As he said that, he bolted upright and reached out to rip her hyper-realistic face mask off.
When Shadow 1 realized what he was trying to do, she backed away warily and blocked his hand, gripping his wrist as she said icily, “Trying to go for an ambush now, are you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Peter mused with narrowed eyes. “I just want to see who you are behind that mask.”
Upon hearing that, she froze and turned away as she hissed, “I told you I have no idea what a hyper-realistic face mask is.”
“Is that so?” He smirked. “Then, why did you turn away?”
She licked her lips while ignoring him. After a pause, she turned and assessed him with a bemused look on her face before she asked slowly, “Seeing that you know so much about hyper-realistic face masks, Mr. Peter, could it be that you are wearing one right now?”
Suddenly, he froze and his eyes widened slightly.
She took his silence and discomfort as admission. So he is hiding behind a mask, after all, she concluded.
Shadow 1’s eyes brightened as she lunged toward him. Then, she straddled him while holding onto his arms to prevent him from clawing at her.
The position was far too compromising for comfort and the man was clearly displeased as he snapped coldly, “Get off me right now.”
She ignored him and reached out to remove his hyper-realistic face mask. He was strong despite his injuries. As a result, she could barely get her fingers close enough to his face to rip off the mask as he struggled beneath her. Before she knew it, she toppled due to her instability and was immediately pinned to the ground by the man.
“Get away from me,” Shadow 1 hissed. She was growing hostile now that she was in a compromising position.
However, Peter merely smirked, looking dauntless as his eyes gleamed with bloodlust.
Without much thought, he reached down and found the edge of her face mask. With a loud tearing sound, the mask came off in his hand.
Shadow 1 instantly turned her face away.
Peter stared at the mask in his hand as a dark smile played on his lips. “Didn’t you say you have no idea what a hyper-realistic face mask is?” He gazed down at her amusement before he spoke. “Care to tell me what this is then?”
However, the moment his eyes fell on her side profile, his breath hitched. Her side profile…Why does her side profile look exactly the same as Janet’s?
Peter’s body froze.
No matter how much he scrutinized her side profile, the delicate curve of her jawline and the flawless slope of her nose were all identical to Janet’s.
“Are you done—” Shadow 1 began irritably.
She was about to ask him to let her go once he was done staring at her, but before she could finish her words, he interrupted. “Babe.”
Janet froze beneath him. How could this be? How could he possibly know who I am? He just called me Babe. Why does he know my name? Her skin prickled as there was only one person who would say her name like that—it was Mason.
“How do you know me? Why did you say my name like that?” she demanded; her voice was crisp and icy, but it was a completely different tone than Shadow 1.
Peter pursed his lips and without another word, he opened his arms to pull her into a tight embrace. She felt air being forced out of her and it was as though he wanted to mold her against himself.
“Babe, Babe, Babe…” he murmured hoarsely close to her ear.
Janet blinked as she stiffened against him. It was as if her blood had gone still.
She could not think and her mind was completely blank. She could not believe how much Peter sounded like Mason, whom she thought about day and night.
Janet suddenly recalled that Mason had left for a business trip today. He only sent her a text before disappearing altogether and now, Peter was with her.
The fact that Peter survived the effects of the neurotoxin indicated he had far more lethal toxins coursing through his veins and Mason had once sampled dozens of poisons from all over the world.
The grim realization dawned upon her. She was wrong to have thought that Mason was looking into the Prime Minister of Hawke Kingdom—the two men were one and the same. He was Peter Welch all along and the office in the basement was where he ran his operations.
Janet’s body froze while her thoughts ran wild.
