Flynn nervously answered the phone.
He could feel his hands trembling, and his palms were sweaty.
“Mr. Clark, we found Ms. Sharp. She’s at the Waterside Tavern, next to the suburban village. I’ll send you the location now,” the man on the other end said.
“Is she okay?” Flynn quickly asked.
“She’s fine. She just had a bit too much to drink. She threw up twice. We’re with her,” Emanuel Howe explained the situation.
After receiving Flynn’s call, Orion Kennedy contacted everyone he could reach, including Emanuel Howe. After all, police officers were spread throughout Niarak and could be of great help in the search.
Half an hour ago, an officer found Rose at the Waterside Tavern and immediately reported it. Emanuel Howe arrived and confirmed that Rose was safe before calling Flynn.
“Phew…” Flynn let out a long breath and looked at the address that was sent to him.
The Waterside Tavern was located in the remote suburbs. It was small and seedy, more of a dive bar without any dancers. But it had a certain charm, often hosting folk singers with simple, genuine, and carefree melodies.
The Waterside Tavern was indeed hard to find. Who would have thought that Rose would run so far? A billionaire CEO going to the Waterside Tavern to listen to folk music?!
This woman was unbelievable!
He spent the whole night searching, covering the entire city, and it turned out that Rose was drinking in a suburban bar fifty miles away from home!
“Alright! I’m going there right away!” Flynn hung up the phone, muttered a few curses under his breath, removed his hand from River Stewart’s head, took a few steps out of the Stewart family’s mansion, stepped on the gas pedal, and headed towards the bar.
“Er… uh…” Emerson Stewart was so scared that he collapsed on the ground, drenched in cold sweat. He had witnessed Flynn’s violent temper before. He would easily cripple anyone who crossed his path.
That moment was terrifying when Flynn threatened to smash his son’s skull and eat his son’s brain.
What a horrifying scene!
He had no humanity!
Margot Stewart stood up from the flower bed with bruises all over her body and half of her face swollen. Seeing her son with a face like a pig’s head, she immediately let out a hysterical roar, “I’m going to kill Flynn! I will definitely kill him!”
“Mirra’s boyfriend is coming tomorrow. I will torture Flynn and feed him to the dogs!”
“Ahhhh… my poor son! He’s paralyzed, yet he won’t leave him alone! Devil! Beast!”
The Waterside Tavern.
A folk singer was singing.
Rose, wearing a long dress, sat on a long table, swaying from being drunk.
There was an empty bottle of liquor next to her, and she still held half a bottle of beer in her hand.
This was her eighth bottle.
A bartender stood next to her, occasionally glancing at Rose while making drinks for others.
He had never seen such an unusual scene before-a beautiful woman drinking while being guarded by dozens of police officers as if she were a VIP. Even Mr. Howe came!
What kind of special treatment was this?
Emanuel Howe moved his lips, hesitating before finally speaking up. “Ms. Sharp, Mr. Clark will be here to pick you up soon. You can’t drink anymore.”
“Mr. Howe, I’m fine. You should leave. I don’t want him to come. I’ll just call a ride,” Rose slurred, her eyes barely able to stay open as she continued pouring beer down her throat.
When a close relative passes away, family members often went through a moment of shock, feeling lost and helpless.
There was typically no immediate sense of grief. It was more discomforting-oppressive, painful, and deeply unsettling.
This was how Rose felt earlier in the afternoon.
At that moment, it was like the numbness one experienced when suffering a fracture.
It wasn’t yet heart-wrenching.
But when she found herself alone, in an empty room, everything changed.
Suddenly, the suffocating weight of despair would come rushing in…
Disbelief, incredulity, an unwillingness to accept the truth, and a complete emotional collapse.
That was the feeling consuming Rose now.
Her heart ached so much that it was hard to breathe, yet she fought to hold back her tears. The sensation was unbearable.
Rose wanted to drown her sorrows in alcohol, but it wasn’t working.
This bar held special significance for her. Ten years ago, Kevin Sharp brought her here.
The Waterside Tavern had been around for thirty years, witnessing the rise of the Sharp family and the love story between her parents.
It was where her parents had met for the first time.
The Waterside Tavern still stood, but her parents were gone.
Everything here was just as it had been a decade ago, yet some things felt different…
Emanuel Howe rubbed his forehead and sighed, unsure of what to say.
He knew about all the chaos Flynn had caused in Niarak.
As a woman connected to such a powerful figure, he dared not overstep. He would wait until Flynn arrived to discuss things further.
On the surface, Rose and Flynn had a business relationship, but anyone familiar with Flynn knew that their relationship was far from ordinary.
Ignoring what happened before and just looking at today’s events-Rose went missing and Flynn went crazy.
One could imagine that with Flynn’s abilities, if he didn’t find Rose tonight, he would turn Niarak upside down.
Emanuel Howe didn’t know exactly what had happened but didn’t dare ask. He could only stand by and wait for Flynn.
Ten minutes later, Rose finished another bottle of beer.
Looking at Rose’s current state, Emanuel Howe sighed. Regardless of anything else, Rose couldn’t continue drinking like this.
Just as he was about to reach out and stop her, he heard an angry shout from behind him.
“Rose!”
This shout startled everyone in the bar. Even the music stopped playing. All eyes turned towards the door.
The sight shocked everyone in the bar. What happened to the Waterside Tavern today?
It would be understandable if Mr. Howe came alone, but Orion Kennedy, Edwin Gallagher, Uriah Wong, and more than ten other prominent families were also present!
The most terrifying thing was that they were all following behind a young man in silence, their faces heavy with concern!
If someone didn’t know better, they might think something catastrophic had happened!
Those with keen eyes began to piece things together-Orion Kennedy and the other heads of families had dispatched over a thousand subordinates, frantically searching the city. Were they looking for this woman?
What a big deal this was!
Rose was momentarily taken aback, her expression complex.
Flynn strode over, his face flushed with anger, fixing his intense gaze on Rose as he shouted, “Are you out of your mind? Why didn’t you turn on your phone or answer my calls? Why?!”
His explosive roar was like thunder, causing everyone’s eardrums to ache.
Orion Kennedy and the others instinctively shrank back.
But Rose held her head high, a hazy smirk on her face as she replied coldly, “Why should I turn it on? Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?”
The atmosphere fell into a heavy silence.
Flynn stared at Rose, wanting nothing more than to slap some sense into her.
“Ahem…” Orion Kennedy cleared his throat softly, smiling at the crowd. “Everyone, we have some private matters to attend to. Please step outside for a moment. Tonight’s expenses are on me. How does that sound?”
When the king of Niarak spoke, who would dare to disobey?
In no time, the Waterside Tavern was left with just Flynn and Rose, the others waiting outside.
“Rose, I know you’re heartbroken. If you want to drink, that’s fine! But at least turn on your phone so I can know where you are!”
“Everyone is worried about you.”
“Stop drinking. Come home with me.”
Flynn stepped closer, looking at Rose’s frail figure, and took off his jacket to drape it over her shoulders, his voice softening significantly.
Rose shivered slightly with her back to Flynn, remaining silent, her beautiful eyes clouded.
But her grip on the bottle was stubborn as she raised it to her lips again.
“You can’t drink anymore!” Flynn reached out and snatched the bottle away.
“Give it back!” Rose screamed, trying to grab it back but failing to reclaim it.
“Liar! Flynn, you’re a liar! You deceived me. You said my dad would be fine, you liar!” Rose’s fists pounded against Flynn’s body in frustration.
She knew Flynn was hiding the truth to protect her from making foolish decisions, but all she wanted to do was vent.
As her fists fell repeatedly, Flynn remained silent, allowing her to hit him.
Suddenly, Rose threw herself onto Flynn, wrapping her arms tightly around him, tears streaming down her face and splattering onto his shoulder.
They were hot and glistening.
“Flynn, my dad is gone. I have no family left. What’s the point of all this? I’m so tired, I’m so tired. Boo-hoo…”