Yvonne''s expression remained calm as she replied coolly, "Oh. Well, she''s gone now. The living have to move on. Mr. Bet Thompson is at an age where he should be settling down. It''s not realistic to expect him to stay single forever for Yvonne''s sake."


    Sandra just shook her head with a bitter smile. "You don''t understand. You don''t know how much Vonnie loved Bet. She told me that after the mission was over, she was going to marry him and invited me to her wedding. She always wore the ring on a chain around her neck, hidden under her clothes."


    Back then, Yvonne had rejected Bet''s proposal. That proud man, with a pained smile, had turned and thrown the engagement ring into a pond.


    Yvonne hadn''t dared to look for it during the day. At night, she had slipped into the pond alone and searched for two whole nights before finally finding the custom- made ring in the mud.


    She had stood in the cold water, clutching the ring, and cried for a long time. After that, she fell ill with a high fever and spent several days in the hospital on an IV drip.


    Sandra had gone to visit her.


    Yvonne was lying in bed, pale as a sheet, but Sandra saw that she had strung the ring on a chain and was wearing it around her neck, close to her skin.


    She was weak from the illness, but her eyes shone brightly. She grabbed Sandra''s hand and said with a smile, "I have the evidence of Colin''s crimes now. Once the mission is over, I can marry Ben. He''ll forgive me, won''t he? He has to forgive me!"


    But after they sent Colin to prison, he was silenced shortly after a ssic case of sacrificing a pawn to save the king. Yvonne''s mission wasn''t over; she had to continue investigating Nexus Media and George.


    And then, she was killed. Her mission would never be over.


    Sandra didn''t know what Yvonne was thinking in her final moments. Fear, perhaps, but more than anything, regret. She never got to marry her childhood sweetheart.


    The radio in Sandra''s car was ying an old song, which was painfully fitting. Yvonne said nothing, turning to look out the window. Her eyes felt dry. She was learning that when the pain was deep enough, you couldn''t even cry.


    But Sandra was weeping, tears streaming down her face. She kept one hand on the steering wheel while the other frantically wiped them away.


    "It''s all my fault. I didn''t listen to her. I was too eager and snuck into George''s office to investigate, and I got caught. She exposed herself to protect me. I killed her."


    Yvonne pulled a few tissues from the box and banded them to Sandra. "Sandra, remember what you told mest time? You''re not the one who killed Yvonne. The people who killed her are the real criminats, and our job is to bring every single one of them to justice."


    Sandra slowed the car, steering with one hand while she used the tissues to dry her cheeks. She quicklyposed herself, though her eyes were still rimmed with red.


    Yvonne looked at her and continued, "At Mr. James Sr.''s birthday party today, I saw Queena. She doesn''t look well it seems the Rogers family has her under a form of house arrest. She''s probably not allowed out except for necessary social functions."


    Sandra considered this. "It''s almost certain now that the power behind George is the Rogers family. Now that George is down, he''s probably worried about his illegitimate daughter, so he entrusted her to them. But the Rogers family doesn''t trust him, so they''re using the engagement as an excuse to keep Queena under their control and use her as leverage against George."