After Aria and Owen left, Dexter checked his phone, his face darkened. Just how many things had Hannah done behind our backs?”
Beside him, the lawyer wiped his forehead nervously and muttered, “Mr. Gibson, whatever you do. Don’t appeal. Seriously. Not only should we not appeal, it’d be best if we just let the verdict settle as soon as possible.”
“I know.” Dexter ground his teeth, voice cold. “No matter how many years she gets, we’ll accept the sentence.”
But he still couldn’t figure out why Aria hadn’t delayed the trial. If all the charges had been combined, Hannah’s sentence would’ve been even worse
Aria was not someone known for mercy.
And he had even bigger problems to handle.
He had to get that National Doctor’s Seal back.
The pounding in his head felt like a hundred needles. His assistant hurried over, concern in his eyes. “Mr. Gibson, do you want to see a doctor?”
Dexter took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, forcing himself to stay calm. “Contact Culver. We need to get the National Doctor’s Seal and return it to Aria. Everything else can wait.”
After lunch, Ramon and the lawyers left first.
Owen reached for Aria’s keys, saying, “Let me drive.”
“You’ve had a long day,” Aria protested, “I’ll drive. My shoulder’s almost healed.”
She tried to grab the keys back, but Owen lifted his hand higher and she just missed, her fingers brushing his hand, leaving two faint red marks.
She stared, surprised.
Owen tucked his hand away. “It doesn’t hurt. I scratched myself.”
Aria laughed. “Wow… soft hands, huh?”
He thought, “Is that supposed to be a compliment? Should he say thank you?‘
He glanced down. His skin did look pretty pale.
Maybe she didn’t like guys with pale skin? But she just laughed, so probably not.
He pushed away his doubts, got in the driver’s seat, and headed back to Mayen Garden.
Back at home, Aria opened her laptop again to
Few the surveillance footage. Finally, she messaged Nikolas: [Found the truck driver.]
None of the other camera angles showed anything, so that driver was their only lead.
Aria: [Contact me as soon as you find him.]
Nikolas replied almost immediately. [Got it.]
A few minutes later: [His family left the country. I’ll get them back. I’ll let you
know.]
Chapter 411
Aria replied: [OK]
At the end of May, Vanessa wrapped up filming and dragged Myla to Mandino City, immediately pulling Aria and Cloe out for a wild night at a club
Cloe hadn’t planned to go, but as soon as Julia overheard the phone call, she insisted on tagging along insisting, all serious, that she needed to see male models for herself so she wouldn’t get tricked by some blond loser in the future.”
Cloe couldn’t figure out where her daughter picked up “male model” or “blond loser,” and was so stunried she didn’t even know what to say..
In the end, she could only give in and bring Julia with them.
The neon–lit club, private VIP room, they all sat on the sofa while five male models stood at attention in front of them.
The manager smiled. “These five are all new.”
Vanessa nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Julia. “That one, with fair skin and handsome face. Do you like him?*
It was the first time these models had faced such… unusual clients. None of them could move. Stiff as statues–hips frozen, no–swagger left.
The guys thought, ‘Who the hell brings a kid to pick male models at a nightclub?‘
They’d truly never seen anything like it.
Julia grinned and nodded. “That guy is so pale. I like him.”
Vanessa pointed to the next one. “And him?”
Julia nodded again. “His eyes are all sparkly–I like him, too.”
“What about that one?”
“He’s got dimples! I like him, too.”
