The Mastermind
Bella stared at the complicated strokes of the painting in front of her before she turned her attention to the view of the body of water in front of the restaurant. At one glance, one would think that this body of water was a lake, but it was actually a fjord. The place was enormous and surrounded by sharp cliffs. The water was a mixture of blue and green, and it mirrored the cloudless skies.
"Your flight will be tonight?"
Gabriel’s voice interrupted her stupor.
"Hmmm..." Mo Li who sat next to Bella nodded. He handed her the doughnut that he just finished slicing. "Eat."
"Thank you." Bella smiled. It wasn’t long after their marriage that she realized how Mo Li seemed to know everything that she wanted to eat. It wasn’t just because of this previous body’s preference, but Lily’s preference. She figured it was just because he was good at observing her.
Mo Li knows her food preference. He knows that she loves eating sweets, he knows that she loves noodles, packed noodles, or freshly made ones. He knew how she seemed to love food with a lot of garlic. In fact, she saw him put more garlic powder in her food on more than one occasion.
She thought it was sweet and considerate. And she thought that the previous Bella was really lucky to have a guy that takes care of her like this. She was pretty lucky to find someone willing to do everything for her.
"Well... I want to thank you, guys. Sarah is already abroad with her mother. They were able to find a good place to stay. In a few months, I will finish Daniel’s matter and follow her." Gabriel smiled at Mo Li and Bella. "Thank you," he added.
"It’s my job to help my sister out," Bella said in the most sincere tone that she could come up with. Sarah was able to escape Daniel, but the system didn’t inform Bella that her mission is already finished. She wasn’t sure if Daniel still has something in his sleeves. And if he does, she could only hope that Gabriel would be able to do something about it.
"This cafe is pretty good. Is this... yours?" Mo Li asked.
"Yes. I bought this piece of land a few years back. It was barren, but the view is breathtaking. After a few months, I decided to open a cafe here. Because of its location, a lot of tourist visits the place." Gabriel smiled.
"Please excuse me, I will go to the toilet," Bella said. This
Of course, she wasn’t in a hurry to confront her husband. After all, he did it to save her sister. Even if he did it behind her back, Mo Li still did it to make her happy. It was dangerous yet sweet. Of course, the fact that she found this amusing was pretty disturbing.
After Bella left, the smile on Gabriel’s face disappeared, his gaze towards Mo Li turned sharp. "I would assume that you are not my enemy?" Gabriel’s tone was cold, the gentle smile on his face vanished.
"Hmmm." Mo Li nodded, he took the cup of coffee, held it closer to his nose, but he didn’t drink it. He found the coffee... too bland. "I only helped you because I want to make my wife happy."
Gabriel squinted at him. "I didn’t think that you were the one responsible for making Mrs. Qin leave at first. I thought it was really the news that I gave to the media. I also didn’t think that Sarah would actually leave with her. My original plan was just to release the second piece of news on the day of their wedding. I wanted to ruin Gabriel on his wedding day. I never thought that Sarah would actually leave. Then... I asked myself. Did I just get lucky? However, I soon realized that there seems to be something wrong with it." Gabriel took a sip. "I don’t get lucky. If anything, I always thought that I was born unlucky. I had a lot of enemies and suffered a few times."
"How did you know it was me?" Mo Li smiled.
"The timing," Gabriel answered. "At first, I didn’t know why Mrs. Qin would just run away like that. I mean... it didn’t make any sense. After all, one can easily deny that scandal. Even if there were videos and photographs, she could easily deny it. Maybe even say that it was edited. That it wasn’t here. I was certain that her husband’s PR could take care of that. In fact, this is why I wanted to slowly but surely attack them. I wanted to reveal what Bella gave me, slowly. I wanted them to deny and deny until they can’t deny anymore. I never would have thought that just after one scandal, Mrs. Qin immediately ran away."
Seeing the smile on Mo Li’s face, Gabriel continued. "This got me thinking. What if Mrs. Qin received another thing. What if there is something more... more sinister than what I had? What if... this secret is enough to make her run away from fear?"
"Huh." Mo Li nodded. "I didn’t know you were this smart."
"Mr. Mo... please don’t underestimate me. I know you graduated top of your class, but I also got first place in the bar exams. I am very capable of analyzing things." Gabriel smiled, his eyes turned into two beautiful crescents. "So? How did you do it?"
"Secret," Mo Li smiled. "Mrs. Qin is a very... very deep woman. Someone who could stand next to a sinister mayor is not a very simple person. There are going to be skeletons in her closet. In fact, she even had more skeletons than her husband."
"Then I would not ask anymore. However, I would like to tell you that I would personally take care of Daniel. There is no need to intervene anymore. And I would also like to thank you for the help. I would never forget that favor that you did for me and Sarah."
Mo Li nodded, and a different glint can be seen in his eyes. However, the smile on his face soon vanished. It had been a few minutes since Bella went to the toilet. He frowned and strode towards the toilet.
He knocked and called her out a few times. When he didn’t receive any answer, he opened the door and checked the cubicle. Slowly, his face darkened, his heart started drumming against his chest.
Where is his wife? He opened his phone and immediately dialed her number. However, the phone just kept on ringing.
"Mr. Mo? Did something happen? Bella... she..." Gabriel immediately understood what was going on. He looked at Mo Li’s face. "I will call my people.
Mo Li clenched his jaw. Bella is Lily, she is not someone normal and he was confident that she could always get out of her current predicament. However, this is not enough to make him feel better.