CEO's Passion: Love by Mistake

Chapter 1484

With an emotionless expression, he brought the cell phone to his ear. “Are you done with the investigation?”

“Yes, Mr. Quinn. Mr. and Mrs. Rivers are not at home. Their neighbors said that the two had quickly sold off their house and moved early in the morning. They have no idea where they moved to.”

There was not even a hint of surprise on Stanley's face when he heard that. Instead, his expression darkened and turned cold.

He was right. Joyce's parents had indeed left as well. NôvelDrama.Org content.

You truly are amazing, Joyce.

Stanley revealed a malicious smile as he hung up the phone.

Oh, Joyce. Did you really think that I won't be able to find you now that you've escaped? Just you wait. I'll definitely get my hands on you, even if I have to scour the entire earth to do it.

When that day came, he would make sure she regretted ever leaving.

Meanwhile, at Thompson Group, Silas pushed open the door to Shane's office and entered. “Mr. Thompson, Ms. Rivers and her family have already left.”

Shane was going through some documents when Silas entered. Even after listening to his assistant's report, his head remained lowered as he focused on his work. “Got it,” was his only reply.

His mission was to send Joyce and her family away. Now that they had left, he did not care about anything else.

Silas looked at Shane. “Mr. Thompson, the men we posted near Ms. Rivers' parents' house reported that someone came to look for them. I think they were sent over by Dr. Quinn.”

Upon hearing that, the pen in Shane's hand came to a pause. “That's expected. As Joyce was at Stanford Hospital before this, Stanley would be able to find out about her disappearance in an instant. Moreover, with how in love Joyce is with Stanley, there's no way she wouldn't leave a note for him. Therefore, he would be able to figure out through her note that she would be gone for a long time, maybe even forever. With that, Stanley would also easily guess that she would have left with her parents. He probably already knows that the person who helped the Rivers family was me.”

“Would Dr. Quinn confront you, then?” Silas asked with a hint of worry in his tone.

Shane's lips pulled into a disdainful smirk as he replied, “Stanley is a brilliant doctor and, therefore, influential with a lot of connections. Joyce wouldn't be able to go against him, but that doesn't mean that I can't. Stanley is not qualified to be my opponent at all. Should I be afraid of him?”

After listening to Shane's explanation, Silas no longer felt worried.

“All right. You may go back to work.”

“Okay,” Silas answered before turning to leave the office.

Shane picked up his phone and leaned against his chair. He then gave Natalie a call.

The latter was currently at the competition venue with Lina, monitoring the situation.

When her phone rang, she took it out to see who was calling her. The moment she noticed Shane's name appear on her phone screen, a small smile tugged at her lips.

“Lina.” Natalie patted Lina's shoulder.

“What's up?” Lina turned to look at her.

“I'll be going outside to take a call. Yell for me if anything happens,” Natalie said as she pointed at her cell phone.

When Lina noticed the caller ID on Natalie's cell phone, a teasing smile instantly appeared on her face. She tsked playfully and said, “In the past, both of you only dared to be so lovey-dovey at night. I guess you have become bolder with your actions now that it's happening during the day. You two are so—”

“Stop speaking nonsense,” Natalie interrupted with a look of exasperation. “Shane is only calling to update me on Joyce's matter. Don't forget that she's leaving today.”

With that reminder, Lina instantly recalled the events that were supposed to happen that day. “Oh, right. I nearly forgot.”

“Okay. I'll have to answer this now.” Natalie then got up and left.

As they were judges, they were allowed to leave for a short while as long as they came back within a set timeframe. Therefore, her absence to accept a call would not disrupt the competition.

After all, they were not the ones competing anyway. It was the participants.

It was only after Natalie arrived in the hallway that she answered the call. “Hello, Darling.”

“Joyce and her family have already left.” Shane's gentle voice sounded from over the phone.

“That's great. Everything went well?” Natalie couldn't help but smile at the sound of her husband's voice.

“It went all right. Stanley only found out after they left.” Shane nodded.