Chapter 14
A hazy, fragmented memory flashed across Andrew’s mind without warning.
He remembered the blinding headlights and excruciating pain. He heard a vague but anxious and tearful female voice calling his name. He felt a pair of warm, trembling hands pressing hard against his wound…
That voice… and that feeling…
Why didn’t the voice sound anything like Lucy’s usual coquettish tone?
Even Andrew was stunned. Why did this thought just occur to him out of nowhere?
Lucy sensed the way he paused ever so briefly with a mix of emotions in his eyes and used it like a weapon to her advantage.
She began sobbing even more tragically, her voice shrill as she screamed, “Because of what, huh? Go on! Were you about to say that I was wrong for saving you all those years ago?
“You’ve been thinking about ditching me for a long time now, haven’t you? You’re heartless, Andrew!”
Her screams gave him a splitting headache, and the flicker of doubt was drowned out by her wails. Frazzled, he waved over his bodyguards and had them take her away by force.
But once the seed of doubt was planted, it would only keep growing.
Since that inexplicable moment of hesitation, Andrew found himself unable to stop recalling the details of the accident that had changed everything. The more he thought about it, the more he found that Lucy’s previous account of the situation was too vague and illogical.
She had always emphasized that she did everything she could to save him and that she stayed by his side until the ambulance arrived. However, she could never give any concrete details about the situation.
Every time he pressed her for more information, she deflected him with tears by claiming that she’d been too scared and couldn’t remember clearly anymore.
As the sense of dissonance kept growing, Andrew could no longer fool himself.
Late at night, he summoned Peter Bates, his most trusted bodyguard. He instructed him with a grave expression, “I want you to quietly investigate the Westridge accident from all those years ago again.
“Don’t let anyone find out about it, especially Lucy. I want the original recordings from the scene of the accident, the ambulance dispatch logs, the hospital’s records, and… any eyewitnesses you can find. Spare no expense to get it done.”
Peter went off to do as told.
The days stretched on torturously as Andrew awaited the results of the investigation.
Chapter 14
He also began to test Lucy.
“Lulu, do you remember what color jacket I was wearing the day I got into the accident?”
“What did you use to stop me from bleeding out at the site of the crash? I don’t remember it being a handkerchief…”
Lucy’s answers were always hesitant and inconsistent. She would inevitably change the subject by dissolving into a puddle of tears, questioning if he no longer believed her and had grown tired of her. As always, she emphasized how he owed her, using that to guilt–trip him.
However, her overreaction and sensitivity toward the subject only deepened the suspicion in
Andrew’s heart.
A few days later, Peter finally came back to Andrew with his preliminary findings. Over an encrypted line, he reported cautiously, “Mr. Stone, we found a street cleaner who was responsible for cleaning that stretch of the road at the time.
“He’d hidden at a distance out of fear, but he did see some of what happened. Based on his description, the first person who gave you emergency aid wasn’t Ms. Evans…”
Andrew’s heart clenched as he instructed, “Go on!”
“He said… it was a pretty young–looking woman with a gentle face. Even though she’d gone pale with fright, she remained calm as she applied pressure to your wound, and she did it quite professionally. As for Ms. Evans, she seemed to have arrived in a car later on… much later than
what she claimed…”
As if hit with a hammer, Andrew’s mind went blank.
That blurry, fragmented memory crystallized with shocking clarity now. He recalled the warm, trembling hands and the tearful voice of a woman who was trying her best to remain calm.
It wasn’t Lucy.
It really wasn’t Lucy!
