Sweet Subterfuge novel by Trina Duo
Chapter 448

Aster answered the call very quickly.

"Uncle Dylan!" he called out very sweetly.

Kevan's heart was a little bitter. "Aster, it's me." His normally cool voice had a little warmth in it, which was rare. His fixed gaze on Aster's profile picture was gentle, like he could see the actual person through the picture.

"Ah!" Aster panicked for a moment before changing tack quickly. "Hi, Uncle Kevan!"

The address of "Uncle Kevan" did not satisfy the man in question, but... he supposed that was as much as he could expect for now.

"Aster, could you please tell me in detail how you and your mom nearly got hit? For example, when and where?" Kevan patiently lured him to give him the answers that he wanted.

Aster's memory was quite good. He was able to tell when and where at once. Kevan gave his own phone to Dylan, who understood what he wanted immediately and called the president of the corporation under which the mall was. A few minutes later, he hung up and gave Kevan the "okay" hand gesture.

Kevan nodded lightly before continuing his conversation with Aster. "Were you and your mommy hurt?"

"No. Thank goodness Mommy ran fast!" Aster was still shaken up whenever he recalled what happened that day. "It was really scary!"

Similarly, Kevan was also shaken up.

"That won't happen again," he promised Aster.

They chatted for a while when suddenly Larissa's voice could be heard. "Aster, are you showering?"

Aster hurriedly hung up the call.

Only then did Kevan return Dylan's phone to him.

"The surveillance footage will be sent to your inbox tomorrow afternoon at the latest," Dylan said.

"Good." Kevan took back his own phone and instructed Dylan, "Find people to follow Larissa and Aster. If there's anything, have them inform me directly. The new game's gonna get launched soon. I have to keep an eye on Rubik. I might have to trouble you to look after anything that's related to Larissa for the time being."

Dylan was unused to him being so deferential, so he said, "There's no trouble at all. Larissa's my friend too." while patting Kevan's shoulder. "Just concentrate on doing the things that you need to, and leave the rest to me."

Kevan gazed at him wordlessly, his eyes filled with gratitude.

...

The annual National Economic Forum was held in Bartham. More than a hundred economists attending this forum checked into Winston Hotel.

From morning onward, the lobby was packed with people.

Larissa specially added more people to assist with matters in the lobby, and she herself was there to supervise as well as provide what help she could to the guests. This lasted all the way till noon. She called her assistant and told him to take Aster to the restaurant for lunch while she continued working in the lobby.

But soon, the assistant called back frantically. "Ms. Seymour, Aster's gone missing!"

The world went quiet around her. Larissa could hear nothing else.

She forced herself to calm down, but the hand holding her phone was trembling. Moving away from the crowd, she went over to a quiet corner and took a deep breath before speaking. "Tell me properly, what on earth happened?"

"I just brought Aster down, and we arrived at the restaurant when he said he wanted to go to the toilet. I was going to accompany him, but he said that he didn't need me to ." The assistant swallowed, his voice shaking badly. "He asked me to wait for him in the restaurant and grab something from the buffet. I thought that it was fine because there are a lot of people in the restaurant at this time.

"So, I went into the restaurant first, so that he could come back from the toilet and eat after. ... but I had already taken food from the buffet, and waited for him for a while, but he never came back ... I thought it was odd, so I went to find him in the toilet, but there was no one there ... I'm so sorry, Ms. Seymour ... I... I ..." He was so anxious that he was nearly in tears.

Larissa gripped the phone more tightly than ever.