Orphan To Unbreakable Queen - Chapter 164: Chapter 164

Pain and desire intertwined within Aubree. By the time Bowen carried Aubree out of the bathroom, she had passed out.
Kurtis glanced over, and in that instant, his eyes widened in shock. 'Damn, that's brutal,' he couldn't help but think.
Aubree's arm hung limply at her sides, as if it had just been pulled from a bloodbath. Crisscrossed with bite marks and old scars, it was mottled with bruises and blunt-force injuries, still dripping with blood.
Kurtis clicked his tongue, regarding Aubree with newfound respect. 'She's only eighteen?' he thought. 'To have achieved something like Bree Technology at her age. She's no ordinary girl.'
If it were him, he'd never let himself get pushed this far. In a situation like this, if he was driven to the edge, he wouldn't care if it was a guy or a girl. He'd just take them out first, no questions asked.
Kurtis explained, "I never meant to hurt her. About two or three months ago, Alice approached me, claiming to be Aubree's mother and proposing a partnership. Aubree bears a striking resemblance to Cordelia and Alice told me you were close to her. Honestly, I just wanted to use Aubree to make you feel the pain of losing someone you love. Parading her in front of you tonight was just to confirm your feelings for her."
"Alice gave me some intel on Gordon," he added. "The deal was, once the job was done, I'd help her hide Gordon in Kroit City. In return, she'd bring both the Wilson and the Diamonde families to help me take you down."
The chance to torment Bowen both mentally and in his daily life was simply irresistible. Kurtis agreed right away. Hiding someone in Kroit City was child's play for him. It was a surefire win with zero downside.
Upon hearing Kurtis admit he had planned to use Aubree against him, Bowen's eyes darkened with menace. He ordered, "Those reporters must be Alice's doing. Find Gordon immediately. And get me the ship's doctor."
Kurtis knew he was wrong and didn't argue with Bowen's orders. His face contorted for a moment, but with Aubree, the only woman present, already unconscious, he brazenly shifted his legs aside, not caring about appearances. "Come on, Mr. Turner," he pleaded, "with your iron will, that aphrodisiac barely affected you. Besides, you two are already in a relationship. Honestly, wouldn't the doctor be more useful for me?"
'If the aphrodisiac's effects hadn't faded a bit by now,' Kurtis thought wryly, 'I probably would've jumped on anyone in sight.'
Bowen shot Kurtis a glare, and Kurtis immediately backed down. "Fine, fine, take the doctor!"
He called for the doctor, then instructed his assistant to investigate the reporters' backgrounds and check if anyone had sneaked aboard the ship. Most importantly, he demanded that someone be sent over to him immediately.
"You're awake?" Bowen asked softly.
Aubree groggily opened her eyes and turned to see Bowen beside her. "Did you stay up all night?" she asked, her voice still a little hoarse.
"Just dozed off leaning here for a bit. How are you feeling?" Bowen asked gently.
Her arm was already bandaged, and she felt no major discomfort elsewhere. "I'm fine," Aubree said.
Bowen let out a sigh of relief. He still had no idea what was in that incense from last night or what side effects it might have. The cruise ship wouldn't dock until this afternoon, and with limited medical resources on board... He was genuinely afraid.
Never before had Bowen felt such crushing helplessness, keeping vigil by Aubree's bedside, watching her battered body, powerless to help.
"Let's get you something to eat first," Bowen said gently. "I'll tell you everything you want to know, step by step."
Bowen recounted to Aubree everything that had happened after she passed out last night.
Aubree lowered her gaze, her grip on the spoon tightening. "What a wonderful foster daughter she has," she said bitterly. "So eager to see me dead."
Aubree scoffed. 'Seriously, what kind of mother is Alice supposed to be? How could someone like her even exist?
'Why the hell did she even bother giving birth to me?
'Wouldn't she be better off without me?'
"By the way, why was Kurtis so convinced you killed his beloved?" Aubree hesitated over those last three words. Honestly, she despised Kurtis. 'Say he's devoted? He went all out with stand-ins. Say he's not? Then why has he been clashing with the Turner Group all these years for his so-called lover?' thought Aubree.
"To be honest, I wasn't entirely clear myself," Bowen admitted. "I only learned the details last night after reviewing the documents Kelvin had compiled.
"Back then, I was targeted. Afterwards, all I knew was that the kidnappers accidentally injured a woman, who happened to be a junior assistant at my company. I figured they were venting their frustration for not catching me, so I had Kelvin arrange a sum of money as compensation for the victim's family. I never gave it another thought after that."
Aubree asked, "So, that assistant was Kurtis's beloved?"
"Yeah, according to what Kurtis said, the first day I arrived in Kroit City, Cordelia had a thing for me and applied to be my assistant. But with Kelvin handling everything for me at the time, I never interacted with her." That last part sounded suspiciously like Bowen trying to clear his own name.
"Oh, Mr. Turner," Aubree teased, "you must've been quite the heartthrob at eighteen. No wonder everyone was drawn to you."
"I wasn't eighteen back then," Bowen muttered weakly in his own defense.
Bowen explained, "Anyway, in Kurtis's version of events, it became that I didn't care for Cordelia, but used her as a human shield and then fled the scene. The compensation I offered was twisted into proof of my guilty conscience. That's why Kurtis's been at odds with me ever since."
Bowen rubbed his temples in frustration. All this time, he had assumed Kurtis was simply opposing him over business competition. He'd had no idea there was such personal history behind it.
He didn't even know what Cordelia looked like. How could he possibly play out the whole stand-in trope with Aubree?
Bowen thought, 'Even if I had something with Cordelia, I would never do something so despicable! Just the thought of it is an insult to both her and Bree.'
"What about Gordon then?" Aubree asked.
Bowen said gently, "Kurtis is tracking Gordon's location. We'll go after him once the ship docks. Get some rest for now."
After eating a bit, Aubree was still exhausted. With a weary nod, she lay back down.
By the time the cruise ship docked at 3 p.m., Kurtis had tapped into his extensive networks in Kroit City. "I've located Gordon," he reported. "He'll be at a flower supply warehouse on Horizon Road today to purchase floral materials.
"Some of the reporters last night were Alice's people, while the rest were local journalists in Kroit City. They were misled into thinking they'd land a huge scoop about me."
Kurtis scoffed mockingly. "Looks like I've been too soft on them these past few years. Now they've got the nerve to stake me out."
Back when he first started his company, he was constantly hounded by reporters and paparazzi staking him out. It had been ages since he had felt that way.
The cruise ship docked, and their chauffeur was already waiting.
Just as the three were about to disembark, Kurtis's phone blared with urgent insistence. A panicked voice reported, "Mr. Carr, the dock is swarming with reporters. It's a mob scene out here!"
Aubree and Bowen also overheard that. Aubree frowned and asked, "Didn't we already deal with all the footage from last night?"
"There are just too many of them, and when they smell a big story, there's no way to completely shut it down," he said with a sigh.
Even without any photos of the three of them, with reporters spinning the story, fiction could easily become fact. And since it was Alice's setup from the start, it was clear she was targeting Aubree.
Aubree frowned anxiously. "Isn't there any other way to get out of here?"
Honestly, there was no other way out.
Kurtis was also at his wits' end. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd been in such a sticky situation.
Before the trio could even decide what to do, a barrage of 'BREAKING' news alerts popped up, instantly seizing their attention.
SHOCKING! Kurtis of Starwise Entertainment Caught in a Scandalous Threesome!
How Prodigy Aubree Miller Rose to Fame!
Rithol City and Kroit City's Business Circles Rocked. The Trio's Scandalous Secrets!
The headlines were pure clickbait, each more sensational than the last. Aubree didn't even need to read them to know exactly what kind of trash they'd contain.
What do we do now?' Aubree thought anxiously.