The Inheritance

-5-

Chapter 201

It was a call from Zack.

“Mr. Crawford, we have some leads regarding the jade pendant!” said Zack the moment Richard picked the phone up.

“Oh? Where are you right now?” asked Richard in return.

The expert treasure appraiser from Northway went by the name of Mr. Zayden Weyham. Richard had met him before during the celebrity party, and they even toasted each other on that day.

Since he had some issues to deal with back then, Richard had told Zack to bring Mr. Xiques along to meet Mr. Weyham. Mr. Xiques himself could only discern that the jade pendant was produced southwest of the Salford Province.

However, details about its origins had still been vague up to this point. Zack’s call was a sign that they were finally able to find something.

“I’m in Mr. Weyham’s manor with Mr. Xiques now. Would you like to come over now, Mr. Crawford?”

“I’ll be there soon!”

After hanging up, he told Yoel and the others about his plan before heading straight for Mr. Weyham’s manor.

Mr. Weyham and his family had a lot of influence as well as a good reputation. While they were well known for their business in Northbay, Mr. Weyham’s business actually began in Mayberry. Since Mr. Weyham’s hometown was also in Mayberry, it only made sense for him to return to his homeland now that he was much older.

During the celebrity party, the Weyhams were seen as a considerably famous and influential family.

Richard would definitely refrain from treating such a family coldly.

In no time at all, Richard arrived at Weyham’s manor. He found Mr. Weyham having tea with both Zack and Mr. Xiques.

“Mr. Crawford!” said both Zack and Mr. Xiques respectfully as they stood up.

After nodding toward them, he turned to look at Mr. Weyham before saying, “Thank you so much for this, Mr. Weyham.”

“No need to be so cordial, Mr. Crawford. Please, have a seat.”

After a brief greeting, Mr. Weyham immediately cut to the chase.

“Mr. Crawford, this pendant comes from a family from Wendall City in the Salford Province. Though this kind of jade is extremely rare, I was lucky enough to go to Wendall City with my master about fifty years ago. Back when I first saw it, a young man local to that city was wearing it. It should be the symbol of their family!” explained Mr. Weyham.

“And what family is that?” asked Richard rather anxiously.

In all honesty, Richard wasn’t really interested in helping his father look for that Xara woman. However, Queta was almost the same as Xara, the woman his father had been looking for all this time. This was what made Richard curious.

‘Is Queta my stepsister who shares the same father with me but has a different mother…?’

‘Why do I feel so close to Queta every time I meet her?’

Something was definitely fishy with the incident. Since his father wouldn’t tell him the truth no matter how much Richard asked him, Richard would investigate the matter himself.

Weyham shook his head slightly as he said, “I was just discussing this with both Mr. Xiques and Mr. Lyle earlier. I was still pretty young then, and I only managed to glance at the young man who wore that pendant once. Make no mistake, I distinctly remember seeing that pendant then, but I really don’t know which family in Wendall City he belongs to. I was even looking through a few large families in Wendal City with Mr. Lyle just now, but none of those large families have this kind of tradition!” said Mr.

Weyham.

“I see… Well, since we know it comes from Wendall City, I’m sure it won’t be too difficult to investigate into it!” replied Richard as he smiled faintly.

As they began talking about other things, Mr. Xiques suddenly stood up and walked over to a pendulum clock. Staring at it curiously, he asked, “If I’m not mistaken, this pendulum clock is from the 1900s… Am I correct, Mr. Weyham?”

Mr. Weyham nodded before replying, “Indeed, it is! It was made in M country and back then, it was even placed in the president’s office!”

“How did you even manage to get your hands on such a thing?” asked Mr. Xiques, astonished.

“It was a birthday gift from the Longs of Yanken!” replied Mr. Weyham with a chuckle.

Since Mr. Weyham mentioned the Long family so casually, it was obvious that Mr. Weyham wasn’t aware of the conflict between Richard and the Longs.

—

Richard only smiled faintly as he took a sip of tea.

“It’s rather late now, grandpa… There are so many guests today…”

At that moment, a girl wearing pajamas slowly descended the stairs as she stared at Richard and the others curiously.

“Ah, Lissa. Come over here and greet Mr. Crawford. Weren’t you quite curious about him before this?” said Mr. Weyham as he smiled.

“He’s Mr. Richard Crawford?” asked Lissa as she made it to the final step.

When she got to him, she scanned him from head to toe before frowning slightly. Immediately after, she chuckled before saying, “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Crawford. I’m Melissa Weyham but you can just call me Lissa.”

“A pleasure to meet you too, Lissa. You can just call me Richard!” replied Richard as he extended his hand out to shake her hand.

Lissa was considerably beautiful and after talking to her for a while, he found that she was quite generous to others as well.

Richard's first impression of her wasn’t bad, to say the least.

What more, she was a pretty nice talker too. She talked about all kinds of things with Richard.

“So you’re Mr. Crawford, huh. What kind of entertainment do you usually partake in?” asked Melissa.

“I don’t usually attend many activities, to be quite honest,” replied Richard as he shook his head.

“Humph! I refuse to believe that! I’m sure you always enjoy yourself to your heart’s content!” As she said that, Lissa laughed heartily.

After a while, she seemed to remember something. This prompted her to ask, “Speaking of which, I got to know a few friends here in Mayberry. We’re going to have a gathering tomorrow afternoon and I’ll be treating them to a meal! If you’re free, would you like to come along, Richard?”

Richard remained silent at her proposal.

“How rude, Lissa! Why on earth would Mr. Crawford want to fool around with you and your mischievous friends?” replied Mr. Weyham with a bitter smile.

“Well fine then!” said Melissa as she pouted slightly.

Since Mr. Weyham had done him a favor, Richard knew that rejecting his granddaughter would eventually make him feel awkward for doing so. In the end, Richard nodded slightly with a smile before saying, “It’s fine. Tomorrow was it? I’ll be there.”

“He said it, not me!” said Melissa with a smile.

A short while later, Richard left the manor together with Zack and Mr. Xiques.

Though he initially wanted to return to Mountain Top Villa to have a rest, he suddenly recalled that he had lent the villa to Xavia.

Due to that, he told Zack to arrange a room in a hotel that he owned. He would stay there for the moment.

When Richard arrived at the hotel’s entrance, he saw and heard a few security guards shouting, “Lousy beggar! Get lost already!”

They were busy trying to push away a dirt-covered old man who had extremely messy hair.

“What beggar? I’m no beggar! I just need to borrow a shower!” said the old man.

“To hell with that! Do you even know what place this is?” sneered the security guard.

“Humph! Let me tell you, I’m not any mere person! I’m Mr. Crawford’s grandfather! Your boss is my grandson! Now hurry up and let me in!”

“This old b*stard! How bold!”

By then, the guards were ready to beat him up.

Richard didn’t really want to get involved in the mess. He didn’t care about what the old man said and the guards were there to take care of him anyway.

However, when Richard took a closer look at the beggar, he was stunned.

“Stop,” said Richard.

—

Richard realized that the old man was the same one who had blackmailed him when he was still looking for Giya back then. Richard would never have dreamed that the old man would actually come looking for him again.

“How come it’s you again,” said Richard as he frowned slightly.

“Ah! My grandson! It’s wonderful that you’re here now! Humph! These guards won’t let me in! Tell them to let me in!” said the old man with his hands on his waist.

“Why do you want to go in there? What do you need this time? I’ve already helped you before and I even cured your injured leg! Stop pestering me, do you really think that I’m a nice man without any temper?” replied Richard rather impatiently.

Richard didn’t really mind helping people if they looked as pitiful as the beggar did. However, he had already helped him once. If the old man continued to abuse Richard’s pity, he would definitely be crossing the line.  

“Why would you say that, grandson? What do you mean I’m pestering you? You just resemble my lost grandson a lot! If he isn’t dead, he should be around the same age as you are this year!” said the old man, his tone suddenly grievous as he lowered his head.

“What nonsense are you spouting? That’s it, I’m beating you up!”

Just as they were about to hit him, Richard took pity after hearing the old man’s tale and he raised his hand slightly.

“Yes, Mr. Crawford!” shouted both guards as soon as they saw his gesture. Both of them then returned to their initial positions.

Seeing that, the old man sat on the porch with a sad expression on his face.

Richard just couldn’t bear looking at the beggar’s poor state so he fished out a hundred dollar note from his wallet.

“I get it, you want money too, right? But I warn you, this is the last time I’m giving any to you. Now leave!”

He was aware that it would become a bad habit of the old man to depend on him if Richard kept giving him money.

Still, it wasn’t like Richard could stop himself from doing it. The old man was rather old and he couldn’t just turn a blind eye and let others beat him up.

“It’s not money that I want, my grandson! I just want to go in and have a bath! Just look at how shabby my clothes are!” said the old man with a chuckle.

Richard then pointed at the old man before saying, “I’m warning you now. Don’t address me as your grandson ever again! If it’s just a bath you need, there’s a bathroom nearby. Go ahead and take your shower there!”

After saying that, Richard handed some money to the guards before turning away to leave.

The guards instantly understood what he meant, and said, “D*mn old man! Mr. Crawford is so kind!

He’s allowing you to take your bath there, so come along already!”

He then began dragging the old man away.

“Thank you, my grandson!”

“I told you to stop f*cking calling me that!”

The incident wasn’t really a big issue for Richard so he simply headed to his hotel room to take a shower and retire for the night.

Not long after his shower however, he heard a knock on the door. Upon opening it, he was shocked beyond words.

It was the old man again!

“D*mn it, what are you doing here? Actually, how did you get in here?” asked Richard, slightly stupefied.

In order to use the elevator in this hotel, one would first need to have a hotel room access card. What more, Richard was staying on the VIP floor. To get to this specific floor, the person would also have to pass through a security door.

Not only did the old man get past all that, he was also able to find the exact room Richard was staying in!

The old man simply chuckled before saying, “I came to look for you, my grandson. Could you arrange a place for me to stay?”

“Also, I hope you haven’t forgotten that I’ve helped you before. I was the one who had given you the clues to look for that girl back then,” added the old man as he chuckled again.

“Now I just want to know how you got here,” replied Richard as he scratched the back of his head in resignation.

While the old man certainly did look cleaner now, whenever he grinned, Richard could sense that he was no nice man.

“If you’re talking about those glass doors, they were easy to get past. I just gently poked them with my finger. All of those machines out there are out of order as well, so that’s how I got up here!”

As soon as the old man was done with his explanation, a loud noise was heard.

Chapter 202

The door swung open and in rushed ten security guards, each armed with an electric baton. They had finally managed to track down the old man with the help of the surveillance footage.

“You old b*stard! There you are!”

The guards then immediately surrounded him.

“Apologies Mr. Crawford! This old man sneaked into the lobby after his bath when we weren’t paying attention to him! He apparently heard your room number from the female receptionist then he ruined all the machines needed to get up here! Apologies again, Mr. Crawford! We’ll beat him up then kick him out, right this instant!”

Richard didn’t know how to respond at that moment. Everything about that old man just made him feel uneasy.

At that moment, Richard’s phone began to ring. It was a call from Queta.

Richard had earlier sent a Line message to her regarding all the new things he had discovered. She must have just read it.

Glancing at the old man again, Richard then answered the call.

“I assume you’ve read the message, Queta?”

“I have… What should I do now, Richard? Will I… Will I really be able to find my mother?” asked Queta anxiously.

“Yes, and don’t worry. I’m looking for her too. Just wait for a few more days for me to resolve all the things I currently have on hand. Once I’m done, I’ll go there with you! I’d honestly be worried if you went to the Salford Province alone!” replied Richard with a faint smile.

“Sounds good! I’m feeling much more assured now!”

After a brief chat, Richard hung up. Seeing that he had ended his call, the guards were just about to drag the old man out when the old man suddenly began shouting, “Salford Province? My grandson, I want to go there too! That’s my hometown! Being me along, my grandson!”

With a little struggling, the old man managed to break himself free from the grasps of the security guards. He then rushed toward Richard before begging again.

“That’s my hometown! My grandson, could you take me home?”

Richard scanned the man from head to toe after hearing his pleas. The old man looked like he was quite eager to go there. He seemed to be quite agitated as well.

As Richard thought about it, he realized that he didn’t really have too bad an impression of that old man.

He was just annoyed by how shameful and dastardly he was.  

“Fine, I’ll get someone to send you there!”

“I heard what you said through the phone earlier. It seems like you and another young girl want to look for someone in the Salford Province! I’m quite familiar with the place, so I can definitely help you find that person! You’ve already helped me so much so I’ll definitely lend a hand in this!” said the old man.

Hearing this, Richard felt as though the old man had finally said something sensible for once.

“As if Mr. Crawford would ever need your help! Get lost!” roared one of the security guards.

“Humph! Just ask him about my information reliability! If I didn’t tell him where that young lass was, do you think he would be able to find her that soon?”

“You!-”

“That’s enough. Just take him away… Get a room and some food for him. And find someone to send him back to the Salford Province tomorrow!” said Richard as he shook his head in resignation.

Though the old man had claimed that he wanted to help Richard, Richard couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at the thought.

After that, he retired for the night.

A quiet and peaceful sleep later, Richard received another call when morning came. It was Mr. Weyham’s granddaughter, Melissa.

It was then when Richard remembered Melissa’s invitation to the gathering that she had organized.

Since he wasn’t that close with Melissa, he immediately tried thinking up an excuse to reject her.

“Hello, Richard! From the moment you agreed to attend my gathering, my grandpa’s been quite happy! He’s even told me to serve you well!” said Melissa through the phone.

It was now getting increasingly awkward for Richard. Mr. Weyham had been there when he agreed so of course he knew about it. What more, Melissa was quite a sincere girl which made it even harder for him to reject her.

He eventually gave up and said that he would come soon.

Not too long after, he arrived at the gathering place in his car. He had made up his mind that he would leave after staying for just a short while.

The venue in question was the Mayberry Grand Hotel.

When he got to the door, Melissa was already there waiting for him.

Beside her stood a mature and rather sexy lady who seemed to be in her thirties. Her hair reached all the way down to her waist and she seemed to be quite slim as well. Overall, she looked like a woman with a good disposition.

—

Her skin was quite fair as well.

When he saw her, Richard simply nodded with a smile.

Melissa chuckled when she saw him do that. She then said, “She’s my cousin, Richard. She’s a looker, isn’t she? She came over to have some fun with me.”

Richard replied with a simple nod.

“But just so you know, she’s already married! She was a beauty even during her school years and though so many years have passed since then, she’s still as gorgeous as ever!” said Melissa in a teasing tone as she laughed.

“From her reaction, I’m now sure that you’re Mr. Crawford. It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m Rosalie Owens but since I’m older than both of you, you can just call me Sister Owens!” said Rosalie with a smile.

“By the way, Mr. Crawford, I’m sure you already know that my cousin’s family is quite powerful in Northbay! She’s even teaching in a university there too!” added Melissa.

Richard nodded again as he greeted, “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Sister Owens!”

The three of them then entered.

Not long after, a luxury car that looked to be at least a hundred and fifty thousand dollars arrived at the entrance of the hotel.

The car’s driver got out and respectfully opened the door of the passenger seat right next to the driver’s. Out stepped a rich young man in a suit holding an expensive looking pocket watch.

“Mr. Long!” said the driver respectfully.

The person who had stepped out was Yunus Long, and he had a wicked smile on his face as he looked at the hotel.

He then moved to open the backseat door before saying, “We’re here now Giya. Come on out now.”

Giya simply got out without saying a word. She had only put on some light makeup, but she still looked very beautiful.

When Yunus saw her, his eyes immediately brightened.

The first time he met her, he felt that she was different from the other women. He could safely say this since he had indeed met a lot of different women.

Giya was in another league since she was the first woman he had met with such a good disposition. Because of that, he tried to woo her numerous times.  

Since he was the third young master of the Long family in Yanken, as long as he approved of it, an endless number of girls would happily throw themselves onto him. At the time, he was even the one making a move on her. It was only logical for her to fall for him, or at least that’s what he thought.

Giya however, hadn’t even paid him any attention.

After some investigating, he came to learn that she had fallen for someone else. That was the moment when Mr. Long started pressuring the Quarringtons.

Eventually, he was able to force Giya to have a meal with him.

“Oh, don’t be so unhappy, Giya! Though I’m a bit of a dandy, I’m still a rather good guy! You know, there are many people out there who appear nice but they’re honestly just hiding their true colors! There aren’t many people out there as straightforward and honest as I am!”

“Thank you but I’ll be the judge of that!” said Giya coldly.

“Whatever you say. Now come on, let’s go!” replied Yunus with a smile.

After saying that, he stretched his hand out and tried to hug Giya’s waist but she immediately dodged away before glaring at him.

“Can’t I even slightly touch you? You’re my fiancée!” said Yunus.

“And who made that decision? I didn’t agree to be engaged with you. Behave yourself, Mr. Long!” Giya said that rather tensely.

Aside from disgust, she had no other feelings for him.

Since her family was facing a crisis, her parents had advised her to be with him for their sake. She had honestly tried compromising with the Longs so that she could slowly, but eventually come to accept Yunus.

In the end, however, she knew she had failed. She only felt disgust toward him, and there was zero chance for any other feelings to develop.

—

She was so disgusted by him that she had already begun filling her head with rather extreme ideas.

Giya had only attended the meal because her father had persuaded her to go that day. Thinking back, she wasn’t even sure if she should have taken that first step.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter. The engagement will happen sooner or later! Let’s not talk about that now. Come, let’s just go in already!” said Yunus as he brought her into the hotel.

Meanwhile, Richard had just entered a private room. Melissa had invited quite a lot of people that day and aside from her cousin, Rosalie, most of the others were young people who looked to be around the same age.

Some of them seemed to be from Mayberry while the others came from elsewhere. The only constant was that they all treated Richard extremely respectfully and cordially.

This was especially so for Melissa who had constantly been serving him food as she sat beside him.

Melissa had even invited Richard to have fun with them that night, since there was another group of friends who would be attending then.

Though Richard had initially planned to leave after sitting there for just a while, not long after they entered the room, Melissa ordered for the food to be served. As a result, he couldn’t help but stay and continue having a few more drinks with them.

The group of people was rather good at drinking.

As everyone drank and chatted with one another, at some point, one of the guests started getting a little drunk.  

It was Melissa’s cousin, Rosalie.

“I don’t think I can take anymore… I’m getting a bit dizzy so I’ll just retreat to the car for now and get a nap. You guys go on ahead and continue drinking,” said Rosalie.

“Huh? I thought you were a good drinker! Also why the car? There are rooms in this hotel. Let me just get one for you to take a rest in. Ah, I also have a bottle of soda with me. Here, drink some of it to make yourself more comfortable!” said Melissa as she opened the bottle and handed it over to Rosalie.

Rosalie simply nodded slightly. She really looked like she couldn’t take anymore.

As Melissa told a waiter to prepare a room, Rosalie could barely stand properly. It was apparent that she was really bad at drinking.

“Hey Melissa, let me help you get Sister Owens upstairs!” volunteered one of the young men in the room.

While Melissa was beautiful, Rosalie’s looks surpassed even hers. Despite the fact that she was much older, she exuded a special charm.

Adding that to her good disposition, it was almost certain for every man who locked their eyes on her to eventually be charmed.

“Oh, get lost! Don’t assume I don’t know what you’re thinking! Let me tell you, my sister is an Owens and she comes from Northbay! She’s not someone you can simply take advantage of!” said Melissa, in an annoyed tone.

Though she said that, she definitely looked like she needed help. It would be both difficult and tiring for her to get Rosalie upstairs all by herself.

She then looked at Richard before saying, “I trust you, Mr. Crawford. Could you help me get my cousin upstairs?”

“Sure thing,” said Richard while nodding slightly.

Though it was rather inconvenient for him to do so, he couldn’t just reject Melissa’s plea. He wasn’t thinking of any wicked thoughts either so he simply obliged.

Eventually, both of them managed to get Rosalie into a room on the seventh floor.

With the back of her hand placed against her forehead, Rosalie quickly fell asleep as soon as she got to her bed.

Melissa sighed before saying, “Let her take a rest for now… I didn’t think she was this bad at drinking. On the contrary, you’re quite good at that, aren’t you Mr. Crawford?”

“I’m not too bad at it.”

As he said that, the sound of retching could be heard. Rosalie was vomiting terribly and she looked extremely unwell.

“Oh god, are you alright cousin? I’ll go get some medicine to help you sober up. Could I trouble you to help look after my cousin for a while, Mr. Crawford? I’ll be right back!” said Melissa as she rushed out of the room.

Richard however, didn’t know how to look after her.

After vomiting for a while, Rosalie eventually fell asleep again in a daze.

Feeling it would be imprudent of him to remain in the room, he took the room’s access card and stood by the door. Richard would wait for Melissa to come back there.

Not long after, he heard Rosalie’s voice from inside the room. However, her voice suggested that she was struggling. It was almost like she was being constricted by something.

Richard didn’t pay much attention to the sounds at first. He thought that it was just her being drunk.

However, the more he listened, the stranger the noises got. There seemed to be other noises coming from within the room as well.

Chapter 203

The more he pondered about the noises, the stranger the situation felt. Eventually, he decided to open the door to see what was going on. What he saw made his eyes widen in astonishment.

A strange man was trying to undress Rosalie in the room! Rosalie seemed to have been struggling for quite a while and tears were already in her eyes.

When the man saw Richard, he simply smiled coldly before jumping off the bed and diving out the window.

But this was the seventh floor.

Richard immediately rushed toward the window and looked down. However, there was no trace of the man at all.

‘Where the hell did he go?’ Richard thought to himself, stunned.

Turning around to check on Rosalie, Richard found himself blushing deeply. As he was just about to cover her up with some blankets, he heard footsteps coming from outside.

“For heaven’s sake, why are you so annoying? Richard’s already looking after my cousin, there’s no need for you to come along! You aren’t getting anything by doing this!” said Melissa’s voice a little down the hallway.

It would appear that the group he had been drinking with earlier had followed Melissa as well. From her tone, it was clear that they had insisted on coming along, possibly because they saw her leaving to get medicine earlier.  

‘D*mn it! What should I even do now?’

Richard was stupefied. What kind of misunderstandings would arise if they saw him in a room with a halfundressed Rosalie?

What more, when he attempted to help put her clothes on, Rosalie simply looked at him with teary eyes and told him not to come any closer. To make matters worse, she started calling for help with a faint voice!

‘D*mn it all!’

At that moment, knocking could be heard at the door.

“Richard? Are you in there? Could you open the door- …Wait, cousin? Is that you? What’s wrong?” shouted Melissa from behind the door. She had clearly heard her cousin’s voice calling for help by now.

“Richard? Mr. Crawford? Are you in there?” asked Melissa in her shocked state.

“Yes, I’m still in here!” replied Richard as he immediately went to open the door.

“What took you so long to open the door? Could you have been- Ah!”

Though she had initially meant to tease him, when she saw the scene before her, she immediately let out a scream.

Hearing that, the other people who came with Melissa peeked in and some of them began screaming as well.

Everyone there was now looking at Richard in disbelief. Though Mr. Crawford looked like a gentleman, to think that he was actually such a cunning and dirty person!

“What… What did you do to my cousin, Mr. Crawford?!” shouted Melissa.

“I… You’re misunderstanding the situation! I didn’t do anything!”

“If it wasn’t you, then why would my cousin do something like that to herself?” retorted Melissa.

“Someone else was in here! When he saw me after I came back in to check on her, he leaped out the room’s window!”

Richard was definitely having a hard time defending himself and explaining the situation properly.

“We’re on the seventh floor!”

A few of the men rushed toward the window before shouting, “Holy, it’s so high up here! If anyone jumps from this height, they’ll be crippled for life if they don’t die!”

As Melissa covered Rosalie with some blankets, she said, “I trusted you, Mr. Crawford... To think that you were so dirty and wicket… I can’t believe my grandpa actually praised you for having good conduct! You’re as disgusting as they come!”

“She’s right! It never once occurred to me that Mr. Crawford was actually someone like this! He hid his true colors so well! At least the other rich heirs act straightforwardly!” said a girl disdainfully.

“I swear to god, I wasn’t involved in this! It’s all a huge misunderstanding! Go look at the surveillance footage! I was standing outside this entire time!” replied Richard.

Someone then immediately went off to notify the manager. It wasn’t long before the manager arrived. “Fetch me the surveillance footage for this floor right this instant!” ordered Richard.

“Surveillance footage? Apologies, Mr. Crawford, but our surveillance system went out of order yesterday! I’m rather anxious about it since we still haven’t managed to repair it yet!” replied the manager.

“How do you know who I am?”

—

This was the question Richard posed as he looked at the manager.

The manager simply smiled apologetically before saying, “I’ve met you once at the chamber of commerce, Mr. Crawford. Also, your elder sister, CEO Jessica Crawford, has given me a lot of attention in the past! It would be impossible for me not to know who you are!”

“Humph! Stop trying to put up a show here, Richard! Literally everyone in Mayberry involved in the business field needs to pay at least some respect to you! We know both of you are on the same side! Why’s the surveillance system broken now? Don’t you think it’s a bit too coincidental?” said Melissa rather angrily in a loud voice.

By then, several other people who were staying the night had walked out of their rooms to see what the commotion was about. It wasn’t long before the floor’s hallways became crowded. Soon after, the gossiping started as well.

“What’s going on?”

“It appears that some rich heir saw a drunk girl and dragged her into a room. Thankfully the girl’s cousin managed to stop him before he could r*pe her! But really though, what a wicked b*stard he is!”

“Oh lord, and here I thought I’d only be able to witness such things on television! I can’t believe it happened in real life too! Disgusting!”

As the discussions went on, some nosy person even contacted the news hotline.

While all that was happening, Yunus was having a meal with Giya on the hotel’s third floor. Mayberry Grand Hotel was a hotel that prided itself in its entertainment, leisure, and dining experiences.

The two were currently seated in a very grand looking restaurant. Despite that, Giya had only taken a few bites of her food.

At that moment, a group of customers entered the restaurant. After sitting down on the table beside the duo, they began discussing what had happened upstairs.

“Hey, have you heard? Something big is happening on the seventh floor!”

After listening in to snippets of what they had to say, Yunus sipped his red wine before saying, “Why are there so many wicked and dirty people in the world…” He then proceeded to smile subtly.

Giya on the other hand, frowned slightly.

“So what happened after that? Are they still arguing about that? Actually hold on, who’s the rich man in question?”

“I heard that he’s someone extremely influential and powerful! I’m not too sure, but some have said that it’s Mr. Crawford himself!” said one of the seated people.

“What? Mr. Crawford? That’s impossible, isn’t it?”

“Well of course it is! Why would he even do such a thing?” shouted Giya out of the blue as she looked at the people sitting next to them.

“…Huh? Why are you being angry with us? We’re just talking about what we heard. If you want to be sure, just go upstairs and check for yourself!” replied another man.

“Anyway, what does Mr. Crawford look like? Is he handsome? He’s particularly mysterious, isn’t he?” “He’s rather handsome, but still, he did something so imprudent! I heard a few of them addressing him as Richard or something. I say he’s definitely Mr. Crawford!”

When she heard Richard’s name, Giya’s body trembled slightly.

“What… What did you say? What was his name?” asked Giya as she stood up.

“G-Richard!” replied the person beside her, slightly intimidated.

“…That’s impossible. It’s definitely impossible!” said Giya in utter disbelief.

When she saw a few people heading upstairs, presumably to catch a glimpse of the scene, Giya ran to the seventh floor as well.

Yunus only smiled bitterly as he watched her leave. As he took another sip of red wine, he took his phone out and made a call. “You can come upstairs now!”

After that, he too began ascending the building.

“Move aside, please! We’re reporters!”

At that moment, the seventh floor was getting increasingly noisy.

The ones who had shouted were reporters from Mayberry News, and they were currently rushing toward the scene. With any luck, the incident would be the headline for the following day’s newspaper.

Richard himself was surrounded by several people. He had neither the means to defend himself nor any logical way to explain the situation.

Giya on the other hand, had just arrived at the scene and she took a step back in disbelief the moment she saw Richard.

“That’s… That’s impossible! It’s preposterous! Richard isn’t someone like that!” murmured Giya softly to herself.

“Impossible? He’s right there! Caught red-handed! He had tried to do something improper to a drunk girl and even the victim is saying that he’s the perpetrator!” retorted one of the guests who had heard Giya’s comment.

“Lissa? Why are you here? What happened?”

The voice had come from Yunus who saw Melissa as he approached the scene. Behind him, was a group of bodyguards.

“…Eh? Yunus? I’m so glad that you’re here! It’s Sister Owens! Something has happened to her!”

—

“What? Sister Owens is the victim?” asked Yunus, stunned.

“She is!” replied Melissa before explaining everything she knew about the incident. Rosalie was slowly sobering up by then.

Despite her dizziness, she still glared at Richard with resentment. Though she had been very drunk earlier, she was aware enough to know that it was Richard and her cousin who had helped her into the room.

While she was still dazed, someone forcefully tried to take her clothes off! Who else could have done so if not Richard? Thinking about it made Rosalie’s eyes water.

“How bold of you! I hope that you realize that the Longs have had a good relationship with the Owens for generations! How dare you do something so improper to Sister Owens! Audacious! The Longs of Yanken will definitely make you pay a heavy price for this, regardless of how powerful you are!” said Yunus coldly.

“Huh? The Longs of Yanken? Holy cr*p it’s Mr. Long! This has become a much bigger deal now! Not only are the Owens involved, but also the Longs!”

“My god, though Mr. Crawford is quite powerful, how would he ever be able to endure the wrath from both Mr. Long and the Owens? This situation is really getting…”

The group of people there started whispering among themselves after hearing all that.

“Yunus, please seek justice on my cousin’s behalf! She was nearly humiliated by this b*stard!” shouted Melissa.

“Oh don’t worry, I plan to do exactly that!” replied Yunus as he smiled wickedly.

After saying that, he immediately sent a swift kick toward Richard.

“Beat him up real good! I don’t care how f*cking rich he is! He’s bold enough to humiliate an Owens, is he? Beat him up without any mercy!” shouted Yunus.

Hearing his command, a few of his bodyguards immediately rushed forward and surrounded Richard. The young men and women present were no longer afraid of Richard either since Yunus was on their side.

Just as they were about to attack, Giya suddenly shouted, “Stop!”

She was in tears as she shouted.

“Giya? Why are you here?” asked Richard, stunned when he saw her.

Though she didn’t verbally reply, she turned to look at Richard. Her utter disappointment was apparent in her eyes.

She then said to Yunus, “Mr. Long, please let him off. I’m begging you…”

“Let him go? Humph! Giya, it’s not like I don’t want to help you, but this person is too wicked to be let off without being taught a lesson! I won’t be able to face Mr. Owens and the others if I don’t do anything now! Don’t meddle in this!” replied Yunus coldly.

“I’m begging you! Just let him go!” pleaded Giya.

Giya was in despair because of the unexpected incident. To think the person that she was in love with turned out to be such a disgusting man. She just couldn’t accept it.

However, it was even more difficult for her to just watch Richard getting beaten up right before her eyes. She could feel herself ready to burst into tears at any moment.

Seeing her reaction, Yunus gave a faint smile.

“Alright then, Giya. Since you begged so hard, I won’t personally teach him a lesson. However, since he’s created so much trouble, the others are still free to do so!”

After saying that, he waved his hand at his subordinates and they immediately retreated from the scene.

“Giya! I didn’t do any of this! You need to believe me!”

Richard was now starting to realize something.

‘Too many coincidences have occurred tonight. Why was that person in that room?’

‘And how could Yunus just so happen to be here at this very moment?’

These thoughts swirled in Richard’s mind as he came to the conclusion that he was being set up. A specific target to be brought down.

Despite his realization, under these circumstances, he still wouldn’t be able to explain himself well.

“I’m not hearing any of it!” shouted Giya as she glared at Richard one final time before pushing the others aside and rushing downstairs.

“Giya!”  

Before he left with his bodyguards to catch up with Giya, Yunus motioned his eyes toward Richard as he passed by a man dressed in black. The long-haired man with an extremely pale face had been standing in a corner this entire time.

“You’re not allowed to leave, Richard! You owe my cousin an explanation regarding what happened today!” shouted Melissa.

A group of people actively prevented Richard from leaving the scene.

Chapter 204

Just as Richard felt like he had already hit rock bottom, he felt a chill run down his spine as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

When he turned around, he saw a man with hair as long as a woman’s standing right behind him. Richard felt almost pressured by the man’s immense intimidation alone.

“Step aside! What are all of you doing here?” shouted an old voice out of the blue.

“What are we doing here? What are you doing here old man? Stop shoving others around!”

The crowd then began scolding the person who had first shouted.

“I’m here to look for my grandson! You’re all just standing in the way!” sneered the owner of the old voice as he squeezed himself into the room.

Seeing how shabbily he was dressed, the people in the room hurriedly opened a path for him as they tried to avoid him like the plague.

The long-haired man on the other hand, simply glared coldly at the old man as he retracted his hand.

“What are you doing? Let go of my grandson!” growled the old man as he stepped forward and shoved Melissa to the side.

Richard could hardly believe his eyes. It was the old beggar that kept pestering him.

“He’s your grandson?” asked Melissa, stunned.

“Humph! What, don’t we look alike? My grandson, I went looking for you today but that group of people said that you weren’t there! I thought you had abandoned me and headed for the Salford Province alone! I’m glad you’re still here, now let’s go!”

The old man wasn’t even going to bother asking about the details of the incident Richard had found himself in. He simply grabbed Richard’s arm and began to pull him out of the room.

“Who said you could leave!” growled the long-haired man, his eyes both frigid and ferocious as he immediately tried to grab Richard’s other arm.

His attempt, however, was blocked when the old man grabbed onto his wrist. After the old man lifted his hand away from Richard’s arm, the long-haired man instantly retreated backward, his back hitting the wall.

At that moment, the long-haired youth started sweating profusely. All he could do was stare at the old man in shock.

Richard knew that his only way of escaping at that moment, was by relying on that old man. Thus, he simply remained silent as the old man led him to the exit.

“Are you alright, my grandson?” asked the old man with a smile. They were now standing beside a riverbank in a park.

“I’m fine. Thank you, sir,” replied Richard, his voice filled with gratitude.  

If the old man hadn’t appeared earlier, Richard would probably still be there trying to explain himself. It was pretty clear that he wasn’t going to be able to leave easily.

Despite feeling grateful, Richard was feeling equally as confused.

‘How is this old man always able to casually appear whenever I’m facing difficulties? He’s also always indirectly helping me…’

‘That’s not all, how did he even know where to look for me today in that hotel?’

As Richard thought about it, he looked toward the old man before asking, “Sir, how exactly were you able to find me today? Were you stalking me this entire time?”

As soon as Richard asked that, the old man seemed somewhat embarrassed.

“In all honesty, I was. You’ve helped me before, remember. Since I knew you were in trouble, I couldn’t just turn a blind eye! I knew I had to help no matter what!”

He then smiled before continuing, “You allowed me to take that bath and even treated me to a meal yesterday. I suppose you could say we’re both even now.”

“You mentioned me being in trouble… How exactly did you find out about that?”

The old man suddenly seemed much more mysterious than Richard had initially thought.

“Well you see, I was sleeping in the garage last night and I just so happened to hear a few people discussing how to frame you today! After I heard their plan, I immediately ran looking for you. As was expected, you fell right into their trap!” explained the old man.

The old man then elaborated a bit more.

While he was looking for a place to rest in the underground garage, he had heard Yunus making a call. It turned out that Yunus had conspired with Melissa to frame Richard today!

All the puzzle pieces were coming together now. Both love and resentment had played a part in this event. No wonder Melissa had tried her best to invite him over to the so-called gathering she had organized. It was all just a giant scheme she had conspired with Yunus!

Every step had been meticulously plotted out.

Even before the old man told him about this, Richard had already thought about this possibility. There were simply too many coincidences happening in one night for the incident to seem natural.

Now however, Richard was being faced with a dilemma.

‘Why on earth would Melissa want to frame me? We don’t even hold any grudges toward each other!’

“Humph. Silly boy… You’re so much wealthier than they are but you’re too kind. They don’t need a valid reason to plot against you,” said the old man with a smile as he shook his head.

“Also, this incident is much more serious than how you’re imagining it to be. If I hadn’t dragged you away, your tendons would have been ruined by now. He was aiming to do it on purpose of course. And he would definitely have repeated the tendon injuring process many more times had I not saved you!” said the man based on what he could earlier see.

After hearing that, Richard was filled with great fear.

Previously, the bulk of the troubles he faced were mostly related to interests. He was unwilling to make it difficult for others, so that he wouldn’t be seen as cruel or ruthless.  

Now however, Richard finally understood what his sister had meant. If a person wasn’t cruel enough, they wouldn’t be able to stand firm.

Even if the person was an influential and powerful heir, they could still easily be ruined if they didn’t project a ruthless and strong enough aura.

After heaving a long sigh, Richard’s eyes slowly turned icy cold.

—

While that was happening…

“Mr. Long, I apologize but I’ve failed!”

“What? How did you manage to fail, Scorpion? Can’t you take down a mere person like Richard?” said Yunus through the phone, dumbfounded. He was in the washroom when he received the call from Scorpion.

“I apologize, but an expert helped him escape! If I hadn’t retracted my arm in time it would’ve been broken by now!” replied Scorpion as he held the phone with his good hand. He was making the call from inside a car.

Scorpion’s arm—which had been placed on a flat surface—was now pulsing, his tendons all protruding and red. It almost seemed like fresh worms had covered his entire arm. At the moment, he couldn’t even move it.

His forehead was covered with cold sweat and he felt rather weak.

“D*mn it all! That b*stard’s really f*cking lucky! But either way, we already have a good start! Once the headline goes public tomorrow, he’ll definitely become extremely infamous! The Owens won’t let him off easily and my family will just help them then! It’s only a matter of them before we ruin him completely! Also, go get some rest for now, Scorpion!” said Yunus before hanging up the call.

As soon as the call ended, Yunus saw that Melissa was calling him now.

“Hey Yunus? Wasn’t there too much of a commotion today? You just told me to trick him and get him into the room right? I distinctly remember that you said that my cousin wouldn’t suffer any losses in this. Why did you end up doing that?” asked Melissa rather anxiously.

“What losses? Rosalie didn’t go through any of that. She wasn’t even humiliated! The most important thing is that we got the results we wanted. Isn’t that what matters the most?” replied Yunus in a persuasive tone.

“Humph! How could you say she wasn’t humiliated under those circumstances? She was half naked in the end! Don’t forget she’s an Owens! We need to settle this affair quickly or it’s going to be difficult to explain all this to our families!” said Melissa before sighing.

“I really regret helping you now… You have no idea how much trouble I’ve gone through. I’ve been accompanying and entertaining Richard since last night you know! I was so afraid that he would refuse to attend my gathering. If he really did end up doing that, I would’ve had to think of another way to get him to go there!”

“Also I hope that you realize that I’ve officially offended a rich heir in Mayberry because of you. He and his sister’s wealth isn’t too far off from what the Longs have! I missed a great opportunity to befriend a rich youth because of you!”

Yunus then burst into laughter before saying, “What exactly are you regretting about? You have the Longs of Yanken backing you up now! It’s like you’ve just gained the most powerful and influential people on your side! Regardless of where you are in Weston, everywhere there is under the influence of my family! I hope you realize that Richard only has influence here in Mayberry! Alright, since you helped me get Giya this time, I promise to grant you a wish too!” replied Yunus as he smiled bitterly in resignation.

Only after saying that was he able to slowly coax and pacify Melissa.

Meanwhile, Richard had just returned to his hotel. However, there was a distinct difference now. The entire hotel had been enclosed.

Zack, Michael, and the Drake & Tyson duo were already waiting for him inside.

They had received some news regarding the incident today, which led them to pay most of their attention on it.

Initially, they had thought that the Longs would be hesitant and not daring enough to actually make a move on Richard. It turned out, however, that everyone’s judgment had clearly been wrong.

“We’ve caught the news director, Mr. Crawford! The f*cker was already arranging for the news headline for tomorrow at home!” said both Drake and Tyson as they rushed into the private room.

“Bring him in!” said Richard in a cold voice as he sat down on the boss’s chair.

He couldn’t help it. Since Yunus had spent so much effort to frame him, he needed to tackle the news issue first. Yunus’s slander on Richard could not be exposed under any circumstances.

“What are you all doing? Unhand me!” shouted a middle-aged man who was soon dragged into the room by a few bodyguards.

The man in question was the news director who had been bribed by Yunus. He went by the name of Leach.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Leach. I’m sure you already know why I brought you here today. Where are the things that your subordinates captured today?” asked Richard.

“I have no clue what you’re hinting at, Mr. Crawford. Also if I may, you’d better reconsider what you’re doing right now! It’s only fair, right, and proper for my subordinates to take photographs! I’ll never hand over any photographs they take regardless of what you do to me!”

—

Mr. Leach’s tone was icy as he said that.

“Fair, right, and proper you say? As if! From what we’ve found, your subordinates had been lying in wait in their cars for at least two hours before the event even took place! Are you saying that they were able to foresee tonight’s incident that early on?”

“While the surveillance system in the hotel was conveniently out of order today, they’re still working just fine in other places! Let’s just cut to the chase, Mr. Leach. I’m sure you know a lot more about today’s incident than me, am I right?” interrogated Richard.

This was the first time Richard had ever been framed.

His sister had previously told him that doing business would be both a test, and a chance for him to gain experience. Richard hadn’t felt the weight of her words before this, but he realized just how true her statement was now.

Despite hearing Richard’s words, Mr. Leach refused to talk and simply averted his gaze.

To him, regardless of how powerful Richard was, it was only a matter of fame. Sure, Richard and his sister were famous, but the Longs from Yanken were different. They were an entire family.

Mr. Leach would much rather offend Mr. Crawford alone rather than Mr. Long and the rest of his family.

“Since you’re remaining quiet, I’m certain now that you’ve been trying to deliberately ruin me. It seems like I don’t need to play the nice guy anymore!” said Richard.

“Humph. I know what you’re trying to do. I anticipated that something like this would happen so I’ve already informed my subordinates to expose the entire incident if I don’t return in an hour. While they’re at it, they’ll make a police report as well!” replied Mr. Leach.

“Oh, is that so? Mr. Leach you’re overthinking it. I only called you over to ask you a few questions. I’ve no intention of doing anything to you. You may leave now…” said Richard with a faint smile.

After he said that, Mr. Leach was allowed to leave. Confused, he slowly got up to head for the exit but then he saw Richard taking his phone out.

Richard then began playing a video on his phone.

“Daddy! H-help! Save me!” screamed a girl’s voice in fear through Richard’s phone.

When Mr. Leach heard her voice, he immediately rushed back in before anxiously saying, “What are you doing? Is that my daughter’s voice?”

“Humph! You don’t have to worry about her. Your daughter’s now in your village hometown. You know, our company’s film and television department have gone there to shoot a video about safety education. It was only natural for us to invite your daughter for the shooting since she’s so beautiful! Her role is of a young girl who’s been kidnapped and if her father isn’t able to meet a compromise with the kidnappers, she’ll be killed!” said Zack with a smile before taking the phone from Richard’s hand and showing it to Mr. Leach.

When he watched the video, he found that what Zack had said was indeed true.

Mr. Leach gulped slightly at that moment. Their implicit message to him was clear as day.

Mr. Long had indeed arranged for the entire incident to happen, just to slander Mr. Crawford. Mr. Leach knew full well that he was the one who was wrong here.

Even if someone wanted to take revenge on Mr. Leach, he knew he couldn’t say anything.

However, his daughter was safe now and she was even having fun with Mr. Crawford’s staff. Mr. Crawford had given him a great deal of respect and he couldn’t just keep his act up.

“…Mr. Crawford, when they claimed that you r*ped that girl at first, I certainly didn’t believe that. I felt like there was some kind of misunderstanding, and I now know that it’s a terribly, terribly huge misunderstanding!” said Mr. Leach, his face pale.

“You’re not the one at fault here, Mr. Leach. Also, we aren’t scummy enough to freely blackmail others like Yunus. Tell us how we should resolve this. Understand that if you do deliberately try to ruin me, I’ll definitely not be willing and happy about it!” said Richard.

“Alright, I’ll tell all of you the truth now. Yunus told us to modify the photographs in order to slander you. His goal is to get the Owens to become your enemies! I, for one, believe that you would never do such a dirty and wicked thing, Mr. Crawford!” explained Mr. Leach, his entire body covered in cold sweat.

Now that Mr. Leach had told them the truth, Richard looked toward Zack and nodded slightly. Zack then showed Mr. Leach another video.

As he watched the video, his eyes widened in disbelief. Mr. Leach was soon so angry that his entire face turned pale.

Chapter 205

“Are those... Mr. Long’s subordinates?”

The video displayed a house in the village, and in it, five men in black suits were simultaneously being tied and beaten up. All their faces were swollen by the time Richard’s subordinates stopped and began standing guard over the captives.

There was no doubt about it. Those tied up men could only be Mr. Long’s subordinates.

“Mr. Leach, Yunus is an extremely wicked man. Since he was afraid that you’d go back on your words, he ordered for some of his subordinates to capture your daughter this afternoon! You’re lucky that our men got there first!” replied Zack with a smile.

After hearing his explanation, Mr. Leach was now able to piece together the entire incident.

“That Yunus! How wicked that man is! I was almost fooled by him! Mr. Crawford, I’ve severely wronged you this time!” said Mr. Leach as he apologetically bowed repeatedly in front of Richard.

His apology was sincere. After all, it was Richard’s indirect involvement that saved his daughter. Mr. Leach knew now that Yunus was the kind of person who would use all kinds of underhanded schemes and means just to achieve his goals.

If Yunus had actually been able to capture his daughter, bad things would definitely have happened to her if Mr. Leach had chosen to go against him.

Thinking about it alone made Mr. Leach shiver with both regret and fear. Simultaneously, he was also feeling guilty and thankful toward Mr. Crawford.

After a while, he lowered his voice before saying, “…Mr. Crawford, I have a recording here with me that I’m certain you’ll be extremely interested in!”

Hearing that, Richard and Zack looked at each other silently for a moment. Richard then nodded his head and Mr. Leach slid out a recording.

It seemed that Richard no longer needed to worry about the news issue anymore. Mr. Leach himself seemed to know what he needed to do to handle the rest of the mess.

All that was left to do, was for Richard to properly deal with Yunus.

At that moment, Richard’s phone suddenly started ringing. To his surprise, it was a call from Tammy. As he thought about it, he realized that he hadn’t met her in a while, even though she was Giya’s best friend.

He guessed that she must be calling because of what had happened today between him and Giya. Giya had definitely misunderstood the situation.

As soon as he picked the phone up, he could immediately hear Tammy’s dissatisfied voice saying, “What is the meaning of this, Richard?”

“What did you do to Giya? She’s been crying endlessly from the moment she got home just now! Today was supposed to be an extremely joyous day for her since she got first place for this semester! She had even been entitled the most outstanding student of recommendation to be admitted to the university! We had initially planned to host a celebratory party for her! How did things end up like this?”

“There’s been some misunderstandings and I wasn’t able to explain anything to her in time!” replied Richard.

At first, Richard cared quite a bit about how Giya viewed him since she was, after all, his friend.

Even before Tammy called, he had already thought about giving her a well-deserved explanation. With the current turn of events, it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to do so anymore.

However, Richard was unable to simply shake off the fact that Giya had been sharing a meal with his enemy. The more he thought about it, the more angry and resentful toward her he became.

He had treated her as his friend, but she ended up being together with Yunus.

‘What more is there for me to explain?’ Richard thought to himself.

“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding? I’ve asked her but she was unwilling to tell me anything. You’re being vague as well, so if it really is just some misunderstanding, just come over quickly and explain the whole story to her. We’re at Giya’s home now!”

Tammy was well aware of the relationship between Richard, Mila, and Giya. However, the one causing Giya to have such excruciating pain was still Richard. As Giya’s best friend, Tammy just couldn’t bear to see her suffering like that.

That was the reason why she snuck out to give Richard a call in the first place.

“I refuse to go,” said Richard in a soft voice.

‘There’s no need for me to get further entangled within this mess. I’ve already stood against the Longs for Xavia’s sake. Now there’s Giya. ’

Richard felt uneasy being in the midst of this issue, mostly because Giya was involved in the equation

“What do you mean you’re not coming? Look, I know you have Mila, but please! Even if you don’t want to continue being her friend, you need to explain the situation to her properly! After all, all of this started because of misunderstandings, no? She had fallen in love with you back then because you randomly gave her that jade bracelet! I know now that you’re Mr. Crawford and that you’re amazing and all, but don’t you think it’s a bit imprudent for you to just play with a girl’s heart like that?” replied Tammy, her voice anxious.

“I didn’t play with anyone’s heart!” said Richard.

However, what Tammy said was enough to make Richard reconsider. It was true that his entire relationship with Giya has started just because of some misunderstandings.

Nothing he had done at the time was on purpose.

—

Richard sighed to himself.

‘I’ll just go and explain it to her… I’ll reveal to her what kind of person Yunus really is!’

“Fine, I’ll head over now!” said Richard.

It was now already six in the evening and this time, Richard didn’t go alone. The Drake & Tyson duo followed him all the way to Giya’s home.

When they arrived at the front gates, the duo waited outside as Richard entered.  

“There, there, Giya… Please don’t be sad anymore… Though I’m not quite sure what happened between

the two of you, today’s still the day you received the title of most outstanding student of recommendation to be admitted to the university… It’s a day for celebration, isn’t it?” persuaded Tammy.

“Besides, maybe one day Richard will come to realize just how good you are!”

Giya simply sneered when she heard that.

“Stop trying to persuade me, Tammy. The thing that happened between me and Richard isn’t as simple… Actually, forget about it. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Whenever I think of him now, I just feel disgusted!” said Giya as she took a deep breath.

At the moment, Giya was feeling rather frightened of all men in general. After all, she had earlier seen with her very own eyes that no matter how nice a man looked, he would eventually just turn out to be some sc*mbag in secret.

If she hadn’t witnessed the scene for herself, she wouldn’t ever have believed that Richard had done such a thing. To think that the person she used to like was no different from all the other men.  

“Alright, alright, I won’t talk about it anymore… However, that doesn’t change the fact that you should be happy today! I’ve even prepared a surprise for you!” said Tammy as she sipped some red wine.

Just as everyone became curious as to what the surprise Tammy had prepared was, the doorbell was rung.

“The surprise is here! Coming!” said Tammy excitedly as she headed toward the door.

Feeling that she shouldn’t show any further negative emotions, Giya broke into a faint smile as she looked at the door.

However, when she saw Richard standing at the door, her smile gradually faded.

Tammy laughed out loud before saying, “As they say, the person who starts it must end it! I called him over so that you two can talk it out! You can settle any unhappy misunderstandings with each other now!” said Tammy.

“Why did you come?” asked Giya. Her usually charming face was now as cold as ice.

“I came to explain about what happened today. It’s all just one big misunderstanding,” said Richard.

“I don’t want to hear it so you don’t have to explain anything. If there isn’t anything else, Mr. Crawford, then please leave. Seeing such a despicable person standing before me hurts my eyes!” replied Giya, her words icy cold.

Richard took a deep breath before saying, “Look, I just want to sort out the misunderstandings…”

“I really don’t think that’s necessary, Mr. Crawford. It’s not a big deal whether you explain it to me or not anyway. Also, it’s already night time. It’s improper of you to be here since there are only girls here. I also don’t want Yunus to think that I’m still contacting you! So if there’s nothing else just leave already!” said Giya, colder than ever.

After hearing that, it was crystal clear to Richard.  

‘Now that I think about it, it is rather ridiculous. It was unnecessary for me to come here to try to explain myself in the first place.’

‘What more, she’s already addressing him as Yunus now instead of Mr. Long. I guess she’s finally found her true love.’

“Very well! I won’t bother you anymore!” said Richard with a bitter smile before turning to leave.

“Hold it!” shouted Giya as Richard stopped.

“There’s something I want to return to you.”

—

The object in question was the jade bracelet that Richard had given to her before.

“From this moment onward, we’ll cease to have a relationship! Humph! To think that I kept this jade bracelet with me till now… At first, I thought that it would be a nice memento to keep with me since we would never be able to be with each other! However, mementos aren’t necessary anymore! You can have it back!” said Giya coldly as she handed the bracelet over to him.

“Fine by me!”

“Also, Richard, I hope that you’ll delete my contact number after this. You stick with your Mila and I’ll stick with Yunus. We’ll have no reason to see or even talk to each other again after that!”

“Will do!”

Richard didn’t really have much else to say. After taking the bracelet, he simply greeted Tammy and the other girls with a silent nod before immediately leaving the premise.  

“…What? Why… Why did he let you go so easily, Giya? What exactly happened between you two?” asked Tammy, her confusion apparent in her voice.

“It’s nothing, just stop asking about it. By the way, Yunus gave me a rather luxurious gift to me this afternoon. I’ll bring it over for all of you to see. Wait here while I go get it!” said Giya as she wiped her tears away and forced on a smile.

Seeing how hard Giya was forcing herself to smile, her friends just couldn’t bring themselves to eat, drink, or enjoy themselves.

“Giya, could you please not be like this? Look, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, but could you please refrain from torturing yourself? We all know that you don’t like Yunus. You clearly like Richard so why are you lying to yourself like this?” said Tammy.

“I’m not torturing myself at all! You’re all just overthinking this. You know, I think I finally understand now. I’ve never really liked Richard the way a woman likes a man. Now that I think about it, all those feelings I had for him were probably just out of pity and compassion! I never loved him in the first place!”

“Regardless, I’m already quite happy and relaxed now. I no longer have to worry about or miss him anymore! I can be together with Mr. Long and the Long’s daughter-in-law! Humph! To be frank, aren’t you all jealous of me?” said Giya with a smile.

Tammy and the others could only look at each other helplessly. Nobody knew what to say so they remained silent.

Richard on the other hand, knew that everything between him and Giya had finally ended. He couldn’t really put a name to the emotion he was feeling.

It was neither joy, nor sorrow. To put simply, the feelings he felt were complicated.  

When he got back to the hotel with the Drake & Tyson Duo, Richard received a call from Zack regarding the search for the person who had leaped from the hotel’s seventh floor window.

Though Zack had implemented several tactics—some more forceful than others—to find that person, he was unable to find the perpetrator.

From what they could speculate, the person they were looking for had to be a skilled climber. It would also be natural to assume that he was very cunning as well.

While Richard was fine with not getting instant results—since they had already received the needed clarification from Mr. Leach earlier that Richard was indeed being slandered—the person who had leaped out the window still needed to be caught eventually.

Noticing that Zack was blaming himself, Richard simply advised him not to be too anxious.

The night was peaceful for Richard and he headed to bed early.

However, more chaotic things were happening amidst the peace.

As an unknown person sat beside a river, he slyly said, “I’ve done what you wanted, Mr. Long. But I’ve yet to see the money that I’ve been promised.”

“Humph! Have patience! Your main goal is still to find a proper place to hide in. Worry not, the pay isn’t going anywhere!” sneered a cold voice on the other end of the line.

Chapter 206

“The thing is, I don’t feel easy about this at all, Mr. Long. I hope that you’re aware that because of you, I

ended up not only offending Mr. Crawford, but also the Owens family. You know, Mr. Crawford’s men were looking for me all over Mayberry City yesterday. If Miss Rosalie actually decides to look into the case in future, then I’ll surely be done for!”

The speaker, then added, “I’ve already given up everything just to help you this time, so fork out the cash as soon as possible. The sooner I leave this godforsaken place, the better. It isn’t a stretch to say that the Owens family will eventually find out who really laid their hands on Miss Rosalie. Should that happen, chaos will surely ensue. After all, the Longs and the Owens have had so many business dealings together!”

“D*mn it, Harry! Are you threatening me?” replied Yunus as he snorted coldly.

Yunus had indeed been the one who had set up both Rosalie and Richard back in the hotel. It was part of his plan to gather capable allies in order to finally bring Richard down. After all, the Owens and the Longs held almost equal amounts of power. With the two great forces combined, Yunus would definitely be able to finally defeat Richard.

If everything went according to plan, not only would he have saved the damsel in distress, but he would also have helped the Long family regain their power and industries in Mayberry City.

The Longs would finally get their chance to take revenge after Jessica drove them out of Mayberry City’s commercial industry in the past.

Once that happened, it would pave the way for Yunus to inherit a greater share of his family's succession in the future.

Naturally, Harry was also aware of the grudge between the Crawfords and the Longs.

He knew how Yunus had easily gathered so many supporters and helpers in Mayberry City within such a short amount of time. The Long family had, after all, been part of Mayberry City in the past, and the connections and relations that they had built back then still stood to this very day.

“Look, I don’t really like threatening you either, but I don’t really have a choice here. If I don’t get the money soon, I might not even survive long enough to get it! Just so you know, Richard’s sister isn’t back yet. What do you think is going to happen to me when she returns and finds out that I had colluded with you to frame her brother? Have you forgotten what she did to the Long family back then? Do you need me to refresh you on what exactly happened?” said Harry.

“Alright, alright… Where are you? I’ll send someone over to hand you the money now. Make sure you keep your mouth zipped tight and leave as soon as you receive the money!” replied Yunus coldly.

After hearing that, Harry immediately shared his location with Yunus. It didn’t take long for two Maybach cars to appear before Harry.