Sophia covered her mouth and made dry-heaving sounds from time to time, making no comment on what was just said.
"Can you switch to the middle seat, Ms. White?" The bald man said ultimately, "This pal of mine has mysophobia. Please excuse him."
Sophia covered her mouth and said in an unclear voice, "I understand."
She bent over and shifted to the center-left seat with some effort.
"Ken, I think a car is tailing us," the man in the front passenger seat glanced at the rearview mirror and said to the bald man.
Sophia pursed her lips and glanced back like the rest of them. Tailgating behind them was an ordinary Volkswagen. She could neither recognize the car model nor the license plate number.
She frowned slightly. There was slightly more sweat in her palms now.
The bald man turned the steering wheel, pulled into the sidewalk, and slowly came to a halt. He said to the man in the front passenger seat, "Go out and see whatâs going on."
The man replied and got out of the car after opening the door.
Sophia stared at the opened car door as her heart started racing. However, the difficulty level of making an escape from the front passenger seat under the supervision of four men was too high.
"Ken, I really can't stand the stench in here. I'll leave the rest to you guys!" The man with mysophobia fought the nauseating sensation and stepped over the vomit, then patted the car door on the right. "Open the door on this side, Ken!"
Sophia lowered her head and placed her left hand on the left door switch whilst breaking out in cold sweat.
"Get out from the front," the bald man glanced at Sophia before saying to the man.
Sophia frowned and watched as the man took a few more steps and got out through the door on the front passenger seat.
"The shoes landed on the carâs windshield. I apologized to the owner and paid him hundreds of bucks." Not long after that, the man in the front passenger seat returned and closed the door.
The carâs engine was restarted and they drove onto a highway. Seeing the direction where the car was driving in, Sophia could only tell that she was not going to the airport nor the train station. Later...
"Are... Are you guys sending me to East Suburb Prison?" Sophia's voice was trembling when she reached the end of her sentence.
No one gave her any response.
Sophia's body went cold. Almost every word she said was squeezed out of her throat, "For what crime are you sending me to prison for? Why are you sending me there?"
"I have already made myself very clear, Ms. White. We received orders to send you here. As for the rest, we know nothing at all," the bald man said.
Sophia lowered her head and recalled the two years she spent in prison. Her eyes were so gloomy that even the scar at the end of her eyebrow was stained with a hint of viciousness.
"What are you doing?!" the man in the last row shouted.
At almost the same time when he started shouting, Sophia took off the stud on her right ear, fastened her hand around the neck of the bald man with one hand, and pressed the stud next to his temple with the other. "Stop the car!"
She would not go back to that prison again!
She would never return again even if she had to die!
The bald man was not even the slightest apprehensive. "Do you really think you can hurt me with an ear stud, Ms. White?"
"You donât believe I can?" Sophia asked without a single expression on her face. "You donât believe that the ear stud is that sharp, or you donât believe that I am brave enough to do it?"
The bald man did not answer. He was clearly disregarding her threats.
The man in the last row and the man in the front passenger seat were approaching her. Sophia sneered and exerted strength in her hand, piercing the ear stud into the bald manâs temple. "Return to your seats at once or I will kill him!"
The ear stud had only penetrated about a millimeter deep, but the bald man was already in so much pain that his arms were shaking.
Thick blood was dripping down his temple, creating an extremely intimidating effect.
The two men returned to their seats. However, their gazes were fixed firmly on Sophia. They did not let their guards down even for a second.
"Do you still think I'm just playing now, Ken?" Sophia said indifferently, "Iâll count to three. If you still donât stop the car by then, donât blame me for whatever happens next!â
The bald man was in so much pain that his face had turned white. Nevertheless, he remained calm. "If you kill me, the slightly better outcome for you would be to end up in prison. Paying a life for a life. The worst outcome for you would be to die on the spot!â
"One!" Sophia was not even afraid of killing herself, so why would she be afraid of having somebodyâs blood on her hands?
The bald manâs expression turned even more dreadful now. "Ms. White..."
"Two!" Sophia spoke louder, the viciousness at the tail of her scar intensifying.
*
Charles took the kraft paper folder that Private Detective Colin gave him and went to the bathroom. After entering the toilet cubicle, he opened the folder up and scanned through it.
Strictly speaking, the cancer patient who helped Leah swap out the car two years ago was not entirely alone. He had a lover. However, the two broke up after he was diagnosed with cancer.
Two years ago, he received a large sum of money from Leah. In addition to the large sum of money transfer, there was also cash of the same amount, which he gave to his lover.
As he was worried that his lover would be afraid of accepting the cash, he wrote a detailed letter to give an account of how he had obtained the money. This matter was done very discreetly, and Colin had only managed to find out recently.
Besides that, when Colin was scrolling through Elaine and Ryleighâs WeChat Moments by accident, he found a short clip in Elaineâs Moments.
The short clip was from a small segment filmed by the Student Councilâs art department. In it, Sophia was seen charging at Leah, screaming that she wanted to kill the latter.
Colin speculated that the recording in Leahâs hand was probably taken during this time.
There was also an easy explanation for the dull and deafening crash in the recording.
The short clip in Elaineâs Moments showed Leah getting knocked to the ground by Sophia. The impact noise in this short clip was not loud at all, though if Leah was the one who recorded it, the impact noise would therefore be magnified as it was extremely close to her.
"I think this video was taken four years ago when Ms. White was just a freshman. In other words, Ms. Jones spent at least two years planning the car accident!
Atrophy of Love: Mr. Harris, Stop Fooling Around!
ï¤Chapter 219 You Will Know When We Arrive, Ms. White "Four years ago, Ms. Jones was probably just 16 years old, right? Everyone also claimed that Ms. Jones and Ms. White were very close. A friendship between women is absolutely terrifying!
"Leahâs method in using a car accident to frame Sophia was not clever, but it was flawless. It would be extremely difficult to prove Ms. White's innocence if these things werenât discovered. The main takeaway here is that this was all done by a young girl who was barely of ageâitâs absolutely horrendous!"
These were the exact words that Colin said.
Charles put all the evidence in the kraft paper folder. There was a hint of malice flashing in his eyes. He opened the toilet cubicle door, put the kraft paper folder under his arm, washed his hands quickly, and strode toward Wealth Hall.
Sophia must have returned by now. This would be the perfect time to give these things to her.
"Charles." He had just arrived at Wealth Hallâs entrance when Leah called out to him after she maneuvered herself out of the hall. "Were you the one who planned the video today?"
Charles looked at her from a condescending height. His eyes were stained with a trace of darkness. âNo."