Chapter 343 The Root of All Evil
At the Burton Group, the phone outside the company president’s office had rung all afternoon. The sound of someone coughing came from behind the desk.
Just then, Frankie hurriedly entered the office with the document in his hands. “President Burton, we’ve found out that Miss Carter was also at Hotel Platinum that day. Unless proven otherwise, that woman could have indeed been hired by President Hudson and her company.”
Justin sounded very calm. “Got it.”
Frankie suggested gingerly, “President Burton, I asked our company’s legal department about this, and they said we’d better sue Hudson Pharmaceuticals for libel.”
“That’s unnecessary,” came the man’s terse and unequivocal reply.
“So, you mean…”
“Put this matter aside first. Just suppress the news.”
“Aren’t we gonna do anything, then? President Hudson has smeared your reputation by doing this. If we don’t do anything to clear your name, the company’s board of directors will call you to account—”
Justin lifted his head from his laptop, his stony face gaunt and craggy. “Didn’t you hear what I said?”
Although Frankie dared not disobey Justin, he was indignant deep down. He muttered, “I just feel sorry for you. It was unnecessary to resort to such underhanded means for the lawsuit. And besides, President Hudson wasn’t such a person in the past.”
Justin’s grip on his fountain pen tightened slightly. “She’s not to blame.” Rachel used to be an unsophisticated and kind-hearted person who was sincere to others, but she never got to meet a nice person, and the few relatives and friends who were nice to her ended up leaving her one after another. It was me who drove her into becoming the person she is today. I’m the root of all evil, he thought.
Darkness slowly shrouded Riverdale, while the Golden Cruise lay at anchor on the river with its bright lights and the neon lights in Riverdale echoing each other. Aboard the cruise ship, the party was still in full swing, but one private room deep in the restaurant formed a sharp contrast with the raging noise outside.
Lila and several bodyguard-like men were standing guard outside the private room, forbidding even the waiter to enter to serve dishes. “Just give it to me.” She took the food tray from the waiter and entered.
At this moment, only two people were in the private room—Dillon and Randall.
“Young Master Porter, I heard that you found a new partner?”
“No, it’s not really new. It’s Hudson Pharmaceuticals, whom I’ve worked with before.”
Randall was taken aback by Dillon’s words. “After his arrest for what happened to Hudson Pharmaceuticals, Jefferey gave up a name list that implicated a lot of people. Young Master Porter, how could you take chances by working with them?”
“The most dangerous place is the safest. Don’t you know that?”
“But that’s too dangerous.”
Dillon replied, “Don’t worry. Even my dad has approved of this, so there’s no way the collaboration could go wrong.” Still, when he recalled how Lila and his father had worked together to keep him in the dark, a hint of gloom crept into his eyes, and he sulkily took a sip of his wine.
Just then, Lila came in to serve food, only to be greeted with a glare from a sullen-faced Dillon.
Randall seemed lost in thought. “Young Master Porter, I’ve never heard of Hudson Pharmaceuticals’ new president before. All I heard was that she was an illegitimate daughter and that she personally sent Jefferey to prison. How could you guys trust her?”
“Would anyone who isn’t cruel dare to do business with us?”
“Still, you can’t be too careful, Young Master Porter.”
Dillon leaned back in his chair with a nonchalant sneer. “What trouble can she make? She’s just a woman. And besides, she’s supplied plenty of goods this time. As long as we make sure that nothing goes wrong, the goods will be enough for us to sustain ourselves in hiding for a year or so.”
“Master Porter’s asking you to go back?”
“It can’t be helped. After all, a higher profile draws greater scrutiny. Perhaps he thinks that I’ve stayed too long in Riverdale. Things have been quite tense lately.”
Upon speaking of this, Randall became worried as well. “The Riverdale Investigation Bureau has always been watching us. It’s just that they’re not able to get hold of any evidence, so they can’t say anything. But the amount of goods is large this time. Young Master Porter, I think you’d better not escort the goods yourself lest you get caught.”
“No, I have to. I can’t trust the minions to do it. We had a batch of goods confiscated last time, and my dad was very unhappy about that.”
Randall had a thoughtful expression on his face. “Young Master Porter, how about this? Let Rachel, that woman, escort the goods.”
“You mean to let her take part in this? Are you crazy?”
“Young Master Porter, I think you’ve not fully trusted her yet, right?”
“That’s of course. We only collaborated once, and the goods didn’t come from her, but from Jason. I reckon that fellow must have earned a fortune by pocketing the price difference.”
Randall advised, “The only thing that makes me worried about this woman is her relationship with the Carters.”
“You mean Richard Carter?”
“That’s right. As you know, Richard and I used to be on good terms. Since he’s acknowledged Rachel as his goddaughter, he has to have a good opinion of her. If she’s a person of upright character, do you really believe she’ll be in cahoots with us?”
Dillon’s hand froze slightly as he played with his walnuts.
Just as Randall was about to say something again, he saw Lila making tea nearby, which made him grow wary. “Miss Lila, please leave the room for a while.”
Lila nodded and left without a change in her countenance, but her brows furrowed as she closed the door. Contrary to Dillon, a good-for-nothing, Randall was a deep one. Every word he had just said hit the nail on the head with his suspicions toward Rachel. Things are gonna get tricky, I’m afraid, she thought.
It rained during the night, causing a sudden drop in temperature. As a result, Jolly sneezed as soon as she got out of bed the next day.
“The weather’s cooler today. You should put more clothes on,” came Rachel’s voice of reminder from the kitchen.
Jolly sniffled while pulling out the dining chair. After seating herself, she listlessly leaned back in her chair and said with a sigh, “Now that we’ve won the lawsuit, I can finally relax.”
“In that case, let’s give you a day off so that you can rest up.”
“Really?” Jolly straightened up at once, her eyes sparkling.
“Really.” Rachel took out three tickets. “I happen to have these. Just take Charlotte and Samuel to the Marine Aquarium to have fun.”
Jolly propped her head on her hand while looking at the tickets on the table. “Are you worried about Charlotte being upset?”
“This kid always has a lot going on in her mind. The photos…” Rachel merely frowned without finishing her sentence.
Jolly’s expression turned serious. “Sorry that I did it without your permission.” Taking those photos had been part of their plan at the start, but before the hearing, Rachel decided against using the photos, fearing that the photos might impact Charlotte too much given the girl’s young age. However, Jolly had gone over Rachel’s head this time.
“I know you did that for my own good.”
“That’s of course. Now that you have your daughter’s custody, you can finally put your mind at rest,” Jolly said smugly. “The Burton Group’s PR is too slow this time. Justin has turned from a wealthy bachelor to a universally-spurned whoremonger overnight. It’ll probably be hard to wind this matter up without holding a press conference to explain this.”
“I’m afraid not even a press conference will be helpful this time.” Rachel took a document out of her handbag and handed it to Jolly. “Help me get this done when you return to work.”
Jolly’s eyes lit up as she took the document. “He really signed it?”
“Of course.” Rachel didn’t turn a hair. “Signed his name in black and white. If anything happens, the Burton Group’s gonna take full responsibility.”
Just as she was speaking, her phone suddenly rang on the table.
Jolly saw the caller ID first, and she was startled for a moment. “It’s Dillon.”
Rachel’s eyes darkened as well. Seems like we’re gonna meet up again.
