What are you standing around for? Get him inside,” Fryderyk snapped.
Sorry, Captain Fletcher,” one of the officers muttered as they dragged Dominit away, half pulling and half carrying him,
Fryderyk turned to Aria, his expression softening with concern. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Aria replied calmly. She had long grown numb to Dominic’s venomous words. He’d said far worse before.
She handed him a document. “Here’s the evidence of Dominic’s child trafficking.”
If Hannah hadn’t mentioned it, she wouldn’t have even known about the document.
Fryderyk glanced over it and nodded. “This should be enough to put them behind bars.”
“Is there more evidence?” Aria asked.
Fryderyk nodded. “Yeah.”
Aria asked, “Caleb prepared it?”
“Yeah,” Fryderyk replied.
A faint smile appeared on Aria’s lips. Caleb was the only warmth she’d ever felt in that cold family.
He never said much, but his actions always spoke louder than words.
For instance, she recently discovered over a dozen properties registered under her name.
Every month, she would have a steady deposit in her bank account.
And Caleb had been doing this not just after her divorce, but since she returned to the Saxon family.
Fryderyk found himself momentarily distracted by her smile, a strange feeling flickering in his chest before vanishing just as quickly.
He brushed it off and asked, “Why didn’t you report this sooner after you came back?”
She didn’t answer, but her eyes told him everything he needed to know. Sometimes, calling the police couldn’t solve the problem.
Aria gave a faint smile. “Thank you for your help, Captain Fletcher.”
Fryderyk watched her walk away, her figure disappearing into the distance, before he turned and stepped inside.
As Aria settled into the car, her mind wandered back to the day she left Jamelan.
Dominic and Alice couldn’t sell her off. Aria chose to leave with an agent from the Solemnity Guild.
Once the money was in hand, Dominic treated Alice and Austin to a feast that was nothing short of indulgent. The agent even offered to help Aria get rid of them for good.
Aria followed them for a while, and during one of their outings, she orchestrated it so Dominic and Alice fell into the water. In her eyes, that settled the score, even if they were eventually rescued.
Nathan followed Lily to the entrance of Mayen Garden and saw her crouched in a corner, almost curling into herself.
Just as he was about to walk over, someone called out, “Nathan?”
1/2
Chapter 135
Nathan turned around and law Derek.
Both of them spoke at the same time, “What are you doing here?”
I’m here with my classmate, Nathan replied.
*I’m here to see Aria,” Derek said.
Nathan gave him a strange look. “To see Aria?”
Derek shot back, “Yeah, you’ve got a problem with that?”
Nathan frowned, clearly confused. “Since when were you two so close?”
“None of your business, kid,” Derek retorted sharply.
Derek had looked into it. Other than Caleb, no one else in the Saxon family cared about Aria. In fact, they often blamed and mistreated her.
Nathan didn’t care about his own sister, so Derek saw no reason to be polite to him.
Derek’s sudden hostility left Nathan momentarily stunned. “You!”
At that moment, a familiar car drove by. Nathan recognized it as Aria’s and instinctively followed it with his gaze.
Aria parked her car in a temporary lane and walked straight toward Lily.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Lily looked up, and upon seeing Aria, she immediately stood up.
She hesitated, fumbling for words, before finally pulling a bank card out of her pocket and holding it out. “I… I came to return this to you.”
The card was old, clearly having been used for many years.
“I used six thousand dollars. I’ll pay you back someday,” she said.
Aria didn’t take the card right away. Instead, she looked at Lily in surprise. “After all these years, that’s all you’ve used?”
The temperature was around ten degrees Celsius, yet Hannah was only wearing a thin sweater under a school jacket.
She looked so fragile, as if the wind could carry her away.
Her hands were red and chapped from the cold, the right one slightly swollen, hinting at some injury or strain.
“Aria frowned slightly and reached out to take the card from her.
Just as Aria’s fingers brushed the card, a shadow darted past, and the card was snatched from her grasp in an instant.
2/2
AD
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