Bride of Retribution: Aloof Billionaire's Dominant Game

”No one named Avery Jane, never heard of her,” Dame Jasper said while peeling a deep red wax apple and expertly packing it into a bag.

She looked at the man, and he seemed much more competent than her son somehow, but Zoe, that girl, didn’t like him. Even though she asked her not to say anything, she was definitely going to help.

”Have you seen this person?” Joshua Hughes held up his phone. In the picture, the young girl’s expression was serene and beautiful.

”You should have said earlier; that’s Zoe. She paid the rent yesterday and left, said she was going somewhere else. Now I have to find a new tenant again. She said she’d rent for six months but didn’t even stay for half a year. Young people these days just talk nonsense,” Dame Jasper said with an angry face, feeling like she was putting on an act.

A faint anxiety tinged Joshua Hughes’s handsome brow.

”Did she say where she was going?”

She left, just the day before he found her. Joshua’s heart began to sink.

”She didn’t say, just mentioned that the wind here was too strong, and she didn’t like it, so she left.”

Dame Jasper looked at this tall, handsome man, finding him more attractive the longer she looked.

He’s really exceptional; she’s puzzled why Zoe made her lie and say she already left. But if the girl doesn’t like him, there’s really nothing to be done.

”I’d like to see where she lived.”

Joshua Hughes looked at this small shop, a place much more humble compared to Imperial Garden or the Hughes Family’s old mansion. Yet in that video, she stood calmly at the greasy and noisy street corner, making pancakes. She seemed happier than he had ever known her to be.

Was he truly so problematic? So problematic that he wanted to provide her with a life of wealth and luxury, yet she was eager to escape, to flee to a place beyond his reach.

”What is her phone number?” Joshua asked the fruit-peeling old woman. Whenever she came here, she would always change her phone number.

”Zoe said she didn’t really have any friends, so she didn’t use a phone.” The man’s gaze was terrifying, like a spotlight probing her soul, making Dame Jasper feel unnerved. She quickly lowered her head to continue peeling fruit, hoping he would leave soon enough.

Joshua, however, examined everything carefully, as if he could see through time to observe her life here. The pancake stall set up at the roadside had long ceased its operations. He stood there with dark eyes, envisioning the gentle and serene woman amid the hustle and bustle, quietly wielding a spatula, smiling softly like a flower swaying in the morning breeze, attracting young passersby to stop.

The deep darkness in his eyes slowly intensified. It was still such a place, but the woman he constantly thought of was already nowhere to be found. His brows furrowed slightly, as if harboring a swirling, unbreakable fog of darkness.

”Where is her room?” Joshua had lost his patience, asking again, his voice low and pressing like a heavy stone.

Dame Jasper was a bit nervous, unsure if Zoe had packed her things properly since she left in such a hurry.

”That room is for rent. Since you aren’t renting it, I can’t just let you see it. Please leave quickly. Don’t delay my business.” She needed to get rid of this young man as soon as she could, unable to rely on him staying much longer and asking further questions.

Joshua pulled out his wallet, took out a stack of cash, and tossed it into the little tray on the fruit counter meant for small change, ”Is this enough?”

His sharp gaze fell upon Dame Jasper, as though if she continued to prattle, he would slice the flesh off her frame bit by bit. She shivered, pointed to the little staircase at the back of the fruit shop, and handed him a key, ”Zoe lived in the second room on the second floor.”

Not letting him upstairs wouldn’t work, after all.

The room of Avery Jane was not large, with a single bed covered in a light blue bedspread. Even though she was no longer there, he could still feel her presence.

For two months...

He opened the white wardrobe, and a strange, excited feeling inexplicably rose within him.

That should be her clothes; it seemed like she hadn’t taken them with her. There were also her favorite cotton underwear and the thick white socks she often wore. No matter where she went, her lifestyle habits wouldn’t change. She wasn’t one to casually change.