Chapter 240
Chapter 240
A dark flicker crossed Yann’s deep set eyes. Just before popping the apple into his mouth, he paused and pretended to set it back
Audrey quickly clasped his hand. “You can still eat it even if you don’t agree.”
Yann eyed her face without a word.
She took the apple from his grasp and held it to his lips, pouting playfully.
Yann leaned back slightly.
“Want me to feed you?” she murmured.
Under her insistent gaze, he opened his mouth to bite the apple but didn’t chew as if he’d spit it out the moment she made a wild demand.
Audrey looped her arm through his and flopped against him like a limp ragdoll, staring into his deep eyes. “You said cats toy with mice before eating them.”
She loathed Valerie. Her plan had been to make Valerie suffer, lose everything she’d schemed for, and feel that crushing mix of disappointment and bitterness. That would be the ultimate punishment.
But seeing Luna today had unsettled her.
Innocent kids don’t choose their families. Luna couldn’t pick a mother who was greedy, selfish, ruthless, and cruel.
Audrey had called the cops this time, but what about next time?
If this kept up, Luna would eventually suffer permanent damage from allergic reactions.
“I want to wrap this up fast,” Audrey said.
Yann pulled her close, patting her back like a parent comforting a child, and slowly chewed the apple.
He knew Audrey wasn’t soft–hearted. This struck a chord with her, given her miserable childhood.
“Luna is my daughter. I’d rather take the fall myself than see her hurt,” Valerie insisted, even after police showed footage of her two previous extortion
attempts.
The officer turned to his partner. “Go check with the other interrogation room. If Cheryl confesses first, we’ll offer her a deal.”
“Copy that.” The partner stood and left.
Valerie buried her face in her hands, switching between real tears and fake sobs.
Peeking through her fingers as the other officer left the room, she asked, puzzled, “Did my mom come in? Then who’s looking after my d only five. She’ll freak out if she doesn’t see us!”
Valerie tried to stand up, but a sharp shout from the police officer made her plop back down.
In the next interrogation room, the officer didn’t go inside. He left the door half–open and motioned for his colleague to step out.
They talked in hushed voices, just loud enough for Cheryl to catch every word.
“Has she confessed yet?” one asked.
r? She’s
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Chapter 240
“Not yet,” the other replied.
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“Captain said this case is a huge mess and we have to come down hard. But we can offer a deal if either of them confesses. The suspect I’m handling is starting to crack. I think her mom egged her on.”
Cheryl listened intently. She thought, ‘Given Valerie’s act in the hospital, she’d definitely try to pin the blame on me!
Any normal person would think a gambling grandmother was more likely to hurt a child than the mother.
“Officer, I want to confess,” Cheryl said.
An officer outside reacted and then left hurriedly.
The other officer entered, shut the door, and said, “Okay, spill it. What really happened?”
Cheryl unloaded everything–how Valerie had played on Clayton’s sympathy, using Luna to stage little “accidents“; how she came to Ironhaven to take care of Luna after Valerie had been arrested for mistreating Luna.
She also confessed how Valerie had taken out a mortgage on the house, brought her and Luna all to Ashbourne for a good time, and when the money dried up, hatched this scheme to make a quick buck.
When Cheryl walked out of the interrogation room, the door across the hall opened.
“My mom’s a gambler.” Valerie’s voice died. She put on a fake concerned look. “Mom, you didn’t blab, did you?”
Cheryl shook her head.
Just as Valerie started to relax, her vision went black.
Cheryl whipped her hand up and landed a stinging slap right across Valerie’s face.
Valerie covered her face, her eyes filled with a mix of fear and pain as she turned toward the police.
She said, “My mom didn’t do it on purpose. Ever since my dad died, she’s been in a foul mood. She does love me, really, but my uncle was the family’s pride and joy.
“She’d rather give every cent of my dad’s life insurance to him than send me to a proper vocational school.”
“Stop spouting such rubbish!” Cheryl shook with anger.
Valerie’s tears streamed down as she sniffled and shook her head. “I know I’m wrong, Mom. I’ll stop talking. I’ll say whatever you tell me to. Just don’t be
angry!”
The more she spoke, the angrier Cheryl became. If the police hadn’t held her back, she would’ve slapped Valerie’s face until it was raw.
Valerie pleaded with Cheryl not to be angry while cowering behind the police officer as if she’d been terrified of beatings since childhood.
But the police saw right through her exaggerated act. No amount of fake tears would let her get away with it.
As the main planner and her accomplice, both were locked in the detention center that night.
Brooke arrived in Ashbourne the next afternoon. After Audrey took her out for lunch, they got to the heart of their work.
“At first, I couldn’t bear reading the comments,” Brooke said, placing a hand on her chest.
A character in the short was based on her, and when she wrote it, she thought it would win sympathy and approval from netizens. She’d intended to show it to Miguel to make him realize his mistakes.
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Chapter 240
But after the short went live, the audience’s feedback was all critical
(This person is totally full of themselves, creating problems where there are none!]
If this were my wife, I’d have divorced her long before. Who would put up with this kind of nonsense?)
After getting plenty of negative comments, Brooke slowly came to accept that maybe it really was her fault,
“Thinking about starting a business in Ashbourne?” After complaining about her own issues, Brooke turned to Audrey. “Ashbourne has more resources than Ironhaven, but the competition here is fierce as hell.”
Audrey explained her work plans. She’d already gathered a bunch of scripts but needed pros to handle the screening and revisions.
Brooke lifted her wine glass. “Miguel’s always going on about how sharp your eye is and how capable you are, if he talked like that about anyone else, I’d be green with envy, but with you? I get why he’s impressed.”
Audrey clinked her glass. “Let’s keep pushing each other.”
That same day, Brooke and another editor jumped into the hectic task of selecting scripts.
By the time Audrey wrapped up, it was almost dark.
Yann called, “Free tonight?”
“For you? Always.” Audrey held her phone as she headed out.
Just then, Bruce stepped off the elevator and held the door open for her. She nodded thanks as she stepped inside.
In the elevator, she pressed the button. “I’m on my way down. Send me the location.”
“I’m already downstairs,” Yann replied.
The second Audrey walked through the building’s revolving doors, she saw the Audi A6 parked up the street.
In the capital, where everyone’s got an agenda, most people–except foreign business types–stick to Audis. They’re low–key and comfy, perfect for staying under the radar.
When Audrey got in the car, Yann was on a call, a cigarette between his fingers. He hadn’t smoked much. The ash had built up into a long tip.
Seeing her climb in, he leaned out the window to flick the ash off and crush the butt.
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