"What are you talking about?" Zaria was mortified. She looked up at Kara and expected the latter to burst into laughter and tease her for falling for a prank. However, Kara looked like she was trying her best to control her anger, which baffled Zaria. "Why would you think that I have a child?"

"All I want is my goddaughter." Kara pushed her against her desk. "Miss Williams, I do not like violence. Think carefully before you do anything stupid."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Zaria could only deny the claim.

Kara sucked in a deep breath. "You leave me with no choice." She pulled her gun from the side of her waist and pressed the barrel against Zaria's temples. "Do you need help opening your mouth?"

She obviously meant she was going to torture her. Zaria couldn't claim that she was not in the slightest bit bothered but there was nothing she could do about it yet.

"I promise, I do not have your goddaughter. You can investigate me." She stalled for time.

"I would believe you but you are suspicious." Kara raised one eyebrow.

"Let's hear it." Zaria demanded, making the latter burst into laughter.

"Are you asking me to tell you why I suspect you so you can hide your tracks?"

Although she found it ridiculous, Zaria realized that Kara didn't have a concrete reason to suspect her. If she did, they would not be merely chatting at gunpoint. Instead, she would probably be begging for her life in some dungeon. She forced herself to remain calm as Kara inspected her with her sharp gaze. In the end, she withdrew her gun.

"If I find out that you have anything to do with the disappearance of my goddaughter, I will blow your brains out."

"Okay." She smiled. "Would you like me to see you out?"

"Did you say something?" Kara darted her eyes at her threateningly.

"Nothing at all. Feel free to use whichever exit pleases you." She sighed in relief when that devil left her office. She was lucky that it was Kara, whose priority was saving lives. It must be because as a doctor, she was reluctant to take lives. Otherwise, she might have fired the gun without any interrogation.

Forgetting about what happened just now, she prepared for the meeting she had to attend. She only had five minutes left thanks to Kara's ambush. She rushed and met Lucy on her way to the conference room.

"What happened to you?" Lucy pulled her aside to ask worriedly.

"Nothing." She smiled and decided not to mention Kara's visit.

"It's the Qins, right?" Lucy guessed.

"They think I have Leo's daughter. Do you know why they would think so, mom?" She asked, since Lucy had already figured it out.

"I will help you investigate." Lucy promised after thinking about it.

"Thanks, mom." Zaria hugged her briefly. "Though it is also possible that they are going around threatening every guest of that night to filter out those with a guilty conscience."

"It sounds sloppy, but it is not impossible." Lucy smiled, but she did not think so. The Qins would never do such a thing. They probably had a concrete reason to suspect Zaria. Of course, they were definitely mistaken—but she was curious to know just what they thought was suspicious about Zaria.

____

In the evening, Zaria sent a text message to inform Theodore that she would be late before going out for dinner with Natalie.

"Zaria, are you okay?" Natalie asked when she realized how little Zaria had eaten. She was spacing out most of the time and didn't seem to enjoy the food. "Do you dislike the food here? We can go somewhere else." She offered.

"I am alright." Zaria smiled and tried to eat a little. She couldn't even enjoy her favorite pasta no matter how delicious it was.

"What's wrong?" Natalie didn't buy her lie.

"Nothing serious." Zaria didn't want to talk about her personal matters so she dismissed the topic. "Do you have something to talk to me about?" She asked. Natalie was usually busy and didn't have time to ask anyone out for dinner, especially when they were not too close.

"I called you to talk about Ms. Roatta. You are her assistant now, right?" Natalie asked.

"Yes, what about it?"

"How is she as a person? Is she friendly?" Natalie asked.

Unexpectedly, it was about this. Zaria would never have thought that Natalie would call her to talk about Lucy but it was not too strange. She preferred to have as much information about her business partners.

"Well, yes she is. Although she might appear to be hard to please, she is not unapproachable." She tried to be as honest as possible.

"I am just afraid that she is cunning." Natalie sighed. The last thing she wanted was to fall into a meticulously dug pit when all she wanted was to get onto her own feet. It would be such a huge loss if she couldn't break away from her family business using this deal.

Zaria was speechless at Natalie's point of focus. "Aren't all business people sneaky and cunning? They each have their own tactics. However, with Ms. Roatta, you will never be able to guess what is dropping onto your table next. You'd best be prepared for the stickiest situations."

"Thank you for the heads up." Natalie made a mental note to be extra careful especially when signing any contracts with Lucy Roatta. "I will meet the two of you tomorrow in the morning. Can you please help me keep our meeting a secret?" She requested. "I wouldn't want her to think that I went to investigate her because I don't trust her."

"Don't worry. I will not breathe a word of it….if you pay me handsomely." She winked through the last part which was a joke.

"Desmond infected you with the negotiating syndrome, didn't he?" Natalie seemed to have expected it. She took out an album and placed it on the table.

"Jupiter's autographed album! Deal." Zaria hurriedly accepted the bribe. When the excitement died down, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Can you give me a second? I will quickly speak to Desmond." She decided to deal with the matter on her mind, lest it destroy the entire evening.

"It turns out you miss your Romeo." Natalie's eyes widened in realization. "Go ahead. I will text Devonte as I wait." She took her phone to happily tease her boyfriend.

Zaria walked to the end of the corridor. She knew that this restaurant had strict privacy regulations so it was alright to make a private phone call as long as no one was within earshot. She called his number when she ensured that she was alone on the balcony.

"Des, have you arrived?"

"You miss me? That's sooner than I expected." He sounded pleasantly surprised, as though he had never thought that she would miss him.

"Of course I do. I miss you when you attend a meeting without me." She smiled.

"You are flattering me. Did you do something wrong?" He asked skeptically.

She giggled at his response. "Do you think I would only flatter you if I did something wrong?"

"You rarely take the initiative, don't blame me for overthinking it." A deep chuckle vibrated in her ears.

"I hate to be the one dropping the bombshell but you are not going to have an excuse to punish me. I only need your help." She teased.

"Oh?" He sounded more excited. "What is it that my queen needs?"

She was caught off guard. "Please. How cheesy." Although she scolded him for being cheesy, his words brought a smile on her face.

"Can you have Skeleton investigate something? I would like the surveillance of the entire night of Louis Fort's banquet." She explained. "I'd also like to know where Laia Qin was on that night."

"Honey, I can do it but why are you curious about the Qin family's matters?" He was taken aback by her request that came out of the blue. "You should stay away from them. They are dealing with so many matters right now and you sure don't want to be caught up in any of them." He tried to talk her out of whatever it was that she was planning.

"I know." She slapped her forehead. "I swear, I wouldn't ever have them on my mind, much less on the list of families I want to investigate. However, Kara Williams paid me an "extra special" visit earlier. "

"Why would she do that?!" He cursed. How dare they!

She explained the events this afternoon. "They have their eyes on me. The only way to prove that I have nothing to do with the kid's disappearance is to uncover the real kidnapper. This is why I need Skeleton's help."

"Got it." He gritted his teeth. Once he proved that Zaria had nothing to do with their child's disappearance, she would pay them a visit and have a good "chat".