Chapter 286: Chapter 286



Joelle, still bandaged around her head, felt overwhelmed by all the new information coming her way.

“Joelle!” Shawn called out worriedly.

She leaned on the table, trying to stay calm.

“Shawn, Dad has already passed away. If Gina could end his life, she must have felt desperate because of our actions.” At this moment, a thought struck Joelle. “Aurora and Ryland! The kids! Shawn, could she hurt them?”

Shawn comforted her. “Joelle, I’ve made sure there’s security at the house. Aurora and Ryland are safe.”

“Alright.”

Three days went by with no sign of Gina from either the police or Shawn’s contacts. It seemed as if Gina had disappeared. Shawn thought that someone must be protecting Gina. Since she managed to stay hidden and kill Jackie so blatantly without getting caught, she likely had backing.

However, Shawn found no leads on who might be helping Gina. After the funeral, Joelle left the hospital. The concert she had been preparing for was still scheduled to go on. Her team, knowing about her father’s death, wondered if she wanted to delay the concert.

Joelle thought it over. The team had put a lot of effort and money into this concert, and many of her colleagues from the industry were traveling from afar to see her perform. She had even brought in an international symphony orchestra to guarantee the best sound and visual quality. Hundreds of people had poured their energy into this event. This was the way of life. Sometimes, life’s challenges didn’t stop for our personal sorrows.

“No need to delay it. Let’s go ahead as planned.”

On the day of the concert, Joelle got to the venue early. The corridor was decorated with bouquets. While her makeup artist was working on her, a delivery that needed her signature arrived. It was ninety-nine pink roses. As Joelle aged, her friends knew she had moved past her fondness for pink roses. Only one person had ever gifted her such roses—Adrian.

During her teenage years, she was competing internationally for the first time, which was also when Adrian first gave her flowers—ninety-nine pink roses, just as he had now. The roses represented happiness and joy, precisely what Adrian hoped for Joelle.

However, things didn’t go smoothly back then. Before the competition, someone spitefully cut her violin strings. As a young girl unaccustomed to such sabotage, she was completely overwhelmed. Adrian was the one who soothed her and fixed her violin. He smiled and teased, “Is this enough to make you cry? They’re all fixed. Good luck!”

Ultimately, Joelle won first place and learned from Adrian how to stay calm and composed.

Joelle was pulled from her reverie by the card in her hand. The signature was unmistakably Adrian’s. How could it be anyone else? He was the man she had adored for eight years, encompassing her entire youth. She knew his handwriting so well that she had naively tried to copy his style. Reflecting on this brought tears to her eyes.

She never thought that after all these years, her relationship with Adrian would become so distant and formal. Joelle took a deep breath and gestured toward the sofa. “Put them there.”

“Okay.”

With her makeup complete, Joelle went to inspect her violins. Ever since the string-cutting incident, she had always been vigilant, hiring guards for her violins at every show and contest. For this concert, she had prepared six violins to ensure everything went smoothly.

Upon opening the door, Joelle was met with disarray. All six violin cases were open, and the strings were cut, tangled like a knot of vines. The silence from the staff filled the room. Joelle’s expression grew stern. “What happened?”

“We’re not sure. The violins were fine when delivered last night, but when we checked today, they were like this.”

Her assistant, visibly upset, said, “How could this happen? You couldn’t even keep a watchful eye on the instruments!” The staff looked down, embarrassed. “We didn’t see this coming. We’ve already started looking into it!”

The assistant exclaimed, “What good does investigating do now? The concert’s about to start!”

But pointing fingers wouldn’t solve anything. Joelle responded with composure, “Alright, let’s focus. The concert is nearly here.” These six violins were Joelle’s prized possessions. One was a priceless gift from Austin. Thankfully, only the strings were affected. Joelle stayed calm. “Replace the strings first. We can look into what happened after the concert.”

“We can’t find the spare strings. We tried to get more, but they won’t be here for an hour.”

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