Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 91: Accounts

Chapter 91: Accounts

Oliver promptly handed us the investigation reports. As expected, the guy has several offshore accounts. And the staggering deposits alone for a mere Mayor supported our conjectures.

Since my life has always been in turmoil due to specific people, I figured I’d check.

Just in case.

I decided to call my Dad for some information I know he’s been holding on to.

"Dad?"

"Yes, sweetie, you called?" Dad said, his tone a bit jovial.

Sorry, Dad. What I’m bringing isn’t exactly good news.

"We encountered a bit of a snag for our project. I was hoping you still have that list of Thornhill accounts?"

"Ha? What happened? And yes, I’ll have my assistant send it over." My Dad asked before giving instructions to his assistant.

I told him about our current dilemma and my current hypothesis.

"I just wanted to make sure, and if it’s not them, then at least that narrows it down too. He received several deposits within the last two weeks, so it’s either hush or bribe money."

"Is there anything else we can help you with? Dad can get you the permit if you want, sweetie."

I smiled, knowing that Dad was probably itching to solve my problem. "No need, Dad, we have a bit of vested interest in this. And I’d rather you focus on taking down the subsidiaries as planned."

It has been slow because we didn’t want to call attention to ourselves. But we have been pulling out contracts from these smaller subsidiaries, contracts that, unbeknownst to them, were given by my family.

It’s a very tedious process. And disturbing them at such a crucial point won’t be great.

Also, I’ve been itching to exact terror somewhere and somehow. At least this one would greatly deserve it.

"Love you, Dad! I’ll see you soon!"

"Love you too, take care! Call us right away if you need anything!" Dad remarked

I handed over the file Dad sent for cross-referencing, and I received questioning looks, so it was better to explain.

"My gut tells me something happened around the break. This sudden influx right before we got the notice would be an indicator."

"So I thought of cross-checking with my most common enemies," I added as I shrugged at my own logic.

With enemies here and there, what would vary would be their willingness to spend on me.

"I’m actually offended. That’s not a lot of money invested to take us down. They must be looking down at us."

__

Of course, they would be looking down at us. Mitchel returned with Oliver, with a sneer evident on his face.

"Boss, what can I say? You were right." Mitchel said as he handed over the results of their cross-referencing.

It was a name I hadn’t seen for some time. I even thought I had been freed from this menace for a while. But look who we have here.

Little ol’ Alexa.

"She actually spent money. That’s new." It was not that Alexa never used money in her plans; it was just that she never used her own funds. It was always from the poor souls she managed to entice.

How convenient that must be.

"I wonder what’s got her crawling out of her hiding place. She’s still pretending to be at St. Cecilia’s Retreat Facility, right?" I asked, and Oliver nodded.

"She’s been holed up at a nearby hotel but would occasionally go to take photos of her supposed retreat."

I tapped on the desk, wondering when I’d like to deal with her. It’s impolite not to return gifts after all. But I’d rather send one once we finish dealing with that son of a gun Mayor.

__

We opted to go as casual tourists rather than flying over, which was akin to announcing our arrival to our enemies.

If Alexa had a hand in this, she might have been watching for indications that we were leaving for Loretta. So even Lucian was silent about his break, citing an out-of-town meeting.

Our goal was to be as low-key as possible, so imagine our collective shock when a slender blonde-haired woman appeared next to our luggage.

She was short, with a cute nose and rosy lips—a far cry from the last person we were looking for.

"Alyssa? Is that you?" I mean, I’m just making sure. I’d prefer not dragging an innocent person to some far-off town.

"Yes, Boss! It’s me. This way, it’d be hard to recognize me!" She smiled, and it was the same smile Alyssa had; she was just a bit more confident since she couldn’t hide behind her glasses like she usually did.

When shy, Alyssa used to obscure her face with her bangs and glasses. But without those, she just shifted her eyes around to lessen her discomfort.

"Even I couldn’t recognize you. Just be a bit more confident in your stance." Rina went around Alyssa, inspecting her like a piece of art.

"Are you wearing contacts? Will you be able to see comfortably?" I asked, worried about her ability to see.

"I have contacts on. I just generally avoid them because they tend to dry up fast on my eyes." her nose crinkled as her hand tried reaching for her nonexistent glasses.

"And that, too, you’ll have to remember you’re not wearing your glasses right now." I chuckled at her embarrassment. Alyssa was cute like that.

With our group complete, we left for another road trip.

Loretta was actually just two hours away. If we had flown via a helicopter, it would have been over in a few minutes. But riding on such a comfortable bus while eating snacks and napping wasn’t too bad.

We decided to check on the project site before visiting the town proper, and what I saw reminded me of why I loved this place.

Loretta had a rather unique location. We chose a plot near a beautiful beach nestled by the foot of a mountain. The plan was to capitalize on both natural sites, allowing us to offer more to our guests.

That also prompted us to seek architects willing to design villas and other amenities on varying terrains. After all, mapping and customizing each villa to work around nature would entail more work.

Thankfully, we have all the major contractors. Now, all we need to do is get that permit approved.

Well, that, and to teach one bastard a lesson he won’t forget.

Alyssa stood by the sandy shoreline, looking at the glittering sea before us.

A place like this was hard to forget, and I couldn’t blame her for trying her best to go back.

Her story woke me up. Not that I’ve begun discounting my problems, but I just got a new perspective on the gravity of my situation.

I still have my supportive parents, and justice was still within reach.

Heck, the fact that I’m still alive should be the most significant thing.

But to top that off, I’ve learned not to let evil spirits cultivate into demons. It’s best to nip them in the bud before they even become anything.

Lest you end up with people like Alexa and Joseph, and as if they weren’t annoying by themselves, they even decided to team up!

And I don’t know about you, but to me, this sounds like a call for extermination.