Chapter 54 Is this still the husband she knows?

Ellie dug her nails into her palms, feeling like things were way off from what he said. He said h'd just accidentally messed up some tomb-raiding gang's plans while checking out some work survey records. Now they were out for blood.

And from that phone call, it sounded like Isaac had bailed!

"When you coming back?" she asked, worry creeping into her voice.

"Hard to say. Probably late. I'll swing by and get you when I'm done."

She bit her lip lightly and nodded, like there was nothing else she could do but nod.

She had a million questions buzzing in her head, stuff she wanted to know. But she also got that even if she knew, she couldn't do much about it.

If he could tell her, he would. If he had to keep it on the down-low, it was probably for a good reason.

Seeing her all worried, George flashed a reassuring smile. "Don't sweat it, I'll be with the criminal investigation team. We'll be fine."

Ellie pressed her lips together and nodded again.

After a moment of hesitation, she finally spoke up. "There's something I haven't told you."

"What is it?"

"That Isaac, I've seen him before. On the bus, before I went to the training class."

George's eyebrows shot up. "On the bus?"

"Yeah, he came up to me, but I ignored him."

"How did he approach you?"

Ellie hesitated. "It was, you know, like he was hitting on me..."

George's brows furrowed even more.
Seeing this, Ellie quickly added, "I really didn't pay him any attention. Going to the training class had nothing to do with him. It was my cousin who dragged me there. At first, I didn't want to go, but she tempted me by saying that you'll be mad by knowing it's so expensive."

George could tell she was worried about being misunderstood and chuckled lightly. "They were after you from the start. They must've had their eyes on you for a while."

Seeing that George didn't jump to any conclusions, Ellie let out a sigh of relief. "I was afraid you'd get the wrong idea."

"How could I? If you did have that idea, they wouldn't need to use your cousin, right?"

It was clear from Isaac's side profile, which was pretty similar to his own, that what they wanted was Ellie's affection.

Maybe their initial plan was to win over innocent Ellie and then use her to get info in the long run.

But when that didn't work, they had to switch tactics, using her cousin to lure her into their trap, planning to slowly reel her in and wait for future opportunities.

Even if no more chances came up, they could still hang around her for a long time, maybe even use Ellie to get closer to him.

They'd planned it out well, and this trap had taken a lot of effort. If he hadn't spotted the surveillance, he might not have noticed them so easily... He had a gut feeling that the person behind the surveillance was probably Isaac...

Ten minutes later, George dropped Ellie off at her in-laws' house.

Mr. and Mrs. Baker were pretty shocked to see them roll back in so soon. George, with that easy grin of his, quickly said, "Had some work stuff pop up, so I had to swing by the office. Ellie was bored out of her mind at home, so she asked me to bring her here. She said she'd chill here while I handle my biz and then come get her."

Mr. and Mrs. Baker, all smiles, told him to go handle his stuff, while Ellie's heart did a little flip. She never knew George could lie so smoothly, like it was second nature. Was this the same guy she married? And wait, had he been lying to her all along?

"You hang out here, I'll be back as soon as I can," George said, his smile soft and his voice all gentle. Ellie, a bit dazed, blinked and nodded, then walked him to the door. George stopped and turned back, motioning for her to go back inside.

She stood there, frowning, hesitating at the doorway, watching him reach out and pull the door open. Her feelings were all over the place. So much had gone down in just an hour, flipping her whole world and even her view of her own husband upside down.

George took a deep breath and let it out, closing the door behind him. He could see the doubt in Ellie's eyes, and he knew his story wouldn't hold up if she dug deeper. But he couldn't come up with anything better right now.

He turned and quickly walked out of the hallway, pulling out his phone to call the director. The Director had just gotten word that they'd taken actions and one of the suspects had slipped away, and he was not happy.

"Why'd you jump the gun? You scared off the target before we had them locked down. Now he's bolted. What's your next move?!"
"The guy already knew I was onto him. Whether I made a move or not, he would've bolted. Plus, we've already nabbed his partner, so tracking him down shouldn't be too hard... And, I swear, there's something familiar about him..."

The Director's face got all serious. "Familiar?"

"Yeah, but I can't place where I've seen him before. I'll grill his partner first and see if anything clicks."

"Alright... By the way, I've set up your transfer. Once you're done with the interrogation, hand everything over to the local criminal investigation team, then get Ellie and your in-laws out of there. I'll have someone handle things on that end."

"No need to rush."

"No need to rush? I'm worried, even if you're not. How am I supposed to explain to your dad and granddad if something happens to you?! This isn't just a mission anymore; you're a target now!"
The Director was already on edge, but he didn't expect George to drop this bombshell. "Director, I got a hunch he hasn't skipped town yet. He'll be back."