Chapter 176 I Will Not Give Up
Half an hour later, Jonathan pulled over at the entrance of the ecological park’s construction site!
He saw countless patrolling cars and a few fire engines. Although things were under control, the entire site was a mess with smoke gushing out from the burned down buildings.
Thankfully, it was just an ordinary constriction side; if it was a chemical plant, it might be a catastrophic disaster capable of wiping out the living beings nearby.
“Mr. Goldstein!” Immediately after Jonathan alighted from the car, Harrison rushed over.
He had a disheveled look. It was evident he had been trying his best to make sure everything was under control as well.
“What’s going on?” Jonathan queried with a frown.
“It was my fault! I’m so sorry for disappointing you! I’m ready to bear the consequences of my negligence!”
Instead of making excuses to defend himself, Harrison kneeled in front of Jonathan seconds after he confessed and indicated his will to bear the consequences of the arson.
As a soldier, he was conscious of Jonathan’s pet peeves—he couldn’t stand others making excuses for their mistakes.
Instead of reprimanding Harrison, Jonathan queried in return, “Now isn’t the time to hold you accountable. Have you found the mastermind?”
Harrison shook his head and answered with his face puckered in wrath, “No! We can’t get anything on them because they’ve destroyed the surveillance camera beforehand! On top of that, they did a great job covering their presence shortly after fleeing the scene!”
Needless to say, Harrison was equally frustrated because no one had ever challenged him when he was known as the most ruthless man in Jadeborough.
He was aware that his reputation would be at stake if words of the incident made it to the rest of his peers.
“It seems like they’ve been planning this for quite some time. Has anyone informed Josephine?”
Harrison couldn’t fathom the emotions associated with Jonathan’s indifferent look.
He answered while shaking his head, “She’s not aware of the arson because I haven’t had the time to tell her!”
“If that’s the case, keep her in the dark for as long as possible,” Jonathan instructed nonchalantly.
“Yes, Mr. Goldstein!”
Another cab showed up at the entrance when the duo was about to wrap up their conversation.
Josephine rushed out of the cab and hurried her way to Jonathan when she saw him.
She asked, “What’s going on? Why have the buildings been burned down?”
Afraid she couldn’t take the truth after the series of incidents she had gone through over the past few days, Jonathan made something up to deceive her and said, “Maybe it’s the weather! It has been quite hot recently. Don’t you think so?”
“Seriously? Do you think I’m going to fall for something so absurd?” Josephine wasn’t convinced at all because it was almost winter.
On top of that, there were strong gusts everywhere throughout the past few days. In short, it was impossible the weather was the reason behind the fire.
When she was about to say something else, a few firefighters approached them and asked, “May I know if the person in charge of the construction site is here?”
“Oh, I’m the person in charge!”
Josephine approached them and asked, “Sir, how is it? Is the fire under control? Are there any casualties?”
“Thankfully, there are no casualties. With that being said, we found a lot of gasoline in the pile of rubble. Can you please tell us the rationale for having such a large amount of gasoline on the construction site?”
“Gasoline?”
Josephine gaped in disbelief when she heard the firefighter. She slurred her question, “I-I’m not even aware of the presence of gasoline in the construction site!”
The firefighters exchanged glances and came to another conclusion. One of them announced, “If that’s the case, then it is highly likely that this is a case of arson. However, we can’t rule out the possibilities of the ones in charge setting the fire as well. We’re going to carry out a series of investigations to ensure justice is served.”
Josephine recalled the conversation she had with Timothy about a day ago once the firefighter shared their hypotheses with her.
Gosh! I’m sure the Turner family is behind this! I can’t even think of anyone else apart from Timothy!
“Thank you so much, and I’m so sorry for the inconvenience!”
“We’re merely trying to carry out our duties to keep the civilians safe.” The firefighter and the police officers departed once they had everything sorted out with Josephine.
Josephine returned to Jonathan’s side and wondered, “It has nothing to do with the weather; it’s the Turner’s family’s doings, isn’t it?”
“Yes! I can’t think of others apart from them since they are the only ones who stand to gain from our failure!”
Initially, he thought of keeping her in the dark for as long as possible, but it was a mission impossible since Josephine had made it to the scene.
“This is too much!” Josephine didn’t even bother to conceal her frustration anymore. The Turner family shouldn’t have resorted to something so extreme when Josephine was ready to surrender the project.
She had spent countless sleepless nights to ensure everything was fine with the construction of the ecological park.
It took her a long time to snap out of the state of bewilderment when there was nothing but a pile of rubble left after the fire.
“It’s really not a big deal. We’ll just have to build everything from scratch again.” Jonathan ran his fingers through her hair, trying to console the upset woman.
Out of the blue, Josephine looked at Jonathan in the eyes and announced with a determined look, “Jonathan, I’ve made up my mind! I’m not going to give up just yet! You’re right—they don’t get to call the shots when they’re nothing but members of the upper echelon! There’s no way I’m allowing them to get things their way! It’s time for them to bear the consequences of their actions!”
Jonathan was surprised in a pleasant way when he heard Josephine announcing her next best course of action. He added, “Now, this is the Josephine I know! I knew there was no way you would allow others to take advantage of you!”
This is the courageous woman who has insisted on getting married to me in spite of the disagreement from the rest of the Smith family! She’s finally back!
“Jonathan, I’m so sorry for throwing a tantrum at you…”
All of a sudden, Josephine muttered to herself with her cheeks blushing in embarrassment when she recalled the time she vent her frustration on Jonathan.
“What is it? When did you throw a tantrum? Why can’t I recall anything of that sort?” Jonathan couldn’t care less. Since he had made up his mind to keep her company for the rest of her life, he would have to deal with her emotional breakdown from time to time.
“Jonathan, thank you.” The indifferent Josephine felt her heart skipping a beat for the first time in quite a while.
A few seconds later, she heard her phone buzzing.
