Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 259

When Kieran set his mind on something, not even Amanda could stand in his way. Currently, Kieran

was holding onto Amanda’s arm, showing no signs of letting go. His determination and confidence

clearly indicated his resolution to stand his ground against Amanda.

Amanda and Kieran were watching at each other. In such a situation, Julie found herself at a loss for

words and hence chose to remain silent.

Finally, Amanda relented, turning to Basil and saying, “Go get it.”

Basil returned with a black box, which contained an ordinary looking recording pen.

Amanda took out the recording pen and handed it to Kieran.

Kieran pressed the play button, and a voice came out. The voice had been altered, and the message

was for Amanda to return home and take every opportunity to train Julie, as well as keep Julie indoors

as much as possible.

Amanda said, “At first, I didn’t take it seriously, but after hearing this recording and finding out from

Noah that Joyce had been kidnapped, had to believe it. With all the incidents that happened

afterwards, it made me return home after Basil sorted things out.”

“Where did this recording come from?” Kieran questioned.

Amanda replied, “The day Basil accompanied me to the hospital for a full-body check-up, we found this

recording pen on the desk when we returned.”

Basil pointed at the recording pen and said, “We’ve had professionals analyze the recording, but the

technology is too advanced for us to find out the original voice. Amanda worried that you would be

concerned, so…”

“Have Basil take grandma to rest,” Kieran instructed Basil.

Amanda held onto Kieran’s hand, “Kieran, I’m a bit uneasy. You mentioned before that Lucian is still

alive, so I can’t help wondering, since he’s still alive, why hasn’t he come back? You’ve been searching

for so many years and haven’t found him, could it be…”

“He is alive, and we already have some leads. You rest first, and I’ll take this recording to get it

authenticated, see if we can figure it out.”

After Basil helped Amanda to retire, Kieran promptly handed the recording pen over to Payne.

Payne worked through the night, and just as the morning light graced the sky, he arrived at Noblewood

Retreat.

Julie was woken up early in the morning by Bolt for training, with Kieran watching from the sidelines.

Suddenly, Payne stormed into the room.

Seeing Payne’s dark circles under eyes, Julie was taken aback.

“Do you have the results?” Kieran asked, eyeing the recording pen in Payne’s hand.

Payne, with a mysterious air, said to Julie and Kieran, “You guys will never guess who this voice

belongs to!”

“It’s Lucian’s voice,” Kieran said affirmatively, with a nonchalant demeanor.

Payne, who was operating his computer, froze in disbelief, staring at Kieran, “How did you know?”

Julie also asked Kieran in surprise, “Why him?”

“Exactly! Wasn’t it said that he wanted to harm Julie years ago? But this recording seems to be saving

Julie. How did you guess it was him?”

“So, it really is Lucian?” Julie looked at Payne, finding it hard to accept the fact despite Kieran’s surety.

The idea that a man who had been avoiding Kieran would send this recording and even alter his voice

was hard to swallow.

Payne connected the recording pen to his phone with a data cable and restored the altered voice on

his computer. The voice that played was indeed the voice of Lucian that he remembered-deep, steady,

and unique. It was somewhat similar to Kieran’s, but more mature.

“The technology is indeed advanced. It took me all night to separate the voice. I was scared when I first

heard it, so I came over immediately,” Payne said to Kieran excitedly. “I thought you guys would never

guess who the voice belongs to. How did you know?”.

“Not only is the voice on this recording Lucian’s, but I think the person who texted Julien using my

phone was also arranged by Lucian, Kieran said solemnly.

“Can you tell me how your brain works? I want to clone one,” Payne looked at Kieran in admiration,

“How did you figure it out?”

“Noblewood Retreat, although not heavily guarded, is not easy for outsiders to enter. The person

avoided all the cameras and left no traces, not even. fingerprints, was very careful. The same goes for

Cedarwood Springs in Canada. The person wasn’t caught on camera, and there were no fingerprints

on this recording pen. The operations in both places are almost identical.”

“So, you guessed it was Lucian just from this? This only proves that the person is cautious, or skilled,”

Payne argued.

“I didn’t just conclude from this.”

Payne felt he was silly once again, and this time, he felt ridiculed.

ཅང ཨང མ � ༄༅ཅ

Seeing Payne’s about-to-explode expression, Julie laughed at Kieran, “Stop teasing him.”

“Cedarwood Springs is a piece of land Lucian bought in Canada. From design to decoration, he was in

charge of everything. Noblewood Retreat, although inherited from our parents, was renovated by him

after they passed away. He personally designed everything.”

“Before the tragic accident that took his parents, Lucian wanted to be an architect. That means he

knew every brick and tile, every blade of grass, every tree, even every surveillance camera from

Noblewood Retreat to Cedarwood Springs.”

“Of course, I wasn’t sure if the voice in the recording was Lucian’s until you started looking at me with

that surprised expression, and without a tape recorder, Kieran stated.

Payne’s realization dawned upon him then. The reason Kieran had agreed was Payne’s reaction had

unintentionally given away the answer.

“So… what exactly is Lucian doing? I thought the person who arranged for Julie’s car accident last time

was Lucian. If Lucian wanted grandma to protect

Julie, then who wants to harm her?”

Payne speculated, “Could it be Davina, the woman who kidnapped Julie last time?”

“Harding said that given Davina’s condition when found, she must have been bedridden ever since she

was shot the day she kidnapped me. We’ve checked everyone Davina’s been in contact with over the

years, and she has no affiliations, no resources to hire a hitman from her sickbed,” Julie answered

Payne.

Payne agreed, “Besides, the driver who tried to hit Julie that night was too professional, and even knew

how to swim to escape. His reaction was too quick. A random hitman wouldn’t have performed so well,

especially not in front of the police.”

“Let’s not tell grandma about this for now,” Kieran suggested.

Payne and Julie silently agreed. Grandma couldn’t take any more shocks. If they didn’t have definite

news about Lucian, they didn’t want to disappoint her. After confirming that the voice in the recording

was indeed Lucian’s, Payne couldn’t help but wave his hand, “I can’t take it anymore, my eyes must

look like a panda’s by now. I’m going home to sleep!” He stuffed his laptop into his bag.

Julie asked, “Did you drive here?”

“I rode my bicycle.”

“You haven’t slept all night, and you still dare to ride?” Julie turned to Kieran, “You should rest here. I’ll

have Shannon prepare a room for you.”

As Julie left to find Shannon, Payne happily hugged Kieran, “Having a woman at home is the best!”

With Julie taking care of Payne’s rest, Kieran pulled Julie’s arm, wrapped it around her waist, and

pushed her against the second-floor railing, saying, “I’m going to find Dylan, see if there are any clues

from the criminals we caught last time.”

“Do you have to pin me down to talk?”

“Um, you can pin me down when you want to talk to me too.” He leaned clown to steal a kiss from her

lips, adding, “Some things are better said under pressure.”

“Get away!” Julie pushed him away.

Laughing, the man left the house and drove away.

After finding Dylan, Kieran somehow managed to get the criminal, who had been tight-lipped, to

confess that they were hired.

However, the employer had only made contact through a phone call and transferred a portion of the

money to an account. Our only leads now were this anonymous phone number and bank account.

Given that the employer had the resources to hire people to steal the ring, they wouldn’t be easily

caught by Kieran. So, even if Kieran were to investigate, he might end up with nothing, like before.

Dylan still said, “We have to try. I’ll get people to continue the investigation. You can call the female

assassin and see if the National Security Agency has any news about Lucian.”

Kieran chuckled, “Does the female assassin know you call her that?”

Dylan proudly replied, “That depends on whether you’ll spill the beans!”

Kieran responded, “If spilling the beans gets me the answers I want, I will.”

Dylan marveled, “Here is the fragility of friendship!”,

Kieran calmly replied, “Our friendship is like a bamboo raft, inherently unstable.”

Dylan had the urge to chide Kieran but….

Dylan asked again, “I heard from Harding that you arranged a blind date for Adeline with Dr. Brice. I-

accidentally told Elliot. Does this count as a surprise?” Kieran raised an eyebrow, “I have a few words

for you.”

Dylan guessed, “Well done?”

Kieran replied, “Mind your own business.”