Chapter 167 - Where Is She?

Lewis barged into the monitor room, making the guards inside jump from the sudden intrusion. The two people inside turned their heads in the door, wide-eyed, recognizing Lewis. Behind Lewis were Dion and Kai, their boss.

"Show me the footage from thirty minutes ago," Lewis requested, snapping a finger at one of them. "Now."

"ah, yes, sir!" the two of them flinched as they retrieved the footage inside the building for Lewis. While they do so, Kai pulled himself away from Dion's grip annoyingly. 

"Third brother, how can you drag me here while I was holding these?" he questioned in dismay, placing down the tray of drinks on the small table inside. But Dion ignored him as he stood beside Lewis.

"Ge, what is going on?" Dion inquired, studying Lewis' rear curiously. "Did something happen that we should know?" 

"That." Lewis pointed at one screen where he saw Devon, Dion, and Bella entering the establishment. "Retrieve every single footage of her."

"Oh..." 

Just as Lewis instructed, the two only focused on finding all cameras that had Devon in them. This made things even simpler.

"Ge," called Dion once again, but Lewis ignored him as if he was a ghost! "Ge, can you..."

Dion trailed off when Lewis narrowed his eyes. His eyes moved towards the screen Lewis was looking at. On the screen, showed when Julian approached them. It was just as Dion said. Julian approached them and then left. But what Dion saw next made him furrow his brows.

When Julian left, he made a detour to a spot where he could still see the table they were at. Dion had been into this establishment that he knew the structure of this place like it was printed on the back of his hand. 

"What the..." he trailed off when he saw Devon excuse herself. His eyes shifted to another screen, where Devon walked away in a hurry. With just this footage, he could tell there was something wrong. His increasing curiosity halted when he saw Julian following her tracks.

Dion's heart hammered against his ribcage when Julian glanced at the CCTV and smirked. He held his breath, watching Julian increase his pace, and soon caught up to Devon. His brother suddenly grabbed her wrist and dragged her away.

"Where did they go...?" he whispered, but before the person in charge of the CCTV could inform them about the broken cameras in that area, Lewis had already sprinted away. 

"Ge!" Dion called, but Lewis had already dashed away without looking back. "Kai, close off all exits in this damn place."

Dion murmured blankly as he dragged his feet towards the door. He only glanced at Kai with eyes glinting sharply before leaving.

"Just do it."

Kai frowned, as he wasn't paying attention to what they saw. "Damn..." he trudged towards the seat behind his employee.

"What the hell did they even see?" he wondered as he leaned his head forward, setting his eyes on the replay of Julian dragging Devon with him. "What the... hell?"

What Dion and Lewis failed to see was what Kai witnessed next. "Why the hell is the De Luca guy going there as well?"

******

"This may sound ridiculous, but she won't take you back. The lover you knew is long dead and this woman in front of you simply stole her body, life, and everything. It's up to you to believe me, but well, I don't care either way."

Devon's complexion grew pale, gazing at Quentin, who had frozen in place from what Julian said. She didn't think whether Quentin would believe it or see Julian's words as silly. Right now, she couldn't even think properly about the situation she was in. 

"Let go, Mister De Luca," Julian repeated. This time, his tone was low and menacing, as if telling him this was the last time he would repeat himself. 

His remark brought Quentin back to the current lapse. The latter turned his head to her, staring deep into her eyes.

"Is that... true?" Quentin breathed out in disbelief while studying her expression. 

It sounded ridiculous; he knew that. How was that possible? Soul snatching? Switching? Or whatever it was called. Still, there was this part of him that believed it. Thinking all those times he spent a night talking to Devon, whom he thought was his illusion, made him question himself. 

Was she really just a part of his imagination? But the way she talked was as if she had her own consciousness. Was that even possible? Or did he just want to believe Julian to have hope?

Devon bit her lower lips as hard as she could. She didn't nod or shake her head, but Quentin had already got the answer he wanted. 

What Julian said was true. It may sound ridiculously insane, but the Devon he knew wouldn't look this scared. The real Devon would fight to death.

"Where is she...?" he asked, but Julian suddenly tugged her wrist. This time, Julian was successful as Quentin's grip loosened. 

"Ken!" Devon shrieked in pain as she tripped, but Julian pulled her up. His rough actions only strained her wrist and ankle even more. 

"Dev!" Quentin's pupils constricted, not knowing that she was calling Julian — the Quentin inside that body. "Hey, have you totally lost your mind?"

Quentin took a step forward, only to stop when Julian pulled out a pistol from behind him. The latter cocked it and then pointed it again at him while draping an arm around Devon. 

"My sister, do you know a gun?" Julian leaned to her side, whispering in her ear. "It's more effective than a... sword."

Her breath instantly hitched as a chill ran down her spine. She gazed at Quentin with shaking eyes, recalling the same scenario in their previous life. The only difference was, Julian was holding a gun instead of knights surrounding Quentin while making him kneel.

"My dearest." Julian ran his fingers through her hair, stroking it as an act to soothe her. Alas, the effect on her was the opposite. It scared her to death, forcing her brain to enter a blank state.

"Should I shoot him?" he inquired, tilting his head to her with a weak smile on his lips. Devon slowly turned her head to him, her heart sinking into the abyss. 

Devon forced a smile on her face and cupped his cheek with her trembling hand. "Brother, that's enough. Let's.... let's go."

"Sister, you never changed." Julian let out a deep sigh while he gazed at her, brushing her cheek with his thumb. "You know how I hate to play this type of game, but you, you are driving me insane."

"I was wrong, Ken!" she replied in urgency, swallowing down her fear crawling up her throat. "Let's just leave here. I'll go... with you. Just take me away, hmm?"

Devon raised her brows as she kept humming to urge him to listen to her. She knew him very well and his crazy obsession with her. Julian would kill — be it in this world or back in their world. He would slay anyone who would dare get close to her. 

Julian... he wanted her to put him above everything else. This madness wouldn't stop if she didn't comply. Devon didn't want to drag the Quentin in this world with her mess, nor Lewis and Dion.

"Please, Ken?" she whispered, heaving a sigh of relief when Julian nodded reluctantly. Ironic, she thought, that she was heaving a sigh of relief despite knowing that once she came with Julian, she would go through unimaginable pain. 

Meanwhile, Quentin, who was watching Devon placate Julian out of fear, heard his heart sink. She was calling Julian another name, and it seemed this wasn't the first time this had happened. 

"You..." his breath hitched, fueled by wanting to help her regardless if she was Devon or someone else. But how? Julian was holding a gun! 

"Goodness... what's with that look, sister?" Julian let out a low chuckle while patting her head. "Do you really think I am going too far? I have done nothing to this poor boy yet."

Devon shook her head as she suddenly grabbed his other hand. "No, of course! It's nothing like that. Let's just go, hmm?!" 

"Sure, if that is what you want." He nodded, but before he could put down his gun, he quirked a brow at the voice that suddenly thundered not far away from them.

"Julian!"

Lewis's eyes darkened as his mind went blank seeing the bruises and the pitiful state Devon was in. The latter's heart stopped as soon as she recognized the voice, unable to move a muscle. This was the one that scared her the most — Lewis appearing. 

"Ken," she whispered, gazing up at Julian only to see the dangerous glint that flickered across his eyes.

There was no doubt. Julian was triggered and no matter what she would say, he wouldn't listen to her anymore.

Meanwhile, Dion, who just arrived and was seeing the situation, could not help but pause. His eyes darted from Julian, who was holding a gun, then to Devon, who was frozen in place, then to another person whose back was facing him.

"What the fuck....?" — this was the least he expected to see while following Lewis.