บท 41: Payback(1)

"Piiiiiizzzzzzzaaaaaaa!"

Screaming, Derek ran to the door where Luke and Liz were standing with three cardboard pizza boxes in their hands.

The strong sense of smell and the ability to detect food from many meters away was something that Derek had also inherited just like Liz.

Mary, who had opened the door, had a questioning look on her face on seeing Liz return.

Luke had, of course, had to come to her before to pick up Liz's clothes before heading to the restaurant. She had been worried about her daughter since then, but Luke had messaged her saying that everything was all right and that they would come home soon.

Shaking her head and gesturing with her eyes that she would explain later, Liz playfully threw a box in one direction.

"I'm not falling for that again! I'm smarter now!"

Shouting this, Derek started jumping in the air for the other box in Liz's hand.

Finally laughing due to Derek's self-satisfied expression, Liz realized that the last time she had brought pizza home from Luke's diner, she had done the same thing and distracted the little kiddo while she hid the other pizza in the house.

Clearly, he still remembered it.

Indeed, the box she had thrown was empty and they had only gotten it because the dustbins at the diner had been full.

"Alright, smarty-pants! But the pizza store has new rules! One hug and one kiss on the cheek equals one pizza!"

Saying so, Liz opened the lid of the cardboard box to reveal a fresh pepperoni pizza that looked scrumptious.

Drooling, Derek raised his chubby little hand and reached for the pizza before taking a slice, hugging his sister's leg quickly and planting a kiss on the hand with which she was holding the pizza before running away with glee on his face.

"You didn't say where!", he squeaked in a high-pitched tone, happy at both getting the pizza and outsmarting his sister at the same time.

Laughing again, Luke and Liz both entered the house and set the pizza on the table before entering Mary's bedroom.

As Derek quickly finished his piece, he realized that he hadn't planned for the long-term. How was he going to get another one?

Slowly walking to the table, he found no one there but he suddenly yelped as he felt himself in the air due to being picked up by Sister.

"Now where will you go?", said Liz in a triumphant voice while she hugged the little parcel of squirming cuteness tight before planting a wet kiss on his forehead.

"YUCK!", screamed Derek before finally extracting himself and grabbing another piece.

Sitting at the table, he started eating with a sullen expression on his face while Liz patted him and headed into the bedroom.

On the bed, the dress that had been the cause of everything was spread wide while Mary was examining it closely.

Luke stood to the side with his lips compressed into a thin line.

"This was definitely planned by someone, Liz. Who could it be? Do you have enemies in the office already?"

In the business world, it was nothing uncommon for jealous people to sabotage those in higher positions hoping that they could advance at the cost of the other person's misfortune.

Thinking about every interaction she had in relation to Happle, Liz shook her head and said, "Unlikely. There was only one, but she is just a receptionist. I doubt that she has the money and the intelligence to carry out such a complex plan."

Hearing this, Mary nodded. Luke had already told her everything, and she had been thinking hard and also worrying about her daughter.

After all, this dress was clearly a designer one whose cost was in the thousands of dollars. A receptionist buying one and carrying out such an elaborate plan really was pretty unlikely.

The design had been later modified in this unique way, meaning that the person who had done this was also skilled in stitching, or had used more money to hire someone to do this.

Next, they had also managed to gain entry into that restaurant and into the private booths which needed such a high status to gain access to.

All this pointed towards someone who was powerful but was targeting Liz.

"What do you want to do, Liz?", Mary finally asked, unable to find any advice to give to her daughter.

Liz herself was a little puzzled because of all the facts. Yet, again pushing down the anger, she spoke in a voice like iron.

"Pay them back in full with interest, of course. But I'll first find out who they are. I'm not ruling anyone out, and the one responsible had better pray that they were very, very effective in covering their tracks."