After Betrayal - I Married a Handsome Tycoon-Chapter 88: He Waited for Too Long

After Connor Quinn spoke, the person on the other end of the line didn’t answer immediately.

Footsteps followed, sounding as if the person was looking for a more private place.

After a moment, they replied, "We’ve found a faint trail, but nothing’s confirmed yet."

Connor Quinn said, "Speak."

The other person said, "It’s related to the Junior Master."

The Junior Master was Kain Alden’s fellow junior disciple. His full name was Hex Farrell—not a nickname, but his real name. He was also the boss of the company where Moira Sloan had worked for ten years.

Kain Alden’s sect had an unwritten rule: disciples didn’t take jobs directly from their own masters.

Perhaps it was out of fear that the master-disciple bond would make a master reluctant to properly train their student, or perhaps for other reasons. In any case, that was how it had been since they joined the sect.

Except for Connor Quinn.

Connor Quinn was an exception.

Kain Alden had pushed back against all opposition to train him personally, right up until Moira Sloan’s arrival.

After the person finished, Connor Quinn said in a detached voice, "Keep digging."

The person asked, "Senior Brother, when are you coming back to Atheria?"

Connor Quinn replied, "When it’s time."

An ambiguous answer. Not getting the response he wanted, the person on the other end hung up sullenly.

When Connor Quinn arrived at the tattoo shop, Leo Lawson was already there, sitting inside.

Zachary Curran sat stiffly beside Leo Lawson. The moment Connor Quinn walked in, Zachary started frantically trying to signal him with his eyes.

Connor Quinn shot him a look, his voice cold. "If your eye is spasming, go to the hospital."

Hearing this, Zachary Curran shot bolt upright. A moment later, he casually stood up, walked over to Connor Quinn, and said in a voice only they could hear, "Connor, Lawson’s been waiting for you for a while."

Without waiting for a reply, he added, "Connor, do you think Lawson knows about you and the proprietress?"

Connor Quinn turned to look at him as if he were an idiot. "Get lost."

Zachary choked on his words, looking pitiful. He seemed to want to say more but held his tongue. His well-intentioned fervor utterly rejected, he hung his head and shuffled away.

After Zachary left, Connor Quinn glanced at Leo Lawson. With a silent understanding, they headed upstairs, one after the other.

Once inside Connor Quinn’s studio, Leo Lawson sat down and teased, "Got your wish?"

With his back to him, Connor Quinn remained silent.

Leo Lawson added, "Aren’t you afraid of Moira Sloan finding out the truth?"

Connor Quinn’s voice was heavy as he ignored the question. "Are you free tonight?"

Leo Lawson asked, "What’s up?"

Connor Quinn said, "Let’s have dinner with Moira Sloan. At her place."

Hearing this, Leo Lawson was stunned for a few seconds.

Before he could process it, Connor Quinn turned around, lowered his head to light a cigarette, and added, "I’ll cook for both of you."

Leo Lawson’s eyebrows shot up in alarm. "With arsenic?"

Clenching the cigarette between his teeth, Connor Quinn said expressionlessly, "My time is limited. Do me a favor and make her feel sorry for me."

The pieces clicked into place for Leo Lawson, and he suddenly laughed. "Quinn, could you be any more of a bastard?"

Connor Quinn removed the cigarette from his lips and tapped off the ash. "Any more, and it’d be going too far."

Leo Lawson scoffed. "And this isn’t?"

He didn’t even want to imagine how a proud, pampered woman like Moira Sloan would react if she discovered the massive trap Connor Quinn had set for her.

After a moment, Leo Lawson paused. Seeming to have thought of something, he asked, "There’s something I can’t figure out."

"Go ahead," Connor Quinn said.

Leo Lawson asked curiously, "How were you so sure Moira would let you move in with her? You’re playing such a long game. Weren’t you afraid one of the steps would go wrong?"

From her grandmother’s hospitalization, to you timing it perfectly to ’happen’ to run into her, to you ’accidentally’ letting Moira find out her grandmother was in the hospital, and finally to you successfully moving into her house...

Honestly, every single one of those steps involved uncontrollable factors.

If any one of them had gone wrong, you never would have made it through her door.

Connor Quinn lowered his gaze and stubbed out his cigarette. "It’s simple," he said calmly. "People with heart conditions often have flare-ups when the seasons change. I’d already looked into it. Her grandmother gets hospitalized for a few days around this time every year. It just so happened Jade Quinn needed surgery, so all I had to do was check in early and wait.

"As for making sure Moira found out ’inadvertently’ so she’d feel guilty... when I paid the hospital fees, I only paid five thousand. I timed it so I would miss her aunt’s calls about the overdue bill. Her aunt would naturally contact her next..."

Connor Quinn’s tone was placid, as if he were discussing something utterly mundane.

Leo Lawson listened without a word, but inwardly, he pitied Moira Sloan.

’Against a cunning old fox like him, she wouldn’t stand a chance. Even if she had a thousand schemes of her own, she could never outwit him.’

Connor Quinn continued, crushing the cigarette between his fingers as he looked up. "As for being sure I could move in, I had Zachary Curran ask her about renting a place in advance. Then I made a few days’ worth of social media posts visible only to her. She already felt guilty, and when you add in all that subtle conditioning... it’s just psychology. She was bound to give in."

Leo Lawson: "..."

Connor Quinn said, "Leo, you don’t get it. This isn’t about being calculating or manipulative. It’s just... I’ve been waiting for too long."