Zaria couldn't watch the drama anymore. The employees were starting to speculate that Ximena was Liam's ex girlfriend and that she was here to cause a scene and get back at him for jilting her. Some of them were even secretly taking pictures.

Zaria knew that Ximena was enjoying the situation a little too much and if no one stopped her, she would anger Liam to death. She pushed through the crowd and dragged Ximena away.

Ximena was still reeling in laughter when they entered Zaria's car. "Did you see his face? He was on the verge of detonating." She laughed so hard that tears seeped out of the corners of her eyes.

"You really are one in a million." Zaria laughed helplessly. While most people were either terrified of Liam or infatuated with his looks, she was courageous enough to make fun of him.

Ximena pulled the hair tie out of her hair and shook her head to let her scalp breathe. "That was so much fun. Though it's such a pity that he didn't give me the bugatti in the end. I would have sold it and used some of the money to repair my own car, then use the rest to boost Morel Beauty."

Zaria was speechless.

Liam watched the two drive off with a confused look. If Ximena and Zaria had been friends for so long, did that mean that they stuck together even during their childhood? His mind suddenly thought back to the brown-haired girl who was with Ximena in his memory. Was it possible that the girl was Zaria?

Did that mean he and Zaria had actually met so long ago?

He frowned as soon as the thought surfaced. So what if they met eons ago? She was his best friend's woman. He shouldn't be thinking about her.

___

Zaria intended to drop Ximena off at her apartment and go back home. However, the latter dramatically begged her to stay for dinner so she stayed.

"What would you like to eat? My culinary skills have surpassed five-star chefs, I'm sure!" She exaggeratedly tooted her own horn as she slid on a flowery apron.

"Anything is fine. Let me help you out." Zaria grabbed an apron from the rack and draped it around herself.

"You can just sit by and laze for a bit. You have been working hard and besides, I'm in the mood to cook." Ximena pushed her to sit and took out the ingredients. She set a timer and turned to face Zaria. "You have dark circles. Tell me, has Desmond been treating you well?"

She knew that no matter how busy work got, Zaria had her own magical way of finishing it in time and sparing time to rest. Her lack of sleep could only have been caused by restlessness.

"Yes, everything is fine with Desmond." She thought about the matters in her mind and felt like her head would explode if she tried to keep everything to herself. "The thing is… I've been caught up in a scandal that I have nothing to do with."

"What's that?" Ximena was curious and worried.

Zaria briefly explained the situation with the Qin family, which gott Ximena confused for a while.

After thinking, it still didn't make sense. "If someone I care about were to go missing, I would not blindly start to question people who have absolutely nothing to do with it."

Zaria's eyes widened slightly. "Are you saying that I have something to do with it?"

Ximena looked directly at her. "Not directly. Maybe something circumstantial."

"What are you even saying?" Zaria did not understand.

"Think of it this way…" Ximena closed in on her as she thought of an example. "If we were to have a heated argument right now and you stormed out, and later I shot myself, do you think it would be easier for people to believe that I commited suicide, or that you murdered me?"

Zaria was about to reprimand her for thinking about such things when she realized just what her friend meant. "Everyone would believe I murdered you."

"Think about why they would suspect you. Did you interact with their daughter?" Ximena asked.

Zaria shook her head. She had never even met Laia Qin and had only seen her pictures on Creszone when the Qin couple finally decided to reveal the face of their daughter.

"I asked Desmond to help me investigate." She said.

As if on cue, her phone rang. She signalled Ximena and answered it.

"Did you meet with Laia that night?" Desmond went straight to ask the very question that Ximena had just asked.

"I didn't even see her." Zaria admitted.

"It's quite complicated." Desmond sounded at a loss. "The only leads they have point towards you."

"What?" Zaria was even more shocked.

"I'm shocked too." There was a slight tremor in Desmond's voice. "According to the surveillance footage that Skeleton found, Laia Qin arrived in the banquet hall in the presence of a nanny, and went to the bathroom. In the same minute, you went out to the balcony. The part containing whatever you did at the balcony was deleted. What is worse, Laia was kidnapped soon after you returned to the banquet hall. "

" What? I didn't do anything but speak to my parents." She was confused by the twist. Why would that be deleted?

Desmond sighed. "Not just that. Laia's nanny was found dead in the bathroom. There was a foreign phone nearby with an unsent text message. There were only three words and it looked incomplete. [Williams' Orders: Go…]"

Zaria was helpless. Why did that sound so much like a set up? If it was a coincidence that the girl was kidnapped at the time she left and returned to the banquet hall, what was up with the name on the text message?

"I will get to the bottom of this." Zaria vowed. "By the way, was I the only guest with the surname Williams? Dr. Kara shares the same surname too and so does her mother."

"They are close to the Qin family." Desmond said helplessly, implying that it was easier for them to suspect an outsider than it was to point fingers at their own friends.

When the call ended, she was no longer in the mood to eat anything. At this rate, it would not be long before the police came looking for her. She couldn't afford to have a criminal record, especially for something she knew nothing about.

"Is everything alright?" Ximena asked, even though she already knew from her friend's expression that everything must have gone horribly wrong.

When Zaria shook her head, she hugged her. "It will be alright. I will help you investigate the real culprit in the shortest time possible."

"Thank you." Zaria returned the hug and forced herself to have a few bites when dinner was ready.

….

By the time she returned home, it was already 9pm and the housekeeper reported that Theodore was yet to return. He had been working late into the night recently, she observed. She would urge him to take more care of himself later.

"Where is Des?" She asked the pet nanny. All she wanted now was to hug her cute puppy. His playfulness always made her day.

"He snuck into the attic while trying to play hide. I couldn't get him out, I'm so sorry Miss Zaria." The woman apologized. She couldn't coax Des out of the attic no matter how hard she tried. She had been forbidden from going into specific rooms in the villa without permission so she could only wait for the puppy to come out himself.

Zaria was shocked. "You should have given me a call! What if he got injured there by himself? How long has it been?"

"Two hours." The nanny responded truthfully, making Zaria even more shocked.

She asked the housekeeper for the key. While she went to bring it, Zaria rushed to the door of the attic and knocked softly as she gently called, "Des?"

The puppy whined in distress, which made her heart race. She grabbed the key from the housekeeper and sent them to get a first aid kit in case the puppy was injured. She fumbled with the lock before finally opening it. "Des, there you are! You scared me." She turned on the light and saw him more clearly.

The puppy rushed up to her and nudged her with his nose before rushing away. She had grown more accustomed to this action of his so she followed him behind a stack of large boxes. "Des, what's there? Did you find a new hiding spot?" She chuckled.

However, her eyes immediately went wide when she reached behind the box. Her jaw dropped in an instant. It was a little girl!

Her small limbs had been tied up and her mouth sealed with duct tape. She was trembling from fear, cold and pain, the corners of her eyes wet. Zaria felt her blood go cold. Wasn't this Laia Qin?