Solomon had been telling nothing but the truth.
He had gone under the radar, keeping his phone switched off in the past few days to prevent anyone from tracing his location.
Once in a while, he would switch it back on, and that was when the messages would come pouring in.
Some of the messages were from Isaac, who had accompanied Sabrina on her trips to Jetroina and Yaleview. Isaac would send the details of their trips to Solomon each time without fail.
Thanks to Isaac’s information, Solomon knew exactly when and where Sabrina would be, including her appearance on the highway tonight.
Sabrina was stunned into silence.
She racked her brains for a suitable retort but came up short.
In the end, she decided to challenge him on his previous question. “What were you saying earlier about who I met in Yaleview? Is that person related to today’s incident?”
However, Solomon responded with a question of his own, “Who did you meet in Yaleview?”
After what seemed like an eternity, Sabrina paled and uttered, “I met Devin. Did you mean—”
“Besides him,” Solomon cut in and eliminated the possibility of Devin’s involvement.
His words caused Sabrina to sigh in relief, and she began pondering her encounters in Yaleview.
Besides Devin, the only person I met who could have something to do with this is Kira. It must be her!
Her eyes widened at that realization. “There was a woman, Kira Woods. She’s Devin’s younger cousin. She lost her legs around the time I was leaving Yaleview, and Devin rushed her to the hospital for treatment. But it’s kind of impossible for her to be behind this.”
Solomon sneered and met Sabrina’s gaze through the rear-view mirror with contempt in his eyes.
“Those thugs may be from Clear, but didn’t you notice that a bunch of them looked Astorian?”
“Astorian?”
“Yes. These thugs are penniless, and they’re dependent on the backing of the Astorian gang network. The man who raped Ms. Shanae Woods is a gang leader in this network who goes by the name Drakon. Fancy a guess at the connection between these incidents?”
Sabrina was horrified at his revelation.
She was no stranger to gangs and the underground business. Back when Sebastian had exiled her to Drake Island, she had dealt with these unsavory figures out of necessity and survival.
Is he implying that these thugs were sent here by Drakon? All the way from abroad? Why would he do this?
Sabrina recalled the scene she had witnessed at the hospital entrance right before she left Yaleview. Some men had come after Kira, claiming that she was directly responsible for Shanae’s death.
Kira lost her leg to these thugs shortly after that.
Why would Drakon come after me next?
Sabrina could not think of a reason nor untangle the complex interplays in this affair.
If only she knew how Kira’s villainy and slyness made her ploys seem like child’s play.
The truth was, Kira had planned everything from the very beginning.
On that fateful day when Shanae had Kira kidnapped, the latter was about to fall victim to their pillaging ways when she used her silver tongue to strike a deal with Drakon.
“Drakon, at this rate, you’ll never become more than a leader of some random gang. Things will be different if the Jadesons extend their protection to you. Why not go for the ocean instead of spending your entire life trapped in this puddle?”
Kira was much shrewder than Shanae had taken her for; she had immediately pinpointed the thing that Drakon desired the most.
Even Sabrina was no match for her, let alone Shanae, who had grossly underestimated her abilities.
Kira eventually convinced Drakon to let her go, on the condition that once she became the mistress of Red Pavilion, she would help him become the leader of the Jadeborough gang network.
Shanae was horrified at how quickly things were getting out of hand, yelling at Drakon not to fall for Kira’s tricks.
However, Kira marched over and hacked off Shanae’s legs under the stunned gazes of their audience.
“Ahh!”
“Hmph, see that? Shanae, you will never be more than a pawn in my hand. I control your fate, and I’m the one who decides if you’ll live or die. Got it?”
After that, Kira knelt before Shanae and slapped her with a blood-stained hand.
Shanae could only shriek in pain.
After getting her legs cut off, Shanae was abandoned and eventually bled to her death. Alas, she had bitten more than she could chew, and Kira made sure that was the last thing she remembered before her demise.
Shanae’s body then mysteriously disappeared without a trace.
After getting rid of Shanae, Kira began plotting her return to the Jadesons. The first thing on her agenda was to change Devin’s impression of her so that he would accept her once more.
