Chapter 84 She Fell Down?
Michael was scanning the crowd for Elizabeth but couldn't spot her anywhere.
He was starting to get a bit jittery. He wasn't even sure why he was so desperate to find her.
Michael turned to the bodyguard and asked, "How many ways are there up this mountain?"
The bodyguard replied, "The path you're on is the main one. All the tourists use it to go up. There are also smaller, rougher paths that only the hardcore adventurers take. They're pretty steep and not many people use them."
Michael told the bodyguard to stay put and call him the moment he saw Elizabeth.
The bodyguard nodded and stood at the entrance, keeping a close eye on the crowd.
Earlier that morning, the bodyguard had set up a tent for Michael.
Now, Michael was sitting inside it.
People outside were coming and going, many trying to strike up a conversation with him, but he wasn't in the mood for chatting.
Just as he was about to close the tent flap, Margaret spotted him and exclaimed, "Michael, you're here so early!"
Michael shot her a glance and replied coolly, "Yeah."
Then he dropped the tent flap and zipped it up.
Margaret felt a sting from his cold response.
From a distance, Samuel saw it all. He noticed the hurt on Margaret's face and Michael's indifference.
Samuel clenched his fists and muttered, "Margaret, don't worry. I'll get back at him for you today. Michael, your smug days are numbered!"
Outside Michael's tent, people kept walking by. He peeked out through the tent's transparent window and saw folks getting ready to fish.
Michael's tent was close to the lake, and he could hear their conversations clearly.
Someone said, "Did you see that? Looks like Mr. Taylor is really trying to win over Ms. Jones."
"Win over? What do you mean?" another person asked.
The first person replied, "Didn't you see Mr. Taylor's secretary, Aaron Hill, hauling a bunch of stuff into Mr. Taylor's room earlier?"
"What's that about?" the other person asked again.
"You don't know?" The first person paused and looked around. "If you don't know, it's better not to ask. Knowing too much won't do you any good."
Then they went back to prepping their fishing gear and changed the subject.
Michael thought, 'a bunch of stuff? Is Samuel up to something? What does he want with Elizabeth? Could she be in danger?'
Michael didn't know that Samuel had set up signal jammers in his room. He told Aaron to wait for Elizabeth at the foot of the mountain and bring her straight to his room as soon as she arrived. He wasn't going to let her meet Michael.
Elizabeth showed up at the foot of the mountain. As soon as she got out of the car, Samuel's secretary Aaron whisked her away.
He took her up the mountain by cable car and escorted Elizabeth into Samuel's room.
Elizabeth felt something was off. She turned to Samuel and said, "Everyone's outside. Let's join them. The weather's too nice to stay cooped up in here."
Samuel handed her a glass of wine and said keenly, "No rush. We've got plenty of time before lunch. Let's just chat here for a bit. I still have a lot things about the investment to discuss with you, Ms. Jones."
Elizabeth checked her phone and saw it was still early. Since she was pregnant, she couldn't be around the barbecue smoke, so while her colleagues were busy grilling outside, she had to stay away. Plus, she wasn't into fishing.
She thought, even if she went outside, she'd just end up sitting around doing nothing. Taking advantage of this opportunity, it would be a good time to discuss the details of the collaboration with Samuel.
She didn't take the wine Samuel offered. "Thanks, Mr. Taylor, but I don't drink. I'll just have water."
Samuel gently grabbed a disposable cup, filled it with water from the dispenser, and handed it to her. "Here you go."
Elizabeth took it and, not wanting to say much more, sipped her water slowly.
Samuel sat on a nearby sofa and started chatting. "Ms. Jones, we were supposed to finalize the contract quickly, but I haven't heard back from you. Makes me wonder if you've found a better buyer?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "No. I've already told you, Mr. Taylor, my concern is your relationship with Margaret. I can't deal with such a complicated situation."
Samuel asked, "What's so complicated about it? We're different people."
"But you're Margaret's brother, and she and I don't get along. If we have serious disagreements in the future, whose side will you take?" Elizabeth asked.
Samuel smiled, took a sip of his wine, and shook his head. "Margaret and I are just family. My relationship with you is strictly business, no emotional ties, so there's no question of taking sides."
While Elizabeth was chatting with Samuel, Michael, still waiting in the tent, was getting really worried.
As the sun climbed higher and noon approached, there was still no sign of Elizabeth.
Michael couldn't help but get anxious. He stepped out of the tent to call her, but the call wouldn't go through.
He went to the bodyguard and asked, "Have you seen Elizabeth?"
The bodyguard said, "No, I've been here for over an hour and haven't seen her. Maybe we should ask around and see if any of The Jones Group's employees have seen her."
Michael nodded. "Good idea. She might have come early and is sitting somewhere."
Michael found a guy wearing a jacket with the Jones Group logo and asked, "Have you seen Elizabeth?"
The guy said, "Ms. Jones? Yeah, she came a while ago. I saw her heading towards the hotel."
As they were talking, a middle-aged man passing by overheard and said, "Who are you talking about? Did you hear? A young woman fell off the path at the fork just now. She was thin and quite good-looking."
Hearing this, Michael grabbed the man's arm and urgently asked, "What did you just say? Which direction did she fall from?"
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