Chapter 32
Fear overtook me. I huddled under the car seat, trembling, my face buried in my arms, hugging myself tightly.
“Please let me go, please… I can give you money!”
“I don’t want your money. I want to see how good Norton’s girlfriend is.”
“Please, no!”
“Help, help!”
Stop yelling! Each of us will take a turn, then you can go. I’m just the first.”
“Haha, I’m next then!”
“Why should you be second?”
I felt a chill spread through me as I hugged myself tighter.
I knew my emotions were unstable, teetering on the edge of breakdown every day. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on.
After a long while, I managed to pull myself together and returned to the driver’s seat. The three people from earlier had all left.
The person who had been absent for so long reappeared, and the reason was not hard to guess.
He hadn’t let go of his grudge against Norton and wanted more than anyone to see him suffer. But Norton’s continuous rise in success fueled his hatred and caused him to slip up.
Things turned out to be simpler and progressed faster than I had expected.
After just one instance of following Regina, everything came to light.
Regina and Norton’s arch–nemesis met, and though they spoke in hushed tones, they held nothing back. In one conversation, they revealed everything.
They talked about the kidnapping case and Norton’s promotion.
Regina, during one of Norton’s drunken nights, used his fingerprint to unlock his phone while “taking care of him.”
Norton was indeed involved in shady dealings -bribing accountants, falsifying records, and manipulating the market to create a facade of prosperity for the company, which misled many clients and drastically increased Norton’s project success rate, eventually leading him to the position of General Manager.
I stood at the entrance of the police station, staring up at the emblem above the door.
In my mind, I could already see Norton and the others facing their consequences.
After a moment, I composed myself and walked in, taking off my mask and hat, my voice trembling. “Hello, I need to report a crime.”