However, Jasper didn’t give them any chance. He quickly rolled behind a table, grabbed a phone that had fallen to the ground, and fired twice.
The two assassins who were shooting fell to the ground.
Jasper glanced at the fallen assassins and then walked towards Evie. At that moment, an assassin behind him, despite bleeding profusely, struggled to lift his gun and used his last bit of strength to pull the trigger.
Jasper saw Evie’s eyes suddenly widen in front of him, and she blurted out, “Watch out!”
He instinctively turned to the side, but the bullet still grazed his shoulder and embedded itself in the wall.
Blood flowed from his shoulder, but this minor injury was nothing to Jasper. He didn’t even frown and walked up to Evie as if nothing had happened. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Evie panicked when she saw he was injured. “Does it hurt? We need to get to a hospital!”
She grabbed Jasper’s hand and tried to rush out, but he pulled her into his arms with a strong embrace.
His hoarse voice sounded in her ear, “You care so much about me, so why do you keep pushing me away?”
Jasper looked at Evie with pain in his deep eyes, filled with confusion and sadness. “Come back with me.”
Evie’s chest tightened.
The recent gunfight had scared her, even though she had experienced many dangerous situations with Sylvia. No one could remain calm when death was so close.
Especially since Jasper was the most important person in her heart. Seeing him injured made her heart ache inexplicably.
Seeing him bleed and hurt was more painful than being injured herself. Although she had learned to be calm and mature with Sylvia, at that moment, she felt like she was going crazy. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “But…”
“It was just an ectopic pregnancy. Do you have so little confidence in me and yourself?” Jasper gently cupped her face. “Trust me, and trust yourself. It’s not a big deal; we’ll face it together.”
His tone was gentle, and his eyes were filled with affection as he looked at Evie.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t avoid it. The Evie I know isn’t someone who easily avoids or feels inferior.”
Evie’s tears fell even more fiercely. “How can you say that…”
Jaida’s family crawled out from under the table in panic, looking at the mess and the bodies of some assassins, their legs weak.
The couple took several deep breaths before they could barely stand up and tightly hugged their child. “What… what exactly happened here?”
The hotpot restaurant was filled with injured assassins lying around, some injured staff from the wild shooting, and some customers also injured, lying on the ground crying out in pain.
Jasper’s buddies were already interrogating a dying assassin. After a while, they came over to report.
“They heard this family was wealthy, so they came to kidnap and rob them. They didn’t expect to run into us and got wiped out.”
Jasper nodded. “Hand them over to the police. You know what to say, right?”
His brother immediately understood. “I know. Don’t worry.”
Jasper looked at Evie gently, holding her small hand in his big one. “A lot has happened while you were away. I’ll tell you on the way back. But now…”
He suddenly knelt on one knee, took out a dark red velvet box from his pocket, carefully opened it, and held it up to Evie. “Evie, will you marry me?”
The air was thick with the smell of blood, and cries of pain echoed around them. It wasn’t an ideal setting for a proposal.
But he couldn’t wait any longer.
He had to secure Evie immediately.
Jaida was stunned when she heard it was all for money and they wanted to kidnap their family. She became very angry. “Does this count as self-defense? Will you be implicated by the law?”
Jasper and Evie had injured many assassins and killed quite a few…
Jasper assessed the family of three. “No. We’re bodyguards, so protecting our employers is our duty. If we hadn’t acted, everyone would have died. No court would convict us as criminals.”
Jaida let out a long breath. “That’s good, that’s good.”
She then looked worriedly at Evie and then at Jasper. “Miss Anto, Mr. Howlett, thank you for saving our lives again. I really… don’t know how to thank you enough.”
She was so scared that she no longer had the demeanor of a strong woman she usually had at work. “I never expected our family would attract such villains.”
Urijah, Jaida’s husband, was shocked and terrified. If it weren’t for Evie and Jasper, their family would have been dead for sure.
He hugged his wife tightly to comfort her and then said to Evie and Jasper, “Thank you so much. We can’t repay you enough. Besides money, we have nothing else. Miss Anto, how about I give you another villa? If not a villa, then a luxury car…”
“No need, no need… If we hadn’t acted, we would have died too,” Evie quickly said. “You’re too kind.”
She had already accepted a villa from them; how could she accept more?
Moreover, this family had treated her extremely well over the past half month, genuinely treating her as one of their own.
“Cedric…” Cedric cried in her arms as if venting his suppressed fear. Evie quickly comforted him. “It’s over now; it’s okay. Cedric, you’re a man; you’ll face such situations again in the future, so don’t be afraid. The most important thing is to find a way to defeat the bad guys.”
“Yes, I understand.” Cedric nodded quickly with tears still on his face.
When the police arrived, they saw the chaos and took everyone to the station for statements.
By the time everything was settled, it was already past eight in the evening.
Everyone was exhausted.
Jaida invited Jasper and Evie to rest at their home, but Jasper shook his head. “We have to go back; all our tickets are booked for tonight’s eleven o’clock flight.”
“My luggage is still at the Hogan family’s house,” Evie said softly. “So we need to go back there.”
Jaida quickly said, “It’s eight now; we still have three hours. You can come home for a quick meal; it’s not far from here.”
She instructed the housekeeper to prepare dinner while speaking.
The Hogan family’s dinner was sumptuous.
“In the future, hire more bodyguards at home to prevent today’s incident from happening again,” Evie said as she patted Cedric’s head. “Unfortunately, I can’t teach him anymore.”
Jaida hesitated for a moment before saying, “Miss Anto, I trust your character and Mr. Howlett’s… Why not let Cedric stay with you? You can continue teaching him.”
“That’s not appropriate,” Evie said in shock. “He still needs to study! As far as I know, he’s attending a prestigious kindergarten in Middle Evroya.”
“We’ve always wanted Cedric to study in Aettosa but never found anyone trustworthy,” Jaida said with some sadness in her expression. “We’re part of the Hogan family; it’s a big family in Aettosa. You might not know why we’re developing in Middle Evroya… Because my husband and I know some secrets of the Hogan family that we shouldn’t know.”
Jaida’s eyes reddened with sorrow at the corners of her eyes. “The Hogan family couldn’t tolerate us, so we moved far away from Aettosa to settle and develop in Middle Evroya. Today’s assassins were another wake-up call for us.”
Jaida continued, “Yes, these assassins probably weren’t after money; they were likely testing the waters… They wanted to eliminate our family so their secrets would remain hidden forever…”
Evie hadn’t expected it to involve Hogan family secrets; this was explosive news!
She had previously thought Jaida and Lucille shared the same surname by coincidence.
Now it seemed Jaida was also part of the Hogan family… but she didn’t have the arrogant aura typical of them.
Jasper was also shocked. “I suppose you won’t share those secrets with outsiders like us… So what about this child…”
He felt like this couple was entrusting their child to them as if they were facing imminent danger.
“We might face danger anytime; our lives don’t matter anymore. These years we’ve lived are borrowed time. When Miss Anto saved my son on that plane and that video went viral, I knew… my husband and I would be discovered by the Hogan family sooner or later. And indeed… we’ve been hiding for so many years in Middle Evroya… but we couldn’t escape their watchful eyes… We’re tired.”
Jaida wiped away her tears. “I hope you’ll take my son back with you; Miss Anto won’t mistreat him…”
Jaida called over the caregiver behind her; the caregiver immediately handed Cedric’s suitcase to her.
She held onto the suitcase with great pain in her heart. “This is Cedric’s luggage; take him away.”
“Mommy…” Cedric might be young but understood Jaida wanted him to leave. “I don’t want to leave you and Daddy.”
“Listen to Evie and Mr. Howlett from now on, okay? Grow up well…” Jaida hugged Cedric tightly before reluctantly letting go. “Go now!”
At that moment, there was a loud explosion!
Thick smoke suddenly rose from the first floor of the villa!
The entire villa began shaking violently!