With a serious expression, Wayne nodded, dialed Noel’s number, and briefly explained the situation to him.
After hanging up, Wayne looked at Anna and reassured her, “Noel has gone to find Isabella, she’ll be fine.” When the light turned green, he started the engine and continued driving.
Anna nodded and said nothing. As she calmed down, she realized that Bill had probably said that just to make her crazy. She analyzed, Bill probably knew how this would end before he arrived at my office. From the moment he walked into my office, he had planned the ending. Damn it! I shouldn’t have fallen into his trap so easily!
About 40 minutes later, the car stopped in front of the Wright’s front door.
The maid who opened the door was stunned to see them and trembled as she asked what had happened. Wayne carried Anna out of the car, who had been silent, and said to the maid calmly, “Anna’s frightened. Bring her some food, please.”
After that, he dashed into the house and took Anna to the bathroom. The bathroom was filled with warm steam, and all Anna could hear was the sound of running water. The smell of blood disappeared only after Wayne changed the water in the tub several times.
Even though the smell faded, Anna was still terrified. She sat in the bathtub, and her whole body was shaking. Wayne used the shower to wash her body while she clung to herself tightly.
“Wayne, he killed himself. He killed himself…” Anna muttered, trying to recall what had just happened. Everything seemed surreal, and she wondered if she had remembered it wrong. She couldn’t remember if Bill had grabbed her hand and stabbed himself or if she had done it. She even believed her brain had changed her memory.
“Let Tammy and Matthew stay in Europe. Find them a good high school, Wayne. They can come back here after finishing college. It’s the best way to keep them safe,” Anna said to Wayne after regaining her composure.
“Okay.” Wayne didn’t ask what was going on but agreed without hesitation.
At the time, Anna didn’t know what Wayne was thinking. Neither did she realize that he was already planning to risk everything to protect her.
Around half an hour later, Wayne helped Anna get dressed in clean clothes. When they came out of the bathroom, Anna felt sick and was about to throw up the instant she saw the pile of bloodstained clothes on the floor.
Seeing that, Wayne picked up the clothes and left the bedroom considerably. Just as he was about to leave the bedroom door, a maid rushed over. She looked at Wayne in horror and was even more terrified when she saw the bloody clothes in his hand. “Sir, there is a bunch of police outside saying they want to take Mrs. Wright away,” she said.
Wayne said calmly as he shoved the clothes into the maid’s hand, “Tell them that she is not at home. Take those clothes outside and throw them away.”
After the servant walked away, Wayne let out a sigh, changed his clothes and walked toward the front yard. The yard gate was open, and several police officers were there. When one of the officers saw Wayne, he took out his police badge and said to him, “We are officers of the Birmingham Police Department, and we need Anna Wright to help us investigate a case.”
“Sorry, Anna isn’t here,” Wayne said, putting his hands in his suit pants pockets and looking at the police officer’s badge indifferently.
A young police officer standing outside the door grumbled, “We watched the surveillance and followed your car here. Besides, your maid just said your wife was home. You…”
“Stop talking, Tony!” An older officer said loudly, interrupting him.
Immediately, Tony stopped talking, bowed his head and seemed embarrassed. Wayne frowned. He just stared at Tony, saying nothing.
“Mr. Wright, your wife is under investigation for a crime, and she is not a criminal. If she chooses to escape at this time, the situation will become much more serious,” The officer seemed to be threatening Wayne and even addressed him as “Mr. Wright.” He reminded Wayne that he was the CEO of the Carousel Group and that breaking the law would tarnish the company’s image.
Wayne would not have hesitated to get the company out of trouble if this were the old days. But he preferred to handle it as Anna’s husband.
After giving it some thoughts, Wayne smiled and looked at the officer calmly. “I told you she wasn’t here. If you don’t believe me, come back after you get a search warrant.”
The police officers knew Wayne had done it on purpose, but there was nothing they could do about it. They were all aware that they could not offend the Wrights. Otherwise, they’d all be in big trouble.
The young officer appeared to be unhappy, but all he could do was nod and say, “OK. Then we’ll…”
“Wayne!”
He was about to finish when he heard a woman’s voice. And everyone turned to look at the person behind Wayne who just shouted his name.
With her as pale as paper, Anna did her best to walk towards the courtyard, although she seemed unable to stand still. Wayne immediately frowned upon hearing Anna’s voice and didn’t even dare to turn around.
Then Anna approached them and stood beside Wayne. She reached out to take his arm, then slowly said, “I’m Anna Wright. I can go with you.”
Tony, who was standing outside the door, took his handcuffs from his bag and approached her. However, he stopped right there when sensing Wayne’s glare at him.
“Give it to me.” Another officer said to Tony, took the handcuffs, and put them in his pocket. He continued, “Mrs. Wright, we’re not going to handcuff you. All you have to do is to go to the police station with us.”
Anna nodded and followed him to the police car.
When Tony was about to get into the car, he felt someone grabbing him by the collar and pulling him backward. And Tony became enraged right away. Before standing still, he saw a man moving behind him and getting into the car. By the time Tony came back to his senses, Wayne was already sitting in the car. He seemed imposing and intimidating, a total badass.
Dumbfounded, Anna asked Wayne in surprise, “What are you doing here?!”
“I want to be there with you.” He held her right hand tightly in his left hand as he stared straight ahead.
As she glanced at his face, Anna wanted to say many things to him but eventually swallowed them back.
Meanwhile, Tony scratched his head and had no idea about what to do. He’d never been in this situation before and could only ask his colleagues for advice. Only after seeing several police officers nodding at him did Tony got into the car.
On entering the police station, Anna was led into a small interview room. She had come here to give a statement before, but she was the one being questioned this time.
Two officers, one male and one female sat in front of her. While the female officer was going through a pile of information, the male officer asked her basic information.
“You killed a notorious criminal,” the female officer sneered as she finished flipping through the information.
Anna understood what she meant. Though feeling a bit stressed and nervous, she still tried her best to remain composed and say, “I didn’t kill him. He killed himself. He was deliberately attempting to frame me.”
The two police officers obviously didn’t believe her. Before the female officer spoke, the male officer, who was taking notes, said, “I don’t believe he would kill himself just because he wanted to frame someone. Do you two have a grudge against each other?”
Anna couldn’t say anything because she couldn’t explain everything all at once. As a result, she remained silent.
The policewoman thought she had found an important clue. Seeing that Anna remained silent, she slapped the table hard and asked angrily, “Why don’t you say something?”
“Is it against the law to keep silent?” Anna asked coldly.
“We can find out what you’ve done even if you don’t want tell us. You called the police three months ago and said Mr. Wright was in the hospital after an accident. We’ve been keeping an eye on this person for quite some time because he is highly suspected. So, are you two holding a grudge against each other?”
Anna recognized this as a standard interrogation tactic. She knew the policewoman would look for anything suspicious and keep questioning her. They had been much gentler to her because Anna was Wayne’s wife. They did not, however, expect her to be a tough character as well.
Shaking her head, Anna replied, “He was suspected of committing the crime, but he had not been identified as the criminal. Even if I wanted to revenge, why would I kill someone I have no idea if he’s a criminal or not? You say I’m taking revenge, as if you’ve already decided he’s the one who unplugged my grandfather-in-law’s oxygen tube. Why didn’t you arrest him if that’s the case then?”
The two cops were taken aback. They exchanged glances, and then the female officer said, “I just heard that the testimonies from your employees are all the same. They all said they saw you had a knife in your hand, and the deceased was lying next to you. You can claim self-defense because someone heard you yell “help” before you killed him.”
Hearing her words, Anna began to remember what had just happened. She paused for a moment before responding, “I did not murder anyone. I took the knife in self-defense, but I let it go when he ran toward me. It was him who shoved the knife into my hand and ran into it.”
“Are you able to provide video evidence to prove your innocence?” Frowning, the male officer asked a bit impatiently.
“No,” Anna said, shaking her head.
“So, you can’t prove what you just said. You can’t provide evidence now, and you may not be able to provide it later. If you say the same thing in court, you won’t even be treated as self-defense.” The officer was clearly annoyed, and her fingers tapped heavily on the desk, making a distracting clatter.
Again, Anna remained silent, knowing full well that what the officer had just said was correct. The truth sounded so ridiculous that it seemed like a strange lie. Plus, these events had already happened, and she could find no evidence to back up her statements. And Anna believed she had a better chance of winning her case if she stopped telling the truth and instead admitted to killing someone. In that case, she could claim she acted in self-defense.
Finally, Anna smiled coldly and said, “Yes, you may have a point. Admitting self-defense is my best option. However, I cannot use that to hedge my bets. I did not murder anyone, and that is a fact.”
Even if I had acted in self-defense, I would still be charged with manslaughter. I’m not a murderer. And I don’t want my children to live in the shadow of having a murderer mother. I can’t bear to do the same to hurt Wayne, either. Anna thought.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.