Chapter 246 You Still Have Me
“Have you found those two people?”
Oliver nodded. “The two of them have opened a restaurant in Elmsbury called Sisters’ Fast Food Restaurant. They are now living a good life.”
Sarah and Maria were both cousins who came from the remote mountainous areas. Since the two of them had left their village in the middle of nowhere, they never planned to return there.
From the information that Oliver had gathered, they only worked in the Duncan Family for two years. One year was used by the Duncans to specifically train them and it did not include the evaluation period before they were officially hired.
Naturally, a maid who went through many difficult stages of evaluation would not have a low income, so logically, she would not do anything to harm her master’s family for a small profit.
“I’ve also checked their bank accounts, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Other than the income they received for being the Duncans’ maid back then, their highest transfer was the severance payment that the Duncans gave them three years ago.”
“So, they weren’t bribed?”
“No.” Oliver shook his head before flipping a page of the document, revealing the picture of a street with a skinny man in the middle. “This is Maria’s ex-husband. The two of them were married in her old house. In the early years, he followed Maria all the way to Melrose City and asked her for a lot of money. In the end, he became addicted to drugs and ended up with a huge debt. However, three years ago, all his debt collectors suddenly stopped appearing and the man was sent into a rehabilitation center.”
At that moment, Courtney furrowed her brows as she blankly stared at the man in the photo.
Vaguely, she could guess the interest that everyone could gain from the situation at hand.
“Then, I went to Aston County to search for this man. He just came out of the rehabilitation center six months ago and has kicked his drug addiction. He admitted that the man behind the scenes found him and promised to clear all his debt by giving him a huge amount of money. However, the man wanted him to urge Maria to administer some drugs into the milk powder of her master’s child.” Oliver was straightforward with his words because it was not his assumption. Instead, they were facts based on evidence.
“Did Maria do it?”
“I’m not sure.” He shook his head again. “This man is quite smart. Maria’s ex-husband told me that she didn’t agree to do it back then and she even wanted to divorce him. Because of this, the two of them fought and were apprehended by the Melrose City police department. I’ve checked the records and it’s real.”
However, Courtney seemed to realize something. “You just mentioned that there were two sisters who opened the restaurant in Elmsbury, right? One of them is Sarah Jones. Does this have anything to do with her?”
Oliver nodded. “Yes, it has something to do with her.”
What happened was simple. After Maria had a fight with her ex-husband, he stubbornly refused to divorce her, but the debt collectors naturally found their way to her when they could not locate him. As her cousin, Sarah could not bear seeing her in that situation, she drugged the child behind the married couple’s back.
“At first, Maria didn’t know about this, but after Jordan had the accident, she forced Sarah to tell the truth. However, at that time, it was already too late and there was someone to cover the incident for them, so they resigned from their jobs in the Duncan Family and left Melrose City before fleeing to Elmsbury.”
During the whole incident, there was no transaction of money, so the Duncan Family could not figure out what happened at that time because no one believed that someone would do such a thing for nothing.
“Then, how did you find out?” Courtney was confused.
No one could find any evidence back then and even if Oliver found the sisters, the two of them would definitely keep their mouths shut and refuse to admit to it.
He looked to have mixed feelings. “Sarah has cancer and she won’t be living for much longer, so she confessed everything to me.”
No one could tell whether there was really karma in the world. Back then, when Sarah drugged Jordan, even though she was not caught, she remained in a nervous state because she was always worried that the Duncans would somehow get to her. Over the years, she fell ill and was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer six months ago.
Courtney also had mixed feelings toward the situation. As Jordan’s mother, she should feel that Sarah deserved it and show no sympathy toward her. However, at that time, Sarah did not do it for money. Instead, she merely committed the act to help her cousin escape a bad situation, which was admirable.
“Who is the man behind the scenes? Have you found that out?”
Upon that being mentioned, Oliver slowly sighed. “Sarah said that the man who contacted her then was the Young Master of the Duncan Family.”
Suddenly, Courtney felt a thump in her heart as she clenched her fists. “There are a few young masters in the Duncan Family.”
“She was certain that it was Jordan’s father. Although she rarely saw him, he would always visit the ancestral home every New Year. Also, he was always on the news, so she couldn’t mistake someone else for him.”
The fingers of Courtney’s clenching fists were now icy cold as coldness flowed through her stiff limbs to the point where even her rationality was frozen. Did Alexander really do it? Did he use a two-year-old child?
Looking at her pale face, Oliver felt a pain in his heart. “Courtney, try not to look at this in a bad way. Maybe Alexander didn’t expect this to have such a huge impact on Jordan. I’ve asked Sarah what medicine she used for Jordan and she said that it helps to heat up the body. Also, she was afraid that the child couldn’t bear it, so she only used a small dosage. That is why he only had a fever afterward. As for the damage to his vocal cords, I think that’s a bit weird. Didn’t the doctor say that Jordan’s vocal cords are actually fine, but he doesn’t want to speak for fear of being frightened?”
However, his words did not comfort Courtney at all as she still felt upset. How cold-blooded does Alexander have to be for using a two-year-old child, who can’t speak, as a weapon for the competition in his business? This is terrible. “You don’t need to comfort me. I know what to do.”
When Oliver first reminded her, she was already mentally prepared for the worst case scenario.
At night, the lights in the living room were switched off. After having run around for so long, he slept in the guest room immediately after taking a shower. As for her, she stayed in Tina’s room because she just could not fall asleep.
As she gazed at the innocent looks of her daughter, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, she felt extremely guilty inside. If I was stronger back then, would I be able to stop Jordan from falling into the hands of the sinister wealthy family like the Duncans and getting involved in this kind of dispute?
In the dark night, her phone rang as a message popped up. ‘Cameron has fully recovered. Everything is fine here. What about you? From Elijah.’
While reading the contents of the message, Courtney took a deep breath and sat on the carpet with her legs crossed. Then, she typed a series of words on her phone screen before sending it. ‘I’m fine. I’ve considered the situation with Jordan. Do you still have the contact of the lawyer you mentioned to me before? I need to ask him about the issue with child custody.’
At the beginning, she did not think about fighting Alexander for custody of Jordan. After all, he had been raising him for many years, so she did not have the right to just take Jordan away. However, by the looks of it now, if Alexander would do something as horrible as that in the past, he may do it to Jordan the second time. Besides, it is indeed dangerous for Jordan to stay by his side.
Soon after, Elijah replied and attached the contact information of the lawyer in his message. ‘If you have any questions, you can ask him first. I’ll be coming to Melrose City next month. Try to maintain a good mood and we’ll talk about it when we meet again. You still have me.’
