Janet, who just stopped in her tracks, was feeling sheepish about it. Her heart was racing. Not expecting Mason to come after her, she waited for Desire by the road. She didn’t even hear his footsteps approaching her.
Noticing her silence, Mason asked again, “Why did you help me?”
A sheen of sweat covered her forehead as she was overcome by a nervousness that was unprecedented. She wasn’t even that nervous when she was discussing matters with him regarding the base. It was an emotion that she had never encountered throughout the past few years.
At the same time, she was also afraid that Mason might suspect her identity, so she faked a shrill voice. “Don’t you forget about your collaboration with MX, Mr. Lowry. I was worried that nobody will be able to take over Lowry Family Conglomerate if you’re dead, since your assistance will be required for MX to survive in Sandfort City.”
Hearing that, Mason narrowed his eyes. To be honest, he had been wondering since just now if the woman before him was Janet, as nobody else would want to protect him out of love. However, Janet shouldn’t be able to subdue a well-trained expert like Baldy. Besides, the woman’s apathetic voice didn’t sound like Janet at all. Therefore, he quickly scratched that idea.
It’s true that MX needs the support of the Lowrys if they want to thrive in Sandfort City, so what she said makes full sense. “How did you know I’ll be trading with Aquila here?” Mason pressed on, still intent to uncover some sort of loophole in the woman’s words, since no one other than his babe knew about the fact that he would be meeting up with Aquila at Star Harbor at four o’clock in the morning.
Pulling her lips into a thin line, Janet said in a low voice, “I’m J’Adore, and Markovia is my turf, so getting a grasp on your whereabouts is a piece of cake.”
“Oh?” There was a cold glint in Mason’s eyes when he spoke again in an aloof tone. “Does this mean you know about what happened in the underground casino?”
“Somewhat.” Janet cleared her throat. “The moment Aquila came to me for help, I knew he must’ve stirred up some trouble again.” Staring at the view before her, Janet relayed everything in a bone-chilling voice, as if the man behind her was but a stranger.
Upon hearing that, Mason nodded. “Yeah, he intercepted a batch of our goods that was on its way to Markovia.”
With a chuckle, Janet deliberately exclaimed, “I knew it!” By right, she was supposed to help Aquila settle the matter. It would be beneficial to her, as Aquila and MX were the two major factions in Markovia. At the same time, however, her decision to refrain from helping Aquila wouldn’t seem out of place due to MX’s collaboration with the Lowrys, thus working to her advantage to avoid Mason’s suspicion.
Just when Mason was about to say something, a red sports car drove toward them from the dark. Janet paused for a moment before getting into the car. Seemingly devoid of emotion, she didn’t even look back when the car drove away.
Meanwhile, Sean hurried over from his position after hearing sounds of a gunshot. Seeing Mason’s tall stature standing unharmed under the night sky by the road, he heaved a sigh of relief. “Mr. Lowry, I heard a gunshot just now. Was the shot fired by Aquila’s men?”
Averting his gaze from the sports car that was driving away, Mason turned to face Sean. “It’s J’Adore from MX.”
“J’Adore?” Sean seemed perplexed.
Just when Mason was about to explain, Henry jogged over from behind after finishing his tasks. Still panting from the exertion, he asked, “Did somebody shoot?”
With narrowed eyes, Mason nodded. “Someone from MX caught Baldy and shot him in the leg. He fled while being escorted by Aquila.”
