"So they want to kill me? Or kill us both?" asked Bridget with blank facial expressions. Her dad was sitting right next to her at the dining table… well, it wasn't a dining table anymore; they'd turned it into an office that was filled with files and pictures that belonged to the case of The Segas.
Hudson stroked over his face in distress and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I don't know. All I know is that the police found Julian's dead body right in front of the entrance of the court building with this message in his hand."
Bridget silently gazed at the pictures of the dead body, then the picture of the message that was written with blood on a white piece of paper. The message said: 'Hudson Verlive will pay for the loss of this vegetable.'
Such a strange thing to address a whole human being as a vegetable, but they should expect anything from people like the Segas. Why would the Segas risk getting caught and come to the court building to bring Julian, then kill the latter, who is a member of them, not only that but also blame her dad for it?
The case of the Segas was so confusing and complicated. That was one of Bridget's favorite things about this case. How come no detective was able to find anything that could lead them to one of the Segas and catch them? How could they be so skillful and confident to move in broad daylight without worrying about getting caught by the police?
The fact that Julian seemed so chill in the court was driving everyone, including Bridget, insane.
It turned out Julian probably knew the Segas would come and get him, and he knew he was going to die. He did accept his fate happily.
"I seriously don't understand anything. Why would they be after you? Nobody knows that you're the one who found that footage, right? I mean, it wasn't announced publicly, was it?" Bridget felt so puzzled at this moment and lost.
Sometimes she just wanted to push this case away because it wasn't her or her father's job. They were only supposed to defend their clients in the trials, but Hudson had somehow gotten dragged into this case twelve years ago.
But most of the time, Bridget couldn't help but keep thinking and looking for new clues about this case. She was so curious about the Segas and couldn't stop herself.
Hudson furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "No, the only people who know it was me who found the footage are the team of lawyers and detectives that I work with on this case. In public, it was said the authorities found it."
Bridget honestly felt scared after seeing those pictures of Julian's dead body, especially that message, but the fear also excited her somehow.
She probably shouldn't be excited because the Segas would most definitely target her to hurt her father, who was well-protected all day long.
Bridget was one of those people who liked feeling scared of something and would always go try it and defeat that fear.
For example, she used to be terrified of heights, but she didn't hesitate to accept her friends' offer of climbing a mountain or trying a rollercoaster.
She even tried jumping with a parachute until she stopped being scared of heights, which was sad for her. Call her crazy, but she used to enjoy these things because of her fear of them.
This is why the fact that the Segas were after her encouraged her to dig deeper and search for more clues about them.
"You need to go back home, Bridget. It's safer there." Bridget immediately shot her eyes open, snatched out of her deep thoughts about the Segas the second she heard what her father said. "No, Dad."
She objected in a tone that showed she wouldn't change her mind no matter what.
"Bridget, you don't have a choice. This is for your safety. At our house, I can keep an eye on you to make sure you're safe. What if something happens to you here?"
Bridget remained silent after this as she calmly glanced at the picture on the table. "Stay here then. I want to spend my summer here, Dad. That's my only wish."
Hudson just shook his head helplessly and sighed. "I can't stay here for too long; I'm busy. I'll hire a bodyguard for you. If you say no, I'm going to drag you back home."
Bridget chuckled after hearing her father's threat, then scoffed jokingly, "You're too old for that, Mr. Verlive.—Ouch, Dad, sorry, you're a big guy, even bigger than Uncle Patrick. Just let go of my ear, please."
Hudson smirked in satisfaction before letting go of his daughter's ear, who held her poor ear and frowned at her dad.
Uncle Patrick, Bridget's mother's brother, was a gym rat who always teased Hudson for being bigger than him.
This is why Hudson felt satisfied hearing his daughter, also a gym girl, saying that he was bigger than Patrick, even if it was a lie.
Before Bridget could say anything, she heard the sound of the doorbell, which is why she instantly glanced at her dad as they both immediately got serious.
Hudson quickly slid his hand to his waist and grabbed his gun, a Sig Sauer P365 X-Macro, before gesturing to his daughter to move toward the door.
There was a camera at the front door, so Bridget went to the monitor to see who was at the door before opening it. She furrowed her eyebrows, which caught Hudson's attention. "Who is it?"
"It's a woman. She looks like a maid. Did you hire a maid for me, Dad?"
Hudson quickly shook his head as they both felt puzzled.
Nonetheless, Bridget walked forward and opened the door, only to be met with a short, petite woman dressed in a very long, simple black dress that covered her entire body, with a white apron on top.
She smiled widely at Bridget.
"Good afternoon, ma'am. The owner of the house next door baked some cookies, and I wanted to bring some for you as a welcoming gift. I've just noticed that you're new here."
Bridget's facial expressions immediately relaxed as a soft grin appeared on her face when she realized how sweet this lady was.
"Thank you so much." She thanked the lady and slowly grabbed the beautiful basket of cookies.
She remained silent for a second as she realized that these cookies were made by Teddy's owner.
This brought a grin to her face because now she had an excuse to go talk to her neighbor, whom she was curious about, and maybe they could become friends.
Her gaze quickly diverted to the backyard, where Teddy's owner was sitting in the gazebo with a book in his hands, and Teddy walking randomly on his thighs.
Sometimes, Teddy would keep spinning around him, but in the end, Teddy barked and ran to the front yard.
'Why doesn't he remove those sunglasses?' Bridget wondered internally when she noticed that, in the three times she had seen her neighbor, she had never seen him without the shades.
The lady just smiled one last time before rushing toward the front yard to pick Teddy up and bring him back to his owner.
"Dad, calm down. It was just a sweet lady. Look, she gave me these cookies to welcome me to the neighborhood. I didn't have the heart to tell her I've lived in this neighborhood for more than eighteen years of my life," Bridget said after closing the door and turning around to look at her father, who was still holding his gun.
Bridget grabbed one of the cookies, ready to eat it, but Hudson instantly took it away from her hand and threw it in the garbage bin, along with the whole basket, which made Bridget widen her eyes. "Dad, what have you done?"
"I just told you that the Segas are literally after us, Bridget, and now you want to eat cookies given to you by a random lady?"
Her dad scolded her, which is why she remained silent for a few seconds before speaking.
"But Dad, she's just a sweet person. Did you see how nice she is? Even the owner of the house next door looks nice."
Hudson shook his head in disappointment when he heard what his daughter uttered.
"Don't trust nice people. They're the worst because you always expect a bad person to hurt you. So even if they do, you're already ready for it. But when nice people decide to hurt you, you have to deal with being betrayed first, then the pain they caused you."
Hudson put his gun back in his waistband and placed his hands on his daughter's shoulders as he spoke.
"Don't trust anybody, no matter how nice they are, especially now. The Segas are smart. Of course, if they want to get to you, they won't send someone who looks shady. They can send a petite, nice woman with cookies, an old grandpa, or even a child with popsicles. So be careful."