Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 186

On Regal Heights Drive.

Hayden sat in the car, unseen from the outside. The crime scene, cordoned off by the police, was

where Davina was taken. Kieran stared at the parked black sedan and knocked on the car door twice.

Hayden unlocked the door. Kieran pulled it open and slid into the passenger seat, “What’s the

situation?”

“Some people have been to the crime scene already. These guys are seriously professional, organized

and disciplined. Payne’s sent over the surveillance footage. They brought a medical team along, guess

they didn’t want to hurt Davina,” Hayden replied.

Kieran asked, “Are they Davina’s accomplices?”

After thinking for a couple of seconds, Hayden responded, “Not necessarily.”

Finished speaking, he handed the laptop over to Kieran.

In the surveillance footage, Hayden had zoomed in on Davina’s face when she was taken. Dylan

turned to look at the laptop in Kieran’s hands, then definitively stated, “Her mouth and eyes are wide

open, eyebrows raised, nostrils flaring. Davina is clearly scared. Judging from her terrified facial

expression, it’s unlikely that this was Davina’s partner, but it’s likely someone she knew.”

Dylan paused before asking, “Could it be Lucian?”

Hayden and Kieran look at Dylan.

“Judging from your expressions, are you doubting me…” Dylan leaned over the front seat to look at

them: “Am I the only one who thinks this could have. something to do with Lucian?”

“Yes, you’re the only one who thinks so,” Kieran replied bluntly.

Dylan was speechless.

“I’ve already sent people to investigate.” Hayden turned to Kieran, “How’s Joyce?”

“She’s fine.” Kieran asked Hayden, “What’s Payne up to? Did he find out where the people who

kidnapped Davina went?”

Hayden shook his head, “He said he had an important discovery and went off to make a call. He’s over

there.”,

He pointed towards the woods outside the car window. Just as Kieran turned his head, he saw Payne

running excitedly towards the car.

Dylan rolled down the window and looked at Payne, “Did you win the lottery? You seem pretty thrilled!”

Payne glared at Dylan before turning to Kieran, “I found out who donated money to Julie.”

“You’re still investigating that?” Dylan looked at Kieran incredulously. After all, it’s been so long since

that happened, it was surprising he was still looking into it. Wasn’t it common for charities to donate to

patients? What was so special about this?

“Who was it?” Kieran asked Payne.

“It was the Fitzgerald family. The primary heir, Simon, started a fund for global special cases, mainly for

typical complex diseases and special cancer patients.”

Dylan added a fact, “But Sansa’s condition isn’t special, it’s just from a car accident.”

“That’s the strange part!” Payne suddenly looked at Hayden, “Hayden, aren’t you and the Fitzgerald

family enemies?”

Hayden was familiar with the name Fitzgerald. They were a century-old wealthy family, quite

mysterious. People only knew that most of the Fitzgerald Banks in Europe were owned by the

Fitzgerald family. These banks’ main business was mergers and acquisitions helping large corporations

acquire other companies or restructure their assets.

Hearing this, Hayden frowned and replied to Kieran, “That’s Miles Simson’s personal business. Since

Miles passed away, I haven’t had any conflicts with the Fitzgerald family.”

After that, Hayden asked Kieran, “Do you want to check out who this Simon is?”

“No need.” Kieran said thoughtfully, “If they have a purpose, they’ll come to us. What we need to do

now is find Davina.”

Although Kieran said there was no need to investigate, Payne was very interested. He looked even

more focused on the computer.

Hayden had called Kieran over to confirm the crime scene, to see if it might be someone they knew.

Now that Kieran had confirmed it, he told Hayden, “I’m going back to the hospital to be with my wife. I’ll

contact you if anything comes up.”

Hayden nodded, “Tell Julien to come see me.”

Kieran agreed.

Dylan said, “I’m going back to catch up with Harding.”

After that, Dylan was also ready to leave.

Ever since Payne first saw Julien at Flavia’s wedding, he had been deeply impressed by this icy

woman. He hadn’t expected Julien to know his cousin, and his cousin’s good friend seemed to have a

good relationship with Julien.

Although Payne had heard a lot about Hayden, he had rarely seen him.

Payne had been studying abroad since he was a child. It wasn’t until he attended Kieran’s wedding that

he became close to Kieran, so he didn’t know much about Kieran’s private life. He also didn’t know that

Kieran and Hayden were good friends. Given this…

“Hayden, are you close with Julien?” Payne asked with a smile.

Kieran and Dylan, who were about to leave, stopped and looked at Payne.

Hayden looked at Payne coldly and replied, “What’s up?”

“Can I ask what kind of relationship you have with Julien?” Payne looked at Hayden. He felt Hayden’s

gaze was very cold, giving him goosebumps.

Kieran admitted that he stayed to watch the show. He glanced at Hayden and then heard him ask

Payne, “What do you think the relationship between me and her is?”

Payne mulled it over, then blurted out his most desired answer, “A good friend!”

“Oh?” Hayden raised an eyebrow, asking Payne, “And then what?”

“If you’re tight with her, maybe you could put in a good word for me. I’d be forever in your debt!” In

Payne’s eyes, Julien was pretty much Aphrodite, but she was so cold. He hadn’t even had the chance

to get close to her before she might shut him out, so he had to look for other ways.

But all Hayden did was retort, “Why should I help you?”

Payne thought carefully, then solemnly said, “Because I fell for Julien at first sight. Her icy demeanor

drew me in. I hope to have a shot at being her man…” “I do too,” Hayden cut Payne off before he could

finish.

Both Kieran and Dylan couldn’t help but crack up. They left cheerfully, leaving Payne confused and

innocent-looking at Hayden, “Aren’t you guys partners?” Hayden replied, “Yes, we are. In bed.”

Payne was speechless.

Suddenly, he felt like all hope in life was lost. How could he compete with Hayden for a girl? After all,

Hayden had single-handedly bought off all of Miles’s trusted aides and climbed to his current position

stepping over others’ dead bodies…

He gave Hayden a sheepish smile, “Guess I’ll just have to wait for her to fall for me willingly.”

“Good luck with that,” Hayden gave Payne a cold look.

Payne finally decided to pack up his laptop and hail a cab home. Looks like he needed to go home and

come up with a plan to win over Julien!

After receiving a message from Kieran, Julien returned to Paradise Cove Villa as Instructed by Hayden.

At Paradise Cove Villa, only Hayden’s attendant Raines was downstairs, instructing the butler some

things.

“Where is he?” Julien asked coldly.

Raines had always thought of Julien as a woman who brought disaster to the country, stunning and

lethal. But she was a woman associated with Hayden, a woman he cared about, plus… a woman of

incredible power. So, he always maintained a respectful yet slightly distant attitude towards her.

“Mr. Simson is in the study.”

Julien knocked on the study door.

A muffled response came from inside, “Come in.”

As soon as she entered; Julien smelled the strong scent of smoke. She frowned, asked, “What’s up?”

“Sit,” Hayden pointed to the couch opposite him.

Julien was not a woman to meekly follow orders, so she stood her ground, “If there’s nothing, I’ll be

going.”,

“I have new information on Lucian to share with you. You can put your National Security Agency work

on hold for a bit,” Hayden spoke up just as Julien was about to turn and leave.

Although Julien didn’t understand herself as deeply as Hayden did, she knew that Hayden wouldn’t

lightly agree to share information on Lucian with her, given that she represented the National Security

Agency. Lucian was a person both the National Security Agency and Kieran wanted. Hayden wouldn’t

betray Kieran, so there must be a catch.

Therefore, as a woman not easily fooled, Julien flatly refused, “I can find the information I need on my

own, without anyone’s charity.”

“For a woman as unlikable as you, you’ve managed to attract quite a few men,” his deep eyes stared

meaningfully at Julien.

Intuition told Julien that this was not a compliment.

“Even if you don’t like me, you can’t stop others from liking me, right?” Julien suddenly gave up on

leaving, instead sitting down opposite Hayden, her eyes shimmering with a cold light as she stared

back at him.

The atmosphere instantly became tense.

Suddenly, Hayden reached out and encircled her neck, pulling her towards him…