is, no matter how shady Claude is, he’s still a doctor at the end of the day. How
grave of a crime could he possibly commit? The only reason you’d arrest him pertains to him treating
whomever. He’s a trained doctor. That’s why you wouldn’t kill him or hurt him as you couldn’t afford any
damage to him. Otherwise, the person you wanted to rescue would have no choice but to die.” Finished,
Elise resolutely left.
As Jackson was left standing rooted to the spot, speechless, his eyes grew gloomier. After a while, he
regained his senses and slowly turned to Alexander. “Max is Claude, who happens to be so close with
Elise, whom Moses always treats with utmost respect. Besides, her needling skills are crazy deadly, and
no one could dodge her attacks. Seriously, who’s your fiancee?”
“You figure it out.” Alexander patted him before returning to his own room.
Then, Jackson turned to Clement, who was still hiding in the sheets. Shortly after, he suddenly blurted,
“They’re already gone! Why are you so shy? It’s not like I’ve never seen it.”
Clement, who was about to drag the sheets away, heard that and immediately hid in his sheets before
throwing himself onto bed.
After an entire day of slumber, Jackson couldn’t feel any drowsiness within him. With that, he
went out and shut the door. Having been confined for so many days, he wished to see how the outside
world had become.
Back to her room, Elise dialed Simon’s personal number.
Swiftly, Simon answered the call. “Elise?”
“How did you know?” Elise was surprised.
“Only a few know this number. Besides, everyone I know are old people who sleep early. Who else,
except you, would call at such a time?” he explained.
“I see.” And so, Elise cut to the chase. “One of my friends got kidnapped in the black market, and I need
your power to run a city-wide search. Are you able to do that?”
Walking down a politician’s path would mean being constantly observed. One wrong step could easily be
used by others as a leverage, leading the man to his irremediable demise, and all the hard work he had
put into his work would go in vain.
Thus, if she weren’t driven into a corner, Elise wouldn’t have come to trouble Simon. However, since
Claude was involved, she urgently had to request for his help.
An anonymous enemy was the most formidable. Elise was worried that Claude might be kidnapped by
someone from SK Group. Since they were malicious enough to drug Joseph, they would certainly be
capable of doing something more brutal to Claude. Therefore, she couldn’t afford to waste even one
minute.
“Send me your friend’s photo and any other details about him. I’ll send men to find him right away.”
Simon instantly agreed to her request without hesitation.
Although she didn’t intend to bother him, realizing night was the best time for suspicious activities, she
quickly acknowledged it. “Okay. I’ll send them over at once.” Elise was about to hang up after saying
that.
“H-Hold on. Don’t hang up yet.” Simon called for her. “You didn’t cause any trouble in the black market,
did you?”
“No. The black market’s supervisor is a friend. No one would dare to disturb me,” she confessed. “So it’s
not people from the black market.”
ON
“No, not that. I was talking about your safety.” He grudgingly vented, “I know what the black market is
like. It’s where all the filth and terror resides. Is the university’s security that lenient? Don’t they care
when students just wander however they wish at night?”
“Ah, time to keep up, Mr. Bull.” Elise helplessly shook her head. “It’s all about empowerment now. Only
when unbound can one truly and freely experience the world! The age of locking ourselves in our rooms
obediently like a goody two-shoes is long gone.”
“You and your metaphors! Liberty is only good at a suitable amount. Too much of it will only lead to
chaos. Without order, society is prone to corruption. And that makes me worried that someone might be
taking advantage of you and your fast learner’s gift!” Simon patiently advised.
“Man, you nag more than my grandpa! Maybe I should rat on you to your woman and see if you like the
sound of bees buzzing in your ears!” Elise angrily suggested.
“My woman’s not as good at words as you,” Simon replied.
“Okay, fine, husband of the century. Yawn… Boy, am I exhausted. Talk to you later. Bye!” Faking a yawn,
Elise immediately hung up. Throwing the phone aside, she grabbed her laptop and hacked into
Anderson Pharmaceuticals’ insider site and obtained Faye’s schedule for the following week. Studying
the schedule on her computer, Elise crossed her arms as she slowly lay against the back of her chair.
“Oh, Faye, get ready to feel what it’s like to be haunted by guilt! I’ll take everything from you in Trevor’s
stead!”
She took a deep breath, and as she was about to turn off her computer, she received a voice call. It was
a number from the loophole she created back when she contacted Xavier. Accordingly, she turned on her
voice changer application before answering the call.
“Joseph, you there?” Xavier spoke in a suppressed voice, obviously trying to conceal his position.
“It’s Eliza,” Elise replied in a masculine, deep timbre.
“Give me your coordinates. Need a rendezvous.” Xavier warily observed his surroundings. Given his
injury, all he could do if he were to get caught now was to acquiesce with his capturer.
After contemplating, Elise glimpsed at Faye’s schedule before giving Xavier a location in Landred
City.
With that, Xavier ended the call.
Elise could vaguely figure out what Xavier had gone through to end up holding onto his last sliver of hope
and making that phone call.
Though, fortunately, she didn’t miss it.
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