Sweet Subterfuge

Chapter 11

When Larissa opened her eyes, she was still rather out of it.

Even so, she could recognize that she was in Room 8888, the place where she had been “fortunate” enough to have spent that fateful night with Kevan.

Shock and fear chasing away the last bit of tiredness in her bones, Larissa lifted a corner of the sheets —

She was not naked like she thought she would be. However, her current state of dress was not that much better either. The clothes she wore yesterday were gone. They were replaced by a high-end silk dressing gown that the hotel had custom-made for high-profile guests.

Moreover, the concealer on her neck was gone too, revealing deep red kiss marks.

She could not remember what happened last night and dared not try to recall the events.

She was alone in the huge king-sized bed, the space beside her empty. The pillows were stacked neatly at the head of the bed, and the sheets were neat apart from the side that she slept in.

Larissa did not know if Kevan had already left the room or if he had not even slept here last night. She sure hoped it was the latter.

The bathroom door was open, and there was no one inside. The hamper was filled with clothes, however. The ones on the top were Kevan’s, and the ones at the bottom were hers. The sight of their clothes muddled together had a rather suggestive vibe.

Larissa immediately gave up the idea of picking up the soiled clothes. After freshening up, Larissa decided to wear a set of Kevan’s clothes just like she did the previous time.

She had just opened the wardrobe when the bedroom door swung open.

Startled, Larissa slammed the wardrobe door shut, which caused it to bounce twice before settling closed.

Kevan was the one who entered the room.

This time, he was wearing a simple, casual outfit. His hair was also left unstyled, falling flat against his scalp.

Seeing Larissa up and about, he was a little surprised. But that was only shown through a slightly raised eyebrow.

“Get changed, since you’re up.” He tossed a paper bag he had been carrying onto the bed. “Dylan has something to say to you.”

After that, he turned and left.

Larissa glanced over and only saw his reddened ears. She opened the paper bag and saw that it was full of womenswear—there were even three sets of lingerie, which made her blush hard.

Based on Kevan’s composure earlier, he definitely did not buy these clothes in person—he probably had not even seen them before.

But these clothes were unquestionably bought by a typical man. Because other than lingerie, there were only a few pink dresses in the bag, and they had the kind of lace that made women look like fairies or something ridiculous like that.

Larissa might have liked it 20 years ago when she was still in elementary school, but now…

Well, she did not have any other choice.

Picking the plainest dress she could find, Larissa changed and patted her neck with the loose powder that she always carried in her bag. She barely managed to cover the kiss marks this way.

Kevan and Dylan were in the living room. They sat on opposite ends of the sofa.

“Mr. Shields, Mr. Rogers,” she greeted them, and they turned to her at the same time.

Dylan seemed to smile instantaneously as he desperately tried to stifle his laughter. His fist covered his mouth as he choked out, “This dress…” His voice was quivering.

Annoyed, Larissa clutched at the skirt and lowered her head so that her hair could hide her burning face.

It took some time before Dylan managed to finish his sentence. “Looks pretty good.”

Larissa did not answer, and Kevan asked, “You don’t like it?”

Feeling the prickle of his gaze, Larissa looked up. Kevan’s brows were furrowed, and he seemed a little unhappy.

So, she nodded at once. “It looks pretty good.” Only then did Kevan’s expression brighten a little.

“Here, Ms. Seymour.” Dylan patted the empty seat next to him, which was between him and Kevan. Larissa was a little hesitant.

“Go on. Sit.”

She only sat down carefully after Kevan spoke.

“It’s a little cramped, Ms. Seymour. Perhaps you could move over there a little?” Dylan asked sincerely.

“Oh, of course!” Larissa immediately moved away.

The couch was just enough for three. She had originally been sitting squarely in the middle and would not have touched anyone. But now that she had moved, she ended up sitting rather close to Kevan. Recalling what Dylan said to her about Kevan hating bodily contact with others, she immediately apologized to him and said, “Forgive me, Mr. Rogers, I’d better sit over there.” She pointed at the armchair nearby.

But before she could move, Kevan pinned her down.

“Here is fine.” His tone was mild, and his face revealed nothing. But she could tell that he was not angry.

However, Larissa was not able to be at ease. She moved her arm a little so that there was a crack of space between her and Kevan. Noticing this, Kevan’s eyes darkened a little.

Turning to Dylan, Larissa asked, “You had something to say to me, Mr. Shields?”

Dylan made a noise of affirmation. “I’ve contacted your former husband and gotten the divorce agreement from him as well as the papers for the gifting of property with your signature on it. I’ve sent the latter to a professional organization for verification.”

Not expecting Dylan to be so efficient, Larissa was surprised. Then, Dylan said, “None of these is the main point though.”

“Huh?” She froze. “Then what is?”

“I checked the assets under your former husband’s name and discovered he has less than ten thousand dollars left in savings. The stocks he had in hand have also been sold a few months ago.” Dylan was very solemn.

“That’s impossible!” Larissa denied it at once.

She knew that Travis did not have much in savings, but that was because he used his money for stock trading. Just recently, the stock market crashed, so he did end up losing quite a bit of money, but it could not have gotten so bad that he had less than ten thousand left!

Besides, according to the man himself, the amount of money he had put in was over one million dollars!

“I’ve already filed a request to the court to freeze his capital assets on your behalf. But it’s too late now, unfortunately. So, there isn’t much use to it.” Dylan was very straightforward.

Rage was no longer enough to describe Larissa’s feelings at the moment. She only knew that if Travis was here right now, she would not hesitate to beat the shit out of him, even if it meant ruining her image.

“So, I’m going to, what, suffer all this in silence?” she asked hoarsely.

Now that Travis had no money, not only would she not get a single penny from him, but she had to give him half of hers!

What a calculative bastard!

“Actually, no.” Dylan smiled and comforted her. “Your former husband did indeed transfer his assets. It’s easy to prosecute him, and the chances of winning are high. I’ve sent someone to gather evidence. By then, not only are we going to get him to cough up the money he’s moved, but we’re also going to get him into jail for a well-deserved punishment.” All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

These words mitigated some of the anxiety that Larissa was feeling.

“Do I need to do anything to help?” she asked.

“No.” Dylan said, “We’ll stay put for now to prevent tipping them off, as that only gives them the chance to destroy evidence.”