Sharon did as she was told.
Connor, too, missed his mother. But being the more mature one, he was not as teary-eyed as his sister.
Natalie could not help but feel a little conflicted. On one hand, she did not have to worry as much about Connor as she did for Sharon. On another hand, she feared that the boy might be too mature for his age.
After they spoke on the phone for a while, the cell phone was finally handed back to its owner.
“What time did you arrive?”
Natalie leaned her back against the balcony railing before saying, “I’m checking in with you right after our arrival at the villa. Aren’t you going to comment on my effort?”
Shane let out a chortle. “Sure.”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Natalie rolled her eyes.
The man paused for a moment before he replied, “Then tell me how you would like me to respond. I’ll try my best to comply.”
“Fine. I’ll let you off this time. It doesn’t go with your character anyway,” Natalie teased.
“By the way, Jacqueline has moved out.” Shane changed the subject.
“When?” Natalie stood up straight.
“This afternoon. Jackson came over to help her,” Shane replied casually.
A broad grin flashed across Natalie’s face. “Good to know. But I suppose Ms. Graham wasn’t thrilled about it. Were you there when she moved out?”
“No. I wasn’t around.” Shane shook his head.
“Well, that’s too bad.” Natalie let out a sigh at that. I was hoping to hear the details of the look on her face when she left.
The couple continued to speak on the phone for another ten minutes before Natalie had to start unpacking.
“Mr. Shane.” Mrs. Wilson called out to him just as Shane put down his phone. She was followed by Silas.
Something must be up for the assistant to visit at such a late hour. “Mrs. Wilson, can you take the kids upstairs and put them to bed?”
“Yes, Sir.” Mrs. Wilson nodded and retreated from the room with the children.
When there were only both of them in the living room, Shane turned to Silas. “What is it?”
“You asked me to look into Ms. Graham yesterday. Here’s something you need to see,” Silas said while handing his boss a document file.
Narrowing his eyes, Shane took over the file.
His lips pursed into a thin line as he started leafing through the dozen pages one by one.
A rare look of stun crept up to Shane’s face when he finished digesting all the information.
“She really did all these things?” Shane turned to Silas, who nodded firmly. “I’m afraid so. Ms. Graham was still pretty young when she did these things, so it wasn’t difficult to gather and verify.”
Even though Silas had taken some time to process it all, he was stirred by the shocking revelation of his discovery.
Like Shane, Silas had thought Jacqueline was a kind and innocent girl. But now, all the evidence pointed the other way.
As a toddler, she was already capable of abusing and killing small animals like cats and puppies. When she was older, she grew into a big bully in both middle and high school. One of her ex-schoolmates is still suffering from a psychological disorder as a result of her mental abuse. Not only is she a malicious and wicked person, but she’s also good at concealing it. If Mr. Shane had not asked me to investigate the matter, we’d still be under the impression that she’s nothing but a sweet angel.
Just then, Shane tossed the document onto the coffee table. He felt exhausted.
All this while, he had been treating Jacqueline as his little sister. He had never doubted her or imagined she would harbor any vicious thoughts, let alone carrying them out.
But all the detailed evidence the file contained was a slap to his face. It made him realize what a fool he had been all these years when he tried to protect Jacqueline at every turn.
“Mr. Shane, should we alert Dr. Baker about this?” Silas questioned cautiously.
