<b>10:50 </b><b>Tue</b>, <b>19 </b><b>Aug </b>
<b>Chapter </b><b>166 </b>
Beatrice felt a strange sense of unease ever since she saw Briar at the entrance.
However, as Briar hadn’t even nced her way, Beatrice convinced herself she was just being paranoid.
Le and Beatrice were in a private room, which they had reserved just for themselves. Le, however, had invited a group of handsome young guys to keep them entertained. The atmosphere was lively, filled with music, dancing, and fun party games. There was a palpable excitement in the air.
Le was used to being in the spotlight, having always been surrounded by admirers. At Shoneport University, she yed the role of a sophisticated heiress, but in private, she was quite the party enthusiast with some interesting tastes. She particrly liked charming boys. Those with rosy lips, perfect smiles, and a delicate appearance were exactly her type.
Le had a bit of a problem with drugs. The Haynes family, being one of the most influential families in Shoneport, usually kept tight control over this kind of behavior. But Le had an older brother who doted on her and would secretly give her what she wanted.
This was one of the big reasons why Frank wanted to stay away from her while they were at Shoneport University. After all, she partied way too hard. He knew that if Ashton ever discovered that he was involved with drugs, he would be furious.
Since Briar uncovered proof that Beatrice had hired a hitman, she had been digging into the entire situation. She was well aware of where Le sneaked off to at night, so when Ashton and the others suggested going to her brother’s club, Briar eagerly decided to tag along.
Using her phone to monitor the hidden camera feed from the private room, Briar waited patiently for the perfect moment to strike.
Just as she had anticipated, after chatting with one of the pretty boys for a while, Le got up and made her way toward a small side room. The boy obediently followed her inside. There were no cameras in that room, and this was her opportunity.
Moving like a ghost, Briar slipped <i>into </i>the vent above the small room. While Le had her eyes closed as she was lost in the boy’s passionate service, Briar silently and swiftly dropped down through the ceiling vent.
She acted fast,nding a sharp karate chop to each of their necks. With one hand, she caught the boy as he slumped, and with her foot, she hooked Le’s body to keep her from hitting the floor, making sure not a single sound escaped to alert anyone outside.
Briar stood over Le, watching her with her eyes shut tight. She pressed her foot against the inside pocket of Le’s jacket to check, then bent down and fished out a small bag of powder. It looked like Archie had just handed it to her today, as the seal hadn’t even been broken yet.
To make sure the boy didn’t get caught up in this, Briar took a few extra steps.
First, she administered two quick injections of anesthetic to each hand. Then she dumped all the powder from the bag around Le’s mouth and chin, slipped the empty bag into her pocket, and waited for the anesthetic to take effect. As soon as it did, Briar whipped out a sharp scalpel and neatly severed the tendons in Le’s hands..
Afterward, she pulled out her phone and snapped several photos of the two unconscious bodies on the floor<b>, </b>making sure to get close–ups of the powder smeared across Le’s face and the blood streaming steadily from her wrists.
Six minutes had passed. Briar slipped her phone back into her pocket, leaped back up to the vent, and retraced her steps to the bathroom stall she’d started in.
She wiped the footprints off the toilet seat with a tissue, tossed the empty bag into the toilet, and flushed it away.
Then, Briar calmly sent the photos from her phone to several small newspapers in Shoneport and erased any trace of
<b>rom </b><b>her </b>device.
Since she was nning to end Le’s life right then and there, she even “kindly” sent a copy to Archie’s email.
Finally, as cool as ever, she washed her hands, opened the door, and strolled out of the bathroom like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
The entire operation had taken just seven minutes and twenty seconds.
When she returned, Ashton and Hamish were still in the middle of their match.
After making his shot, Ashton nced over and saw Briar swaggering back, boldly flicking water off her hands without a care. He frowned, walked mer grabbed her hand, and pulled out a few tissues to carefully dry her hands for her. He asked, “Aren’t there paper towels in the bathroom
“I was toozy to use them,” Briar shot Ashton a cheeky grin, shing her pearly whites, totally unfazed.
Ashton was momentarily speechless at her response.
Hamish noticed Ashton showing off his caring side like a dad to Briar and exchanged a knowing nce with Raece, who was enjoying his drink <b>at </b>the <b>bar</b>. They both let out a low whistle in jest. “Wow, Ashton, is that really you drying Briar’s hands after she just washed them? What’s next? Are you <b>going </b><b>to </b>start acting like her dad?” Hamish joked.
Reece couldn’t help butugh as he added, “Honestly, he’s been like a dad for a while now. Have you seen all the snacks he keeps in his car for her??
Hamish joined in theughter.
The atmosphere was rxed and fun until suddenly, screams and chaos erupted from the hallway outside. It sounded like a stampede of people rushing back and forth. Reece, who was sitting closest to the door, immediately set down his drink, walked over, and pulled the door open.
Just like that, the noise and confusion from outside rushed in on them.
One of the patrons screamed, “There’s been a murder! Somebody help!”
“Security! Security, get over here!” Another eximed.
A third person shouted, “Go tell the boss, something’s happened to Miss Haynes!
“Call an ambnce!” Someone else cried.
Another shrieked, “Call the police!”
Everything was inplete chaos.
Reece, who was curious, grabbed a frantic waiter as she dashed past and asked, “What happened?”
The waiter looked terrified at first, but when she realized it was Reece who stopped her, she blurted out the news in a panic, “Mr. Goodwin, the private room next door is where Miss Haynes was. <i>Our </i>staff just found her passed out. Both her wrists have been shed, and there’s blood all over the ce<b>…</b><b>” </b>
Reece’s face instantly hardened, and he knew right away something was seriously wrong. He waved the waiter off to fetch Archie before turning to Ashton and the others in the room. He stated, “Ashton, let’s go check it out. It’s just next door. Before this turns into a total mess, we should step in and keep things under control.”
“You and Hamish go check it out,” Ashton nodded in response, “We’ll stay put as Briar gets squeamish around blood.”
Reece and Hamish fell silent as they collectively wondered, ‘Wait, what?
‘Briar is studying traditional medicine and is already working in theb with senior students. Would she be squeamish about blood?
‘But then again, maybe it’s better not to let the girl <i>see </i>something like that. If she did get scared, that’d be bad.‘
Themotion on this floor was pretty intense. The staff in the surveince room immediately noticed something w informed Archie.
notified security, and
Archie was in the middle of chatting with some guests when his phone buzzed with a new email notification. He didn’t check it right away. <b>It </b><b>wasn’t </b>until he answered a call from security that he noticed the email and opened it. His face instantly drained of color.
He mumbled a quick “Excuse me” and bolted out of the room.
As he dashed upstairs, he was already on the phone, instructing his staff to keep everyone in the private room under control and calling in mansurti to ensure the rest of the club’s guests wouldn’t be disturbed.
What shook him was the white powder smeared around her mouth in the photos. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was the same stuff he’d just give her tonight