Areli pressed, “You must have money on you. You can cover it for now and ask Penelope later.”
“Not a chance!” Darnell looked distressed. Who would want to meet Penelope again? He tightly held onto another pocket. “Miss Fanshaw, can I pay you back later?”
Darnell didn’t want to part with the money he had painstakingly gotten from Victoria.
“Let go! You still have Roberto’s four hundred thousand in compensation. You won’t miss this little bit for meals.” Areli pried Darnell’s hand away, took out the six thousand Victoria had given him, and held it triumphantly without counting it. “Looks like this should be enough. Alright, you’re free to go.”
Darnell reached out to take it, but Areli slapped his hand away, her face cold and beautiful. “Go back to the sales department and work hard.”
Darnell looked at the smirking woman. “Miss Fanshaw, don’t you think this scene looks a lot like a robbery?”
A knife, money, a victim, and a robber were present.
Areli was momentarily stunned but then snorted lightly, “It would have been better if you’d handed over the money willingly.”
She suddenly changed the subject. “Did you have lunch with your team members today? Surrounded by beauties, huh? Lucky you.”
Darnell was taken aback but then smiled without saying anything.
Seeing his reaction, Areli blushed and became furious. “Don’t get any wrong ideas. It’s not what you think!”
Darnell shrugged. “I didn’t say anything.”
He pretended to be indifferent, but inside, he felt a bit pleased that Areli cared so much.
Areli’s face flushed as she waved a paper cutter angrily. “Get out of here!”
Just as she said that, the paper cutter flew out of her hand with too much force, hit the ceiling, and bounced back towards her leg at high speed, dangerously close.
In a split second, Darnell grabbed Areli’s leg and caught the flying paper cutter with one hand.
The cutter was extremely sharp, but not a drop of blood was shed. His control was masterful.
“Ah, Darnell, are you okay?” Areli snapped out of it and looked down at Darnell holding the paper cutter, her face filled with concern and anxiety. “Are you hurt? I’ll call someone to take you to the hospital.”
“Don’t move!” Darnell spoke softly, “Let me catch my breath.”
Feeling guilty, Areli nodded and stayed still to let Darnell calm down and to steady herself.
But soon, she realized something was wrong. Darnell’s hand holding the cutter was motionless, but his other hand on her leg was wandering skillfully, making her feel tingly all over.
She looked down and saw him staring straight up her skirt. It turned out he wasn’t catching his breath.
Even though she wore black stockings, he could still see her panda-patterned underwear.
“Darnell, what did you see?” Areli asked softly while raising her hand, wishing she could be a martial arts master and slap that handsome face into oblivion.
Darnell absentmindedly replied, “A hungry panda waiting for me to feed it bamboo.”
Silence fell.
The atmosphere grew so tense that Darnell found it hard to breath. He sensed an impending storm.
The next second, he scrambled towards the door. “Miss Fanshaw, there’s no panda! No bamboo! I didn’t see anything.”
“Believe me,”
After leaving Areli’s office, Darnell didn’t even return to the sales department. He sent a WhatsApp message to Casey and the others before rushing downstairs to catch a cab home.
He didn’t want to be killed by an enraged Areli wielding a knife.
“Stop right there!”
Back in Woodsea, as soon as Darnell got out of the car, he saw several people running towards him.
A man in his fifties was running ahead while six burly men chased him from behind.
Though old, the man was nimble and kept a ten-meter distance from his pursuers.
Both sides were panting heavily. They had clearly been running for some time. The leader of the group kept shouting,
“Stop right there!”
Hearing this made the elderly man run even faster.
Seeing this, Darnell quickly stepped aside. He never considered himself a hero or savior and wouldn’t foolishly intervene in such situations unless it involved rescuing a damsel in distress.
There were too many injustices in the world. How could one manage them all?
“Stop!”
As Darnell moved aside, the elderly man thought he was blocking his way and instinctively paused before running again.
But in that brief moment, one of the burly men closed the gap and kicked the old man’s leg. The man stumbled forward with a moan in pain.
The burly man stomped again, causing the old man to collide with a tree and nearly fall over.
At that moment, a tall figure rushed over, caught the stumbling old man, and kicked the burly man away.
Then she let go of the old man and swiftly took down four more men who had surrounded them with her fists and feet.
The five men lay on the ground bruised and battered while glaring angrily at their assailant. It was Tia.
Darnell was equally astonished, blurting out, “Tia?”
“Five grown men bullying an old man? Shame on you!” The righteous woman clenched her fists tightly as they cracked loudly. “If you want to fight someone, fight me.”
Seeing someone come to his aid made the elderly man ecstatic as he crawled up. He rubbed his throat before trying to sneak away.
Darnell chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Someone stood up for you. It’s not right to leave now.”
The elderly man couldn’t move but glared at Darnell angrily before remembering something and keeping silent.
A square-faced man covered his mouth as he shouted at Tia, “Girl, how dare you hurt my group? I’m calling the police!”
Tia snorted coldly, “Go ahead! Let’s see if it’s justified for you to bully an old man or if I’m wrong for protecting him.”
“You don’t know anything,” said another burly man angrily while pointing at the elderly man. “He stole from us! We were chasing him because he took our stuff.”
Stole something?
Tia was momentarily stunned by this revelation before turning her sharp gaze towards the elderly man, questioning, “Did you steal their things?”
The elderly man quickly shook his head. “Miss, don’t listen to their nonsense! I didn’t steal anything from them. They’re from an underworld casino.”
His voice was hoarse as he spoke, “I borrowed money from them at high interest rates but couldn’t repay it all due to accumulating interest charges. They wanted to chop off my hand but feared causing trouble, so they falsely accused me of theft instead.”
The round-faced man flared up. “Old man! Not only do you deny stealing but also slander us? Do you have a death wish?”
His companions joined in angrily, “It was him who infiltrated our guest room and stole the guests’ belongings, and it’s not the first time.”
“We didn’t bother to investigate the worthless stuff from before, but I didn’t expect that this time he directly stole valuable items.”
The old man in gray instinctively stepped back, hiding behind Tia. “No, I didn’t steal. They are framing me.”
Darnell’s ears twitched slightly. The old man’s voice sounded very strange.
Tia pointed a finger, suppressing the four men’s eagerness to act. “Don’t move!”
The old man in gray took out all his pockets, which were empty, and looked at Tia with a face full of frustration. “See? Did I steal anything?”
Then, he even took off his shoes and socks and turned around a few times, almost as if he was about to check everything.
He also raised his hands to the round-faced man. “If you think I’m hiding it in my crotch, you can send someone to search.”
The round-faced man snorted and slightly tilted his head. One of his men stepped forward to carefully search the old man in gray, but they didn’t find what they were looking for.
He returned dejectedly.
“Now it can be confirmed that the old man didn’t steal your things. He doesn’t even have a single coin on him.”
Seeing this, Tia snorted, “If you guys want to keep making trouble, let’s just call the police and let them handle it.”
The round-faced man shouted, “Don’t call the police.”
He obviously didn’t want to deal with the police, so he was adamantly opposed to Tia calling the police. He looked at the old man in gray and pointed a finger.
“Today is my unlucky day, but you wait. Once I check the surveillance tape and find out it was you, I will definitely come after you again.”
He believed that the old man in gray had stolen the items and wanted to beat him up and force a confession, but Tia’s fierceness made them dare not act rashly.
Darnell suddenly stepped forward. “Wait a minute. What was stolen from you?”
The round-faced man was full of resentment. “Two gold rings, worth over ten thousand dollars.”
Darnell nodded, then looked at the old man in gray and smiled, “Old man, did you happen to pick up their things?”