**Chapter 17: The Truth**
"Hey! Hey! Listen, I'm Adele's fiancé. You can't treat me like this."
Zhou Ming said, feigning bravery and putting on a tough front.
Ralph didn't speak. He just slowly brought the gun closer to Zhou Ming, the suppressor on the muzzle almost touching Zhou Ming's head. His finger tightened little by little on the trigger.
Honestly, such an action—where your crown could be blown off at any moment—was indeed very oppressive, especially with Ralph deliberately prolonging the time with slow movements. The psychological torment was significant.
Any ordinary person might truly be scared into fleeing in disarray.
Zhou Ming was no exception.
He tremblingly raised his hands, a terrified expression on his face, while his other hand reached for the car door, making a move to open it and get out.
"Y-yes, I'm sorry. I'll go now. Don't shoot."
His hand touched the car door but stopped there. Looking at Ralph, who showed no emotion, Zhou Ming suddenly smiled, his previous look of panic vanishing.
"Alright, it seems you already know my identity."
"Mr. Zhang, as an excellent bodyguard, I thought when you disguised your identity, you would at least change your appearance and name."
Ralph was unmoved, his voice steady.
"Is it that you underestimate us too much, thinking we can't even figure out this much information? Or are you too confident in yourself, believing there's no need for disguise, and are just toying with us with such a clumsy excuse and acting?"
"Heh heh." Zhou Ming bared his teeth in a smile, then suddenly struck, tilting his head to the side and raising his knee to hit Ralph's gun-wielding hand.
*Puff! Puff! Puff!*
Bullets shot out from the suppressed muzzle, making a few muffled thuds. One bullet embedded itself in the seatback, one shot through the rear window, and one lodged in the car roof.
The next moment, the gun was in Zhou Ming's hand, spinning once in the air before pointing at Ralph's head.
"What do you say?" Zhou Ming asked with a light laugh.
"Impossible." Ralph was somewhat disbelieving. "A bodyguard in your price range has such skill?"
"Have you heard of playing dead to catch the living?" Zhou Ming said indifferently. "Can we drive now?"
Ralph glared at Zhou Ming unwillingly, but under the threat of the gun, he could only choose to comply, grumbling, "Drive."
The car restarted and quickly left the alley, returning to the main road.
"Playing dead to catch the living? Is that also a saying from your hometown?" Adele whispered.
"Why do young misses have so many questions?" Zhou Ming replied casually.
"Where am I small? You clearly look younger than me." Adele huffily puffed out her chest and lifted her head, showing off her ample assets.
Zhou Ming was unmoved, his eyes fixed on Ralph, and he said, "Turn around."
Ralph obediently complied. After turning around, his posture was less awkward, but he could no longer directly see the gun pointed at him.
This, instead, put greater pressure on him. He didn't know if Zhou Ming was still pointing the gun at him, didn't know what the other person was thinking, and didn't know if the gun would fire the next moment.
Being pointed at the forehead and being pointed at the back of the head were completely different feelings.
The three cars did not go in the direction of Adele's home, as she had said, but continued on their original path, heading to a place Adele didn't even know.
Adrian was indeed waiting for Adele at that place. Ralph had not lied on this point.
However, this also made Adele's face even paler, and the last sliver of fantasy in her heart shattered: the mastermind behind everything was indeed Adrian. Her biological father truly wanted to kill her.
Time quietly passed in this oppressive atmosphere until they drove into a villa.
"So it's here." Zhou Ming surveyed the scenery outside, quite intrigued.
"You know this place?" Adele was a little surprised. How could Zhou Ming know a place she didn't even know?
Suddenly, a possibility struck her, and a look of horror appeared on her face. "This place... it couldn't be... it's the place where..."
"That's right. It's the former home of the Bronses family, where the massacre happened twenty-seven years ago."
Zhou Ming's smile was quite meaningful.
"It seems your father is a very nostalgic person. He wouldn't come here every now and then to reminisce, would he? Thinking about the happy times he spent with his father?"
"Shut up."
"Silence."
Two shouts followed—one from Adele, one from Ralph.
Looking at the furious Ralph, Zhou Ming sneered, "I didn't realize you were so protective of your master. How come you obediently brought me here after I just scared you with a gun?"
"You damn—" Ralph gritted his teeth. Zhou Ming nudged his head with the gun, making him swallow the rest of his sentence.
"Hmph. Anyway, I've brought the young miss here as the master requested. One more or one less of you doesn't matter." Ralph sneered.
The car stopped at the entrance, and several people got out. The bodyguards from the front and back cars, seeing the gun in Zhou Ming's hand, immediately drew their pistols and pointed them at Zhou Ming.
"There's no need to be so tense, is there? Tell them to put their guns down. I tend to get impulsive when I'm nervous." Zhou Ming said.
Ralph's face was ashen, and he commanded, "Put down your guns."
The bodyguards looked at each other and slowly lowered their guns.
"Please." Ralph said coldly.
The two passed through the gate, walked through the living room, and entered the dining room, where they saw Adrian sitting at the head of the table, and a scruffy, unkempt middle-aged man who was wolfing down food two chairs away to Adrian's left.
Ralph did not follow the two in but stood at the door and closed it. In the spacious dining room, which could seat forty people, there were only four people: three men and one woman.
Hearing the door close, the wolfing middle-aged man stopped eating, looked up at Adele, somewhat stunned, then glared at Adrian and angrily said, "What exactly do you mean?"
"One more—it doesn't matter." Adrian ignored the middle-aged man's words, muttering as he picked up his wine glass and drained the red wine.
"Young man, I don't care what your purpose is. Just sit down and eat something. Give me a few minutes, and then you can do whatever you want."
Putting down the wine glass, Adrian said to Zhou Ming.
Zhou Ming smiled and nodded, sitting at the end of the long dining table. He poured himself a glass of wine, raising it in a distant toast to Adrian.
Adrian no longer paid him any attention, as if he truly believed Zhou Ming would do nothing just because of his words—even though he held a gun.
"Alright, now that everyone is here, it's time for the final act of this play."
Adrian stood up, straightened his suit like an old-fashioned aristocrat, walked to the dazed Adele, took her hand, led her to the opposite side of the unkempt middle-aged man, and pressed her body into the chair.
"Joa, I gave you time to find the answer. Now I ask you—have you found that answer?"
Adrian stood behind Adele and asked the unkempt middle-aged man.
"You bastard. You said you'd give me a month, and only half of it has passed."
Joa angrily slammed his fist on the table, almost knocking over the wine, and making Adele's body tremble in fright.
Adele didn't understand why. She had come with a challenging and accusatory attitude, yet from the moment she entered this room, a bad premonition had been constantly growing in her heart, plunging her into fear and unease. Like a startled rabbit, her heart was shrouded in gloom, helplessness, and terror.
Panic made her instinctively want to find a sense of security, but the father standing behind her could not give her an ounce of security.
Her gaze drifted to Zhou Ming, trying to gain a sense of security from the man who had promised to guarantee her safety, but she could only fail again.
That damned man was swirling the red wine glass in his hand, as if he was enthusiastically watching a good show about to begin, not even paying her much attention.
So Adele's gaze could only fall once more on Joa, the middle-aged man sitting opposite her, and a complex mix of emotions welled up in her eyes.
"Of course, the time I promised was one month, but plans can never keep up with changes."
Adrian cupped Adele's face from behind, gently caressing her delicate cheek.
"When I learned that Adele was on the return flight, I knew that not everything could go according to my plan. So I could only temporarily send someone to invite you over, Joa."
"Do you remember what you did twenty-seven years ago? Do you still remember the name Doris?"
"Doris?" Joa cried out in disbelief, then suddenly, as if just realizing, he abruptly stood up, pointed at Adrian, and exclaimed, "You, you are her—"
"She is my sister, Mr. Joa. Now do you know why I imprisoned you for twenty years?"
Adrian asked.
"So that's it. So that's it."
Joa sat back in his chair, disheartened, muttering, "You're taking revenge on me. You're taking revenge on me for what I did twenty years ago. You think I caused the death of your family."
"My family—including me."
For the first time tonight, Adrian's face showed emotional fluctuations. His skin twitched, and his eyes gradually turned red.
"You saw what they were doing, and then you spread it everywhere. You told everyone."
"That's right." Joa lowered his eyelids and whispered, "I told everyone. My friends, schoolmates, teachers, and on the internet..."
"Endless insults and humiliation, like a tide, drowned Doris. You don't know how difficult that was for her. How difficult it was for us." Adrian's voice trembled, and his fingers resting on Adele's shoulder also trembled.
"All of this is because of you, Joa. All the beauty, warmth, and happiness we had vanished because of you."
"This is why I imprisoned you for twenty years, Mr. Joa."
"According to our agreement, if you could figure out my identity and the reason for my imprisonment within a month, you would win. Now you know all of this, so you win."
After saying all this, Adrian's hands no longer trembled, and a sense of relief—as if a great burden had been lifted—emanated from him. The secret he had carried for decades had finally been spoken by his own mouth, and his expression returned to calm.