Carla initially chalked the stray hair to the aftermath of an eventful day, which likely resulted in the maids only managing to change her bedsheets instead of doing a thorough cleaning of her room.
But if I haven't dumped anything I wore yesterday into the laundry basket in the wardrobe, how could my hair end up there? Are these even my hair? To whom could they belong to? If this is really my hair, how did it end up in here?
Carla had Freda send the strands for analysis.
The results came back sooner than expected. The hair was indeed Carla's, and the red stain was nail polish.
It was a perplexing finding, given that Carla, Freda, and Rogan did not use nail polish.
They concluded that someone sporting red nail polish had come into Carla's room.
Freda covertly investigated the members of the household for potential suspects.
She noticed that a few of Lisa's personal maids wore nail polish, and three of them painted their nails red.
Unfortunately, their nails seemed impeccably neat and showed no prior signs of chipping.
Nonetheless, Freda had the three maids put under surveillance in the hopes of uncovering new evidence.
Carla was disappointed that they could not make further progress in their investigation with the clue.
She had been calling Zayn and her children every day to no avail, which added to her frustration.
Carl had been contacting Zayn frequently as well as he expressed his wish of delivering an apology in person with Lisa and Lucas in tow. Zayn ignored his pleas.
Carla suffered a poor appetite over three days of radio silence from Zayn, while Carl and Lisa worried incessantly about potential paybacks from Zayn.
Lucas' efforts to track him down remained fruitless.
One night, Lucas received a promising phone call during dinner. He turned to Carla, agitated as he said, "Carla, Mr. Naytr told me that he's meeting Zayn at the Regium Hotel in Pillere tomorrow night."
"Really?" Carla was elated as she summoned Freda. "Get the car ready; we're going to Pillere."
"On it." Freda left to carry out her orders.
Lucas suggested, "Let me handle the arrangements. I'll come with you. I'd like to talk to Zayn as well."
"You shouldn't go; if he becomes angrier after seeing you, our discussion won't go anywhere." Carla was adamant.
"But-"
Lisa chimed in with her two cents on the situation. "Carla, you're marrying Lucas in four more days. We've been planning to head to Pillere tomorrow anyway for your wedding preparations."
"That's right." Carl flashed a smile at Carla and continued, "I'll be busy greeting guests as well. Many of them have flown here from across the globe to attend your wedding despite their busy schedules. We must show them our utmost respect as a sign of our gratitude."
The couple's words hit Carla like a bucket of cold water. She only realized then how soon she would be walking down the aisle with Lucas, and the thought filled her with dread. She even had the urge to call off the entire wedding, though she could not bring herself to utter her request.
"Carla, I understand if you want to discuss the matters of your children with Zayn privately. We could still head to Pillere together tomorrow morning, right? Then you can meet him after we've settled down, " Lucas offered, not wanting to make things difficult for Carla.
"Okay." He had phrased his suggestion in such a way that it would be rude and inconsiderate of her to reject it.
Lucas replied happily, "All right, that's settled then." He got his men started on the travel arrangements right away.
Lisa added with a smile, "It's fine if Lucas doesn't travel with you. Zayn's got a mean temper, and he might blow up when he sees Lucas. We have the utmost faith in you, Carla!"
Her words were a thinly-veiled warning for Carla not to betray their trust while she was in Pillere.

Share



