"No." His voice resounded in the quiet office.

"Okay." She didn't say anything more of it. She knew that it would not be that easy. No one would be willing to believe that the person they loved and trusted was a criminal. As long as she had expressed her opinion, it was up to him whether or not he wanted to believe her.

The atmosphere was turning heavy, so she changed the topic by reporting matters related to business.

"Zaria." He called out to her just as she was about to leave.

She turned back to face him. "Is there anything else, sir?"

"Don't talk about it again." His voice was stern, and she could only nod. She knew he was talking about the matter regarding his mother. She was not allowed to mention it anymore.

"Also, you didn't find out anything about Liam or the Preston family."

She shrugged and appeared to be bummed. "What a pity. Each of those secrets would have created scandals huge enough to be on the trending searches for a month."

He raised an eyebrow at her audacity to joke around at such a time. A devilish smile formed on his lips as he gazed into her eyes. "How about I make you dominate the trending searches of all the media agencies in Olphire for a year? I can sure do that."

"How?" She didn't want to ask, knowing that he was going to tease her, but her lips moved against her will.

As if he had been waiting for the cue, he stood up and closed in before she could flee. He held her left hand as he whispered in her ear gently, "By proposing to you in public. That would make you the most talked-about woman in Olphire, now wouldn't it, sweetie?"

She pushed her fist against his chest, but he didn't budge. "Sir, you are too close."

He chuckled, his deep voice vibrating against her neck and sending shivers under her skin. "I can get even closer."

As if struck by electricity, she raised a leg and looked at him threateningly. "If you don't let go of me, don't blame me for disabling your bloodline."

"You wouldn't dare." He laughed, but he knew that she could do just that, so he stepped back two steps.

"You seem to be suddenly repulsed by me."

Although she was never very close to begin with, the distance between them seemed to have grown overnight. Shouldn't she be friendlier since she liked the puppy he gifted her?

She seemed to have expected this question. before her father pointed it out, she had almost forgotten the facts. She straightened up and gave the obvious answer. "It's not appropriate for you to keep getting close to me. Miss Sparks wouldn't like it. Also, if you could please save the pet names for her, thanks."

A laugh rolled off his lips. So it was about Natalie. Was she jealous? He considered his words and spoke, "Zaria, the relationship between Natalie and me is…"

"Please save me the details, thanks." Since she had gotten the signatures she needed, she walked out.

The smile remained on his lips long after she had left. He couldn't help berating himself soon after. Every time he saw her, his interest in her grew deeper. Even though he knew that she was his employee and that she was one of the women he could not touch, he was growing more and more fond of her. He was even starting to like her…

He forcefully tore his thoughts away from his feelings and thought about her investigation report. Although he had dismissed her, deep down he was anxious. Hence, after canceling his next meeting, he made his way to the detention center.

Being able to meet suspects of murder was not easy, especially when it was termed as "psychotic." He had to pull strings in order to see her.

They sat across each other at a wooden table with benches on each side, but she had handcuffs on.

The man swallowed and didn't dare to believe that the woman in front of him was his mother. Alyssa Fort was a known lady of a wealthy family and had married a man of equal status. She was the subject of the admiration of every woman old and young alike. Yet at this moment, she looked pale and had lost a lot of weight.

Her expensive clothes and jewelry had been replaced by a red T-shirt with [Detainee] printed on its back in large, bold font.

He glanced at the woman who had changed within just three weeks. "I came to see you."

"Desmond. I miss you so much." She almost teared up when she finally saw her son after an agonizing amount of time.

His throat bobbed. "I'll get you out of here."

"You don't need to. It's already enough that you came to visit." She suddenly declared.

"Why?" He was confused.

"It's what Samantha wants." She shrugged. "She is the only witness and she testified against me. There is nothing I can do to change her mind, much less her testimony. She hates me so much."

There were many things that Desmond would never understand, and one of them was the rivalry between Alyssa and Samantha. Those two had suddenly grown cold towards each other and neither of them cared to explain what was going on. He didn't want to waste his time asking about it, but he couldn't help thinking about Zaria's words yet again.

Would you believe me if I told you that your mother is the woman I described in those articles?

"Mother, is there anything you didn't tell me?" He asked suspiciously.

Alyssa suddenly looked like she was at loss. Remembering that she had already explained it to the lawyer anyway, she thought it would not make much of a difference if her son knew too. Besides, he might find something to help her leave this awful place. "Looks are deceiving, son."

"Don't I know that?" He mumbled when he remembered how he had been the most doting brother to his little sister and how she had turned out to be the evil snake hiding among them unbeknownst to them.

Alyssa shrugged and narrated, "My marriage to your father was a contractual one. However, at some point, we just couldn't be together anymore. I asked him for a divorce."

He had heard tidbits of this and was not surprised. "And?"

"He didn't agree." She let out a heavy breath. "We got married not only because of the pressure from my family but also because I was expecting Jaime. The thing is, in our terms of the contract, if we broke up, the family business and properties would fall in the hands of our child, Jaime. With the passing years, I felt that this was unfair to you and Sam. We kept fighting about it since I wanted to revise it, so you all shared the wealth, but he wanted to take it back instead. I thought that perhaps he has an illegitimate child or a mistress, so I sued him. It was not just his blood and sweat, after all. It was my hard work too. How could I let him take it away from me and my children?"

She smiled bitterly. "Desmond, I'm glad that you made a life for yourself and didn't need the family business. But you know Sam. She isn't patient enough to settle down, so I was worried about her. Who would have thought…"

"What did he do when you sued him?" He pulled her thoughts back to the matter at hand.

"Nothing. I knew my life was in danger because I held onto the original contract as well as the ownership documents of some of the properties. I knew he was trying to find ways to get them back, and he was starting to get violent, so I entrusted the documents to Jaime.

"Damn it." He muttered a curse. All the more reason for him to suspect Jaime.

She continued, "Meanwhile, I contacted a lawyer and would only meet her in secret so he wouldn't ever find out. One night, I snuck out to meet her at Le Perle, but when I came back, he was on the living room floor, dismembered. Samantha arrived barely a second after I realized what had happened."

He knew that Samantha was manipulative, so he didn't dare to believe that she had mistaken their mother as the murderer. If she arrived a few seconds after her mother did, she must have seen Alyssa walk in.

In the next second, Alyssa let out a burst of self-mocking laughter. "But it doesn't matter, Desmond. It's only a matter of facing judgment by the court or from the angry public. That journalist from F&P Media even claimed that I was having an affair with my lawyer and that to save my reputation, I murdered my husband because he had found out the truth. This is what the public believes. I would rather stay here than have fingers pointed at me for the rest of my life."

He furrowed his brows. "When did you become so weak?"

Her lips twitched. "Even mountains have their breaking point."