Perpetrator

Dave and Evander had no idea what the commotion was going on inside, but as soon as Arthur got out of there, something bad seemed to have happened. He walked weakly with a blank stare, not caring even if they kept calling out to him.

They stared at each other silently.

Sarah who had joined them moments ago said "I-I'll check on Livy first."

"Please. We'll catch up with Arthur. I'll call you later, Miss Grey." Evander said.

Sarah agreed and rushed inside.

They followed Arthur silently behind him and saw that he had headed to his car. Dave immediately dragged him to Evander's car.

This time there were only the three of them in the car. Before Dave drove the car, he glanced through the mirror, saw how Arthur covered his face with his hands, but from between the hands, tears were flowing. Evander saw it too and was at a loss as to what to do.

The car was finally driven, and they returned to Arthur's residence.

As soon as they arrived, Arthur immediately opened the door and walked into the house. Dave and Evander were still following him. Really, under these circumstances, they really couldn't leave him alone. Let alone persuading him to go overseas, persuading him to take a break at this time would be difficult.

Luckily, Dave managed to get Arthur to drink. He discreetly put sleeping pills in the drink and Arthur quickly fell asleep.

"What now?" Evander came out of Arthur's room and Dave followed.

Dave clicked his tongue. "What the hell? The surgery failed and they had a big fight. Now the specialist is going to curse me to death!"

Evander, "... I heard that Livy is pregnant, shouldn't this be great news?"

"If it's great news, how did Boss come home as if the world just collapsed?" Dave grumbled.

Evander also felt that the two people really had a big fight.

"Hey, the bodyguard said sister-in-law was robbed and drugged. What do you think the matter is that simple?" Dave jumped into a chair and crossed his arms.

"Do you think that someone did it?" Evander asked back.

Dave nodded.

"Since Livy got on the bus, she doesn't seem to get off at the right stop. I think if she was unconscious she might have gotten on all the way to the last bus stop, that's why we didn't find her. I think we should find out who the person sitting with her on the bus at that time."

"Exactly!" Dave agreed.

Evander immediately took out his phone and called someone. He walked to the balcony and made a call there. Meanwhile Dave sighed.

Didn't the guards say that previously Livy had also met Gwen? Is the source of her anger coming from there?

Dave came to this speculation and clenched his fists.

"Damn vixen!" he grumbled.

"Who is the vixen?" Evander had finished calling and went back inside. "I've asked someone to check who was on the bus yesterday."

Dave didn't hear the second half of Evander's sentence, snorting. "Who else? The only shameless vixen in the world is that damn Gwen."

"Do you think she did it?"

"Why not?" Dave cleared his throat. "Sister-in-law ran away after meeting her secretly, only God knows what they were talking about. That woman must be talking nonsense."

"But I think it's impossible for Gwen to drug Livy. What's the point?"

"At least she can become a suspect. She must be jealous of sister-in-law. What a shameless woman. After all it would be better if the culprit was her, and the one who would teach her a lesson would be me!"

Evander winced at Dave's words, if he acted, things would not turn out well.

"Whoever did it, we have to get rid of it as soon as possible." Evander sat down on one of the couch and sighed. "I'm a bit tired, I'm going to close my eyes for a bit."

The events of the past few days had kept him from sleeping at all, now he almost fell over due to heavy sleepiness.

"Yeah. Just sleep, lazy ass!"

Dave snorted, he couldn't sleep now, he still had to call the specialist who would be in charge of Arthur's surgery directly—if it didn't fail today—and intended to apologize for the sudden delay in the operation.

He'd be in trouble for sure.

"Fvck!"

***

"You've calmed down now?" Sarah looked at Livy gently, giving her a glass of water.

Livy took the glass. "Sorry to make you have to see all this."

Sarah sighed. "What are you saying, huh? I'm your bestie, I'm here to listen to you, ok? Whenever you're ready to talk don't hesitate to look for me."

Livy nodded weakly.

"Livy, whatever troubles you are facing, remember not to feel alone. I am here."

Seeing her pale face, Sarah was both sad and angry. She didn't know what the root of the problem was, but she seemed to be starting to guess. Livy is currently pregnant, as a best friend, she doesn't want Livy to be depressed and has to help her.

She looked at Livy and tentatively asked, "So what's the matter between you and Arthur? Would you mind telling me now?"

Asked this question again, Livy's eyes immediately drooped. She held herself back from crying.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, I'm just asking," Sarah continued.

Livy looked at her. "Since you've seen it, then you may ask about it. I did have a fight with Arthur."

"So there really is a problem between you two." Sarah sighed. "This problem ... is it related to what you asked me back then? About a man who cheats on his partner? Seriously, Livy, is he really cheating?"

Livy didn't answer.

Sarah guessed that it was true, and she was concerned. She immediately took Livy's hand. "Oh, Livy. I-I didn't know that was the case. I'm sorry. I mean, I must have said something bad when you asked me that time, right?"

She immediately hugged Livy again, and she immediately let go afraid that Livy would cry again.

"Livy, one thing you should know, cheating is inexcusable."

"..."

"But, if you believe in Arthur and want this matter investigated, I will help you."

Investigate? What for? To find out more about their relationship and only to make her hurt even more?

Livy looked down, staring at the floor with a broken heart. "No need, soon we might be getting a divorce."

***

In Arthur's courtyard, surrounded by sinister-looking bodyguards, a middle-aged woman crouched and cried for her life. She saw the tattooed man looking at her very annoyed and she was really scared.

"Sir, believe me. I only carry out orders and receive money. The rest I don't know." The middle-aged woman was crying.

Dave spat. "If you are given money to kill her, then you will kill her?! You ... geez! Do I need to kill you, huh?"

The woman shook her head frantically. Hugged Dave's legs asking for forgiveness. "Sir, I have to do it. I need money, and that person gave me a lot of money. But if I was asked to kill her, I would definitely refuse immediately. Believe me. I can't be a murderer."

"But you drugged her!"

The woman stumbled as Dave pulled his leg roughly.

"So, who is this person?" asked Dave in a softened tone.

"I-I don't know. I don't know him."

Him?

"Then the appearance?"

Again the woman replied that she did not know.

"You just have to say how he looks, dammit! And you don't even know? Or are you keeping your mouth shut on purpose? How much did he pay? Here, take all the money and say it!" Dave opened his wallet and tossed all the bills inside.

Even with all that money, the woman wasn't tempted, she was more worried about her life in front of these people.

Then suddenly two more people came, which made the woman even more frightened.

Dave saw Arthur and Evander coming and shook his head. "She doesn't want to talk."

Arthur quickly pulled out his phone and showed the terrified woman a photo. "You want to be free, don't you? Tell me, was he the one who told you to drug my wife?"

It was a photo of Matthew.

Amidst her tears, the woman glanced at the photo Arthur showed her, then said, "Sir, even if you showed me a thousand photos, I wouldn't know. He didn't show me his face. Sir, I didn't lie to you, even I was in your hands like this, why should I lie? I'm just an old aunt."

From the information Evander got, it was stated that this woman's name was Maggy, and she was just a newspaper seller who usually traveled from one place to another.

Coincidentally, for the past few days, the newspapers she sells are not selling well while she needs a lot of money for her sick husband. People close to her say that she has recently been earning a lot of money and taking time off from trading, and finally managed to take her husband for treatment.

But no one knows where the money came from.

"What about the height?" Arthur took out his phone again.

Maggy recalled. "He is very tall and slender. He seems to be a young man. His hands are white and pale. When he speaks, his voice is soft and pleasant to hear. Ah, he may be taller than you, Mr. Charming."

Dave and Evander looked at each other.

"Then? Do you remember any other details?" asked Arthur patiently.

"Hmm, from all appearances, it's deliberately well covered. But I can see his eyes. He has small, sharp eyes, curled eyelashes and also … looks like there's a mole near his eye."

In his youth, Arthur had seen Matthew's face clearly. It seemed that there was the same mole.

Arthur handed Evander his phone. "Please take a closer look at this photo again."

Evander immediately understood and enlarged the photo on the eye. And Maggy exclaimed, "Yeah, that's right. His eyes are exactly the same and when I look at him again I remember that mole under his left eye. Hey, he's so handsome."

Hearing that the woman still had time to praise Matthew, Dave snatched the phone. "You think about yourself, can you still live after this! Why praise a fox?!"

Maggy panicked, hugging Dave's leg again. "S-Sir. Forgive me. He is handsome and young indeed, but not as handsome as you."

Dave crossed his arms. "Hmph!"

"That means it was Matthew who did it. I already knew it wasn't a coincidence," said Evander.

"Hey, but sister-in-law's phone simcard is not in it." Dave glanced at the wallet and cellphone in the bodyguard's hand, then moved the leg that the woman was embracing. "Old aunt, did you throw away the simcard? Answer me!"

"N-N-No sir. I didn't mean to steal, that guy asked me to secure her phone and wallet. I don't know anything."

Evander looked at Arthur. "What is your plan?"

"What else? Beat that damn male fox!" Dave answered.

Without looking at the tattooed delinquent who had just spoken, Arthur said, "Don't forget that I also know about you telling Livy about the bug in her necklace. I will settle accounts with you after this."

Dave winced.

With that, Arthur left the crowd in the courtyard. He asked the bodyguards to release the woman and gave a stern warning.

Evander laughed. "Why are you meddling in that matter anyways, just let him put a bug anywhere. You just need to remind him to take it off, why did you tell her?"

Evander walked into the house and Dave followed.

"Fvck! You have no idea what the situation was back then. Sister-in-law secretly asked me to meet without the boss knowing. I didn't want to be scolded anymore, so I said not to wear the necklace. I thought she knew about the bugger in the first place."

"Stupid."

Inside the house, both see Arthur calling someone. When he was done, he spoke to Evander, "You work things out with Gwen. I'm going to see Livy."

Both Dave and Evander agreed with this plan, they didn't want to prevent him anymore because he had promised them after he woke up yesterday.

'I'm going to do the surgery. But I have to bring Livy back first. Will you help me?'

The Arthur they know is not someone who easily asks for help. Once he says this in a firm and confident tone, Dave can't help but think of another way to schedule Arthur's surgery again when the problem is over. And Evander could only agree too.

The three split up.

Evander and Dave go to see Gwen to ask what happened then. Then Arthur went to the hospital to coax Livy back and explain everything.

However he will be rejected later, he just needs to stubbornly wait until she wants to hear all of his explanations. He had suspected that it was Livy's meeting with Gwen that caused her to leave, and Matthew started a small fire with gasoline and it grew big.

Now, he just wished Livy would listen to him.

... to be continued ...