It was so silent one could hear a pin drop. Darius bent down to grab the man by the collar; the latter felt warm all over before turning pale when he realized he couldn’t move. He looked at the ground in despair, which Darius sensed. However, Darius ignored him and turned to look at Edward, who immediately understood what he wanted. He nodded and smiled as they left the crowd behind.Darius dragged the man back to his room before releasing him. The man dropped to his knees, making Darius smile as he sat opposite him. “You can stand up while answering my questions. After all, you haven’t yet had the time to actually do anything to me.” He looked at the man calmly.The man gnashed his teeth, finally understanding where he stood. Obviously, Darius already knew he had a camera on him, and he shut his eyes in despair. He thought Darius would get mad at him and start beating him up or something, but none of this happened.However, if the man thought this was the worst that things could get
Mortimer glared at Darius, his nostrils flaring as his chest heaved with rage. He didn’t say anything, though.Darius smiled and crossed his legs at the knee. Mortimer forced himself to calm down so he could speak to Darius, but Darius’ words only made his temper flare up again. “So, tell me—who gave you this idea?”Mortimer shot to his feet again. “What do you mean by that? Are you implying I’m unable to devise a plan on my own?” He thought Darius would shake his head, but Darius nodded, still smiling. Then, he leaned forward and turned his computer on before focusing all his attention on it. Silence descended upon the room. After a while, Mortimer asked in confusion, “Aren’t you mad that I led the people outside here?”Darius glanced at him for a second before lowering his eyes to the computer again. “You didn’t do anything bad,” he said calmly. “You were against this idea when whoever is behind this brought it up to you—that’s why I only want to know who it is. Before you answer m
Mortimer glanced at Darius before turning back to James. He started to frown when he saw they were smiling—they were definitely making fun of him! His nostrils flared as his breathing sped up, but he didn’t dare reveal much more of his emotions than that. Mortimer tried to ignore Darius’ presence as he said to James, “Granduncle James, I’m surprised to have the chance to see you. I…I…” He was confused to see James waiting patiently for him to get the words out, and he continued in a small voice, “I did things that are going to cause plenty of trouble for you. Aren’t you mad at me for that?”James shrugged nonchalantly. “We haven’t gotten to the bottom of this yet, but we know you’re not completely at fault here. You’ve always been a kind soul.”This made Mortimer’s jaw drop. He sensed that his wrongdoings had been forgiven, which he hadn’t expected. He turned to look at Darius and noticed that the latter was already seated at his desk, which meant he couldn’t care less about what was
Darius knew Mortimer wanted to know what was happening. Unfortunately for him, Darius didn’t have any answers. At Darius’ silence, his knees went weak. “Please, stop the video. I can’t bear to listen to it anymore.”Darius sighed. “As you wish.” He closed the laptop, then said calmly, “Mortimer, I know you only did all those things because of a simple misunderstanding; that’s why an explanation is all I ask. I’m sure you can understand this.”Mortimer looked hesitant. After a while, he inhaled deeply and mumbled, “I don’t know whether that video’s genuine yet.” At the end of the sentence, his head was practically buried against his chest.Darius smiled and sat down. “That’s fair. Look, you don’t need to be so nervous.”Mortimer’s head shot up, and his eyes were bright with hope. “Does that mean you’ll let me investigate this?”“I have no reason to object.” Darius crossed his legs at the knee. “Anyway, even if I were to object, I’m sure you’d secretly investigate this.”Mortimer falter
“Alright, I’ve got it.” After Darius said that, he looked outside. “You can leave now. If you want to take care of the people who moved against you before, you can go to Edward.”Mortimer Reid smiled widely. He turned sharply and said, “Alright, I understand. I’ll go now.”Darius watched him leave, smiling as he shook his head. However, his expression turned grim very quickly after. That was because Mortimer had been young—only about three years old, when the events of the video had happened.Darius stood up. Placing both hands on his hips, he took in a few deep breaths. Just as he was about to continue going through his documents, he heard the sound of footsteps from outside.The footsteps sounded familiar. Darius’ eyebrows shot up, and he went to take a seat on the couch again.Mortimer hadn’t shut the door when he left. Thus, Darius could easily see the woman who came to the door. He put on a shocked expression and said, “I never thought that you would find your way here.”Pearl s
Darius reached up to rub at his temple, exerting more strength as time passed. After a while, he looked up at Pearl and said, “If you ask me, I don’t think you need to feel so anxious. We’re on the same side here. At the same time, I know that you care about me. No matter what happens, you’ll be on my side.”Pearl’s face went red. She had never imagined that Darius would say such a thing to her. She looked down at the ground as she contemplated how to answer Darius’ question. Just then, she heard Darius speak up again.“Even if you don’t care for me, you only offended those people because you wanted to help me. That’s why you’re facing an issue with your academics now. I definitely won’t pretend that I know nothing and ignore the problem.”Pearl’s head whipped up to look at Darius. Her mouth opened and closed, but in the end, she looked back down. She couldn’t say anything in response to that. Nevertheless, she still looked worried.Seeing Pearl’s expression, Darius breathed in deeply
Darius put his phone back into his pocket and went back to his work. Edward interrupted, saying, “Mr. Reid, I think you should settle the matter with Kingston University right now. To save time, I mean.”Darius’ fingers left the keyboard of his laptop as he leaned back. He looked straight ahead, his gaze empty. It was as though he was in a daze. However, his mind was working in a frenzy.Edward bit his lip and went silent, quietly standing behind Darius.Time passed in the blink of an eye. Just as Edward thought he wouldn’t be getting any response from Darius, the latter got up.“You’re right. You’ve given me an excellent suggestion, so I’m asking you to locate Pearl this instant. I’ll take her to Kingston University.” With that, Darius turned to leave quickly with a smile on his face. A few minutes later, Pearl was at the gates of the Reid manor, ready to leave. Abruptly, a strong gust of wind blew against her. Pearl instinctively closed her eyes against the onslaught. When she ope
However, Darius didn’t say a thing. Meanwhile, the security guards had already started shouting.“Stop the vehicle this instant! Can you not read the sign? No cars are allowed in front of the university gates!”In the passenger seat, Pearl frowned. “I find this weird. How could the wealthy students of Kingston University allow them to do such a thing?”Darius nodded in agreement. “I was thinking the same thing.”Pearl let out a breath. She looked at Darius and said, “Then should we go down and have a look?” She thought that Darius would agree with her on this too, but Darius shook his head. “No, of course not. I’m sure we’re richer than all of them combined. In any case, even without the Reid family’s assets, even West Atlantics Int’l could buy over the whole of Kingston University. In that case, why should we give them any leeway?”With that, Darius hit the gas pedal, and the car moved forward at a normal pace. However, Pearl and Edward both gripped their seats. This was because t