Next to Amy lay a man—it was none other than Tom Kitano himself.
Amy was trembling all over, her face pale and drenched in cold sweat.
Why is Mr. Hans here?
How did he find out?
Mr. Hans sat on the wide sofa, fiddling with a red test tube sealed with a mysterious liquid inside.
"Amy, I really underestimated you before." Stella Nash flexed her wrist and walked over from the side, looking down at Amy.
Mr. Hans gave Stella Nash an approving look.
Stella Nash interrogated Amy on Mr. Hans's behalf.
A minor field agent like her wasn't important enough for Mr. Hans to question personally.
"Stella..." Amy shivered instinctively when she saw Stella Nash.
She had seen it with her own eyes—Stella Nash twisted Tom Kitano's neck with just one hand.
With a woman this fierce, no wonder she became Mr. Hans's trusted lieutenant.
"At this point, there's no room for wishful thinking." Stella Nash said, "For the sake of our past cooperation, I can make it quick for you."
Amy relaxed all at once when she heard Stella Nash's words.
If Stella Nash said she'd make it quick, then Mr. Hans probably wouldn't torture her.
"When did you start to suspect me?" Amy couldn't help but ask.
Stella Nash gave a self-deprecating smile: "I've been watching you ever since you approached Peter Pingshan."
Of course!
She thought she was being careful, but she had been under someone else's watch all along.
Amy looked at Tom Kitano's now cold body and gave up all resistance. She confessed, "I'll talk, I'll tell you everything."
"I'm Tom Kitano's illegitimate daughter. My mother was a Filipina maid—Tom Kitano got drunk, slept with her, and that's how I was born. My origins were so lowly that he never considered me his daughter. When I was ten, he suddenly found me and forced me to become a spy. If I dared refuse, he'd kill my mother!"
"I had no choice but to agree. I was abandoned with other kids, sold off in layers, and finally sent to Mr. Hans's base for hellish training. I knew my mission, so I trained desperately, practiced relentlessly, and carried out my tasks. But my talent was limited—I couldn't stand out like Miss Stella Nash, so I had to settle for being a peripheral agent."
"Because I was useless, Tom Kitano was deeply disappointed in me and cut off contact. I thought he'd given up on my line completely. But one day, his people reached out again, asking me to steal Jiro Hirayama's experimental results. At first, I didn't understand why, but after I got close to Jiro, I learned he'd brought a Man-Eater Tree from outside and extracted a magical toxin from it—one that destroys nerves without killing instantly."
"Suddenly, I realized this reagent was meant for Mr. Hans. Everyone knows Mr. Hans has explosives implanted near his heart—if his heart stops, everyone nearby dies with him. But if only his nerves are destroyed and his heart keeps beating, then Mr. Hans is at their mercy."
"Threatened by Tom Kitano, I approached Jiro Hirayama. My plan was to become his lover and steal his experimental samples. But he was extremely cautious—important items were off-limits to anyone but himself. I tried everything, but couldn't get him interested, so I came up with a way to shake him up: an affair and divorce. That's why I staged this whole drama."
"Sure enough, Jiro Hirayama was thrown into chaos by the affair and started searching everywhere for Rona Muir. That gave me the chance to finally get the reagents."
Stella Nash let out a cold laugh, full of mockery. "Amy, you'd better be honest. Did you really think I only tracked you and never investigated anything else?"
Amy shivered and quickly said, "I'm not lying. That's really what happened!"
"The reason I killed Tom Kitano so easily was because his reaction was slow." Stella Nash didn't mind helping Amy recall what had just happened. "Tom Kitano may have been arrogant, but he wasn't so old he'd be that easy to kill."
Amy shuddered again, closed her eyes, and gritted her teeth. "That's right, I poisoned him. After following Jiro Hirayama for so many days, how could I not get my hands on something? I stole Jiro's drugs and put them in Tom Kitano's wine. After he's dead, the autopsy will detect that toxin and naturally trace it back to the Hirayama family. The Kitano and Hirayama families are evenly matched—if they fight, I'll be safe!"
Stella Nash smiled. "Go on."
Mr. Hans didn't even lift his eyelids, as if everything being said had nothing to do with him.
"I told Tom Kitano, if he wanted the reagent, he'd have to come get it himself." Amy gritted her teeth. "I didn't want to kill him, but he shouldn't have... shouldn't have threatened me with my mother! And he forced her to death while I wasn't home! I thought having the reagent would save her, but I was too late! Too late! Since he left me no way out, I had no choice but to be ruthless!"
Stella Nash asked, "Tom Kitano trusted you that easily?"
Amy's face twisted into a mocking smile. "I called him 'Dad,' and he really believed I admired him. I told him I wanted to return to the Kitano family, to be their true princess. He believed me and actually came to find me! Hahahaha! A fool like that doesn't deserve to live, right? So I sent him off to the afterlife to atone for my mother's suffering!"
Stella Nash nodded. "That makes sense."
Amy suddenly looked at Mr. Hans, tears streaming down her face as she pleaded, "Mr. Hans, I was truly forced into this. I never intended to betray you. Jiro Hirayama coerced me into doing all of this!"
Amy crawled toward Hans, begging for his forgiveness as she moved. "I won't dare do it again, please spare me! I swear I'll never betray you again!"
Stella Nash quietly stepped aside to make way.
What happened next would be up to Mr. Hans.
What happened next was entirely up to Mr. Hans.
Mr. Hans watched Amy crawl toward him, his face utterly expressionless.
"Mr. Hans, see? I didn't betray you—I killed Tom Kitano for you. My mother is gone; no one can threaten me now. I'll devote myself to you!"
"I've got nothing left—my only hope is you! If you give me a chance, I'd even die for you—"
Before Amy could finish, a syringe slipped from her hand and she lunged at Hans, who was just a step away!
Stella Nash's pupils contracted instantly!
It was a syringe developed by Jiro Hirayama!
If Mr. Hans got injected, then he...
Stella Nash instinctively moved to stop her.
But before Stella could act, a dart suddenly shot out from behind Hans and struck Amy right in the center of her forehead.
Amy's body froze and crashed heavily onto the carpet with a dull thud.
The syringe Amy had hidden rolled right to Hans's feet.
"Well done." Mr. Hans remained as expressionless as ever, as if he hadn't just been attacked.
Polaris stepped out from the back closet, smiling. "Thank you for the compliment, sir."
When Stella Nash saw Polaris, she stiffly turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
She had no intention of working with that jerk!
Mr. Hans leisurely got up from his chair, as if nothing had happened, and said casually, "I should go thank Peter Pingshan properly."
Once Mr. Hans left, the only ones left in the room—besides the two corpses—were Stella Nash and Polaris.
Polaris stuffed his hands in his pockets and sidled over with a sly grin. "Stella, what do you think the boss said to Peter Pingshan in the lab that day before sending him off?"
"Why don't you just ask the boss yourself?" Stella Nash shot him a glare.
"Hehehe, I'm just guessing here. I bet the boss stayed so long in the lab with Peter Pingshan because he got an antidote made for him. Otherwise, why would he allow a drug that could counter him to exist?" Polaris said slyly. "Do you think Jiro Hirayama knows about it too?"
Stella Nash really didn't want to talk to this guy anymore—she turned and left the room.
At the door, she paused. "You clean up here."
With that, Stella Nash stepped out of the room.
Polaris watched Stella Nash's retreating figure and muttered with a grin, "Always making me clean up the mess. Ugh, what a tough life!"
And just like that, Amy and Tom Kitano disappeared from the world without a trace.
It was as if they'd never existed at all.
Cecilia Gu followed Charles Yin's advice and stopped paying attention to Amy's affairs.
Maybe Charles Yin was right—Mr. Hans had closed the case.
Meanwhile, Rona Muir was still angry, staying at Molly Yun's apartment, handling company matters remotely and refusing to show her face.
Jiro Hirayama came to see Cecilia Gu several times.
He didn't beg Cecilia to take him to Rona, but every time he looked at her with pitiful eyes, squatted in front of her, and hung his head—so miserable.
Seeing him like that, Cecilia couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.
But when she thought about what Rona had been going through these days, Cecilia hardened her heart again.
No matter if he was set up or not, making Rona angry was simply unacceptable!
As a true friend, she had to stand up for her bestie!
So no matter how much Jiro Hirayama tried to play the victim, Cecilia just ignored him.
On the fourth day of their separation, an unexpected visitor arrived.