On the way down the mountain, both Cristofer and Estelle were silent. Few cars were on the road at midnight, and soon, they were back in the city.
“Let’s go to the hospital and bind up your wound first.”
Cristofer shook his head. “No, we can’t go to the hospital anymore.”
“Why?”
“We need to keep a low profile. Mr. Klein must be looking for us. No matter which hospital we went to, we may meet his men. If he knows that the person who saved you is me, there will be a lot of trouble.”
Hearing his words, Estelle misunderstood what he meant.
‘What you said makes sense. It’s no good to make too many enemies in the business world. Cristofer, you have just reached a cooperation agreement with Alexander. If Mr. Klein knew that you were the one who saved me, he would probably try every means to ruin the cooperation. Then all your previous efforts would be in vain.’
Thinking about this, Estelle nodded and said, “You’re right. We can’t let him ruin the cooperation between you and Alexander.”
“Estelle, I’m not talking about the troubles in my business.”
“Then what are you talking about?” Estelle asked in confusion.
Cristofer sighed helplessly and said, “If Mr. Klein knows that I was the one who saved you, he will know that you are my soft spot and may threaten me with your life in the future. He’s a villain without morality bottomline. I’m not afraid that he will extort money from me, but I’m afraid that he will hurt you. Besides, I’ve offended many people in the business world these years to achieve success in my career. If they want to take revenge on me by hurting you, the consequences will be unbearable to ignore. I can’t put you in danger.”
“You… have offended a lot of people?”
“In the business world, there is no permanent friend, and there is only permanent interest. Everyone wants to get a slice of the cake. But now the situation is that I maximized my own interests and ate most of the cake while the others had only a small part of the cake to eat. I had the others on the ropes, so countless people hate me and expect me to die now.”
His words made Estelle’s flesh creep.
“You weren’t like this in the past. You used to pursue all-win harmony in the business world. When did you become a businessman with ruthless ambition? Why do you have to be so cold-blooded?”
“Because only in this way can I achieve my goal as soon as possible.”
“What’s your goal?”
“To reach the top of the business world,” Cristofer said, “To achieve my goal, I can’t be softhearted.”
Hearing this, Estelle frowned and said disapprovingly, “You’ve really changed a lot. What makes you become like this? Is it Gretchen?”
“No, she’s not that capable of changing me.”
“Cristofer, I don’t want to see you become an emotionless money-making machine. With your ability, it’s just a matter of time before you reach the top of the business world. There’s no need to pursue success in such an extreme way,” Estelle suggested. “You said that you would be a businessman with a conscience. But you went back on your word.”
Hearing that, Cristofer was stunned.
“I don’t know what happened to you in the past years. But after all, you are his… Well, in any case, I don’t want to see you become like this.”
“After all, I am what?” Cristofer frowned and asked.
“… Nothing.”
When Cristofer wanted to say something else, his phone suddenly rang.
“Hello?” He answered the phone without looking at the caller ID.
“Cristofer, where are you now?”
Recognizing Nelson’s voice at once, Cristofer took a look at Estelle, motioned her to wait for him for a while, and then walked away. “I’m dealing with something outside.”
“Are you alone?” Nelson asked suspiciously.
“Yes,” Cristofer answered.
“Where did you go today? Geoffrey said you didn’t go to the company today. Are you with Estelle?”
Cristofer cleared his throat and said, “I’ve not been in a good mental state recently. I went to see a psychiatrist.”
“Okay, I see. Is your mental problem serious? Did the psychiatrist give you any advice?”
“It’s still a little serious, but I’m getting better. The psychiatrist asked me to continue to take the medicine she prescribed.”
“It’s good that you are getting better,” Nelson stated and quickly added, “Have a good rest.”
“Uncle Nelson, you called me so late just to ask me where I went today?” Cristofer asked.
Nelson said awkwardly, “I didn’t mean anything else. I called you just because I’m worried about you. Cristofer, I heard that Estelle went to visit her uncle York today and encountered something unexpected. And a young man saved her when she was in danger. I thought it was…”
“You think it was me who saved her?”
“According to what York and Mr. Klein described, that young man looks like you.”
When Cristofer heard this, his heart jolted, and he asked, “Did they see that man’s face?”
“No. They said that the young man wore a helmet and they didn’t see his face. I just called to ask if you are the man who saved Estelle.”
“Uncle Nelson, since they didn’t see the man’s face, why did they think he looked like me?”
Nelson fell silent.
“By the way, have you been in touch with York all the time? Did he inform you what happened today?”
Cristofer’s question caught Nelson off guard. For a moment, Nelson didn’t know how to answer him. To hide his embarrassment, Nelson snapped, “Cristofer, I’m your elder. Are you questioning me?”
“No, I’m not. Uncle Nelson, you are my benefactor. I will never question you. I’m just curious whether there are any similarities between me and that young man and why York and Mr. Klein think the young man is me,” Cristofer retorted.
After he finished his words, he heard Nelson’s ragged breathing on the other end of the line. “They were just speculating. Since the young man is not you, I’m relieved. Well, it’s late now. Go to bed early. I’ll hang up.”
“Hold on, Uncle Nelson. I have something else to ask you.”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
“Last night, I suddenly thought of one thing. Back then, Gretchen tampered with the brake system of my parents’ car and caused the car accident. After the car accident, I couldn’t find the two cars involved in it, no matter how hard I tried. Gretchen was just an ordinary employee of the 4S shop at that time. She shouldn’t have the ability to make me unable to find the cars.”
Hearing his words, Nelson immediately asked nervously, “What do you mean?”
“Uncle Nelson, I’m wondering if Gretchen is just a pawn and the real culprit behind the accident is someone else.”