Jaylene and Tamika cried out in horror: “What are you doing?! Stay away from her!”

With Jaylene and Tamika blocking the way, the bodyguards couldn’t reach Alarieka immediately.

Seizing the moment, Alarieka sent a message to someone in her contacts.

For some reason, despite the potent sleep incense burning on the nightstand, Roschelle drifted in and out of consciousness. She was bone-tired, no sound had disturbed her, yet she woke anyway, unable to fall back asleep.

When she finally surfaced, Kieran was no longer in the room.

Roschelle wasn’t surprised, yet felt a pang of disappointment. She pushed herself up against the headboard, idly picking up her phone.

The screen lit up with messages from Alarieka Huston in her contacts.

Alarieka Huston: [Kieran’s with me.]

Alarieka Huston: [If you don’t call him soon, I’m keeping him tonight.]

Alarieka Huston: [You know what that means if he stays.]

Clearly, Alarieka’s words dripped with provocation. She sensed something off about those remarks, knew Alarieka was deliberately trying to rile her up, and had every faith in Kieran’s love for her. Yet Rose still felt choked with frustration.

She gripped her phone so tightly her knuckles whitened, glaring at the screen as if she wished she could burn a hole through it.

“Alarieka, why is it always you?”

Rose clutched her phone and scrambled out of bed, flinging the bedroom door open. She refused to believe it – at this hour, Kieran should’ve been long asleep, not tangled up with Alarieka.

The room Kieran slept in now had no lock against her; she could enter whenever she pleased. Rose rushed down the hallway and threw open Kieran’s door, only to find the room completely empty.

In that instant, her eyes flashed with hurt and fury. She pulled out her phone, found Kieran’s number, and jabbed the call button immediately.

Airport.

Jaylene and Tamika physically blocked the path, lunging forward whenever any bodyguard tried approaching Alarieka. They glared daggers at them, with Jaylene even dragging her grandma into the space between the bodyguards and Alarieka.

Bodyguards: ..

Alright then. Playing dirty, are we?

Biting back their anger, the bodyguards scowled deeply, hands frozen mid-air. “Mr. Argent, what should we do?”

If it were just two women, they wouldn’t hesitate to restrain them. But they’d brought along a frail, stooped elderly woman. They didn’t dare lay a finger, genuinely afraid that even a light touch might frighten the elderly woman into collapsing.

If anything happened to her health because of this, they couldn’t possibly shoulder that responsibility.

Grandma looked utterly bewildered. “Jaylene, who are these people? They look terrifying. Are they gangsters? Should we call the police?”

Bodyguards: .. Calling the cops this late to arrest people? Fine, call them. But they’d have to arrest their boss first. Deal?

Jaylene patted her grandma’s shoulder gently. “Grandma, they’re just lunatics. Ignore them. Just stand here. They won’t dare touch me.”

Grandma’s eyes crinkled into happy slits. “Alright. But the plane’s leaving soon. Shouldn’t we board?”

Jaylene started chatting casually with her grandma right then and there, completely ignoring Kieran and his bodyguards.

The bodyguards watched them, faces darkening with fury.

“Mr. Argent, what should we do?”

Hiding behind Jaylene, Alarieka clutched her phone and sneered, “Kieran–why not check your phone?”

The moment the words left her mouth, a shrill ringtone pierced the air - coming from inside Kieran’s suit jacket.

Alarieka had anticipated this. Rose would never tolerate Kieran sharing space with her. After seeing that message, Rose was bound to call Kieran.

Kieran glanced at the name flashing on his screen, then shot Alarieka a look of inscrutable darkness.

He signaled the bodyguards for silence and answered the call.