Chapter 218: What are you hiding from me?
Riya lay naked on the bed, her body aching from his merciless claim. Her frame still quivered in the aftermath. She yearned for comfort, for him to pull her close, whisper something tender. But Zachary offered none of that. Instead, he leaned back against the headboard, lit a cigarette, and inhaled deeply.
Through the haze of smoke, his gaze flicked toward her trembling form. For a brief moment, his expression softened. Realizing how rough he had been, he reached out to touch her arm. But the sudden ring of his phone halted him.
Zachary took the phone and answered it. "What is it?" he asked lazily.
But the words from the other end wiped the ease from his face in an instant. His brows knotted, alarm flashing in his eyes.
"What did you just say?" he barked, sitting upright.
Riya flinched at his loud voice. She turned to him instantly, startled.
"Are you sure about the information?" Zachary asked, his voice sharpening.
"Hundred percent sure, boss," the man on the other end said grimly. "We can’t reach him now. And we don’t know where they have taken him."
"Damn it." Zachary jumped out of the bed. "Delete all the traces of his link to us. Do it fast. I don’t want the cops or Nathaniel to find out about it."
"Understood, boss. Everything will be clean. Nothing will lead back to you."
The call ended. Zachary hurled the phone aside, dragging a hand over the back of his head as he sucked in a sharp breath, tension coiling in his chest.
Riya watched him with growing tension. She had always seen him dealing with things ruthlessly, yet calmly. But it was the first time she noticed him anxious.
"What happened?" she asked, unable to hide her curiosity. "What made you troubled?"
His sharp glare cut through her words, making her shrink back instantly. She regretted asking the moment the question left her lips.
"You, it’s all because of you," he snapped, jabbing an accusatory finger at her. "You asked me to help that bastard Jaxon. Because of you, I kept him in a safe place. But now, he is missing."
Riya felt a wave of chills spreading throughout her body. ’Missing?’ her mind screamed with disbelief.
She had asked him to ruin Zara’s event, but he went missing. Where could he disappear all of a sudden? Had Nathaniel learned about the plan and nabbed him before Jaxon could execute the plan?
If it happened that way, she was finished.
Riya’s stomach dropped at those words. She had already lost Nathaniel’s trust. The Grants would never forgive her. Maybe they would disown her. And Nathaniel...He had already threatened to send her away. He would definitely send her away.
"I told you to be careful," Zachary snapped. "But you kept making mistakes. I hated the idea of using Jaxon against Zara in the first place. But you insisted...You said he would finish Zara soon. But he couldn’t do that. And now see – we are in trouble because of that man."
Goosebumps tightened Riya’s skin. Her mind went blank. She could only think of one thing.
"Then we should silence him forever before Nathaniel could reach him," she blurted out. "It won’t be a problem, I guess. He is hiding in a remote place. Nathaniel might not have found his whereabouts yet. Send someone and make him disappear without a trace. Let Nathaniel keep looking for him endlessly."
She still hoped that Jaxon might have managed to escape and that Nathaniel had not caught him.
"Humph," he snorted with scorn. "Are you living in a fantasy? Someone has taken Jaxon. Who else could it be?"
At those words, Riya’s face turned pale.
"We lost his track," Zachary grumbled. "I don’t know who took him. But I suspect it’s Nathaniel and his men. That bastard Jaxon was in the venue where Zara’s event was taking place."
Riya’s heart sank further. She had not told Zachary yet that she had asked Jaxon to come there to sabotage the event. If he learned about it, she wasn’t sure what he would do to her. Terrified, she trembled to the core.
"If we move to find and silence him, Nathaniel will point straight at us," Zachary warned. "You’ll be implicated. Can you face his wrath and bear the consequences?"
Riya’s composure cracked. She sprang to her feet, not caring about her naked form. Grabbing his hand, she said desperately, her eyes full of fear, "Don’t say such things. You can’t possibly see me hurt. I’m your girl. You promised to protect me, didn’t you? Please do something."
He snorted and shoved her hands away, turning aside. He was too furious to listen to her pleas. But Riya couldn’t give up. If she lost his backing, she knew she was ruined.
Zachary’s face flushed with fury, but deep down, he was worried – anxious even. In just a few days, Jaxon had learned too much about him. Being caught by Nathaniel meant all the secrets he had learned about Zachary would be exposed.
Zachary couldn’t afford it. He regretted taking him in. ’This man has become a ticking time bomb,’ he thought darkly. ’The time has come to get rid of him.’
But he couldn’t let Riya suffer either. Zachary sat back on the bed, a serious look replacing his anger.
Riya’s restlessness grew with the deepening silence. "Zachary." She sat down beside him, taking his hand in hers carefully. "I am sorry. If I had known Jaxon would become a danger to us, I wouldn’t have pressed you to help him. Please forgive me."
She straightened up and said with conviction, "I promise I won’t act recklessly. I’ll be careful. Just this once, please help me."
Zachary glanced at her. "Let me think what to do with Jaxon. But as for you..." His mind raced as a cunning idea started to form in his mind. "I have a plan."
"What plan?" she asked curiously, hope igniting in her mind.
"You will marry Liam Lawson."
Riya’s scalp went numb when she heard him say that. Zachary had been furious with her not very long ago. He had even threatened her. How did he change his mind?
"What? Are you serious? You want to break up with me!" she exclaimed with disbelief.
"Yes, I told you to break up with him," he agreed. "But circumstances have changed. I can’t risk exposing myself now. And you don’t want to face Nathaniel’s wrath, do you? It’s safer if you keep your head down and follow the elders’ wishes. And don’t make any reckless moves now."
At the last sentence, his tone hardened. "We are already in big trouble. If Nathaniel managed to break Jaxon and made him confess, we are finished."
Riya knew the consequences. She nodded frantically without defying him. "I’ll do as you say. But..." She paused, dithering whether to tell him or not.
"Now what?" he snapped.
"Don’t be angry...just listen to me," she said in a pleading tone.
Zachary had no patience. But for her, he suppressed his anger. "Alright, say whatever you have to say. I’m listening."
She drew a careful breath. "While you were away on business, something happened. At Shay Walsh’s event, Jaxon drugged Zara. He nearly destroyed her reputation, but Nathaniel intervened just in time. The problem is...the waitress he bribed to spike her drink is dead. Jaxon killed her."
Zachary’s last bit of patience snapped. "He murdered someone, and no one told me about it," he thundered. "You knew everything, yet you didn’t tell me anything."
Then a thought crossed his mind, turning his expression even uglier. "Are you also involved in this? Did you tell him to do this?"
Riya shook her head frantically in denial, but deep down, she was trembling. She couldn’t let him know about it. Or else, she would lose his backing. This was what she couldn’t afford.
"I didn’t," she insisted. "How could I have? I was the showstopper that night. I was caught up with my own role. It was all his idea, his scheme. I had nothing to do with it."
Zachary studied her closely, suspicion flickering in his eyes. Her words sounded sincere, but she looked utterly pale. Why so scared if she had no link with it?
He would look into it and get to the bottom of it. For now, he held back. "Okay. I believe you," he said, suppressing his suspicions. "Don’t let me find out your connection in this."
Her stomach tightened into knots, but she forced a faint smile, masking her rising panic. "I swear I had no part in it. Still, Zara pointed fingers at me. She even went to Shay, and because of her, my contract was canceled. Shay believed her without even letting me defend myself."
She hoped Zachary would side with her, maybe even step in to help her regain the contract. But instead, her plea only deepened his mistrust.
"Why would he suspect you just because Zara said so?" he asked coldly. "What are you hiding from me?"