Take My Breath Away

The guests in the villa decided to gather up their stuff and leave quickly. They didn't want to be dragged into this.

Finally, everyone was gone, and the two were left alone. Ivan looked around, his eyes filled with nothing but disgust. "I told you before. Don't bring your punk-ass friends here!" he shouted at Aldrich Yuan furiously.

With his arms crossed over his chest, Aldrich Yuan sneered and retorted indifferently, "Well, you certainly weren't there for me. My friends were."

Ivan didn't bother belaboring the point. Instead, he asked bluntly, "So why Megan Lan? Why did one of your men rape and kill her?"

"What are you talking about? Better yet, who are you talking about? Megan Lan?" Aldrich Yuan admitted to nothing.

"The engineer who raped her worked for you. I'm not stupid. Why?" Ivan stared at him with a fierce look; he was so disappointed in Aldrich Yuan. He thought he knew the man in front of him, but it turned out he didn't.

"Dammit Ivan! I'm your boyfriend. Why don't you trust me?" Aldrich Yuan complained bitterly.

Upon hearing the word "boyfriend," Ivan pulled a long face and snapped, "Boyfriend? I never agreed to that!"

Aldrich Yuan hugged Ivan tightly and clutched his shirt. He gave him a pitiful look. "Ivan, we've been together for five years. You dumping me?"

Ivan pushed him away. Aldrich Yuan fell and only through last-minute maneuvering hit the couch. Ivan stared down at him and said in a cold voice, "Quit it! I'm married now." He pulled out a bank card from his wallet and handed it to him. "Here you are. Three million dollars. Enjoy. Don't call me again!"

Instantly, Aldrich Yuan's eyes brimmed with tears. Without sparing a single glance at the card, he yelled in a sobbing voice, "Ivan, do you remember your promise? Five years ago, you said we'd be together, that you'd take care of me for the rest of my life. You're throwing all that away over a woman? So what happened to the fake marriage? That's what you told me it was. To make your mom happy. But now you're dumping me because of her. So tell me—do you love her?"

But Ivan wasn't stupid. He was afraid Aldrich Yuan might go after Debbie. So he tried to explain, "The marriage is fake. She's like my own sister, for Christ's sa

o this..."

Upon hearing that, Debbie coaxed him softly, "It's not your fault. I married you to make Carlos jealous, you know. We both had our reasons."

Ivan heaved a sigh of relief. "Don't worry. If the cops can't find the murderer, I'll turn him in. Focus on what you came here to do. And leave everything to me..." His voice trailed off as he thought with a self-mocking smile, 'Well, I can't fix everything. Carlos bailed Debbie out. I might need to call on him again.'

"Thanks a lot, Ivan. Get some sleep."

"Sure. Good night."

The two of them were lost in their own thoughts at that moment.

Because of the charges pending against her, Debbie found it hard to work. Several collaborators warned her that if she didn't get back to work, they'd terminate their contracts.

Left with no choice, Debbie had to leave the manor with a mask, a baseball cap and sunglasses so no one would recognize her. There were even several bodyguards accompanying her to protect her.

Apart from work, she also had to pay attention to the investigation.

That afternoon, she got a call from a private detective she hired. "You're right, Miss Nian. Someone forced the police to not grant your bail. And he even tipped off the media and paid them to run stories about it. But then someone had all the news posts handled."

"Is it James Huo who bought off the news outlets?" Debbie asked. 'Is it Carlos who had all the news posts handled?' she thought to herself.

"Yes," confirmed the detective.