A Spoonful of Sugar: Don't Beg for Love

He knew something was up.

Matthew rubbed his temples as Hesper looked at him and shrugged, then put the pen and paper under her pillow so Matthew couldn't say anything more. He chuckled.

Now that he thought about it, Nathaniel knew Hesper was actually Rachael from the beginning. That was why Daybreak kept going after Hesper, making her a target. Hesper thought Matthew would be angry, but not only was he not angry, he chuckled. She was confused. However, even before she found the listening device, she had made up her mind to pretend to be sick so that the attention would be on her.

Regardless of whether Matthew agreed, she would still carry on with the plan.

Matthew took the pen and paper from under the pillow, sighed, then wrote: I'll send someone to protect you. Don't worry about Ren either. The Lanes and Duvals are here, so no one will be able to take him away.

Hesper smiled and nodded.

***

A week soon passed. The surgery was the next day.

Hesper's 'sickness' lasted for a week and she didn't even go to work. Her condition made the people working at Lane Holdings' branch worry because they were just picking up again.

Renee knew Hesper's plan, but seeing the employees feel negative, she had to maintain the daily operations there. Before Renfrew went under the knife, she had to make sure the company stayed afloat. Daybreak, which had been keeping an eye on them on the down low, thought that it was the best time to attack.

"Now that the Lanes and Duvals are focused on Renfrew Duval's surgery, we won't fail if we attack Hesper now." Carter looked at Nathaniel who was still hesitant and said, "You should grab Ms. Rivera now. You can do whatever you want with her after that. Matthew ran a DNA test, so it would be too late to act after Renfrew's surgery."

Nathaniel was still silent. Even though he didn't catch anything suspicious from their voice surveillance, Lane Holdings had suddenly fallen to chaos internally. Nathaniel felt that Hesper wouldn't have fallen sick so easily.

And why did it coincidentally happen during this time?

"Think about your parents, Big T!"

Nathaniel glared at Carter through the corner of his eye and his voice sounded frigid. "Since when do I take orders from you? Don't bring my parents into this."

Carter paused, knowing he made a mistake. He took a few steps back, but seeing how Nathaniel was going to miss the best time to act, he was unsatisfied.

"I'll go see Hesper with Carter. Big T should go see Renfrew with Riley," 013 suddenly said as he kept his eyes on Nathaniel. "If Hesper really is gravely sick, the two of us would be enough. If Hesper is just pretending and we can't get her, our mission will still be accomplished if we have Renfrew."

"No."

The group all looked toward Nathaniel.

"You and Riley only want to kill Hesper," he said. "If I'm not around, you won't let her off."

"No," 013 said without hesitation. "She has severely affected your ability to make decisions. If I get the chance, she'll be the first I kill."