No one spoke or moved for the next ten minutes or so. It took some time before Jackson finally lifted his head to reveal his reddened eyes. As he took his glasses off, it was plain to see that agony had donned his youthful face. He asked, “Shane, you’re telling me all this because you want me to make a choice. Is that it?”
“Yes,” replied Shane before he nodded slightly. “We’ve pretty much confirmed that Jacqueline is the culprit behind everything. All that’s left is to wait for Mr. Gunn to provide us with the evidence. I will hand Jacqueline over to the police as soon as I receive the evidence.”
He beckoned the waiter to top off his glass of wine before he continued speaking, “You are Jacqueline’s boyfriend, so you have the right to know the truth. I’m telling you everything because I want to know what your thoughts on the matter are. Will you blindly let Jacqueline wreak havoc? Or will you support me and put Jacqueline in jail?”
Jackson let out a bitter smile and pointed out, “It doesn’t matter what I think, does it? You’ll send Jacqueline to prison, anyway.”
“That’s true,” replied Shane with a slight grin.
“Then why bother asking me at all?” demanded Jackson as he glared at the man.
Shane swirled the wine in his glass and answered, “I’m just going through the motion. I want you to know that I will not change my mind so that you won’t put the blame on me when everything is done.”
Hearing that, Jackson stopped talking.
Shane waited patiently while the man was lost in his thoughts.
Sometime later, Jackson shifted his gaze to Shane and asked, “Shane, can’t you let Jacqueline go just this once?”
Shane narrowed his eyes as he pointed out, “That woman has already attempted to murder Natalie twice. How can I let her go under these circumstances? Besides, it’s not like you can ensure that she won’t go after Natalie again.”
“I can!” insisted Jackson while nodding. “I will take her out of the country. We will go somewhere far away and never return.”
Shane’s lips curved into a mocking smirk before he replied, “Like you said, Jacqueline was born a sociopath. She doesn’t want to leave the country, and if she is forced to do so, wouldn’t she hate you for it? What’s to stop her from killing you and sneaking back into the country?”
“I…” muttered Jackson. He was at a loss for words as he had never considered that before.
His friend’s words sounded a little far-fetched, but there was undoubtedly some truth in them.
In other words, the only way to deal with the matter was to hand Jacqueline over to the police.
Jackson slumped down upon coming to that conclusion as though all energy had drained out of him.
Seeing his reaction prompted Shane to stand up and say, “It seems that you have already thought things through. In that case, I hope that you will stay out of this matter and keep this a secret from Jacqueline. If you fail, the consequences will be dire.”
After saying his piece, Shane got up and went for a toilet break.
He was exiting the restroom when his vision suddenly turned dark.
Fortunately, he was quick to support himself against the wall in the restroom and stop himself from falling.
Still, he could tell that his vision was getting blurrier while he became dizzy. It felt as if the entire world was swirling before his eyes, and he couldn’t even see anything clearly.
Shane’s expression darkened instantly.
He wasn’t an idiot and knew that there was something amiss with the situation. Someone drugged me.
However, his body didn’t show any other symptoms, so the drug probably wasn’t lethal. It’s some sort of sedative.
His entire body exuded a murderous aura when he thought about the waiter who refilled his wine.
Shane supported himself against the wall while he walked with much difficulty. As he did so, his trembling hand reached into his pocket to get his phone, intending to contact Silas.
Unfortunately, his vision was blurry, and his hand was weak. He swiped a few times but failed to unlock his phone. In the end, his phone slipped out of his hand and fell onto the floor.
Just as he was about to bend down and pick it up, a sweet fragrance enveloped him.
What happened next was a woman throwing herself into his arms. She held him tightly and asked, “Hey, what’s wrong, Mr. Shane? You don’t look so good.”
“Leave!” growled Shane in an icy tone.
However, he was frail, so he sounded somewhat seductive instead of intimidating.
The woman swallowed hard. Her eyes shone with passion and lust when she looked at him.
If it weren’t for a certain someone, she would most definitely go to bed with the most charming man in J City, who was right next to her then.
It’s too bad.
The woman’s eyes shone with a fleeting glint of hesitation before she took a deep breath and steeled herself. She inched closer to Shane before she said, “C’mon, Mr. Shane. I heard that your wife is out of the country. I’m sure you feel lonely all by yourself. Let me keep you company.”
