Chapter 100
The occasional chirp of insects outside made the silence feel even more unsettling.
Payton finally broke it. “Call the police.”
Kayla turned toward him and gave a firm nod, agreeing with his suggestion.
She said. “You’re right. If this were anyone else, after nearly losing their life and then learning the truth, the first instinct would be to go to the police and see justice done. But what if that’s exactly what the killer wanted?”
There was weight behind Kayla’s words. Her brows furrowed, and her eyes glimmered with a tangle of emotions. In truth, she had noticed far more troubling details.
She thought, ‘If the person and the voice at the crash site weren’t Mom’s, then who was it that drove Max and his wife out of Sexton Villa? And who was it that fought with Max during that time…
The more Kayla thought about it, the more she felt something was deeply wrong.
It seemed to her that someone had been playing the long game. They had been waiting for Max to fall into their net. planning to bring everyone down together and cash in at the end.
The thought sent a chill racing down Kayla’s spine. But these were only her suspicions. There was no time to explain everything, so she held on to the most crucial point.
Max was sharp. So, whatever Kayla could piece together, he could too once his mind settled.
Once he pieced it together, he stiffened, his gaze tightening as if struck by a sudden blow. A deafening rush filled his mind, and his expression showed nothing but stunned disbelief.
Yet the shock faded almost at once, replaced by a look of deepening complexity as Max studied Kayla. Then, in a testing tone, he asked. “In your view, if your mom truly met with foul play, who stands to gain the most?”
Kayla pressed her lips together, her gaze drifting almost involuntarily toward Payton. A flicker of hesitation crossed her eyes.
It wasn’t that she distrusted Payton, but in such a tangled situation, she had to tread carefully.
Payton had been watching Kayla closely and caught the hesitation without fail. He immediately understood what she meant and rose to his feet without waiting for her to speak.
He said lightly, “Mr. Carter, didn’t Eli mention your bathroom was clogged earlier? I’ll go take a look.” His tone was casual, as if he were only going to handle a small errand.
As soon as Payton finished speaking, he didn’t wait for anyone else to respond before heading toward the restroom.
Then, as if something occurred to him, he turned back and grabbed Elijah’s arm. “Come with me.”
Elijah looked confused, still caught up in the earlier conversation. He hadn’t figured out Payton’s intention and sounded reluctant. Hold on, I didn’t catch it. Who’s the one who gains the most out of all this?”
But Payton gave him no chance to resist, yanking him roughly along toward the bathroom.
Payton’s quick perception took Kayla by surprise, yet it cased some of the worry she had been carrying.
Max watched quietly, noticing at once how cautious she was around Payton.
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Max let out a quiet sigh, his voice tinged with reflection. “Eli and I wouldn’t have made it through all these years without Payton and his mother. He’s not an outsider. Besides, isn’t he your classmate?”
Kayla hadn’t expected Payton to be so close with Max’s family, nor that Max would hold him in such high regard.
Still, she didn’t believe she was being overly cautious. Some things were better left unspoken. The fewer people who knew,
the safer.
Kayla said. “Better safe than sorry, Mr. Carter. And keeping Payton out of this is for his own safety.” Her tone carried a firm resolve, and her look revealed deep wariness of the unseen enemy.
Their enemy was too powerful, and she could not risk carelessness. It wasn’t about judging Payton unfairly. The truth was. the more he knew, the more danger he might face.
Hearing that, Max studied Kayla with a look of quiet surprise.
He hadn’t expected this seemingly gentle girl to be so meticulous. The feeling it gave him was oddly familiar, reminding him of someone he had once known long ago.
Shaking his head, Max pushed the thought aside and gave Kayla a slight nod. His tone carried a note of approval as he said. “Then I suppose you can tell me now, right?”
Kayla inclined her head slightly. She dipped her finger into her water glass, then slowly traced out a single word on the tabletop–Jackson. The moment the letters appeared, the air seemed to still.
Max’s expression darkened at once. His eyes narrowed sharply, and a chill spread across his back like a sudden gust of winter wind.
The name aligned all too perfectly with what he had already feared. He stared at the word in silence, lips pressed together, as though fighting to contain the storm rising within him.
Max said, “Don’t forget, he is your… Do you really suspect him?”
Kayla gave a solemn nod. After a moment’s hesitation, she decided to tell Max about Bailee’s situation.
Kayla said, “I already told you earlier, the reason I came here was because my mom asked me to. She always thought that after leaving the Perry family, you went out on your own to start a business, and she believed you could help me.
“The reason my mom asked you instead of my father is, first, because I don’t want him to know about this. And second, even if we asked him, it would be useless.
“My father isn’t the man he was when my grandpa was alive. Now, no one can hold him back or demand anything of him. Even Mom has to tiptoe around him these days.”
Max’s hand slowly tightened around the armrest of his wheelchair, veins standing out as anger filled his eyes.
A sneer tugged at his lips, but behind it lay endless bitterness and sorrow. “Just as I expected. He’s nothing but a backstabber, and now his true colors are finally showing”
Max’s words came out through clenched teeth, forced between tightly gritted jaws.
Yet when Kayla heard that, her expression remained unnervingly calm, like still water that ran deep.
She had already accepted the reality and understood that anger would solve nothing, so she felt no resentment at all. She simply waited in silence for Max to vent before dropping an even more explosive piece of news.
Kayla said, “There’s something else, something even my mom knows nothing about. Not long ago, she nearly got into a car
accident, but I arrived just in time to save her
“My mom thought it was just an accident, but I checked the surveillance footage. That car appeared only after she did, then sped straight toward her. The driver never slowed down, never tried to turn away. It was obvious it had been planned”
Max’s chest tightened, and he asked anxiously, “Was she hurt?”
A flicker of warmth passed through Kayla’s eyes. It seemed he truly worried for her mother.
She shook her head with a smile. “Nope, not a scratch.”
The tension in Max’s body eased at once. “That’s good.”
But Kayla thought he was still being too optimistic, so she went straight to the point. “Mr. Carter, according to my mom, she till holds some company shares. Tell me, if she were gone, who would stand to gain the most?”
