Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 174

On her way to Simpo Co., Julien was trying to reach Julie but her calls went unanswered. Even when

she arrived at Simpo Building, she couldn’t get hold of Julie.

She walked into the Simpo Co. lobby, planning to go upstairs directly to find Julie, but was stopped by

the receptionist.

“Who are you looking for?” The receptionist asked Julien politely.

Julien responded coldly, “Kieran.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“I said, I’m looking for Kieran.” Julien, clearly an impatient person, responded with a bad attitude.

The receptionist, having seen many women trying to see Mr. Hernandez, gave Julien a cold look, “If

everyone could just walk in to see Mr. Hernandez without appointments, how can we run Simpo Co.?

Security!”

The security guard was summoned by the receptionist. Julien exuded a presence that couldn’t be

ignored. Despite the fact she looked tough, the guard still, due to job responsibilities, reached out to

guide her.

The guard didn’t realize who he had messed with until Julien grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm behind

his back, and pushed him onto the reception desk.

“Ouch…” the guard yelled in pain.

Julien lifted her head to look at the receptionist and repeated coldly, “I need to see Kieran.”

Suddenly, applause echoed in the lobby.

Julien turned around and saw a man in a black hoodie and dark athletic pants, clapping with admiration

in his eyes.

The receptionist recognized the man and immediately addressed him respectfully, “Mr. Payne.”

Payne didn’t expect to encounter Julien here today, but he was pretty impressed by how she handled

the guard.

Payne had seen Julien once at a wedding.

That brief encounter left a deep impression on him. He had been tracking her whereabouts since then.

The fact that he couldn’t find her proved how mysterious Julien was.

“Payne and this lady…”

Hearing how the receptionist addressed Payne with respect, Julien let go of the guard. Although she

didn’t know this man named Payne, she directly told him, “Take me to Kieran.”

She needs his help? Nice!

Payne winked at the receptionist and said to Julien with a smile, “Follow me, gorgeous.”

The receptionist didn’t stop Payne, so all she could do was watch as Julien and Payne entered the

elevator together.

In the elevator, Payne introduced himself to Julien, “I’m Payne, Kieran’s cousin.”

“Thanks.” Julien nodded politely at Payne. The only reason she spoke was that Payne had allowed her

in.

But Payne extended his hand warmly and asked with a smile, “So, Lady Knight, what’s your name?”

Lady Knight?

This was the first time Julien had been called as this.

She just glanced at Payne and didn’t respond.

Payne wasn’t surprised by Julien’s rejection. It was all within his expectations.

“Did I just help you out?” Payne asked with a smile.

Julien, annoyed, watched the elevator floor number rise. Right now, she was thinking that she shouldn’t

have been so naive to think she could just waltz into the Simpo Co. building. She should have taken a

simpler approach, so she wouldn’t be stuck in the elevator with this annoying guy.

Payne took Julien’s silence as an agreement and continued, “Since I helped you, you must be grateful

and might even agree to marry

me.”

Julien felt she had encountered a weirdo, and a horny one at that.

“Of course, I’m just joking. I know you wouldn’t think of me like that,” Payne said.

At least he has some self-awareness, Julien thought.

“But… Rayne continued, “Aren’t you going to show any gratitude towards me?”

“I already said thank you,” Julien said.

>

Payne wasn’t offended. He just continued to smile at Julien and said, “Normally, people would

exchange contact information and express their gratitude politely under these circumstances. We could

even grab a meal together if we had the chance. Babe, you’re giving people the impression that you’re

not normal.”

“Do normal people punch you when you talk too much?” Julien suddenly asked.

“Of course not!” Payne responded immediately.

“Then listen carefully. If you say another word, I’ll punch you.”

Payne fell silent.

Julien went straight to the CEO’s office in the elevator. Tina, seeing Julien’s furious demeanor, quickly

stepped forward to stop her.

Payne made a throat-slashing gesture at Tina, “Don’t block her, she might punch you.”

While Tina was stunned, Julien had already kicked open the door to the CEO’s office.

Tina was shocked.

Payne patted Tina on the shoulder, “Go do your thing. If the door is broken, I’ll pay for it.”

At that moment, Kieran was still on the phone. Right when Julien kicked the door open, she heard

Kieran say, “Send the surveillance footage over immediately!”

Julien stormed into the office and slammed the door shut, nearly hitting Payne who was following her.

And just like that, Julien had successfully shut out the person who had helped her.

Annoyed, Payne pushed the door open again, “Babe…”

“Where’s Julie?” Julien asked Kieran.

Kieran didn’t look at her, but instead focused on his computer screen where he was watching the

surveillance footage that had just been sent over from security.

He successfully ignored Julien, which was great. It seemed like everybody had their kryptonite.

Julien walked over to Kieran and watched the screen with him.

A perplexed Payne came over to have a look, only to find in the computer video a man in a black

hoodie, pushing a cleaning cart and following Julie from behind. The man saw Julie enter the ladies’

room, immediately put two “under maintenance” signs at the door, and

then went in himself.

In the last shot of him entering the ladies’ room, you could see him pulling out a snow-white

handkerchief from his pocket.

Minutes later, he dragged an unconscious Julie out, took something from the cleaning cart, stuffed Julie

inside, covered her with a few white towels, pulled down his hood, and pushed the cart away.

The whole process was super smooth, obviously premeditated.

Payne said seriously, “Should we call the cops? Isn’t this kidnapping?”

Kieran and Julien turned around at the same time, looking at Payne as if he was an idiot.

“Have we identified the man?” Julien asked Kieran.

Only then did Payne realize, “So you called me here for this?”

Without answering, Kieran took the laptop bag from behind Payne and put it on the desk, saying, “Find

this man.”

Julien had some understanding of Payne’s abilities.

Payne’s gaze fell on Julien’s face and then turned to Kieran, “Kieran, tell me the name of this hottie,

and I’ll help you find the suspect. Deal?”

“Do you know who the kidnapped person is?” Kieran’s eyes were sharp, like a sharp knife pointing

directly at Payne’s neck.

In fact, when Payne proposed this condition, he had already turned on his computer using the Biotrack

System to trace the man’s whereabouts. He had developed this system a long time ago. As long as the

suspect’s features in the surveillance video were compared, any place covered by the city’s CCTV

could be quickly found through computer analysis. The reason he proposed this additional condition

was just for the sake of it, he of course knew how important finding Julie was.

Because he was the first one to find Lucian’s whereabouts in Veridia, everyone knew Julie was in

danger at this point.

While Payne relied on technology, Julien chose to rely on connections.

She watched the surveillance video again carefully, then asked Kieran, “Did you guys have a fight?”

Because Julie went into the bathroom crying, and before that, Kieran had harshly asked her to

apologize, so she guessed there might have been a fight between the two.

Kieran admitted to this fact.

He said, “Let’s give Daphne a call and ask if there’s anyone close to Julie who might have a motive.”

Julien was thinking the same thing because from the surveillance video, Julie randomly entered a

bathroom on some floor, not the legal department’s bathroom. However, the kidnapping side was very

clear about her actions, which means they must have spent a lot of

time around Julie.

There was a knock on the door, and Kieran casually responded, “Come in.”

Karl entered and told Kieran, “I’ve already asked all the coworkers who knew Mrs. Hernandez well. No

one has seen her since lunch in the cafeteria. Also, we’ve sent the surveillance video to the police as

evidence, once they have any news about Mrs. Hernandez, they will notify us immediately.”

Kieran nodded, and Julien dialed Daphne’s number.

She cut to the chase, “Julie was kidnapped. Can you think of anyone who might kidnap Julie?”

However, a man’s voice came from the other end of the phone, “When did this happen?”

Julien lowered her head to check her phone, making sure she dialed Daphne’s number. She frowned

and asked the man on the other end, “Who are you?”