Chapter 41

Paula, after all, didn't take on the task of monitoring me every day for Brandon, nor did she suspect much.

"Mrs. Jordan, why don't you turn on the light?"

"It's just a few steps, I thought I could see."

Paula didn't say anything, put down her bag, and went back to her room.

After she left, I looked around to make sure no one was there, then reached out to pick up the voice recorder and went back to my room.

Locking the door, I went into the bathroom and pressed the play button.

As usual, I skipped the noise at the beginning and indeed heard Shirley and Brandon talking.

"Mr. Jordan, Mrs. Jordan went to see Kathy today."

Brandon's voice was low: "I know, I put a tracker in the car. Did she say what she was going to do?"

I was startled; it seemed telling the truth this morning was the right choice. If I had lied, Brandon would have immediately suspected me.

Shirley replied, "She said she hadn't seen Kathy in a long time, and since it was on the way to the school, she decided to visit."

I didn't lie about that; Kathy's studio is indeed not far from Brett's school.

Sure enough, Brandon responded with a low "hmm": "Keep monitoring her. If she comes back late, call me immediately."

There was a period of silence, and I thought they had stopped talking, but then Shirley's voice suddenly came up again.

"Mr. Jordan, is Mrs. Jordan's health starting to improve? Why are you doing this? Don't you want her to die?"

"If that's the case, what was all our previous effort for? Or are you having second thoughts?"

Shirley's questions made the recorder go silent, followed by Brandon's cold laugh: "What does it have to do with you? I'm just asking you to keep an eye on her. Are you worrying too much, Shirley?"

Shirley's voice was filled with resentment: "You're regretting it, aren't you? Otherwise, give me an explanation! Have all my efforts for you been in vain? And have you slept with Paula? She's not a good woman at all, you..."

There was a slap sound, presumably Brandon hitting Shirley.

After all, I didn't believe Shirley had the courage to hit Brandon.

"Shut up. What does it matter to you what I do? Just do your job."

"You know I don't like meddlesome women. If you keep this up, I won't hesitate to replace you."

Shirley didn't speak for a long time, and then there were footsteps, indicating Brandon had left.

The recording ended there. It seemed Shirley silently accepted the result, but she probably had another secret about Brandon that I hadn't heard.

It looked like I would have to plan for the long term.

I put away the voice recorder and lay down to sleep.

The next morning, just as I was about to take Brett to school again, Brandon suddenly suggested going with me.

I wanted to use the same excuse as yesterday, but he suddenly put his arm around my shoulder: "Didn't you say Brett would be very happy to see both of us taking him to school?"

I couldn't refuse this reason, as it was something I had said myself.

I had to nod in agreement.

After taking Brett to school, Brandon planned to drive back to the company, but before that, he dropped me off at home.

I remembered what Shirley had said to him, and it seemed Brandon wanted to prevent me from visiting Kathy again.

I had no choice but to go back to my room and text Kathy the reason I couldn't go today. She quickly replied: "Wait, I'll come to see you tonight."

I was stunned by Kathy's reply, but at that moment, I couldn't stay in the bathroom any longer and had to wait for Kathy's arrival.

In the evening, when Brandon came back with Brett, Kathy knocked on the door.

"Caroline, open the door for me."

As soon as I opened the door, I saw Caroline carrying large bags into the house, which made Brandon look puzzled.

"What are you doing?"

Kathy rolled her eyes at Brandon: "What do you think?"

She brought the bags to me: "Didn't you ask me to help you buy some dresses yesterday? Since you didn't come today, I had to go shopping myself. I brought the things back according to your taste. See if you like them."

I immediately understood Kathy's intention and quickly nodded: "I was planning to pick them up from you tomorrow."

I casually picked up a dress and saw a miniature camera in the pocket.

I pretended to admire it and slipped the camera into my pocket while Kathy stood in front of me, busy taking out the clothes.

Her actions attracted everyone's attention in the room, so no one saw what I was doing.

Kathy took out the clothes and extended her hand to Brandon: "Mr. Jordan, these are Caroline's things. Are you going to pay by transfer or card?"

I wasn't sure if Brandon had stopped suspecting me, but he did look a bit exasperated: "I'll transfer the money to you. How much?"

"Ten thousand dollars, transfer it to me."

Brandon nodded and transferred the money to Kathy without hesitation: "Is that all right now? Ms. Patel, would you like to stay for dinner?"

"No, thanks. I have things to do. Caroline, take your time trying them on. If they don't fit, you can return them."

I nodded and walked Kathy to the door.

She winked at me and whispered so only I could hear: "The manual is sewn into the lining of the dress. You can assemble it yourself."

I gave her a grateful look and glanced back at Brandon and Shirley.

Shirley was rummaging through the pile of things, seemingly trying to find something.

I saw Kathy off and walked back to Shirley's side.

"Are you done?"

Shirley looked up with an awkward smile: "I just haven't seen such nice things before, so I was curious."

She glanced at Brandon and shook her head slightly.

Confirming she hadn't found anything, I breathed a sigh of relief and sneered: "What, weren't you suspecting Kathy of bringing me something and trying to find it?"

I looked at Brandon: "Do you suspect me?"

I confronted Brandon directly: "What do you mean?"

"I've noticed for a while now that you have Shirley watching me, not letting me go out, taking my phone, and now going through the things Kathy brought me."

"Brandon, what do you mean?"

Seeing that I was really angry, Brandon's expression changed, and he came forward to comfort me: "Caroline, why would you think that?"

"I genuinely care about you. I've never had any ill intentions towards you, and your health is improving because of the medicine I gave you, isn't it?"

I rolled my eyes. Brandon really dared to say that. If I hadn't switched the medicine with the antidote, how would my health have gradually improved? Otherwise, I would still be in a deep sleep like before.

And so, we slowly waited for the urban renewal funds for my family's old house to come through.