Inch nodded, his face a shade too white. "I know." With a grunt of acknowledgment, Lucas dropped the subject.
Inch left without another word.
| had no clue what was going on between those two. | just sat there, wondering what Lucas was going to say or do tonext, or where he planned to stash me.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtLucas looked at me, his face a blank slate. "Did you put on the medicine?" | pressed my lips together, annoyed by his pointless chatter. "Get to the point. What's this? You hitand now you are offering a treat?" His eyebrows knitted together, clearly not thrilled, but he kept his cool and stepped closer. "Yvette, I'm not the one who hurt you." | could not help but laugh. "Does it make a difference?" He draggedhere just to make my life miserable. It did not matter who actually did the hurting.
He clamped his mouth shut after seeing my reaction and said nothing more.
Soon after, Inch stumbled in, his body covered in bruises and limping. | was taken aback at the sight. However, | just scrunched up my forehead and let it go without asking any more questions.
"Take good care of her," Lucas said, his eyes briefly meeting mine before flicking to Rebecca at my side. With that, he spun on his heel and strode out. Inch gavea look, his mouth opened as if he was about to say something, but then he clamped it shut and hobbled out after Lucas.
Now it was justand Rebecca in the room. | leaned against the bamboo wall, dabbed smedicine on my wound, and felt the sting fade away. As the pain subsided, a wave of worry washed over me.
Lucas had been gone a lot lately, and that is when Yara made her move. It was clear that this would not be the last tshe would try something; she probably sawas her rival. The troublemaking of hers was not what scared me—it was the thought of her constant interference. How would | ever get a message to Gregory, to blow the whistle on this place, if she kept showing up? This place was a viper's nest, with fields of poppies nearly ripe for the picking. If I could somehow tip off the cops during the harvest, they could nab Lucas and his gang red-handed. Getting caught with all those illegal poppies would be enough to put Lucas behind bars. However, | knew that alone would not keep him down for good. To really take him down, we needed hard evidence of his crimes.
Lost in thought, | glanced over at Rebecca and saw her eyes fixed on the floor. Curious, | followed her gaze and saw a dark stain on the ground. It took a moment, but then it hit me. Tthat was Lucas's blood, spilled while he shieldedfrom Yara's attack.
"Rebecca," | said softly, trying to snap her out of her trance and back to the present.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHearing my voice, Rebecca whipped around, her dark eyes still clouded with worry she had not managed to hide.
"What... what's wrong? Miss, do you need something?" | gave her a half-hearted smile and shook my head a little. "Nothing major. | just felt like talking, you know, about the blood..." "It's from the gentleman. He looked like he was hurt pretty bad." Before | could even get a word out, Rebecca had jumped in. | nodded slightly. "Yeah, he was bleeding. It must be pretty serious. You're worried about him, huh?" She paused, then hurriedly shook her head. "No, it's not that, I..." She struggled to find the right words and finally just blurted out, "The gentleman is a good man. Everyone here wants him to be okay." Her words caughtoff guard, and | could not help but arch an eyebrow. Could someone so thoroughly rotten actually have people wishing for his well-being? | bit my lip and decided to drop the conversation.
Over the next few days, neither Yara nor Lucas showed up again. The weather turned warmer, which was good for healing. | was not sure if it was Lucas's doing, but | was not cooped up anymore. | was confined to a small house instead.
Rebecca was now always there, shadowing me. Inch said it was to make sure she took care of me.
| did not make a fuss about it. With Rebecca around, | managed to pry sinformation out of her. It turned out that this place was Lucas's hub for growing his drug empire with all the poppies. Once they ripened, they would be picked, processed elsewhere, and then shipped off to all corners of the globe.