“I went to investigate the whole thing when Candace got into that disaster,” Alfred cut in, “I’d been keeping an eye on the big houses in the city. The Wayne House brought a piece of land into the eastern suburb. According to the government’s land policy, the land was used specifically for agriculture. But they were planning to build a strip mall there. And… I looked into it a bit. It turned out… the Bradley house also put in some efforts to help them get that land.”
Drew realized what Alfred was trying to say immediately, “The Bradley House helped the Wayne House to get the illegal land? Linford would never do anything like that. Was that Darwin?”
Linford nodded, “It’s him.”
“Wow,” Drew put his crawfish down.
Was Darwin out of his mind? Before Mr. Wayne passed away, he specifically asked all the leaders of the big houses not to help his family. Darwin was working for the army. If someone decided to dig into the case and found that the Bradley House was involved in taking the land illegally, Darwin would immediately be stripped off with his position.
And the Wayne House would fall even harder.
“No wonder the Wayne House would listen to whatever Clara ordered them. There was a big deal behind it.”
The Wayne House used to be one of the most powerful houses in this city. Now, Clara just ordered them around like puppets.
“So… What are you gonna do tomorrow?” Drew asked Linford, “I mean… they already have no way back.”
Linford took a sip from his coffee, not saying anything.
Alfred, however, explained to his boss, “Mr. Bradley has bought the land, and he had torn down most of the foundation of the strip mall. We’re building grain elevators right now. We also bought the land nearby. It will become the biggest grain base in the city.”
“Are you serious? Why didn’t you count me in when you have the chance to make big money?” Drew pouted. Buying the whole eastern suburb and building an agriculture base equaled taking control of the food supply in the city. The benefits would be astounding.
“You can get a half for free,” Linford said calmly, “Alfred’s doing all the formalities right now.”
“Aww…” Drew cupped his face with his oily-crawfish-peeling hands, “I know you love me, Linford!”
“Get your ugly face away from me, or I will eliminate you,” Linford winced.
Drew was smiling from ear to ear, “You can deny it all you want, but the billions you just gave me are screaming your passionate love, best friend. But…” Drew cleared his throat as he noticed the murderous look slowly emerging on Linford’s face, “If Gary and his wife decided to sell the land. Does that mean that they didn’t want to be used by Clara as well?”
“They may be stupid, Drew, but they’re not morons. If they chose Clara’s side, they know I won’t let it pass easily. They would fall anyway. Anyone with the least amount of sanity would choose a more powerful ally,” Linford said coldly, “They were forced into the corner because they didn’t know how to handle the land. Now that I’ve provided them the solution, why would they still insist on being Clara’s tool?”
Drew laughed, “They are sneaky old foxes, aren’t they? They pretended to surrender in front of Clara, but they sold the land the minute Clara turned around. I bet that smartass has never seen this coming.”
Alfred nodded, “Everything is going on in the dark. Miss Palton doesn’t know anything about this.”
Alfred wanted to say Mrs. Bradley at first, but he changed his phrase in case he would make his boss uncomfortable.
“This is getting more and more interesting. I can’t wait to see the show. Linford, can I go with you tomorrow?” Drew asked.
Linford stood up from the chair, “I don’t see why not. But you need to deal with your issue immediately. Your grandpa will never accept a woman like Cindy. But I guess it mainly depends on yourself.”
With that, Linford just walked out of the room, not even giving Drew a chance to explain anything.
“I… What- What does that even mean?” Drew was so pissed off that he almost brushed his cup of coffee over.
Alfred picked up the folder from the desk and gave the file of the agriculture base to him, “You can’t understand, Mr. Weston? Mr. Bradley was just trying to remind you that Cindy is not compatible enough with you. But if you truly like her, there’s nothing other people can do to separate you two.”
And then, the assistant walked out of the door as well.
Drew threw the file away, “I hate you both!”
And then, as he was the only person left in the room, Drew murmured defeatedly, “Who says I like her?”
****
Linford and Drew went to see Mr. and Mrs. Wayne early the next morning. It had only been weeks since the last time they saw the old couple. But Mrs. Wayne clearly didn’t dress as luxuriously as before. Mr. Wayne also seemed a bit gaunt and defeated.
Mr. Wayne and Mrs. Wayne seemed startled as they saw Linford’s face. Drew only realized at the moment that they probably didn’t know the purchaser of their land was actually Linford.
“Mr. and Mrs. Wayne, please sit down. You guys didn’t get in the wrong room,” Drew tried to calm them down.
Mr. Wayne had seen enough in his life. He didn’t get too jumpy as he sat down on his chair, “You guys are the buyer of our land?”
Drew shrugged and proudly announced it, grinning mischievously, “Linford is. But he gave me half of it.”
The land cost at least billions. They were surely quite close.
Mr. Wayne was a bit jealous of the fact, “Mr. …”
“Just call me Linford,” the guy was a senior. Linford didn’t want him to address him in a too respectful way. He had known him since he was a boy.
“Of course, Linford. Did you know something already?” Mr. Wayne asked.
Linford nodded, “Yes.”
Mrs. Wayne shuddered, “We’ve never done anything to harm Candace! It was Clara! She was the one who blackmailed us and made us take the blame, Linford!”