Chapter Sixty-Four: A Familiar Path

With a cold face, Vilac walked out of the room and nodded to Diaz waiting nearby. Diaz hurried over and locked the door again.

"You can go back, I'll be leaving now." As they went down the stairs, Vilac adjusted his emotions, trying to say goodbye to Diaz as calmly as possible.

Diaz sensed that Vilac was in a bad mood, but he also knew this involved deeply private matters, so he offered no comfort and asked no questions. Once they reached the second floor, he parted ways with Vilac.

Vilac stepped out of the Rovide Hotel and looked up at Room 7 on the fourth floor. The windows remained tightly shut; perhaps Nord was standing there right now, wishing more than anything to come out.

Yet, even if Vilac rescued Nord, Nord would still refuse to live life the way Vilac envisioned.

This was what Vilac found most difficult to comprehend. Nord clearly longed for such a life, and now that this life was within arm's reach, he no longer wanted it.

"Little brat..." Vilac muttered to himself.

In his view, Nord was still young and simply overwhelmed by suddenly learning so much today. He would give Nord a few days to calm down before coming back to have a proper talk with him.

It was now around three-thirty in the afternoon. When shaking off Fletcher's tail earlier, he and Daniel had agreed to meet around four o'clock on the street behind the Rovide Hotel.

Because of Fletcher's surveillance, the usable time today had been brutally cut short by an hour. Fortunately, the conversation with Nord had ended quickly, so everything was working out just right.

Vilac arrived at the street behind the Rovide Hotel, bought a copy of the World Journal along the way, and sat down on a roadside bench, reading as he patiently waited for Daniel to arrive.

By the time Vilac finished reading the latest World Journal, it was already past four o'clock, yet there was still no sign of Daniel.

If Daniel had managed to shake off Fletcher's entanglement early, he could easily have planned his time to arrive before four. The fact that he failed to appear at the agreed time meant he must have encountered some trouble, most likely that Fletcher was still persistently tailing him.

If the situation truly unfolded this way, it would be troublesome.

Vilac held the newspaper and pondered countermeasures.

If he were to return on his own now, the timeline wouldn't match up. After all, Fletcher had watched him get into the car with his own eyes, and the car was still driving around outside—how could he possibly have returned?

The current situation was extremely passive. Sitting here, Vilac could do nothing; he had to pin all his hopes on Daniel.

Four-ten.

Daniel didn't come.

Four-twenty.

Daniel still didn't come.

Four-thirty.

Time was growing very tight. Vilac read the World Journal three times over.

Four-forty.

Just as Vilac was about to lose his patience and stand up, Daniel's car finally turned into the street!

Vilac's heart skipped a beat. He grabbed the newspaper, hurried to the curb, and waved at Daniel. Daniel slowed the car down and stopped right in front of Vilac: "Quick! Mr. Chris!"

Vilac hurriedly scrambled into the car. Before he even had time to close the door, the car accelerated sharply and sped away.

"Mr. Chris, close the door, quickly!" Daniel shouted anxiously.

Before he had even settled into his seat, Vilac reached out to pull the door shut, then straightened his posture, placed the hat he had previously left on the seat back onto his head, and glanced into the rearview mirror.

Almost the exact moment he adjusted his hat, Fletcher's car also turned into the street!

"They're still following us?!" Although it was an obvious fact, Vilac was still shocked.

"Yes, sir!" Daniel also glanced at the rearview mirror, a lingering fear in his heart. Fortunately, the car had returned to a normal driving speed, and his risky maneuver to pick up Vilac just now hadn't been noticed. "They've been tailing me this whole time. After all this while, they must have realized we were deliberately driving in circles. Since the cat was out of the bag, I stopped holding back and tried to shake them off a little after three o'clock, but no matter how hard I tried, their car stuck right behind us!"

As they rounded another corner, Vilac tossed away the hat he had bought that afternoon: "Then the situation is very bad. The Rovide Hotel is extremely sensitive to Fletcher. Failing to shake him off and letting him see us pass by here will inevitably arouse his suspicion, linking my purpose for going out directly to the Rovide Hotel."

"Could... could that really happen?" Daniel felt Vilac was making a fuss over nothing. "In their eyes, we've practically driven all over Lezein. Passing by the vicinity of the Rovide Hotel by coincidence shouldn't be a big deal, right?"

"If only Fletcher would think like that." Vilac knew Fletcher far too well. Failing to shake him off today and letting him see that he had passed near the Rovide Hotel would surely cause Fletcher to connect him with Nord. Even if he couldn't be certain that Vilac had already discovered Nord's whereabouts, Fletcher might still relocate Nord and step up surveillance just to be safe.

Faced with this, all Vilac could do was try his best to fabricate a highly persuasive excuse when he returned to the mansion to face Fletcher's questioning, thereby minimizing his suspicion, while trusting that Diaz could handle any situation that arose at the Rovide Hotel.

"Mr. Chris, are we heading straight back to the Thomas estate now?" Daniel asked.

"No, drive around for another half hour. If we return immediately after passing the Rovide Hotel, it will only heighten Fletcher's suspicion." Vilac re-entered the tense game of wits. "In Fletcher's eyes, you still belong to his side, so he'll definitely question you when we get back."

"I know that, Mr. Chris. I won't tell him a thing," Daniel said matter-of-factly.

"You can't do that." Vilac frowned, his gaze sharp and cold. "Doing that will only make Fletcher believe you are my man. When that happens, to weaken my influence, he'll kick you out, and I'll completely lose my vital bridge of contact with the Equality Society."

Prompted by Vilac, Daniel immediately realized the crux of the problem, and his expression turned solemn: "I need to come up with a good enough formulation—one that neither leaks your whereabouts and purpose nor raises his suspicions."

"Correct." Vilac had already figured out what to say; this sort of thing was all too familiar to him now. "You must position yourself as completely innocent. When Fletcher asks, tell him that I originally instructed you to take me to the South District, but shortly after we set off, you noticed I seemed a bit flustered. Then I started barking arbitrary directions and making you drive around in circles, seemingly trying to shake something off, but ultimately failing. In the end, I flew into a rage, cursed you out furiously, and ordered you back to the estate."

"I... I've got it..." Daniel nodded.