What Separates Me and You

Lewis frostily looked at the phone. It turned out to be a text from an unknown number that read, "The snow was beautiful, Chairman Alvarez. Thank you for treating us to such a sight.

"To thank you, why don't I help with Josephine's funeral? After all, you wouldn't go through with it. You'd spend your days gazing sorrowfully at a corpse."

Darkness shrouded Lewis' face as he grabbed the phone and dialed the number. The first call got cut halfway due to poor cell coverage, so he tried again while walking out the door. At the same time, he instructed, "Find out who this person is!"

He tried calling several times, but the calls never went through.

Soon, Conrad approached to say, "Chairman Alvarez, that was a fake number. You can't reach it."

Lewis stood in the yard. He exuded an air of hostility colder than the cold temperatures around him. His eyes remained on Conrad's phone as he took out his phone to call Yannis. As expected, Yannis' phone was switched off. Lewis whipped his head toward Mrs. Larson, who stood aside and trembled in fear.

Mrs. Larson shivered while shrinking her head into the collar of her top. She tried hard to make her presence less noticeable.

Upon seeing that, Conrad approached to ask, "What on earth happened, Mrs. Larson?"

"Yannis told me Mrs. Alvarez wouldn't wake up ever again and insisted that I flee at once," Mrs. Larson answered.

"What happened next?"

"I told him not to run because I know we can't escape. However, before he asked me one last time whether I wanted to flee, he had received a phone call. He assured me we could get away, but I refused. That was when he went upstairs, and well, you know the rest ..."

After listening to her account, Conrad analyzed the situation. He deduced, "Kiran must have contacted Yannis and asked the latter to kidnap Mrs. Alvarez. He probably helped Yannis escape from the outside." Lewis chimed in, "Find out where they are first. There's no way they can leave Elysium with Josephine."

Conrad nodded before rushing off to make the arrangements. He had deployed all their forces and connections for the search. Everyone had nearly flipped Elysium over just to locate Yannis and Josephine. Several hours later, Conrad returned to Styx Mansion and informed Lewis, "We found them, Chairman Alvarez. They took Mrs. Alvarez to—" Lewis sat with his back straight on the couch. When he heard the former stop talking, he turned to look and ask, "Where did they take her?"

Conrad's meek voice rang out. "The crematory."

That made Lewis shoot to his feet. He fixated on Conrad, who cowered.

Conrad felt like Lewis had mistaken him for Kiran and wanted to choke him to death then and there.

Before the two headed to the crematory, Lewis' phone dinged with a text from Kiran. "I've sent Josephine to the crematory on your behalf, Chairman Alvarez. I suggest you don't do anything reckless. Otherwise, all it takes is one text from me to turn her into ashes. Why don't you and I make a deal?"

Lewis dialed the number at once. This time, the call connected as Kiran answered the phone. "What do you want, Kiran?"

A chuckle came from Kiran, who replied, "That's a funny question. Will you give me anything I want?"

"Why don't you tell me and find out?"

"I want you to have Sophia quit TOPSUN now," Kiran's demanded.

"Okay."

"And arrange for a helicopter to send my mom to the location I'm about to text you."

"Alright." Lewis didn't even hesitate to accept the former's requests.

Kiran couldn't help chuckling. "You're being very generous, Chairman Alvarez. Why did you have to take the hard way back then if you were going to end up like this now?"

"Spit out whatever conditions you have, Kiran. However, I'll make you and your mother die painful deaths if you dare touch a strand of hair on Josephine."

Kiran blandly stated, "Transfer Alvarez Corp's shares to my mom's name."

Lewis clutched the phone tightly to suppress his rage. "Okay."

That smooth acceptance stunned Kiran, who said, "I'm serious, Lewis."

"I'm serious too, Kiran. I'll do anything you want, but you must send Josephine back here in one piece!"

Kiran fell silent on the call for what felt like ages.

The two didn't speak, and they only heard the sound of wind rustling throughout the call.

Lewis shot Conrad a look, which the latter instantly understood and bolted off to execute the order.

Kiran finally spoke a moment later. "You treated her like she was nothing when she was alive. Why are you suddenly willing to sacrifice your fortune for her now that she's a corpse? Don't you think you're ridiculous, Lewis?"

"That doesn't concern you, Kiran! Quit wasting your breath if you don't have any more requests!"

Kiran ignored Lewis' rage and continued pushing the latter's buttons. "Why wouldn't it concern me? We wouldn't have to end up like this if you had been this accommodating in the past.

"Look at you, putting in all that effort to claim everything as yours. Yet, look at how you turned out. You're about to surrender all your accomplishments to me in exchange for a dead body. Oh, Lewis, I bet you regret everything."

Lewis hung up at once. In the next second, he received another call from Kiran. Lewis glowered at the phone while his veins popped across his forehead. Still, he answered his phone.

"Why the rush in hanging up?" Kiran asked. "Complete all my requests at once. I want to see results ASAP."

"You'd better pray things stay in your favor, Kiran!" With that, Lewis hung up and dialed Sophia's number.

Sophia was shocked to receive Lewis' orders. Yet, she heard Lewis' stern tone loud and clear. No matter how confused she was with his instruction, she had to withdraw from TOPSUN like Lewis asked. "Okay, I understand. I'll return to the country tomorrow," said Sophia.

That was when Kiran sent Lewis an address. It was the place he wanted Lewis to send Tanya to.

Lewis immediately made the arrangements. He then called Kiran but couldn't reach the latter's phone anymore.

By then, Conrad called and informed the former he had infiltrated the crematory.

Lewis no longer wasted time and drove straight to the crematory. He parked diagonally opposite the funeral home. After getting out of his car, Conrad ran up to him.

"Chairman Alvarez, they're still searching for her. They'll signal us once they locate her. Until then, please wait."

The alleyway's lighting was dim. After turning off the car's lights, Conrad couldn't see Lewis' face. He could only see a vague figure in the dark. He asked again, "Chairman Alvarez, are we really ... transferring the shares?"

"No. That's not what Kiran's after." There wasn't any warmth in Lewis' voice.

It was clear to Conrad that the former wanted to murder someone. Still, he nodded. "Understood. His goal from the start must be to leave Elysium with Tanya and have Sophia quit TOPSUN, right?" Lewis didn't say anything.

The more Conrad thought about it, the more things made sense. No one could transfer shares so quickly.

Besides, Lewis would never spare Kiran, regardless of whether the latter returned Josephine or cremated her.

Kiran's main goal was to leave Elysium. That was the one way to ensure his safety. Even if he received all the shares, only death awaited him.

After all, Lewis was willing to throw away Alvarez Group. That meant he wouldn't care about murdering anyone at that point. So, he would ensure Kiran's death if the latter remained in Elysium.

With a sigh, Conrad commented, "No wonder Kiran laid low this entire time in the city. Could it be that he was waiting for "

He paused upon realizing something was off. Then, he voiced, "How did Kiran know that Mrs. Alvarez would ...?"

He dared not say "die," but his thoughts were reasonable since the situation was strange. As he pondered it, his phone suddenly vibrated. Sheer relief spread across his face while he exclaimed, "They found her!"