Chapter 1413
"Aunt Eunice."
Eunice turned at the sound of the voice, her face breaking into a warm smile.
"Ah, you're here?"
Arabella walked in, her demeanor as nonchalant as if she were at a high society ball, not a dingy backroom where a man lay
beaten within an inch of his life. Her expression remained unfazed.
Eunice admired her niece's bravery and composure all over again.
"You wanted to see me, Aunt Eunice?"
"Do you recognize this man?"
Arabella's gaze swept over the barely conscious figure. "Nope, never seen him before."
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"Last night, | got a tip-off. Someone on the dark web put a pretty penny on your head." Eunice's eyes fell on the man before them.
"I had speople trace his IP address, and we pulled him out of the shadows."
Only then did Arabella understand why her aunt had rushed off the phone last night, leaving her to entertain Romeo and Martin
without a proper goodbye—it had been for this.
"Has he said anything?" Arabella asked, her voice as cool as a breeze.
"Not a word,” Eunice replied, scrutinizing the man. She had been working him over for thirty minutes, yet not a peep. “Tough guy,
it seems."
As Arabella's slender fingers brushed the man’s wrist, he instinctively tried to pull away, but the ropes held him fast.
He didn't know what Arabella was up to, and his eyes were filled with wariness and suspicion.
"Deprived of food and water, you've got two days to live, tops.” Arabella looked into the man's eyes. "I get it, you took someone's
money to cause trouble, but what's the use of money if you're dead?"
The man remained silent, his gaze shifting away.
"Or maybe it's not for you.” Arabella speculated. "Is it for your family? A friend?"
The man’s face was a mask, unchanging from the start.
"If I'm not wrong, this person means a lot to you. So much that you'd risk your own life for their well-being. But if you die, would
they grieve for you?"
The man's silence was as solid as ever, seemingly resolved to await death.
"I guess | was wrong,” Arabella said knowingly. "So, you're not doing this for your own glory or for someone close, and you're not
terminally ill. Normally, there's no need to risk your life for a job like this. That leaves two possibilities: you're either repaying a
debt of gratitude that's worth more to you than your life, or you're being coerced"
That last word made the man's gaze flicker, but he quickly regained his composure.
"Is the other party powerful?" Arabella continued, her tone persuasive. "You should know, here in Dawnstar, no one's got more
clout than my uncle and aunt.
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The man remained mute, his eyes as empty as before, as if waiting for death's embrace.
"Is their reach even greater than my aunt and uncle's?” Arabella found this intriguing. “Who have | managed to offend that's such
a big shot? Doom?"
The man looked at Arabella with a flicker of surprise before quickly hiding it, shifting his gaze away.
"Doom's backbone is broken, and its remnants are too busy licking their wounds to bother with me. So, this person must be
someone | know, and our enmity runs deep"
Arabella smiled faintly and continued, “Since I've quessed this much, it's only a matter of tbefore | find out on my own. A bit
more effort, that’s all. If you spill the beans now, you'll savethe trouble, and | might even help you fake your own death. Start a
new life under a new identity. You've got two days to think it through."
After making her offer, Arabella glanced at her aunt. “Let's go, Aunt Eunice."
Eunice was taken aback by how her niece had managed to get the man to contemplate his choices with just a few words. As they
left the basement, she couldn't help but wonder aloud, “Bella, have you been interrogating people often? I'm suddenly very curious
about your other talents. Do you have any secret identities | don't know about?"