Chapter 477: Chapter 477

After scrolling for over a minute, she finally found the voice message sent by Ringo.

However, the email was too large to be previewed online.

It took Rayna several minutes to download the audio clip. After reducing the volume, she held the device beside her ear.

The audio clip began with only the sound of footsteps before various other noises joined the cacophony as if somebody was watching television.

Rayna sped the clip up.

After listening for a while, she put the playback speed back to normal when she detected the sound of somebody opening the door to enter the room.

“I bought you some strawberries and cherries, Kristie.” A low male voice sounded from the audio clip, followed by the sound of footsteps. “I’ll rinse them in the kitchen, then watch television with you. How does that sound?”

Kristie hummed her assent.

Having listened to the dialogue, Rayna assumed from Kristie’s state that it was during the interval when Curtis brought her back from Yartran.

Why did Ringo’s people plant a bug in Kristie’s place at that time?

She did not delve into it but instead pressed the phone against her ear and listened intently.

Curtis’ tone was gentle when he spoke to Kristie, but she merely responded with noncommittal grunts no matter what he said.

Rayna could sense how awful Curtis must have felt.

Feeling awful herself, she once again sped up the clip.

After a while, Rayna heard the sound of the doorbell, followed by Jeremy’s and Wyatt’s voices.

The group chatted a little while until Jeremy suddenly said, “Have James come over, Curtis. You saw how much Kristie wanted to see him when I showed her his photograph.”

“That’s unnecessary. I don’t need outsiders to be concerned about my sister.”

Silence befell the group.

“Ms. Garland called me, Curtis. She wants to help Jefferson, but she requires the signatures of the politicians who attended the party. It just so happens I’m on that list too.”

“We have long since severed ties,” Curtis said blandly. “There’s no need to consider my feelings.” A while later, Curtis asked Jeremy, “When is the party?”

“Two months from now.”

“Inform James of the time and place,” the man said coldly.

“Yartran is Arnaud’s turf, Curtis. If you send James, we may not be able to rescue him if he’s captured.”

“Enough! Leave if there’s nothing else to discuss.”

The audio clip ended at that point. Rayna’s eyes were wide with disbelief.

Only then did she understand how James could have gotten such an accurate inkling of Arnaud’s movements and how he had managed to ambush the latter from his vantage point atop the building.

Turns out it was Curtis who told him all of that!

Her phone vibrated at that moment.

Rayna tapped open her new WhatsApp message and felt her head splitting open when she saw the image Ringo sent.

It was a photograph of an emerald pendant smeared with blood.

She had gotten it at the temple for James. She would recognize it even decades later.

I can’t believe he had...

Gazing at the photograph of the emerald pendant, Rayna almost collapsed when her limbs gave way.

It was my mistake for what happened to Kristie. How could Curtis drag my brother into this and send him to exact vengeance on Arnaud by himself? How could he be so wicked?

Rayna’s heart broke when he thought of the man’s cruelty.

She let go of her hand supporting herself against the wall and fell limply onto the floor, startling the others who were eating.

Carl turned around. When he saw Rayna on the floor, he leaped off his chair and ran over. “Ms. Rayna, what’s wrong?”

Seeing that she had fainted over, he calmly ordered Kristie, who was passing by, “Aunt Kristie, hurry up and get a doctor!”

When Rayna awoke, she saw the sun shining outside the window. It looked as if it was already morning.

She remembered fainting the night before.

Prompted by the recollection of the prior night, Rayna scrambled to locate her phone but could not find it despite her prolonged search. When she pulled open the door to exit the room, she ran into Jessica, who was coming in and nearly knocking the latter to her feet.

Rayna grabbed her arm with a look of panic. “Where’s my phone?”

“The screen is smashed. Carl took it for repairs.” Jessica helped her back to the bedroom. “The doctor says you’ve been working too hard lately, Nana. You need proper rest.”

“I don’t want to rest!” Rayna flung her arm away to head outside. “I have many things to do, and I’m going over for a look. Ringo must be lying to me.”

James can’t be dead!

Jessica dashed forward to grab her. “Calm down, Nana. This isn’t good for the baby.”

Baby?

Having returned to her senses, Rayna gazed down at her belly, and a horrible feeling rose from her chest. She blinked, and her tears began flowing down her cheeks.

“What’s wrong, Nana?” Jessica scrambled to wipe her tears. “What happened?”

Rayna hugged her and cried even louder.

Jessica did not ask anymore. She only patted her back in consolation.

When Rayna had cried enough, Jessica pulled her to sit by the bed and poured her a glass of warm water. “What’s going on?”

Shaking her head, Rayna forced a smile. “I just feel horrible at the thought of what happened to Jasmine.”

“Me too, but we can’t do anything to help.” Jessica sighed. “Mr. York is there for them, so don’t worry. Take good care of the babies and yourself.”

“Okay.”

“Get some more rest,” Jessica said gently. “What would you like to eat? I’ll make you some.”

“When did you learn how to cook?”

Jessica’s gaze turned grim. “It’s not hard to cook,” she said with a pout. “It just takes practice. All right, go lie down for a bit. I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.”

Jessica left quickly.

Weighed down by the immense burden of her unspeakable secrets, Rayna tossed and turned on the bed without being able to fall asleep.

The bloodied emerald pendant remained stubbornly in her mind’s eye.

She kept telling herself that her brother was too smart to be in mortal danger, and he must have lost the emerald pendant during his flight. The blood must belong to someone else.

Despite her words of self-consolation, she could not stop her tears from falling. She was afraid that she might see the cruel truth.

Unable to fall asleep, Rayna pulled open the bedroom door and went outside, where she vaguely heard Kristie’s indignant voice.

“Curt is too much. How could he do this? I’m going to denounce him as my brother!”

“Watch yourself. Nana is still asleep,” Jessica cautioned. “You don’t want to wake her up.”

“Rayna can’t hear us,” Kristie muttered, lowering her voice.

Jessica said, “Don’t concern yourself with that. Besides, Nana has broken up with Mr. Faymon and no longer cares about his life.

Do you understand?”

Kristie snatched her phone and said scornfully, “Curt must be blind! This woman is not as beautiful as Rayna!”

“That’s enough out of you! Don’t let Nana see this news.”

Rayna had already come over while they were discussing. “What were you guys talking about? What news am I not supposed to see?”

Kristie whipped around reflexively. Startled by Rayna’s appearance, she hid her phone behind her back. “Oh, just some tabloid gossip!”

“Let me see.” Rayna stretched out her hand to take the phone.

“N-Nah,” Kristie stammered as she took several steps backward. “There’s nothing to see.”

Rayna noticed her screen was still alight and strode over in two wide steps.

Taking advantage of her lapse of vigilance, she snatched Kristie’s phone.

Rayna’s pupils dilated when she saw the news.