Confession

In one year, nothing had transpired between Jack and Hermia, but she had witnessed countless instances of Jack playfully teasing girls.

So, she was well aware that Jack was up to his old tricks again.

"Well..." Alma pondered for a moment, and just as she was about to speak, Jack beat her to it.

"Let me guess, mango juice?" Jack said with a sly grin.

"How did you know?" Alma's eyes sparkled.

"Of course, you're an open book..." Hermia shook her head secretly.

"..." Bradley, standing nearby, could no longer hold his peace. He cast a quick glance at Hermia, who was observing Jack, and then at Jack, who was flirting with a girl. His irritation was evident.

Are you flirting with other girls in front of my daughter?

"Cough cough cough cough!" Bradley deployed the "throat clearing" maneuver.

"It seems you need some good rest," Jack suggested to Bradley.

"I think it's best if you leave," Bradley said, his face dark.

"Alright... I actually wanted to have a good chat with you," Jack said with a hint of helplessness, turning to Alma. "You do need your rest." "What?"

Alma was momentarily bewildered, but then an overwhelming drowsiness washed over her, and her vision darkened as she fell into a deep slumber.

"What are you doing?" Dylan, who was verifying Jack's identity, entered the room and witnessed this scene. He rushed over.

"I simply wanted Miss Alma to get some proper rest. Besides, I didn't want her to hear things she shouldn't," Jack calmly explained, picking up an empty glass, shaking it, and producing a glass filled with a wine-red liquid.

"Care for some wine?" Jack offered, passing the now half-full glass to Dylan.

"...I must warn you, although you're from the IRS, you mustn't take action against individuals from Interpol or the FBI. This is..." Dylan continued to play his role dutifully as an actor.

However, Jack had no intention of playing along.

I should have played along with your act, but I decided to turn a blind eye to it.

"Alright, let's put an end to these pointless arguments, Mr. Dylan Rhodes."

Jack interjected, and what followed caused both Dylan and Bradley's expressions to change suddenly. "Or perhaps the counterfeit member of the Eye?"

"What are you talking about?" Dylan frowned.

"I must say, your acting skills are quite impressive, but for someone who can read minds, do you think your charade is effective?" Jack pointed at his eyes. "I can see everything."

"Mind reader? Are you talking about someone like Merritt? If so, I can only say that although his little tricks are amusing, I find them entirely ineffective against me..."

"Is that so?" Jack squinted. "Let me see... special Tuesday, the man in the skirt, and your father... Lionel?"

Dylan's eyes widened instantly.

Bradley, who was watching intently, was so astounded that he stood up and exclaimed, "What?"

"How did you know?!" Dylan was stunned.

"Didn't I already tell you?" Jack raised an eyebrow and pointed at his eyes. "I saw it."

"Are you Lionel's son?" Bradley exclaimed in surprise as he entered the room. He looked at Dylan, perplexed, and mumbled, "He doesn't look like it..."

Dylan: "???"

"Stay away from me!" Dylan felt a twinge of unease, thinking of his father he seemed to have a slight tendency to turn green. He immediately signaled for Bradley to stand further away. "You murderer!"

"Murderer?" Jack interjected, well aware that things were about to unravel.

He had one objective today: to steal Arthur's secrets. Whether Dylan would succeed in his quest for revenge was of little concern to Jack. Furthermore, he believed that Dylan's goal for revenge was misguided.

"Yes, he is a murderer!" Dylan knew that he had been exposed. Though he didn't yet understand the full story or perhaps didn't want to believe it, he had begun to accept the truth. He pointed an accusatory finger at Bradley and said, "He's the one who drove my father to his death!"

"He exposed all of my father's magic tricks at once, leaving my father with no illusions left to make a living. Caught off guard, my father had no choice but to turn to Arthur's insurance company to collect the insurance money."

Dylan continued, his voice trembling with emotion, "However, Arthur's lawyers let him keep the ill-gotten wealth, which pushed my father into a corner."

"In order to survive and provide for me, my father had no choice but to perform a magic trick he hadn't fully mastered. He locked himself inside a safe and sank to the bottom of the river..."

At this point, Dylan choked up and couldn't continue.

Bradley, after a prolonged silence, turned his gaze to Dylan's teary eyes. He sighed and confessed, "I didn't force your father to his death. He and I were partners, both members of the Eye."

Dylan was left completely stunned, "What?"

"...This was all pre-arranged. I was responsible for exposing his magic tricks, and he would come up with new ones to maximize our gains. But...he made a mistake." Bradley walked over to a nearby table, opened a drawer, and retrieved a photograph.

Slowly, he approached Dylan and handed him the photo, saying, "I didn't kill him, he took his own life."

.....

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