Sweet Subterfuge

Chapter 32
Larissa contemplated for a very long time before finally summoning the courage to call Travis.
Yet, despite having made several calls in a row, Travis never answered.
At night, when Larissa returned home after work, she was stopped by someone at the entrance of Foxtail Garden.
The sky was getting dark, and the figure stood against the light. All Larissa could make out was a skinny figure, her arms
outstretched.
It seemed to be a woman.
Before she could cause any accidents, Larissa slammed on the brakes.
Her car stopped about ten feet away from the figure.
Larissa was stunned for about two seconds before she felt her heart rate slow to a normal pace.
When she’d recovered from her shock and looked back to where the figure was standing earlier, there was only dust dancing
under the dim, yellowish light. Where had the figure gone?
Larissa was questioning if what she had seen was nothing but a hallucination when she heard the sound of someone trying to
pull her car door open at the passenger’s side. And when whoever it was realized that they couldn’t pry open her door, they
started knocking on her window frantically.
“Open the door! Open the fucking door!” The woman shouted from the outside, her
voice urgent and sharp. Her pitch was so high that her voice cracked.
The glass on her door was reflective, but Larissa could not properly discern the woman’s features. Instead, the hazy reflection on
the glass showed a dark silhouette with disheveled long hair–it was a rather terrifying sight.
Larissa did not believe in ghosts or supernatural creatures, but when faced with something like this in the middle of the night, she
couldn’t help but feel her scalp tingle as her skin crawled with goosebumps.
“Who–Who are you?” She wrapped her arms around herself and asked, her body trembling.

The woman ignored her question and kept on shouting, “Open the door! Open the door! Just open the damn door!”
Naturally, Larissa did not open the door.
She didn’t even dare to roll down her car window as she tried to turn her car keys, her hands shaking.
The car started to move again slowly. Taking into consideration the person who was just outside her car, she stepped on the gas
pedal lightly.
The woman followed her closely, her palms repeatedly hitting Larissa’s car window two times harder than before.
“Open the door! Open the door!”
The woman’s shouts sounded like the devil’s chants in her ears. Larissa gritted her
teeth and tried to not listen.
When she had finally reached the entrance, the guard did not raise the barricade as he usually did.
Larissa had no choice but to stop the car again.
She rolled down the window at the driver’s side halfway, just enough for her to make eye contact with the security guard in the
guardhouse.
The guard shot her an apologetic look as he explained, “That woman beside your car is not a resident of Foxtail Garden. She
tried to force her way in, and we called the police after we failed to reason with her. Don’t worry, the police are on their way. If you
could just wait for a moment until she leaves, Miss, I’ll let you in after that.”
As a majority of Foxtail Garden’s residents hailed from upper–class or elite backgrounds and were high society figures, the
security in that area was especially tight. Outsiders who wished to enter either had to use an access card or have a relative or
friend who lived inside let them in.
Evidently, the woman had no access card and knew no one inside who could let her
1. in.

Larissa suddenly understood why she had been so adamant about prying her car door open earlier. She supposed the woman
had wanted to hitch a ride with her to enter Foxtail Garden.
The woman seemed to be provoked by the security guard’s words. She continued pounding against Larissa’s car door while
shouting, “I’ve told you multiple times already! My uncle lives in there! His name is Skylar Fox! He lives on the 25th floor of
Block 12! If you don’t believe me, you can give him a call yourself and ask him if he has a niece called Amber!”
As soon as she heard the name “Skylar Fox“, Larissa froze. And then, when she heard the name “Amber“–
The two of them were indeed related.
No wonder she had run into Amber and Travis in Foxtail Garden last time.
Larissa immediately closed her window tightly and retrieved a cap from the storage compartment. She pulled the cap low on her
head just so that Amber wouldn’t recognize her.
She wasn’t remotely afraid of what Amber would do to her. It was just... It was better to be safe than sorry.
The guard repeated what he’d said before exasperatedly, “We don’t have the contact numbers of our residents. Miss, if your
uncle really lives here, could you please give him a call and have him come down and meet you here?”
Amber screamed. “If I had been able to get through to him, why else would I be here, you motherfucking bastard?”
She rushed past Larissa’s car like a gust of wind and clung to the window of the guardhouse.