Chapter 96: Xavier's Deep Trust

Zarah woke up later that afternoon without Xavier beside her.

'Where did he go?' she asked inside her mind.

She got up and pulled out the IV drip from her hand.

She got up on her feet and left the room.

The apartment was quiet, which puzzled Zarah.

Then she saw blood in the hallway. Her heartbeat became faster, and she went into the living room.

She was shocked to see everyone was bathing in their pools of blood.

Trixie, Olivia, Kelsey, Hope, and Xavier were dead!

"What's going on?!" Zarah mumbled in horror.

Tears started streaming down her eyes.

She rushed and approached Xavier. "Husband! No! Wake up!" She shook his shoulder and tapped his face to wake him up.

She started hugging Xavier and cradled him into her arms.

However, she could feel some wetness on her palm.

It was blood, Xavier's blood.

"No! You can't be dead!" she cried her heart out.

Just then, she heard the clicking of the pistol behind her. She could feel the cold muzzle against the back of her head.

She turned around and saw a child standing behind her. The muzzle was on her forehead.

It was a young boy holding a pistol. With determined eyes, he was about to shoot her.

"Who are you?!" she asked the child.

"I'm no one," he answered her.

Zarah finally recognized the child's face. His face looked like her younger self. No, this was her!

She was this broken child in the past. She was not given a name by the people who had her before. She was no one.

Zarah had the urge to hug the child but stopped.

"Did you kill them?" Zarah asked her younger self.

"I thought you knew me better than anyone else," she answered vaguely.

The door opened, and someone walked in.

The next thing she heard was gunfire.

"No!"

Zarah opened her eyes. She saw multiple faces surrounding her. They looked worried while looking at her.

However, their worried faces relaxed, and they heaved a sigh of relief.

She realized that she was in Xavier's arms. He was hugging her. She pushed Xavier away and got away from him.

Of course, she had not forgotten about his punishment.

Zarah had to harden her heart so that Xavier would learn his lesson.

Everyone raised their brows after they watched the couple's interaction.

Xavier was displeased by what she did. However, he was on a probationary period. He should perform well so Zarah would lift the crazy punishment.

"What happened?!" Zarah asked.

"You had a nightmare, mon amour. It took me so much time to wake you up," Xavier answered.

"We thought something had happened to you, Zaza," Olivia added.

"I'm sorry," Zarah sincerely expressed to everyone.

After they had breakfast, Zarah and Xavier took a nap. She looked at the nightstand and saw that it was noon.

"What did you see in your dream? Perhaps, I could help you decode it?" Xavier offered.

"It's nothing. Don't worry," Zarah forced a soft smile.

There was no way she would confess the contents of her dream.

Zarah felt embarrassed for making them worry over nothing.

Since Zarah was fine, Olivia, Kelsey, and Trixie left the room. Thea and Tristan decided to stay as they had to look after them.

Thea came forward to check on her and the incision.

Tristan was about to do the same thing with Xavier.

"I have to check your wound," Thea told Zarah.

"It's fine. I can change the dressing, Doc," Zarah rejected her.

"I'll do it," Xavier interfered.

"Okay, Thea. Please do whatever you want." Zarah decided to tease him.

She saw the disbelief in Xavier's eyes, but she decided to ignore it.

"Master, let me look at your wound," Tristan said.

"Go away!" He spat angrily.

"Do that again, and I will not talk to you," Zarah rebuked him.

Xavier, who had become an angry wolf, turned into an adorable puppy.

"I'm sorry, mon amour. I'll listen to you, okay?" The last thing that he wanted to do was make her angry.

His behavior change amused Tristan and Thea.

"Good. Then, let Tristan change the dressing on your wound."

"Aren't you going to do it, Mistress?" Tristan asked her.

"We are on a cold war," Zarah said, which amused the two doctors.

Zarah suddenly got up and left the bed.

"Can you do it later, Thea? I have more important things to do now. Don't worry. I'll approach you when it's time."

Thea felt like she was at a loss.

"You can't leave. Your wound is still fresh," Xavier said to stop her.

"Who says I'm leaving?"

"You're not?" Xavier said in surprise.

Zarah ignored him and left the room.

She went out and started looking for Kelsey and Olivia.

"Liv? Kelsey?"

"We're here!" The two girls called from the living room.

"You should be staying on the bed. You should also avoid moving your shoulder too often, or else it won't heal quickly." Kelsey said helplessly.

"Thanks, Kelsey. However, I'm not the severely injured patient here. Anyways, any updates so far?"

"What do you want to hear? Good news? Or bad news?" Olivia said.

"Bad news."

"Well, the bad news is the police are looking for the killer of the alleged victims. Their investigation indicated that it was arson. So, you're in much trouble now."

"The good news?"

"Well, Commissioner Wagner sent us a photo of the victim's post-mortem. Included were the visible couple tattoo on the man's thigh and the woman's right rib."

Zarah looked at the photo and saw two snakehead tattoos on their bodies.

"Any luck on identifying which group they belonged to?"

"According to the database, this symbol belonged to the La Serpiente. La Serpiente is a known mafia house in extreme southwestern Europe," Olivia answered.

"No wonder he had an accent when he spoke to me," Zarah mumbled.

"I heard that name back when I was still in Europe," Kelsey added.

Getting their group name was not that important for Zarah. What she cared about the most was who paid them.

"Were you able to identify who paid them?"

"It was a man named Antonio," Kelsey answered.

"Then, where could I find him?"

"I already locked him up," Xavier answered behind her back.

Olivia decided to share any information they procured with Xavier's team. She had already identified the pros and cons of what she did. The pros outweighed the cons.

With the information she had, Rupert's men managed to locate Antonio.

They grabbed him while he was shopping for groceries this morning.

"I'm sorry, Zaza. I know you don't want them to know what we found out. However, they're in our apartment. They saw what we were doing last night."

Zarah could not believe that the person who would sell her out to Xavier was Olivia!

"I'm sorry," Olivia apologized to her.

Zarah could only sigh, and Olivia winked in response.

She did not share Zarah's identity with Xavier. She left that job for Zarah to do.

"What did he tell your men?"

"He's not our guy," Xavier said.

"Did he say that? Or did you deduce that?" Zarah was skeptical.

"Antonio was doing a favor for a friend," Xavier told Zarah.

Then, he swept a glance at Kelsey.

"It is Carla Kent, isn't it?" Xavier asked Zarah. He was trying to confirm his suspicion, too.

"Unless you have other enemies who hated you strongly, then she's our guy." Zarah didn't confirm or deny his suspicion.

"And besides, she's locked up in jail," she added.

"Well, nothing can stop her from doing evil things. That woman hated my existence so much." Xavier already had a hunch that it was Carla Kent, too.

He didn't believe in mere coincidence. It had to be intentional.

Xavier had been monitoring Carla Kent's activities over the past decade. He found out that she was capable of committing a crime. And she got away with it.

Thanks to her connections. They were willing to protect her interest despite the severity of her crimes.

"If I'm not mistaken, your friend here is a relative of Carla Kent. She's Carla Kent's grandniece." Xavier continued.

"No. Carla Kent is not related to the Dawson Family by blood. Carla Kent is my grandmother's step-sister. My great-grandfather had married twice. His second wife brought her daughter to the family after marriage."

"That explains the difference in attitude," Xavier mumbled.

Kelsey pursed her lips as she hesitated to confess what she knew. She decided to do the right thing in the end.

"My brother visited Carla Kent in prison the other day. I'm sure she had asked my brother to do it."

"Are you sure?" Zarah asked in surprise.

"Yes. Antonio is my brother's confidant in Oakridge City. However, there's a possibility that she forced my brother." Kelsey didn't forget to defend her brother.

"Given how criminal her mind was, Carla Kent can manipulate anyone into doing her favor. My brother could be a victim, too."

"Let's say you are right about it. However, your brother still did something wrong," Zarah said.

"I know that, Zarah. I might not be in the right position to ask this, but please, please don't kill him," Kelsey pleaded.

Zarah looked at Xavier for help.

Had he done this act to her, she might consider forgiving Kelsey's brother. However, the person he had wronged was Xavier.

Xavier was silent.

"I'll let you decide. You own my life, mon amour. Remember that," he seriously said.

Confessing was one of Xavier's love languages.

Zarah was surprised, and at the same, time felt warmed deep inside. She could not understand why he was doing this.

Xavier nodded in reassurance. She looked away and looked back to Kelsey.

"I want to meet your brother."

She wanted to meet him first before she made a verdict.

"Can we add this assassination attempt to Carla Kent's case?" Zarah asked Xavier.

"We could add this as evidence to prove that she was out to kill me. His brother must testify."

"Then, let's convince him to testify, first."

***