Chapter 321 Believe and Protect Her
The contract for the transfer of the shares had been drafted, and James placed the two documents in front of her. “As long as you sign the documents, I’ll pretend that I’ve never seen the photos and all of these never happened today.”
The lounge fell into a long silence.
James had been wearing a slight smile the whole time as he looked at Courtney with contempt and sarcasm in his eyes, as if he had full control over the entire situation. This woman is nothing special after all.
After a long while, Courtney picked up the pen and put her signature at the signing page. She had to use the other hand to hold her wrist to stop her hand from trembling, as if the pen was as heavy as lead.
James took the two documents from her hands and quickly put down his own signature. After placing one of the documents on the table, he tapped on it twice. “I’ll transfer the money to your account after I sort out the cash flow. You don’t mind, do you?”
In other words, she wouldn’t get even a single cent. Upon hearing that, Courtney gritted her teeth so hard that they were nearly crushed to pieces.
“Do as you please.” With the indecent photos in his hands, she was no different from a sitting duck. There was nothing she could do other than complying to his demands.
“It was a pleasure working with you.” The corner of James’ lips etched upward into his usual wicked smile as he said that.
——
…
In the evening, at the Duncans’ villa in Westpark, Josh placed a stack of documents on the desk in the study. “President Duncan, I’ve investigated the entire incident. The lady named Belle Smith is not a child psychologist. Her credentials belong to someone else and that person does not go with this name.”
Alexander’s expression fell. “Carry on.”
“Her name is Poppy Wallace. She was a factory worker for a clothing factory in Melrose City. Two months ago, she suddenly quit her job. The other factory workers said that she seemed to have found herself a rich man. After that, when I found her, she was taking care of her husband in a hospital.”
“And her husband?”
“Fake as well.” As Josh spoke, his confidence diminished and his face paled. “Now, both Poppy and the man in the hospital who pretended to be her husband have fled. I don’t know how they did it but it’s as if they disappeared from the face of the Earth.”
With a thunderous expression, Alexander questioned, “How did she know about Jordan’s background?”
“This… uh… maybe…” Large droplets of sweat appeared on Josh’s forehead as he fumbled for the words. “Maybe Louis revealed it at Oreus last time and he was killed because of this as well. I thought that it was an accident since Louis didn’t have many enemies, but—”
Thud! All the documents on the desk fell on the floor. One of the files flew out and hit Josh’s calf, but he dared not make any sound; he endured the pain with his teeth gritted.
“Put down all the ongoing tasks that you have and focus all your attention on investigating what happened years ago, Louis’ death, as well as the identity of the person who set all this up. Say that you are doing this under my instruction if anybody questions. How could you not notice anything when someone set up something as large as this?”
Alexander, who was usually taciturn, seldom lost his temper although he was cold in character. On this day, however, he was enraged.
Upon hearing that, Josh nodded his head repeatedly. “I’ll investigate the matter. I’ll definitely get to the bottom of it.”
“One more thing—have you looked into that man named Leon?” Alexander balled his fists tightly at that.
“Yes, he boarded the plane this morning and returned to Melbourne.”
Alexander’s eyes were filled with darkness that resembled a bottomless abyss when he coldly instructed, “I’ll give you three days to bring him to me.”
Josh had no choice but to nod and agree to that; he dared not plead for more time although three days was barely sufficient for a return trip to Melbourne.
“Get lost,” Alexander uttered two simple and concise words that sent chills down Josh’s spine.
Josh immediately left the study, leaving Alexander sitting alone behind the desk. Staring at his email inbox, the latter had a terrifyingly dark expression.
It turned out there was an anonymous email with a few sentences.
‘I know that I did something unforgivable on the night of 24th December, but I assure you that nothing happened between her and I at Melrose Hotel. You should trust her and protect her.’
The words ‘protect her’ were like an eye-sore to Alexander, resembling two sharp thorns that pierced his eyes.
Truth was, he had a gut feeling that the incident last night wasn’t as simple as it seemed and it might be related to everything that had happened around him lately. At that thought, he furrowed his brows.
Ever since the accidental death of Louis at Oreus, many strange occurrences had happened one after another. The incidents were obviously targeted at both Courtney and Alexander, and this time was no exception.
Suddenly, an urgent ringtone rang. “Alexander, are you able to get in touch with President Hunter?” Bill’s flustered voice was heard from the other end of the line.
“When I was on a call with Natasha just now, I heard a loud collision sound and the call ended. The news reported that an accident happened at the elevated bridge, which is the road that President Hunter and Natasha took to head to the location to sign the papers.”
“What did you say?”
“I can’t be sure, but I can’t reach both Natasha and President Hunter.”
Without a moment of hesitation, Alexander instantly rose up from his seat and ran out without even wearing his coat.
Josh had barely gotten into the car outside the entrance of the villa and was about to start the car when the door of the back seat was suddenly opened, and he saw Alexander’s face with a horrifying expression appear in the rear mirror.
“Drive!”
…
The hospital emergency unit was packed like sardines.
Due to the snow, the serial car accidents that happened on the elevated bridge had resulted in severe casualties.
“This is a real-time broadcast at Melrose City. Due to the rain and snow falling in the city, a serial car accident happened at the elevated bridge that connects the outskirts to the city. The cause of the accident was a faulty handbrake of a truck. At present, the list of casualties has yet to be tabulated, but there are three confirmed deaths… At this moment, all the hospitals nearby are continuously sending ambulances to the scene.”
The car drove past almost all the red lights on the way to the hospital. Meanwhile, all the entrances of the hospitals nearby were in a mess.
Even before the vehicle stopped, Josh heard the sound of the car door being opened from behind him, which scared the hell out of him. It turned out that Alexander ran out of the car before the former could say anything.
“Sorry, the person you are trying to reach is not available.”
Both Natasha and Courtney’s phone were not picked up. And so, an anxious Alexander surveyed his surroundings, only to see stretcher after stretcher being pushed in and out of the emergency treatment rooms.
“Make way! Make way!”
“Dr. Reid, his pulse. Quickly—”
“Contact the family members to mentally prepare for the worst. There’s no need for any resuscitation. Let’s check out the other patient.”
It was bustling with people in the hospital but Alexander’s loud voice was especially attention grabbing at the reception.
“I’m here to look for Courtney Hunter.”
The nurse flipped through the name list. “The name’s not here. Names that are not on the list are those heavily injured patients whose identity we couldn’t identify. Sir, you may look for the person at the operating theaters.”
At that moment, a surgical trolley happened to be pushed past him, the crimson blood stain on the white garment particularly appalling. With a hand holding onto his forehead, Alexander felt as if his strength was draining away and he was on the verge of breaking down emotionally.
Grave horror swept over him at that instant, causing him to run toward the operation theater with his fists clenched.
“The patient is bleeding heavily. Is her family here? Is anybody here a family member of Courtney Hunter?”
The name ‘Courtney Hunter’ echoed in Alexander’s ears, and he abruptly pushed away the few people standing in front of him and dashed over like a madman.
