Chapter 139
Joseph strolled into the stable, picked out a horse, and led it over to the riding arena. The place was getting cleaned up, so he had to hang tight until they were done.
He tied the horse up, grabbed a glass of juice, and leaned against the fence, casually watching the workers do their thing.
Just then, one of the workers bent down, picked something up, and hollered to the captain in the red hat. "Captain, please come check this out!"
"What's up?" The captain jogged over.
The worker handed him a small glass bottle. "Found this. It's got musk in it."
"Musk?" The captain frowned.
"Yeah." the worker nodded. "There are two pellets inside. Judging by the bottle size, there should've been three. So, I think these are the missing ones."
"Definitely, but where's the third one?" The captain muttered.
Joseph, curious, walked over. "What's going on?"
The captain smiled. "One of our guys found musk on the ground."
"Musk? What's that?" Joseph raised an eyebrow.
"It's a pill we use to get mares into heat since their heat rate is pretty low. We use it for breeding," the captain explained.
Joseph nodded. "Got it. But how'd it end up here?"
"We're stumped too. Yesterday, we noticed three were missing from the storeroom. Didn't expect to find them here today," the captain said, scratching his head.
"Seems like someone stole them and used one," Joseph mused.
"This stuff's only good for mares; it's got no other use. Weird," the worker said, puzzled.
"You said you noticed it missing just yesterday?" Joseph asked, suddenly serious.
The captain nodded. "Yeah, we check daily. Found three missing yesterday, but didn't think much of it."
Joseph's eyes narrowed. Yesterday, Rachel almost fell off her horse when her mare suddenly went into heat. This wasn't a coincidence; someone did it on purpose.
That person used one musk pellet to make Rachel's horse go into heat and tossed the other two in the arena, thinking a small glass bottle would be hard to find in such a big place.
"Is there surveillance in the storeroom?" Joseph asked.
The captain shook his head. "Nope."
Joseph was a bit bummed but not discouraged. "Can I have this bottle?"
Though confused, the captain handed it over. Joseph took the bottle and sat down, planning to check for fingerprints to catch the thief.
At dinner, the group was still split into two factions. Mandy was there too, looking pale and shaken from earlier. She seemed fragile and pitiful, but no one paid her any mind.
Michael usually looked out for Mandy, but this time he ignored her. Mandy felt hurt, holding her fork and looking at Michael. "Michael, are you mad at me?"
"No!" Michael replied coldly, putting down his fork and getting ready to leave with his plate.
Seeing this, John quickly called out, "Hold up, Mr. Smith."
Michael stopped, his face expressionless. "What now?"
"You said you'd explain things earlier. Haven't forgotten, right? Now that Miss Brown is awake, you should keep your promise, right?" John crossed his arms, smirking. "Just have Miss Brown apologize to Rachel. Not too much to ask, right?"
If he had solid evidence, John wouldn't just ask for an apology; he'd call the cops and have her thrown in jail.
Michael frowned. "Apologize?"
"That's right." John nodded.
Michael sneered, looking at Rachel. "Do you also want Mandy to apologize to you?"
Rachel set down her juice and smiled. "Miss Brown wronged me first, so I see nothing improper about this."
Every time Mandy targeted her, it was life-threatening. She was already being merciful by not taking Mandy's life. Not only Rachel, but others also thought it was reasonable.
Michael's face darkened. "Mandy can apologize, but Rachel, you should apologize to her too."
"What?" John was stunned. Joseph and the others were also a bit dazed.
Rachel frowned even more. "Why should I apologize to Mandy?"
"Rachel is the victim; why should she apologize to Mandy?" John glared and said angrily, "Michael, you're so unreasonable; I really wonder how you manage Smith Corporation." With such an unreasonable boss, it was a miracle Smith Corporation hadn't gone bankrupt.
Michael ignored John, who was furious and looked at Rachel, coldly saying, "You knew about Mandy's condition, yet you deliberately said ambiguous things to provoke her, causing her to act out and use a snake to harm you. Don't you think you should apologize?"
"I provoked her?" Rachel pointed at herself, almost laughing in anger. She hadn't said a word to Mandy by the creek.
Michael continued, "I hope that as Mandy apologizes to you, you will also apologize to her." After saying that, he left the dining room.
Rachel watched his departing figure and sneered. "Rachel." John patted her shoulder. "Did you really say something to provoke Mandy?"
"Do you think I would do such a thing? I have no desire to interact with her, let alone speak to her," Rachel said, casting him an annoyed glance.
Joseph mocked, "It seems Mandy played the victim first, deliberately telling Michael you provoked her."
"The funniest part is, Michael actually believed it. Is he really that stupid?" John was almost in tears from laughing.
Rachel's eyes turned cold. "Why wouldn't he believe it? Mandy is his lover. If he doesn't believe his lover, who would he believe?"
"Anyway, Mandy is really shameless." John slammed the table.
Ella nodded in agreement. Mandy was the most shameless woman she had ever encountered.
James hung his head in shame, not saying a word. Because back then, he genuinely thought Mandy was better than Rachel. For that, he bullied Rachel for six years, thinking Rachel had taken Mandy's place. In retrospect, his emotions were quite conflicted.
"What are you doing?" John suddenly saw Joseph walk to where Mandy had been sitting, pick up her used cup, and put it in a bag.
The others also watched his actions curiously. "Joseph, are you secretly in love with Mandy, so you're taking her cup back as a keepsake?" John looked at Joseph with disdain.
Joseph's mouth twitched. "Nonsense! I don't have a crush on Mandy."
John asked, "Then why did you take her cup?"
"I have my reasons for that." Joseph winked at Rachel.
Rachel raised an eyebrow, realizing it might have something to do with her. But since Joseph didn't want to explain, she didn't press. She might find out the truth later.
Soon, Joseph's assistant, Stan Wright, arrived. Joseph handed him two waterproof bags, one containing the musk bottle and the other Mandy's cup.
"Take these back and check the fingerprints on them, see if they match," Joseph said.
If the fingerprints on the musk bottle matched those on Mandy's cup, it would prove Mandy stole the musk to harm Rachel. If not, he would have to consider it an accident.
"Understood." Stan nodded and left. Then Joseph also returned to the villa.
In the middle of the night, as Rachel lay in bed, her phone suddenly lit up with a message from John.
John: [Rachel, the plan has begun.]
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