Chapter 1275 Lynette Got Away
“Melody Stryder?” A hint of a profound expression laced Toby’s face when he heard the name. Sonia, on the other hand, pursed her lips, for the enigmatic expression hadn’t gone unnoticed when she had been observing his reaction to the name in the first place.
I knew it! This dude knows Melody’s out of jail! Or how could he not be surprised at all that Cynthia had met with Melody?!
“I, um…” Toby deliberated his words when he sensed the gaze that she had on him. “Still not saying it, are we?” Sonia smiled enigmatically at him. “When did Melody get out of jail?”
Here we go. Toby sighed and regained his usual composure in two shakes. “Two months after she went in.”
“So soon?!” She frowned. Watching him nod in affirmation, she found it hard to believe what had happened. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”
“I didn’t want you to get upset. After all, she came out not long after she was finally put behind bars. Anyone would’ve gotten upset. That’s why I hid it from you.” His eyes were drooping.
Meanwhile, Sonia bore into the man, for she knew he had her best interest at heart. However, it still bothered her. Thus, she ignored him for the next two minutes.
Toby, too, knew she would be upset at the fact that he deliberately hid it from her, but he didn’t regret doing so. At that, he wrapped an arm around her gently and cooed, “Please don’t get mad at me. I only found out later too.”
Sonia looked at him in response, and he clarified, “The reason Melody can get out is that her granduncle bailed her out with his life’s merits. Because he got injured in his early years in the war, so he couldn’t have his own children, and Melody treated him the best, so he couldn’t sit back and watch her spend the rest of her life in jail. Hence, he used his merits in exchange for her freedom before he died.”
“That’s the case, huh?” Sonia frowned. “That veteran sure has gotten senile. Does he not know what sort of a character her grandniece is? How can he let a villain out?!”
“He had gotten senile. But then, it’s also not surprising. So many will become injudicious as they get on in years despite being shrewd when they were young, especially when it’s someone old-fashioned and childless. Because he took a liking to Melody, he regarded her as his own grandchild. Hence, he naturally wouldn’t sit back and watch her live the rest of her life in prison.”
“So, he used his merits to exchange for her freedom. Honestly…” Sonia sighed.
There was no doubt Melody was a lucky one.
“The penitentiary contacted me after Melody was out. They told me the reason for it and hoped that I would understand, but how could I understand?! Yet there was nothing I could do about it. After all, it was exchanged with merits. I couldn’t stop it,” explained Toby icily.
Sonia was no longer upset with Toby at this point, for it was as he said—he couldn’t stop it when it was exchanged with merits. It was a perk given by the government to those who had contributed immensely during wartime.
Of course, the elder would become insignificant to the country after giving up his merits. Then again, the man was dead, so it didn’t matter.
“But don’t worry. She isn’t absolutely free even if she’s out. She’s under constant surveillance. They’d seize her once she goes rogue,” Toby clarified at once, worried that Sonia believed that Melody lived her life like any other decent citizen after leaving prison.
“That’s good to hear.” She nodded. “Melody’s now looking for Tina everywhere. According to Cynthia, Tina deceived Melody. Thus, she wants to retaliate against Tina.”
“I know.” Tobias nodded.
“You know Melody’s looking for Tina?” Sonia asked in shock.
“I do,” he affirmed. “She has been looking for Tina since leaving prison. It’s precisely because I know the fact that I’ve been leaving her alone thus far. Melody and Tina had been pretty close back then, so I thought maybe she’d have clues to Tina’s whereabouts. So, I had my men keep a close eye on her, planning to put her back in prison once she had found Tina.”
Though the penitentiary asked that he accept the reason they let Melody out, how could he really let the young woman live freely like a normal citizen?!
While promising the penitentiary that he would overlook the fact that Melody had been bailed out of jail, he covertly prepared traps for Melody to fall into so that she would break the law again. With that, she’d stay in there for good, and there would be no one to bail her out anymore.
However, he found out Melody was looking for Tina when the inchoate thought had just formed. Thus, he put the idea aside for now.
After all, it would be even better if Melody did all the work of finding Tina. Then, he could just swoop in and seize them all at once after Melody found Tina.
“That works too.” Sonia nodded. “When I bumped into Cynthia earlier, she said Melody revealed some of Tina’s whereabouts to her. One was Kosovo, and the other was Westsanshire. They were information from Melody’s old fair-weather friends, who had helped her, seeing that they used to be close. Though they are far less influential compared to you, they have their bizarre ways of finding a person. So, it might be legit.”
“Kosovo and Westsanshire…” Toby mumbled the names of the places and squinted. Suddenly, a thought flashed across his mind. However, it flashed by so quickly that it disappeared before he could catch it.
That said, he didn’t plan on just dismissing it, for his gut told him whatever that thought was, it was very crucial. So crucial that it could be the key to locating Tina.
But the fact that it disappeared so quickly irritated him.
“What’s wrong?” Sonia was concerned about what was on his mind, seeing that he was upset.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “I’ll have Tom send people to those locations for inspection. Though it has been some time, it’ll still be good if the surveillance still stands.”
“You’re right.” Sonia nodded.
With that, Toby pulled his phone out to call Tom, only for the man to call him instead.
“Looks like your brainwaves are in sync.” Sonia sniggered, leading Toby to turn grim.
In sync? With him? No, thank you.
That said, he didn’t say anything but just answered the call. “What is it?”
“Lynette escaped, President,” Tom answered anxiously.
Toby didn’t put the call on speaker, but because Sonia was right next to him, she heard Tom clearly. “What? She got away?!” she exclaimed in shock.
“Yes, Miss Reed,” the assistant answered with a nod.
“Aren’t she and Mr. Lore waiting for me in the room?” Toby was looking beyond grim. “How could she have gotten away? Did you not have anyone keeping watch over them?”
Why Lynette would run away and where she would run to were already obvious answers.
She would certainly come and find him. After all, this was her only purpose for coming on this night.
Tom defended himself in the face of Toby’s questioning. “I have, President. But they said they didn’t want people staring at them in the room, so they chased our men out, having them keep watch in the corridor. Later, Lynette asked for a server to go into the room. With that, she knocked the server out cold, put on the uniform, and ran away.”
