Chapter 5 Being Followed

She didn't delete the voice message. Instead, she calmly clicked "favorite" and backed it up to the cloud.

Since they wanted to play games, she'd play big.

Since they'd already torn off the mask, she didn't want to keep this so-called "Mrs. Howard" identity for even one more second.

Sienna contacted a moving company that very night.

She didn't actually have much stuff. Most of the designer bags and jewelry were bought by Ethan to keep up appearances—she didn't take a single piece.

What she took were only her own books, a few changes of clothes, and that laptop filled with evidence of Howard Group's business violations.

At 3 AM, she completely erased all traces of herself from that villa.

Before leaving, she sent Ethan one final text.

[I heard the voice message. Nice recording. Don't disgust me with this kind of thing again before we finalize the divorce.]

Then she decisively blocked all contact methods for both Ethan and Queenie.

The second day after moving into her new apartment, before Sienna could even catch her breath, Lucas called.

"Check Facebook." His voice was as cold as always, but carried a hint of barely noticeable tension.

Sienna opened the chat window. Several high-definition photos jumped out at her.

The background was the entrance to her current apartment complex.

In the images, an unremarkable gray Volkswagen was parked under the trees, window half-down, and you could vaguely see someone in the driver's seat holding binoculars pointed toward the apartment building.

"You're being followed." Lucas's voice came through the phone. "Starting from when you left the villa last night, this car has been tailing you."

Sienna's grip on her phone tightened.

Ethan?

No, someone as arrogant to the bone as Ethan would bring people to break down her door if he wanted to find her, not use these rat-in-the-gutter stalking tactics.

"Thanks," Sienna said quietly.

"Sienna, I told you, you're in danger right now." Lucas was silent for a moment, his tone somewhat stiff. "If it's for that bit of the Howard family fortune, it's not worth risking your life. If you need money, I can..."

He didn't finish, as if realizing he'd misspoken, and cut himself off.

Sienna knew about Lucas's feelings for her.

He always appeared when she was at her most miserable, yet always pushed her away with a proud and distant attitude.

He loved her, but refused to admit he could love a woman who married into wealth for money.

"I don't need money, Lucas. But I can't just die without knowing why."

Sienna hung up and walked to the window.

She didn't pull back the curtains, but looked down through the gap.

That gray Volkswagen was still there.

Were the people who wanted to kill her and the people following her the same group?

If it was Queenie, she had the nerve, but not necessarily the meticulous methods.

Sienna took a deep breath, her mind racing.

She couldn't keep hiding. Only by drawing out whoever was behind this could she truly be safe.

She changed into comfortable athletic wear, put on a baseball cap and mask, grabbed a huge garbage bag, and headed out.

She deliberately walked slowly, leisurely browsing the complex's supermarket for half a loop, bought a bunch of household items, then went through the supermarket's back door toward an old factory area under construction.

It was a famous "abandoned building" in the area, with complex terrain and missing surveillance.

Sure enough, the footsteps behind her were kept low, but sounded especially clear in the quiet construction site.

Sienna's heart pounded like a drum, her palms covered in cold sweat, but her steps became even more steady.

She turned behind a cement pillar, suddenly accelerated and ran into an unfinished side building, quickly climbing the stairs to the second floor.

The person clearly hadn't expected her sudden move, and hurried footsteps followed.

"Stop!" Sienna stood by the second-floor railing, gripping a rusty steel rod she'd picked up from the ground, calling out coldly.

Two men's figures emerged from the stairwell.

They wore black hoodies, hoods covering most of their faces, and both held gleaming knives.

Sienna's eyelid twitched. This wasn't ordinary stalking—these were professional killers.

"Who sent you?" Sienna forced herself to stay calm. "How much did Queenie pay you? I'll double it."

The lead man sneered and without wasting words, rushed forward with his knife.

Sienna was prepared. She kicked over a bucket of expired paint stacked nearby.

White liquid instantly splashed everywhere, making the floor slippery.

The man's foot slipped and he fell hard to the ground.

Sienna seized the opportunity to grab a nearby fire extinguisher and spray it wildly at both men's faces.

White powder instantly filled the entire hallway.

"Cough cough... damn it!"

Taking advantage of their blocked vision, Sienna turned and ran toward the emergency stairs on the other side of the second floor.

It was a route she'd observed beforehand, with thick sand piles below.

She didn't hesitate and jumped.

The impact when she landed made her ankle throb with pain, but she didn't dare stop, crawling and rolling into the nearby weeds.

By the time the two men rushed to the window, the ground below was already empty.

"Boss, she got away. What do we do?"

"Retreat! She's smarter than we thought. This place is making too much noise—cops will be here soon."

The two men cursed and climbed over the wall to escape.

Sienna hid in the shadows, covering her mouth tightly, and only collapsed to the ground after she could no longer hear any sounds.

Her clothes were torn, and there was a long, thin bloody scratch on her arm from being scraped by a branch when she jumped.

Trembling, she took out her phone and dialed a number that had been buried for ages, one she'd never revealed in front of Ethan.

"Help me investigate two things." Sienna's eyes shone remarkably bright in the darkness, revealing a desperate ruthlessness. "First, all hotel records and surveillance of Ethan and Queenie abroad from half a month ago—I want the originals. Second, check if there have been any large fund transfers from Queenie's overseas accounts to mercenary organizations recently."

If the divorce before was just to cut her losses, now she was going to make those who wanted her dead pay a hundredfold.

Since Grandma Violet gave her the company, she'd use that money to expose the Howard family's secrets.

The red brick walls of the Howard Manor looked especially somber after the rain, like a silent prison.

Sienna changed into a sharply tailored black suit dress, the cuffs perfectly covering that vicious bloody scratch on her arm.

As soon as she entered the main building, the butler approached with his head bowed, his tone more respectful than usual. "Lady Sienna, Lady Violet is waiting for you in the study."

Sienna nodded slightly and climbed the stairs.

In the study.

Violet sat in her chair without even lifting her eyelids. "Did you bring everything?"