Chapter 727

Jane tugged at Mina's hand excitedly. "Come on, sis! Let's go check it out." Mariah watched as the two girls held hands and began sneaking toward the coffee shop across the street. She quickly followed. The Wallace family paid her a generous salary not just to chauffeur these girls around, but to serve as their bodyguard their safety was her top priority. Mina wholeheartedly agreed with Jane's suggestion. "You're absolutely right! Rory wouldn't come here unless she's up to no good." Once they crossed the street, Jane peered through the coffee shop's floor-to-ceiling windows. There sat Rory in a corner booth, facing someone whose gender was obscured by a baseball cap. Perfect their table happened to be right next to a decorative wooden partition. Jane signaled Mariah to cover for them as she and her sister slipped inside, taking seats directly behind the divider. Rory's conversation came through crystal clear. "What the hell were you thinking? I told you to rough up that little bitch, not kill her! Now you've got the nerve to ask me for more money after botching the job?" Her voice trembled with barely contained rage. Jane and Mina exchanged knowing glances. Both instantly realized the "little bitch" Rory referred to could only be Veronica. So she really was the murderer! But who was her accomplice? Soon, the other voice responded, "Cousin, sure you didn't tell me to kill her but don't pretend you and Auntie didn't join in beating her that day. I've already done time before I'm not scared. Pay up, or I'll turn myself in and take you both down with me." Upon hearing that voice, Mina's eyes widened momentarily. Just as she was about to ask Jane about it, the latter had already handed her the phone. On the open notepad screen were two words: Ainara. In an instant, everything clicked for Mina. No wonder the voice had sounded so familiar. It was the kind of familiarity where the name dances on the tip of your tongue, yet when you try to recall it, it slips away like smoke. Recovering from her shock, Mina fell silent and pressed her ear against the partition, straining to catch every word exchanged between Rory and Ainara. Rory glared at Ainara, her teeth clenched in barely contained fury. Her piercing gaze seemed capable of boring holes through the other woman's body. "How much more do you want?" she hissed. "Two million!" Ainara blurted out without hesitation, clearly having calculated this figure long in advance. Rory ground her teeth. "Fine, you'll get it. But you know exactly how precarious Mother's and my position is in the family right now. We can't produce that kind of money immediately. You'll have to give us time to prepare." "One day," Ainara said coolly. "Tomorrow, you and Auntie can bring the money directly to my place." With deliberate theatrics, she adjusted her baseball cap before striding out of the café. Rory remained seated. Only after watching Ainara's car pull away through the floor-to-ceiling windows did she move. Stepping into a secluded corner outside, she dialed Aaliyah's number. "Mother, that bitch Ainara is demanding two million from us," she spat, unaware that a tiny black ant had silently attached itself to her clothing. "Mom, constantly feeding her money will only make her greedier. She'll keep using this leverage against us forever. Why don't we use this sum to settle things permanently instead?" Jane's blood ran cold as she grasped Rory's implication. Though she'd known about Rory's cruelty ever since witnessing her persuade Rosalia to remove Grandpa Walter's oxygen mask, this revelation still shocked her. She'd underestimated the depths of Rory's malice. Ainara was her own cousin, for heaven's sake! "Mother, you keep thinking of her as your niece, but she certainly doesn't regard you as family. Not just Ainara, Grandma, Uncle, their entire household are like leeches sucking you dry." "They never even consider your difficulties. We can barely make ends meet at home, yet they keep demanding money from you to support them. What's the point of having so-called relatives like that?" Rory's voice carried clear irritation as she spoke into the phone. After a brief silence likely waiting for Aaliyah's response she continued, "The license plate number of the car Ainara just took is XXXX. Mom, have someone take care of her first." Once Rory hung up, the tiny ant swiftly returned to Jane's hand. As Jane tucked the ant away, Mina couldn't contain her eagerness. "Jane, should we get involved in this?" Jane shook her head firmly. "No, let them fight among themselves like dogs." "But, sis, we need to find evidence that Rory and Aaliyah murdered Veronica!" Jane declared with determination. Originally, she hadn't planned to intervene, but since fate had brought this to her attention, she owed it to Veronica to uncover the truth if only to repay a favor to the orphanage director. "Then should we head to that villa now?" Mina asked anxiously. Jane reached out with her plump, doll-like hand and took her sister's. "Sis, we can't go today. It's already too late, and if we don't head back soon, our brothers will worry. Let's go tomorrow instead." Mina stared at Jane, her lips quivering with impatience. "Jane, how can you delay something this important until tomorrow?" "Sis, there's no rush. Finding evidence isn't something we need to do this very moment. It's pitch dark out now what could two kids possibly find in that villa anyway?" Jane replied with calm assurance. Mina fumbled for arguments, but after struggling in vain, she finally deflated. "Fine, Jane, I'll listen to you. But you have to help me skip school tomorrow and take me with you!" ... Back home, Jane closed her bedroom door but wasted no time. Sitting cross-legged on her plush bed, her chubby fingers flew across the keyboard of a makeshift laptop assembled from a dismantled brick phone. In no time, she had tracked down the license plate number Rory had mentioned. The moment she spotted the license plate number, an SUV came barreling down the road like a bat out of hell, slamming straight into the sedan! Even though she'd already known from Rory's phone call that the woman was orchestrating a car crash for Ainara, witnessing it live on the surveillance feed still made her heart lurch violently at the deafening impact of colliding metal. Jane instinctively blinked. When she reopened her eyes to the screen, they widened in shock right beside the wreckage, a crimson sedan had paused momentarily. Through its rear window, she could clearly see Ainara sitting inside. Clearly, while Rory was determined to kill Ainara, the latter had anticipated the move all along. These two sisters were truly cut from the same cloth both absolute forces to be reckoned with.