Blind Date Turned Proposal

She wrinkled her nose and turned around, only to find Arnold leaning against the door, a smirk playing on his lips.

"You're not getting any younger. Don't drink yourself to death."

He smirked. "Taking care of me, huh? What have I done to deserve this?"

Josie glared at him, pulling out a voice recorder from her bag. "I'm just afraid that if you die, there'll be no one to give me the medicine."

Arnold's gaze fell upon the object in her hand, "It seems you have seen Paul's frail state."

"Indeed. Thanks to you, I had no choice but to coax the words out of Dexter."

Josie pressed the play button on the voice recorder, and a somewhat muffled voice began to echo out.

The scene was from the previous night when she had finished writing the proposal on the balcony. Dexter had poured her a cup of warm water, and they had exchanged a few words about Grape. Then, with some hesitation, Josie asked, "I remember that you almost apprehended Edward two years ago. Didn't the authorities care? He is a serious criminal after all."

Dexter was very cautious. "Why do you suddenly ask this?"

Josie answered evasively, "After seeing Arnold this time, it all came back to me."

"I obviously had no authority to detain Edward. All I can tell you is that he's no longer under my control."

After Dexter finished, a series of footsteps followed, marking the end of the recording.

Arnold voiced his thoughts. "Did you come to me this early in the morning just to have me listen to such an ambiguous recording?"

"Of course not."

She pressed play on the second recording.

This time, the sound of Dexter's voice seemed somewhat distant as he was engaged in a conversation with Larry.

"Can you investigate what Arnold told Josie?"

"What's the matter, Mr. Russell?"

"She suddenly asked me about Edward, which makes me suspicious..."

Larry quickly interjected, "Ms. Warren wouldn't be working for Arnold, would she? After all, her father is..."

"It's hard to say." Dexter scoffed, "She has betrayed me more than once, let alone when the cunning Arnold is involved."

"In that case, I'll increase the manpower where Edward is being held. Speaking of which, the group that tried to break him out two years ago didn't succeed, but it was quite a shocking event."

At this point in the playback, Josie looked up, intently studying Arnold's expression.

He seemed somewhat distracted, as if he was discerning the authenticity of the recording.

"How long will it take for them to get there?" Dexter asked.

"It's not far from Rivodia. They just need to go over the mountains of Southern Wavery. It wouldn't take more than five hours to reach."

Dexter grunted in acknowledgment, and the recording came to an end once again.

Josie gripped the recorder tightly. "Have I shown you enough for a meeting at eight in the morning?"

Arnold's gaze was hard to read as he locked eyes with her. "You've come to present something valuable to me, but how can I trust you? You live with Dexter. How can I know if you're not conspiring with him to deceive me?"

Josie spoke calmly. "Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but this is the furthest I can go. If I cross this line, he will find out. As for the authenticity of the recording, you can judge for yourself."

She deliberately made the statement because Dexter had once told her that two years ago, there indeed was a group of people who somehow discovered Edward's location and attempted to forcibly take him away. Had it not been for the timely reinforcement, they would have succeeded.

During that time, he lost quite a few of his close subordinates.

Not many individuals were aware of this issue, consequently, they could use it as a bargaining chip to gain Arnold's trust.

As expected, Arnold displayed a certain level of hesitation when confronted with Josie's composure.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

"Arnold, I am also a human being, and therefore, not flawless. My father's life rests in your hands. Can you comprehend the magnitude of the risk I would be taking?"