Emma got ready in her cabin. It was 4 pm. They had been discussing the auction in Asher's room until an hour ago
Kale had taken Bella out to have lunch on Emma's instruction.
Emma didn't want Kale to stop her from attending the auction or worse tell her family about her plans, so she had asked him to keep the things he heard a secret to which Kale agreed, much to Emma's surprise, without any argument
Putting on leggings, she wore a chic black dress to match the theme of the auction.
Asher had told her that the auction will take place for three days on the 67th floor. Their accommodation was also taken care of by the auction house. And they weren't allowed to go back to their cabins during those three days.
Emma revised her strategy as she wore her shoes. Her goal was to meet the lady that was friends with her aunt when she was at the Woods mansion.
She had found traces of her aunt's presence in the basement of their home. This was how she came to know that her aunt had a friend 5 years older than her who used to visit her during the time she was at the mansion.
The investigator also showed similar findings and recently he told her that this "friend" of her aunt was going to attend the silent auction at the Royal Caribbean.
Emma opened her iPad and saw a new message from the investigator named "Rainbow Sunshine". Her eyes twitched at the shiny name.
Tapping his name, she received a report that showed the name of the lady and her age.
The name of that woman was Betty Graham and she was 45 years old.
Emma clicked on the photo attached but it failed to load. She tried a couple of times but it failed to load.
She let it go after a while since it showed an error of 'Failed to Load. Try again Later.'
At the moment she had another important task and that was to stalk Asher, or else he might leave her and she would have no way to get to the auction. Anything could be expected from that man.
Meeting Betty would be a pivotal point in her pursuit of finding her aunt as Betty could have a photo of her aunt. It would be easier to find her aunt if she knew what she looked like.
Emma had found that Betty loved collecting vases from auctions and since many ancient vases were going to be auctioned off, she was sure to attend.
Emma brushed her hair and let them loose as she could not think of a style that could be made with a single hand.
She glanced at herself one more time in the vanity mirror to ensure that she looked presentable when she heard a knock on her door.
Since the door was open, she simply asked whoever was outside to come in.
Meanwhile, she hastily began to clean up the mess she had created while selecting a dress.
"Are you really going to attend?" Bella hesitantly voiced her thoughts as she looked at the busy Emma.
She had been scared ever since Asher said that people die in this auction.
"Hmm," Emma acknowledged as she left the task of putting the dresses back to Kale who had immediately attended to her as soon as he came in.
"Kale, first of all, apply a black-colored bandage to my hand so it doesn't stand out too much," Emma remembered Asher's advice to cover her injured hand.
If many people were to notice it, they might take advantage of her disability.
Kale got the first aid box and began to re-bandage her hand.
Emma looked at Bella who was impressed by Kale's efficiency and shook her head.
"Bella, he's a doctor. He can do surgeries; this is only a simple bandage. No need to fawn." Emma felt it was necessary to pop the bubble in Bella's eyes.
"What?" Bella was so shocked that her eyes bulged. She hadn't expected that the expressionless Kale was a doctor, much less a surgeon.
"That's awesome." Bella sounded delightful. "A lot of girls would be after you Kale. Isn't it?" Bella enviously asked. She knew many girls who would do anything to be in a relationship with a doctor.
"No," Kale's bland reply washed away all her fantasies.
"Forget it. With your personality, it would be a surprise if your parents like you, let alone girls." Bella laughed as she teased Kale.
"My parents love me," Kale didn't understand the humor and simply answered.
Bella's smile constrained as she looked at Emma who shrugged.
"He doesn't understand jokes. It would be better if you don't make such lame jokes in the future." Emma smiled as she saw Bella getting embarrassed.
"By the way, why are you so adamant about attending this auction? I mean, it would be reasonable if it were me who is hell-bent on attending the auction as I am a frantic collector of necklaces but you don't have much interest at all. So, it makes me curious as to why you would go through such means to attend the auction."
"I want to experience new things. And I don't have much to do on the cruise anyway so I thought I should give this auction a chance." Emma said in a low voice.
She didn't want to reveal her real intentions to anyone. The matter of finding her aunt was to remain a secret because someone had deliberately removed her aunt's existence from the world. It was as if there was no one named Roane Woods.
She wanted to find out who had done this and why. Why was her grandfather so sad whenever he remembered his daughter?
Why did her father never mention that he had a sister? Why did her grandmother die in an accident soon after her aunt ran away? And who was the person that committed suicide? How was this related to her grandfather?
These were the questions Emma wanted to find an answer to. And the biggest query that made her nights sleepless, what was Max's relationship with her aunt? And how did he know about Roane Woods when even she didn't?
And what did Max do when he went into the study the night when she saw her grandfather mention her aunt?
She wanted to find answers to all these questions. And only one person could accurately tell her and that was the person who was at the center of all this was her aunt, Roane Woods.
Emma was brought back from her thoughts when Kale knotted the bandage on her hand.
"Thanks, Kale."
"Don't mention." Kale unexpectedly answered which came as a surprise to Emma.
Emma lightly nodded and got up. The black bandage that Kale applied looked like an extended part of the dress. She was impressed by Kale's attentiveness.
Just as she was about to go find Asher, he knocked on her door promptly.
Emma went to open the door for him or else he might call her uncourteous and whatnot.
As soon as Emma opened the door, a seductive scent wafted into her nose.
She was surprised to find Asher dressed in a black dress suit with his hair styled neatly.
For a moment, she was dazzled by his handsomeness and forgot to control her mouth.
"Close your lips, my love. They are inviting me to take a bite out of them." Asher whispered in a seductive tone and smirked.
Emma came back to her senses at his response.
"I can sue you for flirting with a minor, you pervert." Emma retorted. No one dared to flirt with her so openly ever before. She scoffed at Asher's impudence.
"Oh, but you are not a minor, are you?" Asher didn't know the word "shame". Emma concluded.
"Were you not the first one who called me a child and asked me to introduce you to my elder sister?" Emma didn't want to back down today.
"At that time, I didn't look closely enough. Now that I have paid attention to you, you are not half bad either." Asher replied huskily. He didn't why but whenever he was with Emma, he wanted to tease her and watch her different expressions.
"You might want to change the target of your pursuit because I'm not interested in old men." Emma snapped at his unabashed behavior.
"I'm not that old." Asher who had never been called old was stupefied at Emma's remark. He almost stuttered. "I'm only 28," Asher mumbled in an inaudible voice that went unheard by Emma.
"Yes, you are." Emma found his reverse scale and smugly believed that she had found the upper hand over Asher.
"I'll simply take someone else as my plus one because I'm too old for you." Asher hunched over Emma and stared deeply into her eyes before standing straight and passing her to enter her cabin.
"You can't go back on your promise." Emma gritted her teeth as she thought about how he still managed to win the argument.
"I can. Because I'm a despicable man." Asher winked.
He then turned to Bella and tenderly asked, "Do you want anything from the auction?"
Bella was moved by his thoughtfulness and blushed as she replied, "I want that Akoya pearl necklace."
"I was just asking to be courteous. You didn't have to tell me. Now I feel as if you had always wanted to ask me for this necklace. How shameless! No wonder you are friends with Emma. She also likes to take a mile when given an inch." Asher's said in an upright manner.
Bella was embarrassed by his comment. She had never been treated like this by anyone. So, she was at a loss for words.
On the other hand, Emma was fuming at his reference. When did she take a mile from this smelly con man? Instead, he was the one who took advantage of her from the start.
Not wanting to bicker with him any longer and possibly igniting her brain cells, Emma said, "We are going to be late. Let's go."
Asher raised his eyebrow but didn't make things difficult for her and held out his hand like a gentleman.
Emma unhurriedly took his hand and both went out of the cabin.
"Why are we not taking the elevator?" Emma was confused as Asher took her to the emergency stairs instead of the elevator where a lot of people were waiting.
"Keep quiet," Asher rudely said as he took Emma to a dark corner near the stairs where the sound of cruise engines was intense.
Emma was horrified by his actions.