Chapter 305
Aubree smiled. “I’ve never denied your help, Bowen. Honestly, getting you on board? That’s a skill, too, and I own that. They don’t buy my whole e-commerce thing? Fine. I’ll show them. I’m still gonna build something real, my way.”
“Still, bad press could have some impact,” Kelvin cautioned.
They were businesspeople, not celebrities living under the spotlight. And most of the time, sticking to basic integrity was enough to stay on steady ground. But that didn’t mean they could brush off every minor scandal. Even the small stuff could still stir up trouble.
Aubree wasn’t fazed. “Then we’ll just make our relationship public.”
The reporters could so easily stir up the rumors for two main reasons. First, many were eager to see Aubree fall. And second, there had already been tabloid talk that something was going on between her and Bowen.
By openly announcing their relationship, she could put an end to most of the trouble. And once GrabCheap took off and proved the naysayers wrong, all of this would just be one more badge of honor on the road to making it.
Aubree moved fast. She arranged for reporters to take photos of her and Bowen together, and both PR teams promptly announced their relationship.
The online rumors became old news before long.
Feeling guilty for dragging them into the mess, Kurtis offered an olive branch–he pitched a partnership on Aubree’s Zappy project. Easy money was hard to turn down, and Aubree agreed. So Carr Group and Bree Technology were officially in business together.
Then Kurtis handed over a photo. “When Alice came to me about working together, I figured I shouldn’t just take her word for it, so I had my people run a background check on Gordon.
“They found this couple. They’ve been supplying him with flowers at the market for years. You said you were out of leads over there, right? Sure, Gordon might run, but if this couple were just regular vendors, why would they need to vanish too?”
The couple in the photo looked to be in their sixties or seventies, but their eyes didn’t look that age; they were sharp, glinting with a cold, chilling light.
“So familiar…” Aubree murmured, her gaze fixed intently on the photo as she searched for any clue that might jog her memory.
She wondered, “Why does this feel so familiar? Like I’ve seen it before, but not in a good way. It turns my stomach a little and kind of scares me.”
Bowen asked, “Do you mind if I take this photo with me?”
“Be my guest.” Kurtis waved it off. That photo wasn’t any use to him; he was just passing it along as a favor.
Bowen’s first move was to snap a photo of it and send it to Mark. “I’ll have Mark look into this.”
Mark replied right away: [Wait.]
Mark: [You’ve been looking into them too?]
Bowen: [What do you mean?]
Mark: [This couple. They’re the human traffickers from back then.]
Bowen’s eyes widened in shock, and his muscles tensed up. He thought, “Are they the human traffickers who kidnapped Bree and caused the deaths of Bryan and his wife?”
Aubree glanced over, curiosity in her eyes. “What did he say?” He quickly flipped his phone face down, not wanting her to see the messages.
“Nothing,” Bowen replied, keeping his voice even. “Mark said he’d look into it."
She didn’t suspect a thing. Looking at her, he asked, “Bree, are you sure they just seem familiar to you?”
“Yeah? What’s up?” she said.
“Nothing,” Bowen replied, looking away. Then he thought, This doesn’t make sense. How could Bree just find them vaguely familiar? Those faces should be burned into her memory. Anyone else would be haunted for life.
He asked cautiously, “Bree, how much do you still remember about the kidnapping years ago?”
Aubree gave a wry smile. “Honestly, I was so shaken up back then, and with the fever, I just forgot everything.”
Kit assisted, her answer eased his mind. Then the doubt crept back in–maybe forgetting was a blessing after all.