Chapter 49: What Happened In Prison
"Who said we wanted you dead?" Rnd asked, his face dark and sullen.
Alvera did not want to engage in the topic with him. "I''m fine now, Mr. Francois. You can leave."
"I don''t have much to do today anyway. I''ll stay here with you."
Alvera sighed.
"Why? I''m here to keep youpany. Why are you so unwilling?"
Alvera did not say anything.
Rnd continued to ask coolly, "You had lunch with Antoine this morning. What did you talk about?"
Alvera looked at him nkly for a moment. "You really know a lot about me. Did you send someone to
spy on me?"
Rnd raised his eyebrows and replied, "I don''t have the time for that, but you argued in front of the
about?"
Alvera smiled faintly and sat up to look out of the window. Her expression hardened slightly.
"We talked about ending it."
"Did he agree?"
Alvera said nothing.
"Looked like he''s deep in your charm. How did you do it?"
"Have you ever loved someone when you were young, Mr. Francois?" She looked back at him and
continued, "The ignorance and naivety of a first love are hard to forget, isn''t it?"
...
"So you find it hard to forget him?"
"Why should I forget him?" She asked him, "He is part of my youth. I want to remember everything that
has happened in the past, be it friendship or love. Why should I forget him?"
"You''re married."
"Marriage is my future. It doesn''t mean that I have to forget about my past." She let out a deep sigh. "I
have a good memory. I will not forget any love or hate because that would just be self-deception."
"So you admit that you still love him."
"Love? Maybe... once upon a time." She drew her knees to her chest and hugged herself tightly. "We
used to be so fragile, so we would group together for warmth,fort, and encouragement. We spent
our most rebellious years together. He taught me how to grow up."
...
Rnd felt a trickle of irritation at her words.
He never thought that Antoine was such a great influence on Alvera.
"You don''t hate him? He did abandon you back then."
"If you put it that way, I should hate you the most."
She turned her head, rested her cheek on her knees, and smiled at him.
"If he was the one who taught me how to grow up, then you taught me the meaning of humiliation," she
continued.
Her words felt like a dagger plunged unexpectedly into his heart.
"I don''t know what grudge you hold against the Earhart family,"
"That''s not an eptable reason to hurt someone."
"You hate me because I sent you to prison?"
Alvera shrugged. "Mr. Francois, we''re straying from the topic. Let the past be the past, there''s no need
to discuss any further."
She loosened her arms. "Does this count as a workce injury?"
Rnd stared at her nonchnt expression helplessly.
This woman''s heart was locked, and it seemed like no one in the world would be able to unlock it.
"Does this count?" she asked again.
Rnd nodded. "Yes."
Alvera smiled. "Then I can finally rest."
"What happenedst night..."
"What happenedst night is in the past now." She shifted her gaze back to the window again.
"Can you be upfront with me in the future?"
"I don''t even need to say anything if you had believed in me. You don''t believe me, so there''s really no
use being upfront."
"You''re too arrogant."
Alvera did not respond to him.
Was she being arrogant? In her opinion, she was being self-abased.
"Oh yeah, that shed in the Earhart family''s backyard has been demolished."
Alvera''s expression tightened slightly, but her tone was calm. "Is that so?"
"The demolition should bepleted today."
"That''s good," she said, her tone a little sad.
"Is there anything in particr that you would like to get from there?"
Alvera shook her head.
He took out a yellowed exercise book from his bag and handed it to her.
"What about this?"
Alvera took a look at it. It was one of her exercise books from high school.
She took it and flipped through it, then smiled. "How did you get this?"
"I just picked it up when I went over."
She tucked her hair behind her ear and began flipping through the book earnestly, smiling lightly every
now and then.N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.
...
Rnd went into a trance as he looked at her.
He suddenly understood what it meant to be at peace.
He stared at Alvera the entire time she was looking at the book.
Finally, she closed the exercise book and looked at him calmly. "Mr. Francois, have you ever been
particrly persistent on one thing?"
Rnd raised his eyebrows and thought for a moment. "So far, no."
She raised the exercise book in her hand. "The most persistent thing I''ve ever done is studying so that I
could get into a good university. I worked hard for over ten years, but then I eventually realized that
persistence is nothing next to money and power."
Rnd knew that she was implying something, but he did not get angry.
...
Now, he was used to the way she interacted with him, so he could withstand her impertinence.
...
It would be more of a surprise to him if she had spoken to him calmly for more than three sentences.
"Where is the university that you once dreamed of?"
"That''s no longer important," she said as she ced the exercise book next to her pillow andy down.
"Since this is a workce injury, then I''m going to take the chance to get some sleep."
...
"You have plenty of time to sleep at night."
"Not when you''re there. I can''t sleep well with you."
Rnd frowned. "Are you trying to say that I disturbed your sleep?"
She replied with a silent smile, then closed her eyes. "You''re buying dinner."
Rnd shook his head and smiled.
The way they interacted with each other was always so strange.
Alvera stayed in the hospital on the drip for two days.
On the third day, she ignored what Rnd had told her and went back to work.
It took her the entire morning before she realized btedly that Beverly''s ce was cleared out and
empty.
...
When she had lunch with Patrick at noon, she asked him about it, puzzled. "Why is Beverly Moore''s
ce cleared out?"
"She was fired."
"Huh?" She had a sudden cold feeling. "Why was she fired? What did she do wrong again?"
Patrick nced at her and avoided her eyes. "The warehouse workers told on her that day when you
were hospitalized. They had to work well into the next day dealing with the printers because it turns out
she did not send anyone after they requested for help, so she was fired."
She was fired just because of this?
Alvera frowned.
She wasn''t fired when they found a mistake on the form.
"She deserves it. There''s something wrong with her attitude anyway. Don''t concern yourself about her,
eat your lunch."
Alvera nodded and did as she was told.
In the afternoon, Terry entered Rnd office while holding a file.
"Boss, the details for the Czech trip has been arranged. Here are the passports, the ne tickets, and
the itinerary."
Rnd nodded. "Leave them there."
"Also, boss, this is the report from the investigators that I sent to look into Alvera''s time in prison. You
were right, she was abused in prison."
Rnd frowned.
"Tell me the details."
"Our informant was a prisoner who was released a few months earlier. She said that Alvera was often
taken away by the prison guards at night. When she returned, she always looked like she had been
beaten up brutally. The prisoner remembered Alvera because she seemed like an honest little girl who
would be punished like this every month. She''s quite well known in prison."
...
Rnd clenched his fist and banged the table with force. "Why were the prison guards targeting her?"
"The informant wasn''t sure either, but the rumour was that she had offended someone influential
outside the prison. The prison guards were bribed to beat her up."
Rnd sighed heavily. He thought of the information he had found during his investigations and then
thought about the scars on her body...
He seemed to suddenly understand why she lived like a hedgehog.
"Boss, should we continue to investigate this matter?"
Rnd came to his senses and said, "Yes, find out who is behind this."
"Yes, sir."
After work, Alvera tidied up her purse and was preparing to go downstairs when her phone rang.
She took out her phone and left the office quickly to pick up the phone in private. "Hello?"
"I''m waiting for you in the basement parking lot."
Alvera remained silent.
"What''s wrong?"
"Nothing, I''lle down now."
She hung up the phone, went downstairs with a heavy sigh and got into his car.
As soon as she got in the car, the driver drove away.
"Don''t wait for me in the future," she said. "It would be bad if someone saw us."
"What''s wrong with that?"
"Didn''t you say that you don''t want others to know about our rtionship?"
He rolled his eyes at her. "We''re leaving the day after tomorrow."
"What?"
"I told you before, right? I''m taking you to Prague."
"You''ve settled all the paperwork?"
"Of course. Did you think I was going to smuggle you overseas?"
"I wouldn''t do it even if you were."
She turned her head and smiled as she looked out of the window. She was a little excited at the
thought of going overseas.
Just then, Rnd''s cell phone rang.
He picked it up and looked at it. Seeing that it was Andrina, he frowned.
Alvera nced at his phone as well and looked away.
Rnd picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Rnd, I''ve just finished my check up today."
"What kind of check up?"
"Aren''t you going abroad the day after tomorrow? I went and had a check-up at the hospital so that you
don''t need to worry about me. The doctor said that I can go with you as long as I don''t get too tired. We
haven''t had a trip together for so long, I''m really looking forward to it."