Deep Love Hidden From Him

That was no accident; it was obviously planned. Though William had drunk a lot that day, he sobered up immediately when he saw Everleigh being dragged into the alley. The usually bustling street was completely, eerily vacant, and a single car was parked at the entrance of the alley. Its headlights shone in the rain, piercing his eyes.

At that moment, he felt that the person in the car was no different from the Grim Reaper.

To do such a thing to a twenty-year-old girl was worse than killing her off, regardless of whatever purpose or grudge they had.

Against the rain and darkness of the night, he easily avoided the car and went undiscovered.

"This is the photo I took that day," his voice was light, "The car is parked right at the alley entrance. I took a photo of its license plate. At that time, I thought that all I could do was to help you retain some of the evidence, but then..."

"Then?"

Everleigh's heart was in a mess at his words. Christopher had told her that what happened in the past was definitely more complicated than they thought. It was not something that could be done by an ordinary person.

These were now confirmed by the photo from William.

There was someone behind all this.

William's voice was running dry, "Then, I wanted to investigate the owner of this license plate, so I asked a friend of mine who worked in the Vehicle Administrative Office. The same afternoon, he called and warned me to not investigate any further."

Her heart clenched, "After that?"

"I didn't believe him and asked other friends to help me. The next day, there were problems with my application to work at the school and I was let go. There was also something wrong with my Ph.D. screening."

William was a year ahead of Everleigh. Seven years ago, she was in her fourth year of school. He had just graduated, finishing five years of studies in both his degree and master's. At the same time, he received a recommendation to work in the school while continuing his Ph.D. He had a bright future in front of him.

Surely, his career and Ph.D. were miles important to him than meddling in unknown affairs.

What he said next were all within her expectations.

"I immediately thought about the warning from my friend in the Vehicle Administrative Office. I asked him out to ask what was going on. He told me that I had offended someone and asked why I had to check the license plate."

William had been the Director of the school's Public Relations and Communications Department, and he was no idiot. Under those circumstances and in front of his friend, he was clever enough to not mention anything about that rainy night.

"After that, I said that I would give up on the investigation, and that it had nothing to do with me anyway. It was then that things went back to normal."

He lowered his head, looking at the glass of water; his uneasiness was apparent. He could not look Everleigh in the face, and only said in a hapless voice, "Everleigh, I'm just a normal guy. It's hard enough to keep myself out of trouble."

Selfishness was human nature; cowardice and fear were the inherent darkness of human behavior.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. It took a long time to adjust herself, "So, you couldn't find out who was in the car?"

He shook his head.

Ever since those things happened, he no longer dared to talk about the license plate. The incident that night was also buried deep in his heart. He decided to bring the secret to his grave, unless he was mad enough to ruin his life.

"Have you ever mentioned this to anyone else other than me?" "No," he quickly shook his head, "I never told anyone, I swear. I didn't even tell Erica."

Everleigh took out her phone. She took a picture of his phone screen and saved the blurry image, "You can delete this photo now. No one will trouble you in the future. It has nothing to do with you."

He nodded in hesitation, "Everleigh, are you still going to continue with the investigation?"

"I'm not you. I'm not a bystander. This is my life. I won't be able to live like this for the rest of my life if I don't figure it out."

She put away her phone and returned to her calm composure, "William, thanks for telling me all this today. I'll act as if you've never said anything to me. You're just welcoming me as my senior and future colleague over a simple meal."

After a few seconds of pause, she said, "I don't blame you for what happened that year."

William had a hardened and stiff expression. He finally pulled up the corners of his mouth with a reluctant look, "Thank you."

No man was willing to show his weakness in front of anyone. The more confidence and success William had in school, the more depressed and tortured he was ever since that night happened. He had been unable to get rid of the memory in these past seven years. The guilt weighed down on him as a self-proclaimed righteous and virtuous man.

None of them had the mood to continue the meal. He took his leave first, saying that he had something to do at school and left the restaurant.

After he left, Everleigh was still staring at the photo on her phone. The license plate was blurry, but she could make out the figures. After all, there were only a few numbers.

Not before long, a figure sat down opposite her. "Let me have a look."

She was startled. As she looked up, Christopher had already taken the phone from her with his slick movements.

"When did you get here?"

"Before you did." He looked at the photo and pouted behind her, "I was behind you just now, and I heard everything."

She furrowed her eyebrows. She looked at Christopher studying the photo, and asked, "What William has said, how much of it do you think is true?"

He touched his chin, "Wouldn't we know after we check it out?"

He made a call the next second, "Sheldon, it's me. I need your help." "There's this license plate that I want you to find out the owner of the car. The owner may have changed in these years. I want to know the identity of the owner around June, seven years ago."

Christopher was very detailed in the call. In just a few minutes, he had even thought of the possibility of car ownership changes in the past seven years.

He hung up the phone and Everleigh asked him with a skeptical expression, "Aren't you afraid of the news getting out by letting someone investigate like this?"

Back then, things had happened to William the next day when he tested the waters with his friend in the Vehicle Administrative Office.

Christopher took a grape from the table and stuffed it into his mouth. He said calmly, "It's best if we could get someone to make their move. I'm the one who did this investigation. I'd like to see if this person has the ability to hurt me. If that person does, then the range of our target will also be narrowed down."

"Let's be more careful. It's difficult to protect ourselves when we're exposed and they're the ones unknown."

"Don't worry. Sheldon is reliable, and it's been seven years. William was also smart as he didn't mention what he saw to his friend. That's why nothing happened for so many years."

As he was speaking, the notification of his phone rang and a Whatsapp message popped up.

"Sheldon's message. He's fast, isn't he?" He glanced at her and swiped the screen of the phone.

She asked, "How is it?"

On the opposite side of the table, Christopher's usually cynical face suddenly turned serious. He said, "You should see it yourself."

He put the phone on the table and slowly pushed it towards her.

Everleigh did not understand. She lowered her head and looked at the screen. When she saw the details of the car owner sent by Sheldon, she paled.

The owner's information showed that the car was an asset of Godfrey Group.