3
Erick stared intently at Amelie, nodding his head to signal her to leave them alone in the room.
"Yes, sir, I'll leave now and remember what you just told me."
Amelie walked quickly, almost running, toward the door, leaving Aaron and Eric behind.
After Amelie left the room, Aaron's gaze shifted to his assistant, and he narrowed his eyes.
"Is there something I don't know about her? Tell me who that woman was!"
Aaron asked, staring intently at Eric.
"Tell me, Eric, who is that woman really? And why, when I saw her, did I feel like I was seeing a ghost returning from the grave?" Aaron growled in a low voice that shook the wooden table in front of him.
"She's a new maid, sir. Her name is Amelie Parker," Eric replied, trying to keep his voice steady.
"A new maid?" Aaron laughed hollowly, a sound that sounded more like a groan of anger. "Or did you deliberately bring her here because her face is a perfect replica of my Laura?! Bring her complete documents to my room now. I want to know every drop of blood that flows through that woman's body!"
"Yes, sir."
Eric tried to calm himself as he faced an emotional Aaron.
"I'll get the woman's data from my room. Would you like to read it here or _?"
"I'm going to my room to handle something else, just bring the data about Amelie there!" Aaron replied angrily, cutting Eric off.
"Yes, sir, I'll prepare it right away."
Eric breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like he had just escaped death. He felt partly responsible for Amelie being accepted to work at Aaron's residence.
A knock on the door interrupted Aaron's reverie as he sat on the large sofa sipping wine, and he called out.
"Come in, Eric!"
Eric handed Aaron a folder containing Amelie's personal data.
"Please check the data on the new maid named Amelie," Eric nodded politely. But in fact, his heart was tense with Aaron's response after reading the report.
"I want to know, what made you accept her to work here, Eric?!" Aaron muttered curiously.
Aaron's strong fingers slowly but surely opened Amelie's personal data folder.
The silence in Aaron Vargas's office was not just quiet, it was threatening. Aaron had just touched the first page of the document, he only had time to glance at his new maid's profile.
However, an urgent phone call forced him to close the folder roughly. Fate seemed to have deliberately blinded Aaron to the fatal truth written on the last page, that the woman he had just met was the wife of the man whose life he had taken at the bottom of the ravine.
"Yes, hello, what is it, Sebastian?"
"What, there's a fire in our storage warehouse?!"
"Do your best to save our goods immediately!" Aaron exclaimed.
Aaron's face looked anxious for a moment as he gave brief instructions over the phone, his other arm almost spilling the wine in the tall glass on the table.
"Good job, Sebastian, take care of it quickly!"
Eric looked stunned to hear his boss's conversation with Sebastian.
"Sir, is there a problem?"
"Yes, our storage warehouse caught fire. But I hope Sebastian has taken care of it properly. Now you go to the scene of the fire."
Aaron then stared intently at Eric, remembering Amelie.
"But before you go, I'm thinking about Amelie."
"And I've decided how to deal with that woman."
Aaron looked at Eric coldly, "Amelie, hmm... she has to keep her mouth shut about what happened at the warehouse earlier."
Aaron pondered for a moment, letting out a long sigh from his thick lips.
"We'll use Amelie's daughter as collateral. From now on, Amelie and her daughter must stay here, under my supervision and control, do you understand?!"
"Put Amelie in the guest room so I can keep an eye on her."
"I understand, sir," Eric replied hesitantly.
"There's one more thing bothering me... her face. She looks so much like Laura. It's very disturbing," Aaron whispered, his voice trembling as he tried to hold back the emotional turmoil rising to the surface.
"I'm trying to forget her tragic death, but now a woman who looks so much like Laura has appeared," Aaron said softly, his gaze drifting out the window of his room.
"Then how about we put them both in your private apartment, under the supervision of the guards, because if Amelie stays here all day, it will make you anxious."
Eric tried to offer his boss another solution.
But Aaron seemed to have other ideas. The handsome man, who was also the CEO of Vargas Corp, shook his head firmly.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Eric stood frozen. He was the one who had compiled the documents. Eric knew a big secret: Amelie's husband, Tom Smith, had died accidentally during a chase ordered by Aaron two months ago.
Eric was quite surprised when he found out that Aaron had decided to let the woman stay after the incident in the warehouse. For Eric, keeping Amelie by Aaron's side was like keeping a time bomb.
He had already given the investigation results to his boss, but he really couldn't understand why, after knowing the truth, his boss still kept this woman by his side?
Henry loved Laura and kidnapped her when she was two months pregnant, even though Laura was married to Aaron. But the woman tried to escape during the trip and died while trying to fight back and run away.
Finally, Aaron tried to take revenge on Henry. He then targeted Henry, who was traveling in a car driven by Tom.
Tom was none other than Amelie's husband.
But Henry knew he was being followed, so he had someone else sit in the car, dressed like him, posing as Henry to fool Aaron.
On the winding mountain roads, Aaron ordered his men to ram the car, sending it plunging into a ravine. Tom and Henry's men died instantly.
Another fact was that Amelie's face was so similar to Laura, Aaron's late wife. That was what made the situation complicated.
Aaron thought of using Amelie's daughter Rossie as collateral. In addition, Aaron's heart was troubled by the resemblance between Amelie's face and Laura, his late wife.
After hearing Aaron's words, Erick spoke softly, his voice tinged with doubt.
"I will follow whatever you command, Mr. Aaron."
"I will now have Amelie move to the guest room on this floor."
Eric didn't want to argue, even though he felt something was off in his heart. But Erick eventually decided not to say anything else and simply follow Aaron's orders.
Although, in truth, Erick was quite worried about what would happen with the development of Aaron and Amelie's relationship moving forward.
"Then you may return to your place. Our conversation is over for now."
"Continue searching for Henry. I want to finish him off immediately. He destroyed my life by taking the lives of my wife and her unborn child!" Aaron said with a furious and angry expression.
Eric could even feel the aura of anger emanating from Aaron, to the point that his own body was shaking. He knew very well how much Aaron loved Laura and continued to mourn his wife's death.
"Yes, sir, I will add more people to the streets to gather information about Henry. I'm sure we'll be able to catch Henry soon."
Eric gave a small nod before leaving Aaron's room.
"Hmmm... go ahead."
After Eric left, Aaron finished the rest of his wine until his head felt heavy. The image of Amelie in the warehouse kept spinning in his mind, and he saw the same frightened face Laura had before she passed away.
Aaron's habit was to drink himself into a stupor every Wednesday night because he remembered the day Laura died. Aaron felt guilty for not being able to protect and take care of his wife properly.
With labored breathing and unsteady steps due to alcohol, Aaron left his room. The hallway of the luxurious house felt very long and dark. His footsteps echoed, breaking the eerie silence of the night.
He arrived at Amelie's door. His hand trembled as he touched the doorknob. There was a fierce battle raging within him—between anger and the painful longing for that face, which was the only paradise he had ever known.
Slowly, he opened the door. In the darkness, he saw Amelie curled up on the bed, a fragile figure waiting to be destroyed or loved madly.