The smile on Cody’s face disappeared the moment Lana left. Instead, he turned to look at his dad.
“What?” Linford frowned, “I’ve never asked her to be here. Just like she said. She’s treating me as her brother.”
Cody rolled his eyes, “Ask yourself. Do you even believe that?”
“She will be no one else to me except a friend,” Linford said seriously.
Cody shook his head, “If you really don’t feel anything for her, why didn’t you stay away from her in the first place?”
Linford took a sip from his cup on the nightstand, “I’ve never wanted to stay close to her, and I’ve explained our relationship to your Mom. But what you said actually made sense. I’ll send her back to where she comes from soon.”
Cody shrugged, climbing to the chair, “You’d better keep your word.”
Linford shook his head, “That aside, will your Mom come to see me today?”
Cody pouted, “How would I know?”
Linford narrowed his eyes. This boy probably could never change his attitude. He had no respect for him at all.
“Well, since your girl has come here to take care of you, I guess you won’t need me here anymore,” Cody jumped off his chair, “I’m going back home to Mom.”
Linford suddenly yelled behind the boy’s back, “Cody, we’re on the same boat right now. Don’t you sell me out in front of your Mom? Are you hearing me?”
Cody didn’t even bother to look back. Linford pulled out his phone and called Alfred’s number, “Cody just went downstairs. Make sure he’s going home safely.”
Alfred said yes and hung up the phone.
Linford called Drew afterward, asking him to come back.
****
When Cody got home, Candace was playing puzzles alone. She stood up the moment she saw Cody. And then, as if suddenly recalling something, the girl sat back down on her couch again.
Cody was thrilled to see Candace after what he had gone through yesterday. He walked forth immediately, “Candace! Are you feeling any better?”
“Humph!” Candace turned away, “You went out to play, and you didn’t even bring me with you!”
“I didn’t.” Cody tried to explain, but Candace jumped off the couch and ran for her room.
“Candace, listen… I…”
However, Candace slammed the door in Cody’s face, refusing to hear any explanation. Cody felt a bit lost standing in front of the door.
Pop came out of his room when he heard Cody’s voice, “Boy, do you mind coming to my room a bit? I have something to ask you.”
Cody could only go over. Pop took him into his room.
Cody was so upset that Candace was mad at him right now. He seemed extremely defeated as he explained everything, “Uncle Enzo found out that Jasper was the one who sent those attackers. I wanted to let him go because he really helped my Mom and me a lot in the past. I didn’t expect him to do that to Candace again… So I made a plan with Uncle Enzo to capture him.” Cody sighed, “We both didn’t realize that Dad had known our plan a long time again. Jasper tried to shoot me, but Dad blocked a bullet for me. He’s still in the hospital. I… I really didn’t expect Jasper to have a gun with him. I also didn’t expect him to get shot as well.” Cody felt so complicated as he mentioned Jasper’s name.
He hated being fooled by Jasper. But he was also sad. He knew Jasper had been pretending, but he genuinely treated that man as a friend after what he had done for his family.
He had never wanted to kill Jasper.
Franco let out a sigh after hearing the whole story, “Cody, don’t be upset. It’s not your fault. I know you feel complicated toward Jasper. His funeral is today. Why don’t you go to his funeral and say your goodbye?”
Cristelle also decided to bring Candace to Jasper’s funeral.
She went into the car with the babies. Candace was pretty confused in her brand-new black dress, “Mommy, where are we going?”
Cristelle held on tight to her and left a kiss on her cheek, “Well… Jasper was on a business trip, and he was accidentally hit by a car… He passed away.”
“Passed away?” Candace looked up, blinking, “Is he dead?”
Cristelle sighed and nodded, “Yes.”
Candace broke into tears, “But Jasper just gave me a candy yesterday. Mommy, we won’t see Jasper ever again, will we?”
“No honey… We won’t see him again.”
****
They went to the hospital first. Drew was waiting outside. He took the small group of people to the room where they put Jasper’s body.
Cristelle could hear Jasper’s Mom crying outside the door.
“Jasper… My son!” Mrs. Johnson was howling and crying at the moment, “My poor baby.”
Drew stopped awkwardly. Cristelle and the other people also stopped. They knew they shouldn’t interrupt this moment.
Cristelle’s head was a mess. She recalled the days when they were all carefree teenagers. Jasper used to be shy and introverted. He had followed her and Diego every day. The smile on his face had always been bright and gentle.
She had never seen him lose his temper even once.
Now, it just seemed like there was a side of Jasper that he refused to show.
Mrs. Johnson cried for about 20 minutes. She cast a gold glance at Cristelle when she walked out of the room. Some bodyguard was supporting her so her knees wouldn’t buckle.
Cristelle was frozen to the spot by that glance. The hatred in that glance was so dense that Cristelle was stunned.
“Cristelle, let’s go,” Drew nudged her at a moment. Cristelle gave Candace to Jack before getting in the room. The way Jasper died was pretty horrific. Cristelle didn’t want Candace to see that.
The temperature in that room was cold. Jasper was lying in bed, stiff and pale. His face didn’t change. He looked like he was just sleeping. However, the hole in his brow reminded Cristelle that this man almost killed her son.
“Mom.” Cody grabbed Cristelle’s fingers worriedly.
Cristelle held Cody tightly against her side. Her eyes went red the moment she looked away.
“We will tell people that he fell off the stairs. We won’t let people know that he died being a kidnapper.” Drew cleared his throat.
Cristelle swallowed, “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me. Linford is the one who made this decision.” Drew said calmly.