In the Conrads’ Mansion…
The withered leaves were all over the garden after the continuous rain. The floor was all muddy, but no
one bothered to clean it.
The Conrads’ Mansion was covered in low spirit. The maids were nowhere to be seen.
Clarence got off the car and looked around. Then, he walked forward.
Justin was sitting in his wheelchair in the backyard. He was staring at the sky, deep in thoughts.
Justin turned around when he heard footsteps from his back, “Clarence, you’re here.”
Clarence stood beside Justin, “Where are the maids?”
Justin replied, “Father’s paralyzed, and since I’m the only person in the house, so I dismissed them.”
Clarence pouted and remained silent.
Justine said, “It was so messed up earlier that I forgot to ask. Have you gotten better?”
“I’m fine.”
“Stella and the kid… Are they alright?”
“They’re fine too.”
Justin looked in front and said, “What a relief.”
Clarence asked after a while, “I heard that you’re looking for me?”
Justin nodded and said softly, “You’ve seen how father looks like now. I’ve heard that there’s a
specialist in Canada for his condition. So…”
“You wanted to bring him there?”
“Well, we’ve got to try. It’s better than doing nothing.”
“I can get people to hire the specialist over.”
After a short silence, Justine said, “Clarence, I want to get out of here. I don’t want to spend my life
trapped in this place.”
Clarence understood what Justin meant. Bringing Dempsey to Canada was only an excuse. The one
who wanted to leave the place was Justin.
Justin continued, “It’s been twenty years. I’ve been spending most of my time in this place. The further I
went was to the hospital. I’ve always been seeing the same sky, the same view when I looked up.”
Clarence asked, “What you’ve told me…Did you think I won’t let you leave?”
Justin smiled, “Perhaps. I know you’ve people arranged around the Conrads’ Mansion. I couldn’t leave
without your approval.”
“They weren’t there to spy on you, and they weren’t going to stop you from going anywhere.”
“Clarence, it wasn’t our fault for what happened in the past, but I have the obligations as his child.”
Clarence asked again, “When do you plan to leave?”
“Within these few days.”
“Well, then I won’t go and see you off. Stay safe.”
Justin looked at Clarence and gave him a big smile, “I believe we’ll see each other again really soon.”
…
After getting out of the Conrads’ Mansion, Nathan asked, “Mr. Conrad, what did Young Master Justin
say to you?”
Clarence pressed his fingers on his temple and looked out the window. He said softly, “He planned to
leave.”
“Leave? Was it because of what happened to Madame Conrad?”
Clarence remained silent.
No matter what excuses Justin gave Clarence, there was only one reason he wanted to leave.
Joanna’s death. Just like what she said, Justin was only his son, not Clarence’s brother, after her
death.
Justin’s request to leave might be because he wanted to get out of the place and travel around, or it
might be because he wanted to stay away from Clarence. Justin might even think Clarence would do
something to him under the influence of Joanna.
Justin was destined to leave no matter what was the reason.
Clarence said, “Dismiss the team around the Conrads’ Mansion.”
Nathan replied, “Yes, sir.”
Clarence leaned on the back seat and shut his eyes, “Any news from the Riverside City?”
“Not yet. The person we sent over told us that Darnell’s very secretive. He could barely get anything
useful.”
“What about Vincent?”
“It’s the same,” Nathan paused, “Mr. Conrad, the Riverside City had been the territory of the James
family, and it’s way too complicated now. So, I think it’s not going to be easy for us to get anything from
Riverside City.”
Clarence nodded and said, “Tell me if there are any updates.”
…
On the other side, Stella was working on her designs in the office. Samuel rushed in, and he looked
tense, “Something happened, Ms. Radomil.”
Stella raised her head, “What happened?”
Bonnie went to the police station half an hour ago.
The reports got the news, and they were stationed in front of the police station as well. Then, they
swamped Bonnie when she got out of the police station and asked her several questions.
Bonnie looked around in embarrassment. Then, she blurted out the truth under the pushy attitudes of
the reporters.
“The Steward Group asked me to come. I… I wasn’t sure what’s going on. I did have dinner with Mr.
Bernard, but I went home after that. Don’t ask me. I don’t know what happened.”
Stella stared at the video on how Bonnie replied to the reporters on her phone. She pouted and
remained silent.
Samuel would never expect Bonnie to distort that fact and accused Steward Group of what she did in
front of the reporters.
Two minutes after the interview got out, some marketing ID pointed out that Stella was the reason for
what happened to Armand recently. Her purpose was to kick Armand out of the company and take over
the Steward Group.
Rumours flew.
Armand immediately turned from a perpetrator to a victim.
As if Stella wasn’t the person who cried and wanted to lodge a police report.
Samuel said, “Ms. Radomil, what should we do now? Should we put up a clarification?”
Bonnie purposely went to the police station at this timing. Armand was going to be released today, and
after what Bonnie did, it made Armand looked like he was blamed for things he didn’t do.
It was an explosive topic on the internet. Armand was going to be released tonight if there weren’t any
solid evidence because of the pressure from the public.
Stella said, “Don’t panic. Follow me.”
Forty minutes later, Stella stood in front of YD Advertising. The glass door was locked. Stella asked, “Is
this the place?”
Samuel nodded, “It’s the same address as the contract, but I think they ran away because they were
expecting us.”
Stella said, “They weren’t expecting us. The whole thing was a plot against the Steward Group.”
It was all a play. The sexual harassment and Christian convincing Bonnie were all a play.
If Stella was right, these were the people who told the Conrad family where Noah and Dolores was.
They even helped Logan to get away from the tracking of Clarence’s people.
Stella had her doubt if Armand gained anything from bailing Logan out of jail.
Armand cooperated with that group of people and exchanged conditions. They agreed to help Armand.
So, what happened today was within Armand’s expectations.
Their target was Stella and Clarence all along.
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