“I’ll come back after breakfast. It’ll take about two hours,” Stella Grace said softly.
Jasper Milton hung up the phone without saying anything.
She guessed that the Dark Shadow had already reported the situation to Jasper, that she had kidnapped Ralph and lied to him. He had every right to be angry at this moment.
She continued eating her bread, only to realize that she no longer had the appetite.
The shop was very small, and two people sat down in front of her.
“Do you know what just happened?” A thin middle-aged man asked the old man with silver hair next to him.
“I don’t know. At first, I thought someone was just setting off firecrackers, and I even scolded them. Isn’t it crazy to set off firecrackers in the middle of the night? Later, I realized that something was off. The police came over today. Even the armed officers are here.”
“I heard that the woman was someone’s mistress, and she was discovered by the wife who then sent some men to kill her,” The thin middle-aged man said.
“From what I know, that woman looks gentle and weak. She does not go to work. Family doctors and housekeepers would visit the house frequently. The child even goes to the best school. What I heard is that the man is Milton Corp’s boss,” A middle-aged woman nearby interrupted.
“No way, the boss of Milton Corp isn’t married.”
“My son works in Milton Corp, and he told me that that was what happened. He also said that the woman’s son should be the son of Milton Corp’s boss. The two of them looked quite alike,” the middle-aged woman said.
“That’s possible. A woman, who doesn’t go to work, has no beef with anyone. If someone wants her dead, a bullet would have been enough. Why was there a need for a gunfight? From my guess, I think that the enemy of Milton Corp’s boss came to seek revenge,” The grey-haired old man said.
The rumors on the street were getting more and more ridiculous, and Stella was not in the mood to eat anymore.
Rumors would not usually develop according to logic, but according to what those people wanted it to be or what they thought was interesting. Slowly, it would become more and more outrageous.
She stood up.
“I’m telling you, it’s not like that,” A short man came over, looked around, and said softly, “I live on the first floor. I came out to see at night and I heard a man making a phone call.”
Stella drew a few sheets of tissue and sat down. She pretended to eat her breakfast with her head hung low.
“What call?” The thin man urged.
“I wasn’t sure what the man said at the beginning. ‘Whether she stays alive or dead is not something I could decide. Since she had said things that she shouldn’t have, she should be responsible for what she had said. It’s not that I refused to let her go, but my superiors want her dead.’, That’s what I heard. I think it means that that woman had said something that she shouldn’t have said, and that was why she was being hunted.”
Stella paused for a moment. It was Frederick Addington who had said those words to her.
“What happened after that?” someone next to him urged.
“Then he was asking where that woman was. He also told the person on the phone not to go back on their words. Otherwise, not only would the woman die, even the person on the phone would end up dead too,” The short man continued.
“These words contained too many possibilities. We can’t tell anything from them.” The thin man said.
“After the man hung up the phone, he immediately made a phone call and ordered them to stop shooting, and that he said would explain it to Old Master Saltzman later. So, I guess the person that wanted her dead was that Old Master Saltzman,” The short man said.
The name of Christian Saltzman flashed across Stella’s mind.
She remembered that when she had dinner with Anthony Levis back then, he said that the Presidential candidates were Sean Yaleman, Zoahs Davis, Travis Lanes, Quinn Zellweger, and Christian Saltzman. Titan Charles was already a general, so the person who could order him must be a person who had a higher rank than he did. That included Frederick. Frederick was very arrogant that he even treated Jasper with disregard, therefore the person who could command even Frederick must be someone much more powerful.
Those residents continued chit-chatting. She got up, got into the car, and made a phone call, “Anthony, I think I know who is behind this. However, I’m not a hundred percent sure.”
“Who is it?” Anthony asked.
“Christian Saltzman. Someone overheard Frederick’s phone call and he mentioned Old Master Saltzman’s name. I want to know everything about Christian,” Stella asked.
“That does make some sense. Christian’s grandfather, Landon Saltzman, used to be a firearms dealer overseas. He was a good friend of Sean’s grandfather. Later, when Sean’s grandfather became the President, he came back to expand his business in the country. He invested in several projects in A Country and even got his son into politics.
However, Sean’s grandfather only became the President for four years and then, Quinn’s father became the next President. Landon passed away that year. Christian’s father slowly developed his family business. However, that was when Milton Corp rose rapidly.
Later, after Sean’s father took office, he vigorously promoted Christian’s father. Christian then became a politician too. The Saltzman family business grew well in A Country, whereas Milton Corp started developing abroad.
Coincidentally, there were so many people aiming for the position of the President, but Sean’s father happened to win the election every four years. Just three years ago, Christian’s father died of illness. Christian took over his father’s position and now he is the Treasurer of the Cabinet. He was also a popular Presidential candidate two years ago,” Anthony explained.
“This might explain why Frederick worked for the former President before. Because when Sean’s father was still alive, Christian’s father and Sean’s father cooperated with each other. It’s normal for Frederick to work for the then-President, after all, he was an independent entity. After Christian’s father died, the bond between them was no longer stable,” Stella analyzed.
“Great. With this information, you do not have to worry about being ambushed anymore. No wonder the Chief likes you,” Anthony thanked her sincerely.
“Now we could only guess that Christian is the mastermind controlling Frederick. They have an organization that works for them to eliminate their enemies. Back then, Little Tiger accidentally found out about the name list, and subsequently, everyone who knew about the list was killed. However, we still can’t prove that they had something to do with the murder of Timmy.
Sean, Zoahs, Travis, and Quinn are all suspicious. However, Christian is more likely to be the one,” Stella reminded him.
“I’m going to send someone to protect the person who had overheard the phone call now,” Anthony said warily.
“It’s useless. He didn’t record it, so there is no evidence.
Now, only Frederick’s testimony could work, and we still need to provide evidence.
Now I know why Sean didn’t want to make a big fuss. Sean had just become the President for two years, and his power isn’t stable yet. If anything happens to Christian, he would lose a highly capable assistant.
He and Christian are both enemies and friends. However, according to Sean’s shrewdness, he won’t hurt Christian until he has stabilized his position,” Stella said in a low voice.
“We can’t do anything to him, and Frederick won’t help us either. We can’t do anything even after finding out who’s the mastermind behind all this,” Anthony was disappointed.
“What will you do if a scepter is covered with poisonous thorns?” Stella asked him instead.
“What do you mean?”
A sharp and cold light shone from Stella’s eyes. She said cruelly, “You have to pluck them out one by one. Then, it will become a safe scepter. When the time comes, hand it over to Jasper.”
Anthony immediately made a salute to her, although she could not see him through the phone call, “From this moment on, I am yours to command.”