“I saved your life, old man!” Cody shouted angrily behind Enzo’s back.
“You also shut up, little one!” Enzo roared back at Cody.
All this had been recorded and posted online a couple of minutes later.
The internet went crazy over the truth. The stock prices of Linford’s company soared all of a sudden.
Of course, Linford was currently unaware of it. He was driving Betty back home after leaving the scene. Mrs. White and her family had been waiting outside of the gate. Yuri cried aloud when she saw her daughter dashing forward and pulling the girl in a tight hug.
Cody felt he had lost a couple of ribs by only watching it happen.
“Mom… Mom.” Betty explained in a soft voice, “Mr. Bradley and Cody saved me.”
Marcos went forward and gave Linford a hug, “Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Bradley. I don’t know what to do to express my gratitude. Thanks for saving my little girl’s life.”
Mrs. White also had tears in her eyes, “Thank you, Linford. Our House owes you. We owe you so much.”
“Well… I bet you don’t enjoy owing other people anything, Mrs. White,” Linford smiled, “Why don’t you pay back the favor right now?”
Linford’s words made the whole family look at each other in bewilderment.
“What can we help you with, Linford?” Mrs. White finally managed to ask calmly.
“Let’s discuss everything in your study room, shall we?” The smile on Linford’s face was mysterious.
“Fine,” Mrs. White finally agreed, leading the way upstairs after a while.
Betty was left playing with Cody in the parlor. Yuri got changed in her room and wanted to go downstairs. She wanted to see her daughter instantly, but Marcos stopped her, showing the video clip where Linford covered Betty in his arms and tried to block the bullet for her.
Yuri gasped as her hand shot to clasp her chest. She cried a bit before turning to look at her husband again, “Marcos, we do owe Linford a lot. I can’t imagine what would happen to our daughter if Linford didn’t save her.”
Marcos sighed, “Did you hear what Linford said? He said these things are all a part of Miles’s plan. I wonder if Lana has seen the video.”
Yuri went pale, “I don’t even care if she’s seen the video or not. I also feel bad for Lana, but she kinda deserves what she’s suffering right now. Trusting Miles so blindly will ruin her.”
Marcos knew Yuri was still mad at Lana after what happened last time. So he only sighed and choked back his words.
The couple sat there and discussed a bit before going downstairs.
****
Lana was gonna push the door open and leave the mansion, but Miles came back and blocked her way.
Lana went angry instantly, hissing at the suited bastard before her, “What have you done!? You were the one who kidnapped Betty, and you pretended to be innocent before me. You’re disgusting! You almost made me kill my niece!”
Miles lit a cigarette, “But she’s still kicking and alive right now, isn’t she?”
“What do you mean? You wish her dead?” Lana screamed.
Miles was gone mad hearing her scream, “If it were not for that good grandma of yours, I would have got the shares from your company! Your niece would have gone back long ago! Blame that old hag who suppressed my plans!”
“You wanted 10% shares from White stocks?! You’re out of your fucking mind! You promised that you would never touch my family! How could you break your promise so easily? You’re a piece of shit, Miles!”
SLAP!
A crisp sound rang the entire room as Miles slapped Lana.
Lana covered her face in disbelief. No one had ever dared to hit her face like this growing up.
“You shut your filthy mouth, woman!! I don’t give a damn shit about White’s pennies!! I only wanted cooperation initially, but your stupid family chose Bradley over me! So marrying you is a mere waste of effort!”
Lana couldn’t breathe as tears streamed down her cheeks, “Granny has seen your ulterior motives since the beginning! She knows that you’re a fucking bastard! She said all the members of the Johnson family are snakes!”
“Oh, really?” Miles laughed as if he had just heard the funniest joke in history.
Lana wanted to run away from this House after having such a hateful conversation, but Miles quickly grabbed her wrists and threw her onto the bed, “Stay in this house!” His eyes were wild and bore murderous glares.
Lana had never seen him like a monster before. She suddenly felt scared, perceiving such cruelty from Miles.
“That old hag said we were snakes, right? You know what? She’s goddamn right,” Miles towered over her, “I’m not only gonna fuck up the Bradley family. I’m gonna fuck up each of you. You can just sit back and enjoy the show while I gut all the White members individually.” Miles left a smile as if he was not the one who said those horrible things before he left the room.
“Keep an eye on her, and don’t let her leave without my permission,” Miles gave the housekeeper an order.
“Yes, sir!”
Miles received a call from his grandpa the minute he left the House.
“Miles! What the heck is happening? Our stock prices were tremendously dropping just overnight! Find ways to recover our losses and solve the mess! Or you don’t need to return to the Johnson House!”
“Grandpa! I…”
Mr. Johnson hung up the phone without hearing any explanation on Miles’s part.
Miles’s eyes grew dark as he clenched his phone.
Now is a perfect time… He couldn’t afford to wait longer!
****
“Our business has clearly recovered. Walters instantly hinted at cooperating with us. Miles Johnson’s stocks declining clearly alarming to them, but he might make some drastic countermeasures to turn the table,” Alfred reported at Linford’s.
“Johnson is not a small fish. We also don’t have any direct evidence to take it to court. I guess they won’t have any serious loss based only on that video on the internet. We can only wish Charles could crack the case as soon as possible,” Drew calmly chimed in, “However… Have you guys spared an eye on Miles? Would he do something reckless given the current situation?”