But no one could answer her questions. Aiden was already in the car, leaving Eden standing there, feeling like her blood was boiling with anger. She wished ra would just vanish from her life.


    Her eyes were red and tears started to spill as she turned around and bumped into Simon, who was about to head out.


    She couldn''t hold it in any longer and cried out, "Brother, are you going to see ra too?"


    Simon''s face was calm as he gently ruffled her hair. "Eden, just go inside."


    Too upset to argue, Eden went inside without another word. Simon stayed there, standing in the silence for ten minutes until his legs went numb. Then his phone rang, breaking the quiet night, and a panicked voice came through.


    "Mr. Simon, our guy is dead. The money you gave us isn''t enough. You need to pay for my brother''s life."


    If ra had been there, she would''ve recognized the voice as one of the kidnappers from earlier. Simon chuckled coldly. "Is half a million enough? You''re about to pass through security, right? Don''t worry, the money''s already in an overseas ount. Don''te back."


    The man on the line went silent. Half a million was more than enough to buy a life, especially for thugs like them, where life came cheap.


    That night had been a mess. Eden had first hired them to stage a car ident to hurt ra, promising them twenty grand. But then Simon came to them with a different offer an extra hundred thousand to avoid the ident and instead fake a threat by taking ra to the outskirts.


    They didn''t get why Simon was ying this game. The rich had their games, and these guys were just there for the money.


    But ra had been a surprise. She fought back fiercely, taking a life with one swift move, which had scared them out of their wits.


    They''d expected the police to catch up soon, but Simon arranged their getaway abroad in just two hours, booking them on the earliest flight. Everything back home would be handled by someone else.


    With the police on their trail, leaving the country seemed like their best shot at freedom, so they agreed without a second thought.


    After hanging up, Simon looked up at the dark sky and smiled. No one knew what was on his mind.


    Meanwhile, ra''swyer had already arrived. The officers who went after the thugs returned to the station. Despite checking all major exits, they only found the car the thugs had used; the men were nowhere to be found.


    ra sat calmly, requesting an investigation into Eden''s bank transactions, wanting to confirm if she''d hired the kidnappers.


    But Eden''s ount was high-level, and without her consent, the police couldn''t investigate unless they had solid proof linking Eden to the crime.


    ra thought of Simon. Maybe he could ess his sister''s transactions.


    She called him, and to her surprise, he moved fast. Within ten minutes, he sent over Eden''s recent bank activity.


    ra spotted a transaction of twenty thousand to a certain ount and forwarded it to the police.


    That twenty thousand was the payment Eden had given the kidnappers. This time, ra wasn''t wrong-Eden was behind it.


    The police confirmed the ount belonged to one of the kidnappers.


    "Ms. ra," the officer said, "we still can''t determine if your actions were self- defense without information from the surviving kidnappers. But regarding Ms. Eden, if you want to pursue this, we''ll keep investigating."


    ra lowered hershes, leaning back in her chair. "No need to pursue it. The result will be the same."


    After all, Dn would always protect Eden.