Chapter 247 - 246
She wasn’t sure if she was mistaken, but she couldn’t dismiss even the slightest possibility. After all, Charles Jennings was now a top-priority threat.
Simon Lockwood was silent for a long moment, his gloomy expression hardening into a stern one. His tone was serious. "I’ll have someone check the surveillance footage. For the next two days, you’re sticking with me. You’re not going anywhere."
The man’s tone was cold and serious. Joanna Kennedy froze for a second, then couldn’t help but chuckle as she processed his words. "I just thought his back looked a little familiar. I didn’t even see his face. I was probably just seeing things."
"Simon, you don’t have to be so tense," Joanna Kennedy said. "This is Oakhaven, not Marinus or Aethelburg. Why on earth would he come here?"
She had only arrived today. ’If that person really is Charles Jennings, that means he must have gotten here a while ago. The question is, what is he doing in Oakhaven?’
’He couldn’t have followed Simon here, could he? That would be just sick.’
But Simon Lockwood wasn’t having it, his handsome face remaining grim. "Until this is cleared up, you’re staying right where I can see you. Where I go, you go."
’Classic domineering CEO-speak. Pure dictatorship,’ Joanna Kennedy pouted, deliberately teasing, "I shouldn’t have told you..."
But Simon Lockwood was in no mood for jokes. His brow furrowed, his tone serious and firm. "Joanna, don’t get complacent. If anything happens, you have to tell me."
Even if it wasn’t certain, even if there was only a one percent chance, he had to get to the bottom of it.
Although Southland had people stationed in Marinus, it was, at the end of the day, Valentine Group territory. At this thought, Simon Lockwood’s brow furrowed even tighter. The moment he got back to the hotel, he sent an email.
*
In the suburbs of Aethelburg, in a wealthy district where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, a villa had just been renovated, transformed from a European-style mansion into a Chinese courtyard home. Several men who looked like bodyguards were moving things inside.
There were vases and decorative pieces; at a glance, every single item looked priceless.
A girl in a pink knit sweater crouched in the garden, fiddling with the withered plants. She looked up at the man sitting in the pavilion. "Brother, are we moving?"
"Mm," the man in the pavilion answered coolly.
"...Why the sudden move? I like it by the sea. We could go beachcombing in the afternoons. It was so much fun." Valentine stood up and dusted the dirt from her hands.
When the man didn’t answer after a moment, her eyes darted about. She turned her back to him and sneakily tried to bring the withered grass in her palm to her mouth. Before she could, she heard the man ask,
"A while ago, did you go looking for him?"
She was so startled she dropped the withered grass, which fluttered to the ground. The man’s voice was flat, betraying no emotion, but Valentine was frantic. "166 doesn’t know anything! I didn’t tell him!"
She had just found 166’s whereabouts and couldn’t resist taking a peek.
"Really, I didn’t tell him anything at all..." Valentine said lamely to the man in the pavilion.
’At first, she had wanted to say something. But she knew that even if 166 found out, it wouldn’t change anything.’
’Besides... she really missed Master. She wanted him to come back...’
In contrast to Valentine’s nervousness, Liam Valentine seemed to have asked casually. His tone was light. "Just do what you’re supposed to do. Don’t go again. It wouldn’t be good if he found out."
Both of them knew very well who "he" was.
Valentine bit her lip. "Do we really have to do this? Master will blame you when he wakes up."
"I am simply making the most logical decision." Liam Valentine let out a soft laugh. Watching the bodyguards still moving things in the distance, he added unhurriedly, "And, in the process, letting him see the true nature of human emotion."
............
After a long silence, Valentine couldn’t help but ask, "Then what about Joanna Kennedy? She hasn’t done anything wrong."
"Is that so?" Liam Valentine’s expression remained impassive. "But she failed her mission."
’She should have been eliminated, but she survived thanks to 166’s deception. Her survival caused an energy imbalance in the world’s protagonist, leading to even bigger problems and forcing my hand.’
Liam Valentine let out a barely perceptible sigh. "The rules of the world must be maintained by someone..."
’He wouldn’t play the villain, but he wouldn’t stop the villain, either. Someone had to take that first step for him.’
’Soon,’ Liam Valentine thought. ’Charles Jennings and the defector, 014, won’t be able to wait much longer.’
His phone chimed with a new email. Liam Valentine opened and read it, his expression unreadable.
Whether it’s a grand hotel or one in a small town, they all have one thing in common: the soundproofing is mediocre at best.
The sound of running water from the bathroom drifted into the bedroom. After hesitating for a long while, Joanna Kennedy tiptoed over to the bathroom door, leaned against it, and said in a muffled voice, "I can wash it myself..."
He poured a bit of special detergent onto the small garments, turning them over and over in his hands as he scrubbed. His well-defined knuckles and the prominent blue veins on the back of his hands created a strangely sensual image.
The sight made Joanna Kennedy’s face flush, and her eyes darted away.
Without even looking up, Simon Lockwood shattered the amorous atmosphere with a single sentence: "You won’t get them clean."
Joanna Kennedy: ".........."
Joanna Kennedy was speechless. "Oh," she mumbled, and silently retreated.
Flopping onto the bed, she opened her phone out of boredom and immediately saw several new messages.
One was from Walter Young, short and to the point: [The PR department has handled it. Don’t worry.]
The others were all from Julie and Anna Yates, containing links and a few screenshots of gossip accounts and comment sections.
Julie: [Jojo, check Weibo, quick! You’ve gained over a million followers!!!!!]
The long string of exclamation points made Julie’s excitement and agitation palpable.
Joanna Kennedy was surprised as well. She went to check her personal account, and as soon as she opened Weibo, she saw several trending topics.
#IvyNashPutInHerPlace#
#FullUneditedVideoLeaked#
#mimniuDefendsAmbassadorJoannaKennedy#
#TanyaQuinnTheMastermindBehindTheSmear#
#FallingOsmanthusDirectorAndCastPraiseJoannaKennedy#
.........
A quick glance showed her name was in almost all the top trending topics.
Joanna Kennedy raised an eyebrow, her gaze skipping past Ivy Nash’s name and landing on Tanya Quinn’s.
Joanna Kennedy had long suspected Ivy Nash had a hand in the smear campaign. The surprise was Tanya Quinn.
The name was familiar—mimniu’s previous brand ambassador.
Joanna Kennedy instantly recalled what Liam Valentine had said. Tanya Quinn had terminated her mimniu contract because she broke up with Leila Lawson, which meant she didn’t really care about the luxury brand endorsement.
’Then why target me?’ Joanna Kennedy thought of a possible answer, and the corner of her mouth twitched. ’Talk about being caught in the crossfire.’
She clicked on the trending topic. The articles made no mention of Leila Lawson’s name. They only claimed that Tanya Quinn had deliberately hired paid trolls to smear Joanna Kennedy because she was upset about her taking over the endorsement deal.
Most of the comments below accused Tanya Quinn of being petty, with no mention of Leila Lawson. Joanna Kennedy scrolled through a few, found them uninteresting, and closed the app.