Chapter 27

Angelia nodded, unsure why Jerome wanted to provoke him, but since he said so, she did it.

Soon, they arrived at the private room.

The room was luxurious, with a resting water bed, an en-suite bathroom, KTV, and a bathtub.

Jerome sat down in his seat, and Angelia did not sit next to him, leaving two chairs between them, thinking about how to provoke someone she had not met.

Jerome frowned, “Why are you sitting so far away!”

Angelia regained her senses and said, “It’s not that far away. Are there other people coming? This private room is so big, we can sit more comfortably, right?” She smiled and put her bag on the chair next to her.

Jerome’s frown deepened, “Come over here, I have something to tell you.”

“You can say it, I can hear you,” Angelia replied.

Jerome’s face became even more unpleasant.

He stood up and sat next to her.

He handed her the menu and said, “There are some special customs in this country. Remember, first, you can’t touch someone’s head, whether it’s a child or a pet. Second, don’t give them anything with your left hand. Third, shaking your head means agreeing, nodding means disagreeing.”

“Oh, I remember about nodding and shaking your head. It seems like it’s from India,” Angelia said.

“It’s also the same here,” Jerome reminded her.

“I understand and will pay attention,” Angelia replied kindly.

“Order something. The manager of this restaurant speaks English. If you want to know anything, you can ask him,” Jerome said.

Angelia opened the menu.

Jerome did not return to his previous seat.

He held his phone and opened the camera function, hesitated, and turned off the camera function, saying, “On graduation day, I went.”

Angelia looked at him and nodded, “I know. You seem to have had dinner with the dean. I helped a classmate send you a love letter.”

When she mentioned the love letter, he became angry.

He thought it was written by her, even the signature was hers, but in the end, she was tricked by someone else.

She seemed smart, but was sold out by her daughter and still helped count the money.

The more he looked at her, the more he was worried about leaving her alone in North Carolina.

“I wasn’t talking about the dinner day, I was talking about the day we took graduation photos,” Jerome corrected.”But you were not in our graduation photo, some classmates even said that it would have been great if you were there, at least we could have bragged about it. Look, Jerome is our classmate, haha,” the text reads.

“When I got there, you had already finished taking the graduation photo. The teacher wanted to take another one, but some classmates had left. I thought it was too much trouble, but I looked for you and found you sitting on the grass,” Jerome said.

Angelia tried to remember, but couldn’t recall, “Did you call me?”

Jerome looked at her coldly, with a hint of coldness in his eyes.

Looking back, he probably liked her then, at least she was the only girl he had ever liked from childhood to adulthood.

The teacher informed him to come back and take the graduation photo.

He had originally refused, as he had an important business negotiation.

But he ended the negotiation early and rushed back to school, hoping to take a photo with her.

So even though the graduation photo had already been taken, he still went to find her.

At that time, their relationship was not too good, nor too familiar, vague, and they had not talked much.

He was still arrogant and did not take the initiative to talk to her, sitting not far from her.

He was waiting for her to notice him and ask to take a photo with him.

As a result, he did not wait for her to ask to take a photo with him, but instead, she asked him to move for a photo with the school’s thinker statue.

Move aside!!

He was so angry that he almost threw her onto the statue, and then left the campus and drove away.

Looking at his cold gaze, Angelia suspected, “Did you really call me? Did I ignore you?”

Jerome sneered, “How could I have called you? We were not familiar with each other at that time.”

“Right, I think so too. If you had called me, I would definitely have taken a photo with you. If I had a photo of us together, we could have bragged about it for a long time,” Angelia said with a smile.

Jerome looked at her carefree and lighthearted expression.If she had known back then that he had slept with her and had done it many times, would she have blown it? For how long would she have blown it?

Jerome felt uneasy as he tapped on the desktop and looked at her sideways. “Do you want to take a photo together now?” Angelia was momentarily stunned. “We were not familiar with each other before, so of course I wouldn’t have asked you. Now that you are my employee and also a business partner, I can agree to this request, rather than you secretly taking photos of me,” Jerome said.

Angelia smiled. The photo was Darcey’s idea, and she had taken it. But since the boss said so, she had to cooperate. Otherwise, it would contradict what they had said earlier.

“Thank you,” Angelia said.

“Use my phone to take the picture, and I’ll send it to you,” Jerome said, opening the camera function and aiming it at the two of them. Angelia lifted her chin and looked at the camera. Jerome took a few shots but felt they were not good enough. “You are too far away, and I can’t see you clearly,” he said, moving closer to her and putting his hand on the chair behind her. He took a few more shots but was still not satisfied. “Do you think it’s all from the same angle?” Jerome asked.

Angelia smiled and pursed her lips. She noticed that his email had many photos of him. Jerome browsed through the photos he had taken and did not answer her question.

He did not like taking photos and only did it because he had no choice, including his art photos for magazines.

Viola had strongly requested them, and he had to comply. Without answering her, he selected two photos that he thought were good and sent them to her phone. “Take a look.”

“Um, I didn’t bring my phone because it was turned off, so I just locked it in my luggage,” Angelia explained.

Jerome frowned, momentarily worried. “They already know where we are, so it doesn’t matter if you bring it or not. If we get separated, what will we do?””They only know where we live and can’t track us in real-time. If we get separated, I’ll go find the police, which is easy to do. Then, your people can call you, and everything will be fine,” explained Angelia.

“After we leave, I’ll buy you a new phone and get you a SIM card,” said Jerome assertively, not allowing her to refuse.

“I don’t need a new phone; mine works fine. I can use half a SIM card or borrow one of your people’s cards,” she replied.

No matter what he bought her, she didn’t want it. Jerome was getting frustrated. What girlfriend doesn’t accept gifts from her boyfriend? Well, he wasn’t exactly her boyfriend.

“Order your food,” Angelia said, looking at the menu.

“What is this red dish?” she asked the manager in English.

The manager fluently replied in English, but Angelia didn’t understand much. She used to be good at English when she was in school and could communicate easily with foreign guests in hotels, but it was all very basic. She didn’t remember many words, so she didn’t understand Angelia’s introduction.

He glanced at her and said, “The red dish is made with chili peppers, tomato sauce, and caviar, so it’s sour and spicy.”

Angelia was impressed with how good Jerome was with languages. It was like listening to Mandarin for her. She was curious and asked, “How many languages do you know?”

“About a dozen. I know the languages of the countries where I invest. Do you want to learn?” Jerome asked.

Angelia shook her head apologetically, “I have too much to learn, and I can’t remember things that quickly.”

“I remember you used to have good grades,” Jerome said, remembering Alyssa’s lively and quirky personality. “She’s a lot like you, not just in appearance but also in character, unlike Sammie.”

“Uh-huh,” Angelia replied.

Alyssa was that stranger’s child, and of course, she wasn’t like Sammie. However, this was her secret, and she didn’t want to talk about it.

“What is this white ball?” Angelia continued to ask the manager.”This is a dish based on local cuisine, with main ingredients of potatoes, cream, cheese, and chocolate,” the manager said, slowing down her speech.

She didn’t know what to order. “Jerome, take a look, what do you want?”

Jerome leaned in towards her, shortening the distance between their faces to less than ten centimeters.

Angelia looked at his handsome face magnified in front of her, her heart beating inexplicably faster. She couldn’t look at him and avoided his gaze.

Jerome flipped through the menu. “Golden pork loin, is that okay?”

“You decide.”

“Spicy beef ribs, garnished with snails, lobster bisque, and starry sky.”

“That should be enough,” Angelia reminded him that they couldn’t finish everything and it would be a waste.

“Two bowls of shark fin soup,” Jerome said, closing the menu.

The manager had already placed the order and respectfully asked, “Does Jerome need a 1982 Lafite?”

“Open a bottle,” Jerome said.

The manager went to open the wine and poured them each a small glass.

Angelia held her wine glass. They were eating and drinking such expensive wine, it was too extravagant. Her conscience was uneasy.

Jerome raised his glass and took the initiative to clink glasses with her. “Try it, this wine is not bad. I have a winery in the basement and I bought a lot of wine to store. The current value has doubled according to market prices.”

“You are very business-savvy,” Angelia said, following his lead.

Jerome took a sip and finished the wine in his glass. He was indeed adept at business, with the upper hand. But when it came to emotions…

“Angelia, the food hasn’t arrived yet. Let’s play some hypothetical questions,” Jerome said in a declarative sentence. “If you don’t want to answer, you can drink.”

“I don’t want to. You know my drinking capacity. I’ll get drunk soon. If I get drunk, how can I cooperate with you? The person you mentioned earlier will be here soon,” Angelia refused.

“Then let’s answer without drinking, honest answers, one person asks two questions,” Jerome looked at her with a burning gaze.

She had a feeling of being drunk, even though she wasn’t. She was immersed in his gaze. She had some questions in her heart, but she didn’t dare to ask.Perhaps, can I ask this question now?

Jerome put down his glass and looked at her seriously, “Suppose you are divorced now, do you think we could be together?”

This question happened to be what she wanted to ask.

Angelia’s breathing began to tighten.

She didn’t know that she also wanted to find answers from him.

A knock on the door sounded, just one sound, and the person outside pushed the door straight in without waiting for the person inside to answer.

Angelia saw a blond man with a group of men walking in.

The blond man’s subordinates pulled a chair for him.

The blond man sat down, looked coldly at Jerome with a mocking tone of North Carolina accent, and said in English, “Jerome, you have a big nerve to come to Wilmington.”

Jerome smirked, “It seems like you have a bigger nerve. I thought you wouldn’t come back to this place again.”

“Wherever I fall, I should climb up there. You made me lose tens of billions, so I have to make you lose hundreds of billions. Otherwise, how can I swallow this breath, right?” The blond man said in English.

Angelia remembered what Jerome said before, to provoke this man.

She interjected, “The fact proves that the person who falls down in one place is more likely to fall down there again. Otherwise, you don’t have to use despicable means.”

The blond man became excited, “He is despicable. He exposed that my factory was manufacturing drugs, and the drugs were originally planted by him. He framed me.”

Jerome looked at him indifferently, “There are only two of us here. Do you need to perform in front of my woman? Thad, you can’t walk along the river without getting your feet wet. You have done so many bad things, I advise you to stop.”

“Stop? You almost left me with nothing. How can I stop? Let me tell you, this is just the beginning. I will make you have nothing left.” Thad said confidently.

Jerome sneered, put down his wine glass, “Do you think you can deal with me by buying off my people? You are really delusional. He is just a manager in one of my many projects.””Let’s wait and see,” Thad looked at Angelia with a dark and ominous gaze, emitting a murderous aura that was filled with blood and coldness. Angelia clenched her fists, refusing to be intimidated and not yet having done anything to anger him.

“Do you think we’re afraid of you? If we were, you wouldn’t have come to Wilmington. We’re enjoying our food and wine, which shows that we don’t even consider you a threat. You, on the other hand, are restless and came here in person. Only a coward would pay such close attention to others’ every move,” Angelia stood up and said.

“What did you say?” Thad approached to grab Angelia by the collar. Jerome was on guard and kicked Thad’s knee, causing him to kneel in front of Angelia in pain.

Jerome pulled Angelia behind him and looked down at Thad, warning him coldly, “She’s not someone you can touch.”

Thad’s face turned red with anger, and he stood up, trembling with rage as he pointed at Jerome, “You just wait and see. If you have the guts, don’t stay here. Leave.”

Angelia watched as they left in a big group and asked worriedly, “Is that the person who wants to frame you?”

“His factory was shut down because of drug involvement, causing his company to go bankrupt. Now he wants to use the same method to deal with me,” Jerome explained.

“You said earlier that he bought off your people?” Angelia asked.

“My project manager found a woman here and had a child with her, but now the woman and child are in Thad’s hands. My people told me that they’re dead, but it wasn’t Thad who killed them. If I’m right, it was the manager’s original wife who hired someone to do it,” Jerome said.

“So, the project manager won’t frame you anymore, right?” Angelia asked, still worried.

“No, I’ve already arranged for him to leave today,” Jerome assured her.

“Why hasn’t Thad been arrested for drug trafficking?” Angelia asked, confused.

“Somebody else took the blame, so he didn’t go to jail. We won’t be staying in the villa tonight, and I’ll have someone bring out your luggage,” Jerome said.

“We’ll be staying here?” Angelia asked curiously.”It’s not that, I’m staying at my friend’s house,” Jerome said.

“What are we going to do these days?” Angelia asked, feeling like Thad might not be easy to deal with.

Jerome didn’t answer her, “Let’s eat first.”

He looked at the manager.

The manager nodded and went out to have the waiter bring in the food.

Angelia saw that Jerome didn’t talk the whole time, as if he was immersed in his own thoughts.

After dinner, Jerome took Angelia to a small villa and instructed her, “Stay in the room, I need to go out for a while. If there’s nothing special, don’t leave. I’ll be back here tonight.”

“Jerome.” Angelia held onto his arm worriedly, “Is there anything you need me to do?”

“Just stay here.” Jerome said in a deep voice.

Angelia was a little uneasy, “I came here to help you, but now it seems like it’s useless.”

“How can it be useless? You’ve already angered him, let’s talk about it after tonight.” Jerome said meaningfully.

He added, “Also, don’t worry about Thad’s matter, it’s a small matter and not dangerous. Trust me.”

She didn’t think it was a small matter. Thad clearly seemed to be ruthless and would stop at nothing.

“Do you have anything else for me to do?” Angelia asked.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow.” Jerome said in a deep voice.

He still said that, and she couldn’t force him. She saw the landline phone in the room out of the corner of her eye, “Do you know the number for this landline?”

“I do, I’ll call you. There’s a computer in the room, you can play games.” Jerome said.

Angelia nodded and watched him leave and drive away.

She didn’t feel like playing games, so she waited by the landline for over an hour, but the phone didn’t ring.

She walked to the window, anxiously looking outside.

Time passed by minute by minute, and Angelia looked at the clock in the living room. It had been three hours since Jerome left.

She really wanted to call him.

But her phone wasn’t with her, and she didn’t remember his phone number.

A three or four-year-old girl outside cried and walked over, “Mommy, mommy, I want my mommy.”

Angelia looked around and saw no one else. The child was crying helplessly.If she is the mother of the child, Alyssa’s disappearance would have made her extremely anxious.

She opened the door and crouched in front of the child, saying, “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Do you remember your mother’s phone number?”

The little girl shook her head and cried.

“Where did you and your mother get lost?” Angelia asked again.

The little girl pointed ahead and cried even harder.

Angelia saw a park not far away in the direction the little girl pointed and comforted her, “Don’t worry. I’ll take you to where you got lost. She should be nearby and will come back to find you.”

She took the little girl’s hand and walked towards the direction she pointed.

In front of them, they saw a black car.

The door opened and several men jumped out.

Angelia saw that they were Thad’s people and ran away with the little girl.

But those men ran faster than her, and she was quickly gagged and thrown into the car, along with the little girl.

Angelia saw several people in the car, including the little girl’s mother.

She saw her daughter come in and hugged her with a heartache, kissing her forehead.

Her anxious eyes looked at Angelia with fear.

Angelia had a bad feeling that this mother and daughter were Thad’s bait.

They were tied up and put into the car, and they saw the face of the killer.

The situation was dire.

“They are innocent, let them go,” Angelia said sternly.

“Ha,” someone laughed and didn’t take her words seriously at all.

Angelia was annoyed and knew that she couldn’t protect herself.

She saw a person with a dagger at his waist and had an idea.

She snatched it and held it against her neck.

“You kidnapped me to threaten Jerome. If I die, you can’t threaten him anymore, and he will definitely avenge me. Let them go!”

The masked driver panicked, “Release her quickly. If she dies, our plan will be ruined.”

The people in the car hesitated.The masked driver said to the mother of the girl, “We know your home address, know where your child goes to school, and also know your husband’s company address. If you dare to call the police, your loved ones will pay for your foolishness with their lives.”

“I don’t…” The girl’s mother wanted to say she wouldn’t call the police, but she thought of Angelia’s help and looked at her apologetically. “I’m sorry, I can’t call the police.”

Angelia understood that even if she called the police, they would probably be killed. The masked driver stopped the car and someone opened the door and threw the mother and daughter out. Angelia watched them leave. She couldn’t put Jerome in danger, but if she died, what would happen to Alyssa and her grandmother? She had so much left to do.

Just as she hesitated, someone took the knife from her hand. Angelia came to her senses, but it was too late. Another person restrained her hands. “Is it worth it to follow criminals like Thad? You will only lead to destruction. Jerome won’t spare you. It’s better to switch sides and follow Jerome. He won’t mistreat those who follow him,” Angelia pleaded.

The driver grew impatient and ordered, “Tie her hands and gag her mouth.”

“You’re just following Thad’s underlings. There’s no need to offend… sob, sob, sob,” Angelia was gagged before she could finish her sentence.

No, she couldn’t just wait to die. Thad captured her to threaten Jerome. When the driver’s phone rang, she heard him say in English, “It’s here. We’ll be there in an hour. No one is following us, don’t worry. Jerome is finished this time.” The words “finished this time” seemed to cut into her thoughts, disturbing her heart.

No, she couldn’t let Jerome die because of her. She believed that Thad would never spare her if Jerome died. It was better for her to die alone than for two people to die. Jerome should take care of Alyssa and her grandmother. She didn’t have much time to think, but she was scared.

She took advantage of the distraction and opened the car door, trying to jump out.As soon as she lifted her foot, she was stopped by the person leaning against the door.

“Wu wu, wu wu, wu wu wu,” Angelia struggled with brute force, but her strength was no match and she watched helplessly as the door was closed.

No, she struggled desperately, but was slapped in the face.

The person who had mocked her earlier pointed at her and said viciously, “You will die today, and now is your time to die.”

Angelia bit down on the person’s finger.

“Ah.” The person screamed and pushed Angelia’s face away, then hit her in the face with another slap when they saw blood on their finger.

Angelia was dizzy from the blow, and before she could regain her senses, the person who had hit her grabbed her by the collar.

The person who hit her had a fierce look in their eyes and said with killing intent, “You bitch, you want to die. Wait until Jerome dies, then I’ll kill you properly!”

Angelia was determined to die and wasn’t afraid at all.

She fiercely slammed her head into the person who hit her.

The force was mutual, and she hit too hard, causing her head to tingle, and she fell onto the seat.

“You stinky whore,” the person who hit her picked up a knife.

“Jonas, don’t rush. After we kill Jerome, you can slowly kill her. There’s plenty of time, now is not the time to deal with her. Don’t ruin Thad’s plan,” the driver reminded.

“Okay, I’ll take my time playing with her. All kinds of play,” Jonas said through gritted teeth.

An hour later, the car door opened and Angelia was pushed out of the car.

She saw a cliff next to her, but those people blocked her in the middle, making it impossible for her to jump off.

In front of her, besides Thad, there was Jerome.

She looked at Jerome worriedly, her mouth was sealed, she couldn’t speak, she shook her head, trying to get him to leave her alone.

Jerome saw her and gritted his teeth, sharpness in his eyes as he swept towards Thad.

“What kind of hero are you if you harm a woman? You’re so low as to bully a woman!”

“Whether it’s a woman or a man, I can take you down. I don’t care about anything,” Thad said evilly.

“What do you want me to do? Let her go!” Jerome said sternly, with a very strong tone.”Hahaha,” Thad laughed wildly. “So Jerome is also a romantic fool, huh? You released my bait, what do you think I want you to do?”

Jerome squinted. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. Wasn’t it you who secretly made Chen Jian leave?”

“The drugs in my factory were clearly planted by you. If I’m not mistaken, you’ve been controlling Chen Jian for over three months now. I checked the inventory records and machine wear, you’ve been planning this for a long time,” Jerome said sharply.

“If I don’t release it for three months, can you accuse me? Your influence in Wilmington is so great that if someone accuses me, there will be people who believe you and let you go unscathed. At worst, you can find someone to take the blame like I did. Can I deal with you?” Thad sneered.

“You think you can deal with me now?” Jerome raised his voice.

“That’s not necessarily true. If you don’t cooperate with me and confess your crimes on tape, I’ll push your woman off the cliff. It’s up to you to choose whether to admit it or let your woman die,” Thad asked with a sarcastic smile, full of killing intent.

Angelia didn’t want Jerome to be controlled by Thad. If Jerome admitted it, he would be ruined and he might not be able to save her. She was afraid that he would admit it, so she rushed towards the cliff while no one was paying attention.

Jerome didn’t hesitate and also ran towards the cliff…

In the face of death, Jerome grabbed his arm. “I won’t be in trouble.”

“Huh?” Angelia had a sudden realization.

She was now by his side, and the two of them could fight their way out.

Jerome ordered, “Attack.”

Angelia saw the masked men raise their guns.

Jonas realized that the masked men were Jerome’s men and was about to draw his gun when the man next to him pointed his gun at his head…

Angelia was momentarily stunned, looking at Jonas, then at Thad, and then at Jerome.

The excitement and reversal were too great, and her mind was a little confused.

“Jerome, you set me up!” Thad said sharply, pulling out his gun.With only a loud bang, a shot came from behind the rock and hit Thad’s arm, causing his gun to fall to the ground.

Several people holding sniper rifles, disguised in colors similar to the stone, emerged from behind the rock.

Thad looked at his people in horror, but he realized that only a few of them were his, while the others were on Jerome’s side.

“You’ve had your people planted among mine for a long time!” Thad realized the problem.

Jerome looked down at Thad indifferently, “Since you left a year ago, I’ve had people placed around you.”

“You knew I framed you a long time ago!” Thad was even more shocked.

“I didn’t know about what you did in private with your people, so there wouldn’t have been this scene today. Everything you said has been recorded and will be used as evidence in court. Thad, you can’t run away this time,” Jerome said calmly.

Scene?