He nodded. “I know, it’s Armond from the Murphys in K City. That being said, he seldom goes to the Imperial Hotel. All of the things in the Imperial Hotel are handled by Brandon.”
I nodded. “How much do you know about Brandon?”
He glanced at both Ashton and me before answering, “I don’t know much. The reason I helped him was because of the copious amounts of money he offered.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Are you still short on money?”
He shook his head. “No, but I don’t want to have to depend on my brother-in-law anymore. I needed the money just so I could escape his grasp and finally be free again. My sister has suffered a lot being with him. I’ve been wanting to take her away from him for a while now.”
I pursed my lips and stopped myself from prying more into his current situation. I gazed at Boris, who was standing outside by the pool, before uttering, “Boris, bring her in!”
Dillan let out a sigh of relief as he saw that the woman who was brought in unharmed. Her clothes were not even wet. He paused for a bit and glared at me with a surprised look. “You…”
I pursed my lips. “You can take her and leave now. The people outside must be quite flurried after waiting for so long. However, since I treated your wife with care, I expect you to return the favor by helping me out with something.”
He looked at me vacuously and queried, “What do you need my help with?”
“Find a way to retrieve a kid named Jody from Brandon. It should be an easy task for you, right?”
Ann, who looked despondent before, suddenly stared at me with her eyes lit up. I took a glance at her before directing my eyes back to Dillan as I waited for his response.
Dillan nodded and replied, “Okay, I’ll find a way to get that kid into your hands.”
I nodded. “Okay, you may leave now!”
Dillan, who was all beaten up, took his wife and strode carefully toward the exit. Ashton walked to my side and wrapped his arm around my waist. “You should go back home and rest if you’re tired.”
I nodded and leaned on him as we walked out of the villa. After exiting the villa, Ashton stopped and turned around to gaze at Ann. “What do you plan to do with her?” he asked.
“Just let her be!” She can follow us if she wants to.
On the car, Joseph was driving while I was resting on Ashton’s shoulder. I uttered softly, “Ashton, do you blame me?”
Our first child’s death was an inevitable accident. However, our second child’s death was caused by my negligence and incompetence. Even though I knew that it was perilous to go into the private room, I did it anyway. I was jejune enough to think that I could help Ann when I couldn’t even protect myself.
He embraced me and gave me a few pats on the back to ease my emotions. “You don’t need to blame yourself too much. A lot of things are predetermined by fate. Not to mention, this was all because of my inability to protect you. How can I pin the blame on you?”
I sighed as I knew that he was only trying to console me. Having pondered for a while, I uttered, “What is Armond planning to do exactly?”
He went quiet for a while before responding, “He wants the management right of the ports in Moranta.”
I was confused. “I can’t believe he would deign to do such a thing just to earn more money. Why is he so obstinate about this?”
He lowered his head to give me a kiss on the forehead before replying, “The profitability of the ports isn’t the tempting aspect to own the ports. It’s the authority to manage the ports that makes it so tempting. With full authority over the ports, he’ll have more freedom to do what he wants.”
I drew my lips together. It’s true that the ports are the gateways for exports and imports. If they are managed well, the profitable aspect wouldn’t only limit to the ports themselves anymore. That’s why Armond is targeting Ashton. If anything happens to Ashton, the Fuller Corporation will crumble. He would then achieve his goal.
No wonder he would make such a bold move. He’s waiting for us to take the bait.
Out of the blue, the phone rang. Seeing that the caller was Cameron, I quickly picked up the phone. “Scarlett, where are you guys? Summer’s illness is exacerbating. The doctor said that the cancer cells are spreading rampantly and so she needs to undergo surgery immediately. You guys must get back here now.”
I was stupefied for a while before directing my eyes at Ashton. Ashton immediately turned to Joseph and instructed, “Go to the hospital now!”
My hand was shaking as I responded, “Mom, there’s no need to be so agitated. We’ll be there in a sec. In the meantime, you must keep Amy by your side. And also, help me ask the doctor about Amy’s health report. Ask him what I need to do to make sure the two of them are safe.”
Cameron nodded profusely on the other end of the call as she was still in a panic.
After hanging up the phone, I was in a bit of distress. Ashton grabbed my arm and comforted, “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
I glared at him and murmured, “I’m sorry for making the precipitous decision to adopt Amy all by myself. I know I should’ve discuss with you first, but I didn’t want to drag the Moore family into this.”
