The Alchemists

An hour later, the doorbell rang again.

"I'll get it," L said quickly. She excused herself to the two guests and welcomed the new visitor. When she opened the door, a brown-haired, tall young man stood in front of her.

"It's nice to see you again, Marianne," said Danny Swann, smiling broadly.

L nodded. She invited Danny in and find a seat for himself.

"Hi, Danny. Meet John and Farah. They both are lawyers from Burnham Law Firm who are helping me in our case now." L introduced her team. Her statement made Danny frown.

"Why do you need lawyers present? Did I make a mistake?" Suddenly, Danny was worried. At first, he thought that L would meet him just to discuss their engagement, but unexpectedly it turned out that L had another purpose.

"Sit down first. We need to talk." L took a bottle of wine and 4 glasses and poured them with wine. "Please drink. You will need a drink to discuss my purpose for coming here."

L's words were spoken in a flat tone. Her cold demeanor suddenly made Danny worried. He had never seen L act this cold.

"What do you want?" Danny asked, taking a glass of wine from L's hand. The girl turned to one of her lawyers and nodded.

Farah Burnham nodded then cleared her throat. She took out a doc.u.ment and showed it to Danny Swann. The man opened it and read with a frown.

Instantly his expression changed.

"Marianne ... you ...?" He looked at L with shock.

"I know the truth, so I come here to take care of my inheritance," L said in a cold voice.

Danny hurriedly stood up and approached L. "You're mistaken. I just want to look after you, as my grandfather's last request ... I really want to marry you."

The girl brushed off Danny's hand that was about to touch her shoulder. "Don't touch me! You could fool me with your sweet words and help a few months ago. But since you threatened me by disclosing my secret to the public and destroying my career ... I already know who you really are."

Danny knew it was futile to try to lie to L further. He already threatened L many times to marry him. He narrowed his eyes holding back his anger. For a moment, Danny didn't know what to do. This surprise came too suddenly, and he was not ready to face it.

"Mr. Swann, we have made all records of the Swann estate's assets. Miss De Maestri is studying them, and we will decide what assets we will demand from the list. If you understand this, we would like to meet with your lawyer to discuss the fair splitting of the property." Farah got up and handed her business card to Danny. The man accepted it with a sour face.

Danny threw the glass of wine in his hand and looked at L with a murderous look. "You won't be able to take my family's wealth easily. Just wait..."

With a snort, he turned out and slammed the door behind him loudly.

Everyone in the suite looked at each other.

"Hmmm ... he didn't take it well," Pammy commented. L nodded and finished her wine with trembling hands. Even though she acted calmly and nonchalantly, she was shaking inside. Danny Swann's gaze was terrifying.

Will Danny try to keep all his inheritance and do whatever it took? At this rate ... he might use evil ways to get rid of L so that there would be no more obstacles for him to take all his grandfather's inheritance.

This thought made L very scared.

"Thank you both for coming here. I will study the Swann family assets and discuss it with my lawyer in Germany. Later, we will talk again," L finally said.

The two lawyers nodded. They cleared up their doc.u.ments and bid their leave. After there were only the three of them left in the Suite, L plopped herself on the sofa with a trembling body.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? What happened?" Pammy asked in surprise. She sat next to L and rubbed her shoulder to calm the girl.

"His eyes... he looked like he wanted to kill me, Pammy. I'm scared..." whispered L. "You know people will do anything for money..."

Instantly, L eyes went round.

For some reason, she suddenly remembered the mysterious death of her family. Until now, she had not been able to find answers to the mysteries surrounding their murder. The police couldn't find the culprit and the motives behind it.

Was it possible that the murder was related to the inheritance? L's heart was beating really fast when she thought that the killers' real target at that time was actually her because she was the heir to half of George Swann's wealth...

Ahh ... but that was impossible! Back then, at the time of the murder, Danny himself was only a teenager. There was no way that he planned the murder? Or.. could he?

I'm too paranoid ... thought L.

She tried to get the thought out of her mind. But the longer she tried to forget it, the stronger the suspicion haunted her mind.

In the past, L was determined to find a wealthy and powerful husband to help her investigate the death of her family. She had forgotten that determination because there were just too many problems around her now. She also tried to forget about her vengeance because she did not want to raise Lily in a grudge.

But, today ... when she saw the killing intent on Danny Swann's eyes, L shuddered. She could not get rid of that bad feeling.

It felt like she would go crazy if she didn't fix this one problem. She just wanted to live quietly. But she couldn't possibly handle this on her own.

To whom can she ask for help ...?

When her gaze went around the entire room in confusion, her eyes met with Lily's.

Ah!

London Schneider ...

Lily's father would certainly help her for Lily's sake ... L finally realized that London Schneider, who had always been taking care of her and would do anything for him, must be willing to help her investigate her family's murder.

L had indeed changed and was no longer looking for a wealthy and powerful prospective husband, but couldn't she ask the man for help as a friend? As a minimum, they were co-parents for their little baby.

After all, the ones murdered were Lily's maternal grandparents and uncle. They were not nobodies to him.

Finally, L made a decision. She took his cellphone and called London. The man had just landed back in Berlin and was preparing to return to the penthouse.

"Hey, what's up?" A warm voice heard on the other end of the phone. "Are you OK? I won't call the doctor again, but I hope you get some rest."

L took a deep breath.

"I'm fine. Thank you for caring. I'm sorry, I was emotional." The girl's voice sounded calm and orderly. "London, are we friends?"

London frowned at L's words. He did not understand the direction of this conversation. "Of course, we are friends. We are more than friends. You are the mother of my child, and I love you."

"Thank you ... I think we should keep aside other feelings for now. You're also dating another woman, don't just carelessly spit out the word love," replied L. Her voice sounded tired again. "Look ... since we are friends, I want to ask for a favor from you. I hope you will help me."

"Of course. I will do anything for you ..." London sounded very excited.

Oh, my God! He remembered and realized that all this time L had NEVER asked anything from him. The girl had never asked for any material objects, favors, or anything at all.

So, hearing the girl asked for his help this time made London really happy. After their conversation last week about how much L felt troubled and annoyed because London was acting like Santa Claus to her, the young man became very careful in doing things for L so as not to offend her.

He was looking forward to when L said these words: "I need your help."

Ahh ... so happy!

"What do you want?" asked London once more.

L sighed softly and finally answered. "I want to know who killed my family ..."