Chương 33: Search

"She's fine, Boss. Maybe Alexa is just tired. Pregnant people are often more sensitive than ordinary people during this period."

As soon as Alexa fell asleep, Dominic, who was still not calm, called Rika to check on Alexa secretly. Rika's words relieved Dominic. The man took a deep breath before his eyes looked gently at Alexa, who was sleeping with steady breathing in their room.

"Well, she was probably too excited earlier," Dominic muttered softly. Rika also followed Dominic's gaze, doubt suddenly rising in her mind for some reason.

"Boss, Alexa didn't meet anyone while she was there, right?" she asked doubtfully. Dominic shook his head. "She was only with Eliza while she was there, Rika. But Eliza couldn't possibly do anything to her. We can trust her, you know that," said Dominic. Rika sighed. She tried to dispel her doubts when her boss himself had confirmed this.

"I'll give her extra vitamins tomorrow and let her sleep until she wakes up on her own. We may have to observe her pregnancy at times like this," said Rika finally. Dominic nodded. He finally had the chance to take off his jacket after Alexa had been wanting to stick to him for a long time.

"You can go back to your room, Rika. Thank you for your hard work today," ended Dominic. Rika nodded. "Good night, Boss," she said before leaving Dominic's room. Silence struck as Dominic took off his clothes. The man walked tiredly towards the bathroom and began to clean himself before deciding to sleep with his wife.

Leaving Alexa, who quietly opened her eyes again in darkness.

***

When Alexa woke up the next day, she could no longer see Dominic in their room. Alexa was sad when she could feel Dominic hugging her all night, continuing to whisper words of love whether Alexa heard them or not.

Alexa thinks Dominic's love for her is not a lie. Their marriage too, because Dominic has a file that records their marriage, which is legal in the eyes of the law. But Alexa couldn't say the same for the past Dominic showed her. Alexa is clearly a former member of the special forces who had no parents since childhood, a figure Dominic never told her about long ago.

Or, the man was trying to cover it up for some reason.

"Your daddy is a liar, Baby. He doesn't want to tell me everything. He makes me doubt his love. He makes me doubt the truth of our marriage."

While rubbing her stomach, Alexa whispered in a voice that was holding back tears. Her mood had been ruined since Alexa's meeting with her friend yesterday. Alexa didn't know who to believe anymore. Everything seemed like a lie in Alexa's mind.

Lazily, Alexa got out of bed to clean herself. After getting dressed, Alexa sighed tiredly as her hands slowly opened the door to her room with Dominic.

"Good morning, Madam. I will immediately prepare breakfast. Please wait for me at the dining table."

In the corridor, Alexa passed Rika, who had just come out of her room while carrying a pile of dirty clothes. Alexa glanced at the clothes, secretly shocked, when she saw a large blood stain on one of the clothes Rika had brought.

Following Alexa's gaze, Rika knew that Alexa was paying attention to the blood stains on her clothes. Her hand moved to cover it while her face remained calm as she tried to explain everything.

"...I'm in the middle of my period, Madam. Sorry if this blood makes you uncomfortable. I'll wash it off immediately."

"...Okay."

Rika looked down for a moment before leaving with the pile of cloth. Alexa shook her head slowly. Her thoughts had changed for the worse after she met with those people. Alexa thought it couldn't be someone else's blood. Rika wasn't the type of person who liked to kill without the slightest feeling of guilt. She is just a professional worker who dedicates her life to Dominic alone.

Dominic, who killed her husband and child.

"Madam?"

Alexa gasped in surprise when Rika was suddenly near her again. The girl seemed to frown slightly, perhaps feeling strange seeing Alexa, who looked different from usual today.

"Breakfast has been prepared by the servants. Please have breakfast first to fill up your energy before doing other activities."

Not wanting Alexa to get angry again because she seemed too suspicious, Rika tried to act as usual. After all, Dominic himself had assured her that nothing strange happened while Alexa went to the party yesterday. Rika tried to convince herself that Alexa was just still feeling tired and that there was nothing else she needed to be aware of.

In the dining room, Alexa ate alone without saying much. She finished her breakfast as usual, downing a glass of pregnancy milk without much trouble before eating her pancakes calmly. Alexa got up after she had finished all the food, followed by Rika, who was in charge of following her wherever Alexa went.

Biting her lip, Alexa was determined to find out the truth today. She had to be able to prove those two people's words were wrong. Dominic was not a bad man, as they told her yesterday.

The evidence they were talking about was most likely in her old room. The room that became the starting point of Alexa's memories when she finally woke up. Alexa found that series of phone numbers in a place she never expected, so it's possible that other evidence was also carefully hidden by her past 'self'.

"Rika, I'm sleepy. I miss my room but am too lazy to go up and down the stairs just to sleep. Please don't wake me. I'll come out by myself when I wake up."

To get rid of Rika, Alexa started making excuses. Alexa made her face as calm as possible to trick Rika, who always stared at her for a long time every time she asked her for something.

"I understand. Have a good rest, Madam."

With Alexa's reassuring face, Rika didn't think about anything because all her reasons made sense. Rika knows that pregnant women sometimes ask for strange things, and Rika has also been ordered by Dominic to comply with all of Alexa's wishes. So now, she has no reason to refuse Alexa's simple request.

Moreover, when Rika renovated Alexa's room to get rid of all the cameras that previously monitored the woman's movements at all times, Rika made sure that there were no more items that Alexa had hidden without their knowledge. Rika has removed all the suspicious objects. So now, Alexa's room is just an empty room like other guest rooms.

As soon as Rika left, Alexa immediately closed the door and started thinking about the possibility that she could find evidence like what Lisa was talking about. Alexa started by opening the drawer where her cosmetics were stored in the room, without the slightest good results.

Her cosmetics drawer was just an ordinary drawer at this point. There was a big possibility that both Rika and Dominic had thrown everything away to prevent the same incident from happening again. But if Alexa wants to think again, 'she' couldn't possibly store important evidence in the same place twice. If Dominic or Rika suspected her, they could find other evidence quickly if 'she' kept it in the same place. So, no. She had to think of another possibility where she could hide something without Dominic suspecting her, especially Rika, who was always alert.

In the bathroom, on the bed, and in drawers. Alexa had opened everything to no avail. Alexa almost gave up as she tried to open the same drawer once again. She had a familiar feeling with the drawer next to her bed for some reason.

Alexa had never felt any familiar feelings from objects or people closest to her before this. Since Dominic didn't force her to take her anti-depressant medication, Alexa felt her mind was getting clearer as time went by.

"You should have forgotten everything by now... was the medicine not strong enough?"

Alexa suddenly remembers Dominic's muttering when she vomited everything that Dominic brought when she was angry with the man. Her body suddenly became cold as the thought that Dominic had been deliberately messing with her memories suddenly crossed her mind.

Trying to focus, Alexa opened the drawer next to her bed again. The drawer was empty because Alexa never filled it with anything. However, when Alexa tried to look closely, she could see a small trail of blood left on the edge of the deepest drawer.

Alexa quickly removed the drawer from its location. Alexa looked at the drawer for a long time before trying to open the bottom of the drawer, which looked a little loose when she looked closely.

CLACK!

Alexa didn't think that something was hidden in the drawer. Most likely, the blood stains came from 'her' fingers trying to open the bottom of the drawer to hide something in the past. There was a folded piece of paper inside, with handwriting that was familiar to Alexa's mind.

November 21, 2xxx

For anyone who finds this letter in the future, my name is Ava Asylum, and I am a victim of imprisonment carried out by Dominic Rutterford, a man who killed my husband and child just to lock me up in a large room in his own house.

After reading the first paragraph of the letter, Alexa felt like her world stopped right then and there.