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qWhen Francesca woke up the following morning, Layla was nowhere in sight.
Initially, Francesca was not bothered as she thought Layla had returned to her room.
However, just as she was getting changed, Anthony came barging in while he shouted,
“Francesca, this is bad-”
Anthony quickly found himself choking on his word, for he ran into a half-naked Francesca.
The scene had him turning around immediately, and with a nervous tone, he said, “I-I
didn't mean it!”
“Remember to knock next time.” On the other hand, Francesca took her time putting on
her shirt and jeans. “What happened? Why are you so nervous?”
“Ms. Layla and Mr. Lincoln are gone,” Anthony replied hurriedly, “I went to see Mr. Lincoln
this morning, but he's not around. Then there's also Ms. Layla! Both of them are gone.
They both left in a jeep.”
“They have something they need to attend to.” Francesca replied casually, “Why are you
acting like it's a big deal?”
“No. That's not it! The door to the armory in Mr. Lincoln was opened!”
Upon hearing this, Francesca stiffened up for a second before she put up a serious
expression. “What did you say?”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAt the same time, she was also walking toward the door while Anthony followed. His tone
was anxious as he said, “Something is wrong with them and I'm sure of that. Mr. Lincoln
gave me a morning lesson every day and acted like he was making a funeral arrangement
for himself. Moreover, Ms. Layla also stopped scolding me for some reason. She even
cooked a big meal for me yesterday.”
“Get to the point,” the impatient Francesca said sternly.
“I think they're gone because of something else. They might not return, or Mr. Lincoln
wouldn't open the armory. It's been a long time since they lay their fingers on those
weapons,” Anthony finally voiced his opinion after being reprimanded.
Meanwhile, as Anthony continued his long-winded talk, Francesca was already in Lincoln's
room. The armory door was locked, but a color pattern was gone from the rainbow
marking imprinted on the lock.
When Lincoln designed that armory, he once said he hoped he would never have to open
it again, for that meant that they would be able to live peacefully for the rest of their lives
alongside Layla.
And in case there was a need to open it, he wished there would be a limit to how many
times he would open it.
Hence, he made a rainbow marking and imprinted it on the armory's lock, which signified
that the door could only be opened seven times. Each time the door was opened, one of
the seven color patterns from the rainbow marking would be gone.
Long ago, when they first got here, they were often harassed by the local mobs. The mobs
looking for trouble had also injured the orphanage's employees and children.
Hence, out of anger, Layla and Lincoln opened the door to the armory three times and had
the local mobs entirely removed from their roots.
Later, they opened it up again during Chrono's revenge to retrieve some self-defense
weapons against Chrono and his men.
By right, after all these incidents, there should be only three more color patterns on the
rainbow markings, but there are just two of them right now, which means that the armory
was opened once again by them the night before or in the morning.
Seeing the disappeared color from the rainbow marking and recalling everything Layla
said to her, Francesca finally understood everything. She eventually learned why the
straightforward and decisive Layla tried to talk sense into her and why she slept with
Francesca. Those were all Layla's farewell messages.
Yet, there she was, completely unaware of anything.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIn an instant, overwhelming guilt swallowed Francesca. She hurriedly dialed Layla's
number, only to discover that she had already switched off her phone. Unable to reach
Layla, Francesca immediately called Lincoln, and it was the same. His phone was switched
off, just like Layla's.
Francesca was anxious, and she immediately grabbed the car keys from Lincoln's table. As
she was about to leave to chase after Layla and Lincoln, she heard Anthony shouting,
“Wait!”
“What now?” Francesca replied impatiently.
“There's a letter here.”
Anthony pulled a letter out from the bottom of a vase and delivered it to Francesca. It was
a letter written to Francesca.
The young lady immediately opened the letter, filled with familiar handwriting. The words
were all written with love and care, just like Layla's tone last night.
Dear Frannie, Lincoln and I are already gone when you see this letter. Many enemies are
on the hunt for us now that our cover is blown. Therefore, we decided to leave before we
drag you into this mess.
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