The Queen They Buried

Chapter 303

“By the way, why was Kurtis so convinced you killed his beloved?” Aubree hesitated over those last three words. Honestly, she despised Kurtis. ‘Say he’s devoted? He went all out with stand–ins. Say he’s not? Then why has he been clashing with the Turner Group all these years for his so–called lover?‘ thought Aubree.

“To be honest, I wasn’t entirely clear myself,” Bowen admitted. “I only learned the details last night after reviewing the documents Kelvin had compiled.

“Back then, I was targeted. Afterwards, all I knew was that the kidnappers accidentally injured a woman, who happened to be a junior assistant at my company. I figured they were venting their frustration for not catching me, so 1 had Kelvin arrange a sum of money as compensation for the victim’s family. I never gave it another thought after that.”

Aubree asked, “So, that assistant was Kurtis’s beloved?”

“Yeah, according to what Kurtis said, the first day I arrived in Kroit City, Cordelia had a thing for me and applied to be my assistant. But with Kelvin handling everything for me at the time, I never interacted with her.” That last part sounded suspiciously like Bowen trying to clear his own name.

“Oh, Mr. Turner,” Aubree teased, “you must’ve been quite the heartthrob at eighteen. No wonder everyone was drawn to you.”

“I wasn’t eighteen back then,” Bowen muttered weakly in his own defense.

Bowen explained, “Anyway, in Kurtis’s version of events, it became that I didn’t care for Cordelia, but used her as a human shield and then fled the scene. The compensation I offered was twisted into proof of my guilty conscience. That’s why Kurtis’s been at odds with me ever since.”

opposing him over business competition. He’d had no idea there was such personal history behind

could he possibly play out the whole stand–in trope with

thought, ‘Even if I had something with Cordelia, I would never do something so despicable! Just the thought of it is an insult to both her

Bree.‘

about Gordon then?”

Gordon’s location. We’ll go after him once the ship docks. Get some

was still exhausted. With a weary nod,

at 3 p.m., Kurtis had tapped into his extensive networks in Kroit City. “I’ve located Gordon,” he reported. “He’ll be

the rest were local journalists in Kroit

on them these past few years. Now they’ve got the nerve to

by reporters and paparazzi staking him out. It had been

docked, and their

as the three were about to disembark, Kurtis’s phone blared with urgent insistence. A panicked voice reported, “Mr. Carr, the dock is swarming with reporters. It’s a mob scene out

frowned and asked, “Didn’t we already deal with all the footage from

big story, there’s no way to completely shut it down,” he

the story, fiction could easily become fact. And since it was Alice’s setup