When I raised my head to look at the person, I was stunned for a moment. “Danny, why are you…”
He hurriedly got into the car while bleeding and said, “Go now!”
Without thinking too much, I quickly drove out of the area and left the scene. Then, I looked at him and asked, “Why are you here? Are you still working with Abe?”
Due to the injury on his arm, he frowned as he looked at me. I continued, “I’ll send you to the hospital!”
“You can’t!” he shouted. He was already pale because of the pain.
A while later, I realized that if he went to the hospital then, the police would question him very soon. Since there was a shooting case in Imperial Hotel that day, even if Danny said he was not at the scene, his gunshot wound would still arouse suspicion.
Thus, my only option was to take him to meet Joseph first.
As soon as he saw Danny, Joseph’s expression instantly darkened. The only thing he did not do was to take a knife straight to Danny’s neck and ask him what exactly was going on.
Without too much delay, I gave Joseph a brief explanation then drove straight to Dillan’s villa. The firefighters were already there when we reached, and Zachary had just been carried into the ambulance.
I looked at Boris and asked, “What exactly happened? Dillan actually set fire to such a huge villa?”
Despite it being in the suburbs, the villa was still worth tens of millions. What was he planning when he set it on fire?
Boris sighed and replied, “You head to the hospital to check on your father first. I’ll take care of the rest.”
We were indeed surrounded by many people, making it inconvenient for me to continue asking him questions. Thus, we headed to the hospital together as Boris suggested. The doctor concluded that Zachary had inhaled too much smoke but would be okay after resting for a while.
Joseph had to settle the matter with Imperial Hotel, and Boris was handling the issue with Dillan.
Meanwhile, Danny and I sat on the seats along the corridor for ages. After a long while, I said, “I know you are with Abe, so I won’t ask too many questions. But considering that I have helped you today, can you tell me why Abe isn’t dead?”
Danny’s injury had already been treated by a doctor, and he was sitting beside me silently the whole time.
After a long while, he replied, “The man who died in Moranta wasn’t Abe. Imperial Hotel is jointly operated by Abe and Armond, and the operating room in that factory you went to is also theirs. However, Armond had transferred everything over to Abe these past few days.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He looked at me as he said, “I know you’ve been trying to find evidence of Armond’s illegal activities. Armond knows it too, so when you went to the village to find that family, he made a deal with Abe. They’d been doing business for so long that many of their things were old and damaged. Armond was worried since there was no way to openly get rid of them, but you gave him an opportunity. The things you managed to find out are all true. Armond wanted you to make them public since Abe would be punished in the end, not him.”
I was taken aback for a moment, then asked, “Why does he think he can use Abe as he pleases?” They were both proud men, so things were definitely not as simple as just shifting blame.
“You probably don’t understand Abe as a person. It’s true that he’s cruel and only thinks about profiting, but he actually treats his men very sincerely. After the issue in Venria was revealed, we were at a dead-end. We came over because Abe wanted to work with Armond so that his men could settle down. He would then help Armond clean up his mess.”
I froze. “So right from the beginning, Armond purposely led me on to investigate this matter just so that when I finally exposed everything, it would put an end to all these dirty businesses.”
He nodded in reply.
There was an unexplainable feeling of shock in me. From the beginning, everything that Armond did was to lead me to this point. He had taken the initiative to call me, revealed that there was an organ trade going on in A City, and even gave me his name card. His ultimate motive was to let me discover those dirty secrets and expose them.
I hesitated for a long while before I replied, “Was he also the one who planned everything that had happened to me at Imperial Hotel?”
Danny nodded. “He purposely used the child to provoke you so that you would become determined to take action on Imperial Hotel.”
Does it mean he has planned the whole thing step by step, just waiting to lead me into his trap and eventually making me the person who would help him succeed in his plan?
At that moment, I did not know if I should laugh or cry. After all this time, I was just someone’s puppet?
Noticing my grim expression, Danny pursed his lips slightly as he apologized. “Sorry!”
I shook my head, feeling a little tired. After dealing with the matter for so long, everything just turned out to be a well-planned conspiracy.
Just then, I thought of Ashton and widened my eyes as I said, “Danny, have you left Abe?”
He frowned slightly but did not answer me.
Without knowing his answer, I continued, “Can you head to Moranta and help me protect Ashton in secret? Since Armond had planned such a huge trap, there must be something else waiting for Ashton. Can you do that for me?”
