Chapter 298: Uncovering Threads
“Nothing yet.”
Johnathan had just finished speaking when Mateo called. He said he’d found something and wanted to talk in person.
Not long after, Mateo arrived. The moment he saw Sierra, he said quickly, “Sierra, you’ve been through so much. Thank you both for everything you’ve done for me.”
Sierra already knew from Johnathan that he and his friends had been working nonstop to get her out.
“We didn’t do much. It was Johnathan who reached out to everyone.”
Johnathan hadn’t just gone to them—he’d reached out to others as well. Unfortunately, nothing had really worked. In the end, it had taken Mr. Wynn stepping in to resolve everything.
“You said you found something?” Johnathan asked.
“Yeah.”
As he spoke, Mateo pulled out his laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard as he brought up a few files.
“I looked into Professor Martin, Draven’s assistant, and Azure. There’s nothing unusual about Professor Martin for now; there’s something off about Azure and that assistant.”
“Azure?” Sierra was surprised.
Azure was the oldest among the professor’s students, and also the most mild-mannered. Whenever conflicts came up, Azure was always the one to mediate. She couldn’t believe someone like that would frame her.
“I’m not saying it’s him, I just found a few things that seemed strange.”
Mateo continued, “There’s nothing odd about his bank records, but recently, he’s been buying things he never used to.”
The Bureau had already looked into Azure. His accounts were clean—just like before. But Mateo had dug deeper, even into his shopping habits. Even the anonymous purchases—Mateo had ways of tracing them. That’s when he noticed Azure had been buying items that were out of character for him. They weren’t outrageously expensive, but they weren’t cheap either.
“Of course, it’s just a lead,” Mateo added. It wasn’t enough to prove anything.
“And what about the other guy?” Johnathan asked. “Draven’s assistant—what’s his deal?”
“Nothing on him, personally. But his sister recently started dating someone. A foreigner.”
That didn’t mean much either—just another loose thread. If they wanted real answers, it would take more time.
“Got it.”
Johnathan stood and walked out to the balcony, clearly about to make a call. Sierra’s gaze followed him. Mateo said, “Don’t worry. He’ll find out the truth.”
Seeing the worry on Sierra’s face, Mateo quickly added, “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. With his status, who would dare touch him? And there’s the professor and the others too.”
Those three days had almost broken her. The professor was older now, and then there were the other senior students.
“Relax, Sierra. They didn’t interrogate them like they did you. And it wasn’t nearly as harsh.”
Her seniors had only been temporarily held and kept from contacting the outside world to prevent any leaks. But none of them had been thrown in solitary. Sierra was the only one who had. That part—the dark room—was all the doing of those bastards. They must’ve known about Sierra’s trauma and deliberately used it to try to break her down as quickly as possible.
Naturally, no one dared tell Johnathan. Knowing his temper, he would’ve exploded. But in the end, it was Sierra who suffered the most. Mateo still felt guilty about it.
Sierra didn’t dwell on it. Hearing Mateo’s explanation, she felt a little more at ease.
“Good. I’m just glad everyone else is okay.” She’d been the spark that set everything off, but now so many people had been dragged into it. The guilt weighed heavily on her.
As they talked, Johnathan came back in from the balcony.
“I’ve got someone looking into it. We should have something by tonight.”
When Johnathan said something would happen tonight, it would. Whatever the person on the other end of the line had said, it had left his expression ice cold.
That evening, Stone and the others all came by. Sierra might be out, but the matter wasn’t over yet. Draven was still being held, and everyone was deeply concerned.
Seeing Johnathan’s expression, Mateo muttered under his breath, “Someone’s about to be in deep trouble.”