Chapter 9

Keith was dizzy from his high fever. His eyes widened. "Where is Ariel now?" he demanded. He struggled to get up, using so much force that he almost yanked the IV needle off the back of his hand. "The entire rescue team searched the area for three whole days, but all they found were scraps of the dress Mrs. Ford wore during the banquet," Ethan replied. He paused, hesitating. "According to the rescue team's estimation, there's a high chance that sharks attacked her. "Even if she was lucky enough to escape, the waves were so strong that anyone who couldn't swim well would be swallowed up by the ocean. It's… almost impossible for Mrs. Ford to survive." His words were like a bombshell. Keith's face turned ashen. "That's impossible!" He stumbled to Ethan. Ignoring the bleeding on the back of his hand, he grabbed Ethan's shoulders tightly and shook him. "Continue the search! If she's really dead, I want to see her body!" Lifeless, he muttered, "Ariel doesn't know how to swim. She would never jump into the ocean for no reason and let herself be eaten by sharks. She hates pain…" While he was panicking, a thought flashed across his mind. When he left Ariel on the deck by herself on that day, she didn't try to defend herself. Her eyes were empty. She looked broken and lifeless, but he didn't notice anything. Did something bad really happen back then? A sick feeling twisted in his gut. His eyes turned bloodshot. "Someone must've tried to kill her!" he shouted as if trying to convince himself. "Check the cruise's surveillance footage!" Keith, who was usually cold and decisive at work, was now irrational and erratic. It was like he was in shock. "My condolences, Mr. Ford." Ethan couldn't bear to watch him anymore. Pity filled his gaze. "Mrs. Ford really climbed over the railing and jumped into the ocean on her own accord. This is the evidence we found." With that, he pulled out an evidence bag. "Please take a look at this, Mr. Ford." Shocked, Keith snatched the bag away. It was surprisingly light. A familiar ruby necklace fell out of it. The necklace's chain was broken, and the intricate ruby was scratched. "This is the gift I had given to Ariel as a token of my love…" The necklace felt cold against his palm. Keith's eyes reddened, and his hands trembled. Ariel used to treasure that necklace. She always wore it on her neck and never took it off. Upon recalling that he had installed a hidden camera inside, Keith quickly pulled out his phone to check the footage stored in the cloud. His intuition told him that the necklace recorded the truth. Seeing that, Ethan left the hospital room silently. The latest video in the cloud was from Ariel's birthday. Keith took a deep breath and pressed play. The first thing he heard was Natalie's voice saying, "Since today's your birthday, I prepared a gift for you." He had never seen her face look so sinister. She was the one who had brought that group of playboys there. Keith's face turned paler with every second of the video. After falling to the floor, the necklace managed to record the moment Ariel broke free from their grasp and ran to the railing. Keith tightened his grip on the phone, his knuckles turning white. He couldn't believe that he fell for Natalie's lies! His heart clenched. It was getting hard for him to breathe. He thought he had everything in control, but it turned out that he had lost control of what happened behind the scenes long ago. "How did things end up like this?" … Just as Keith was about to look for Natalie and make her pay, he ran into Ethan outside the hospital room. "Mr. Ford, the rescue team has found news about Mrs. Ford!" Ethan reported, gasping for breath. He pulled out a photo. "This is a photo one of the guests on the cruise took that day. This lifeboat does not belong to our rescue team. There's a high chance that Mrs. Ford was rescued by it!" "What?" Keith snatched the photo away and looked at the blurry figures in it closely. The photo showed a lifeboat with two people on it, one tall and one short. One of them had a slim body. He could just barely see the person's side profile. Keith's eyes widened. His dying heart started beating again. The person's face was very blurry, but he was certain that she was Ariel. "Good, Ariel's still alive…" His heart was finally at ease. Keith's eyes glinted with obsession again. "Find her location immediately!" Meeting his obsessive gaze, Ethan broke into a cold sweat. "Mr. Ford, we already did…" He carefully observed Keith's expression as he continued, "Mrs. Ford… was probably kidnapped by your rival, Sean Miller."