thebusnovel Chapter 416: Disappeared
Chapter 416: Disappeared
"Wow." Baylee said dazedly. "Grandpa Oathran... you actually got her... huh?"
She blinked several times in rapid succession, as though trying to clear a mirage. "Mrs—I mean... Cecilia. You already know he had the biggest crush on you out of all of us, right?"
Cecilia chuckled. "I know. I’m just that charming, right?"
Baylee laughed again. "Pfft—you are!"
Meanwhile, Oathran was speechless. This meeting with his ex-coworker felt a bit awkward. He hadn’t expected to run into Baylee today, or be caught kissing Cecilia in the middle of the grocery store by someone who had once called him Grandpa.
But Cecilia had simply taken what life threw at her and run with it. She had hugged Baylee like an old friend, made her laugh, and even casually revealed her divorce and her new living situation as though she were discussing the weather.
She had, in the space of five minutes, turned a potentially awkward encounter into something wholesome.
Baylee was right about the fifty dollars every lunch. Oathran had known about her quiet withdrawals from the charity box. Nothing could easily escape his dragon’s perception, even in a busy fast-food restaurant, after all.
He had not said anything about it. He had simply, quietly, begun slipping extra money into the box himself, beyond whatever amount she took, ensuring that the charity never suffered for her need.
When Baylee had been accused of stealing from the register, he had been about to step forward. He had been ready to defend her, to shield her from the humiliation that Justin Burke was trying to heap upon her.
But before he could move, Cecilia had spoken first.
"Actually, Cecilia, I think you are right." Baylee said, nodding slowly. "I will get myself a job that has things to do with lockpicking. Like... a magician, or something."
Cecilia laughed now. "Please, if you want to do it, do things safely." She reached out and gently pinched the toddler’s round cheek. "Your baby needs you."
Baylee smiled, her eyes softening as she looked down at the little girl in her cart. "Yes. Celine needs me."
Cecilia’s eyes widened. And beside her, Baylee grinned smugly. She had been waiting to deliver this exact piece of news. "Yes, yes. She was named after you." Baylee’s grin widened. "Deal with it."
Cecilia helplessly scoffed, clearly surprised. "Pfft—oh my God!"
***
"It also disappeared?" Arzhen asked flatly.
"Yes, Sir." Igor stood at attention beside Oleg. "All of Madam’s belongings that were thrown out have disappeared. Perhaps the same hired people were paid to deliver them away."
Igor paused, then carefully continued. "Ah. Also, we followed them this time, Sir."
"Why?" Arzhen asked, and it snapped out of him.
Thanks to that, Igor’s carefully maintained neutrality flickered just enough to betray his confusion. What do you mean, why? You asked whether we followed them the first time. You sounded annoyed when we didn’t. And now you ask why?
"Where did they bring the trash to?" Arzhen asked, his voice settling back into its usual cold register.
Igor had learned, over years of service, not to question his employer’s whims anymore. He turned to Oleg, passing the baton of explanation to the man who had led the investigation.
"They brought the belongings to a high-end dry cleaning company, Sir." Oleg reported steadily. "That is as far as we could trace. We don’t know where the belongings will be sent once they are cleaned."
"Is that so?" Arzhen’s eyes narrowed. "You tried asking?"
"Yes, Sir. But unfortunately, this cleaning service doesn’t accept money. Or anything." Oleg’s jaw tightened. "They are under the Edengold family’s Nevaeh Company. They are very tight-lipped."
Ha.
Arzhen’s lip curled. It was still and would always be very hard to shake old money’s influence. Even now, when he had become a billionaire with more net worth than the Edengolds.
Old money was strange. They didn’t care about the new money. They weren’t threatened by the world’s climate, like a slumbering dragon, a creature with no natural predator.
They had been entrenched for centuries, having people lining up for their favor and connection. The Edengolds didn’t need to accept bribes or answer questions, unlike the Vasilievs.
"Forget it." Arzhen said dismissively. "She still has many things left behind. She will crawl back eventually." His voice dropped right after, becoming almost hungry. "And when she does, don’t let her."
"Yes, Sir."
The two tigers bowed.
But Arzhen had not dismissed them yet. His hand moved to the tablet on his desk. It was the tablet containing the CCTV footage, the edited compilation and the hours of recordings that his men had cut and spliced and delivered for his viewing. He pushed it toward them.
"Find out about all of the men who interacted with her. From beginning to end." His eyes fixed on Oleg. "Especially the three men at the end."
Oleg received the tablet with both hands, but there was a hesitation in his movements. "This... actually, Sir, we have already tried to find information about them. But..."
"You are not going to say you found nothing again," Arzhen’s voice dropped to a low, dangerous register, "are you?"
Oleg looked down. His massive shoulders curled inward. He stepped back, his fear barely concealed. "We will try harder, Sir."
"I-in the meantime, Sir," Igor stepped forward, desperately trying to change the subject before his employer’s temper detonated, "we just received news about Miss Vaiva’s Priestess Certification. She scored the top rank again this month. She will soon be certified as a licensed S-Rank Permit User."
He paused, gauging Arzhen’s reaction. "Perhaps in... another two months...?"
Arzhen’s expression didn’t change, but subtly, he looked just a bit more relaxed. "Check the quickest we can apply for a marriage certificate after the divorce is finalized. Somehow find a way to tell Ruby about this. That place is just beyond strict."
After the incident at the hospital, Ruby had gone straight to begin her certification process.
Ruby wasn’t like other lowly women in this world. She had a very rare gift.
Although she couldn’t straight up purify corruption like a Saintess could, she had a natural affinity for holy power. Her mere presence boosted the Luck Stat of her party members and elevated all of their skills by up to fifty percent, stacked on top of every other boosting artifact in existence.
Her body, her touch, could repel the physical black filth that coated monsters and seeped through the environment inside and outside the rifts. But that wasn’t all.
Now, imagine if she could use magic.