Chapter 174
Emily glared at Hamish’s thumbs–up, her eyes burning with resentment as she thought bitterly, ‘How is that supposed to be a compliment?
‘He’s mocking me.
‘He’s rubbing it in that even though I’m the precious daughter of the Wade family. Even I still can’t compare to Briar, who comes from some third–rate family, in Ashton’s heart.’
But Emily didn’t dare talk back to Hamish. He was the eldest son of the Parkinson family in Shoneport, the future head of the family, and she simply didn’t have the nerve to offend someone like him.
Hamish didn’t even bother to take notice of her. To him, she was just the daughter of the extended Wade family, and she was not worth his attention.
Then again, it made sense. In Ashton’s eyes, the second branch of the Wade family had long since lost its former standing
Otherwise, she and her sister wouldn’t have to work so hard in secret to expand their network.
“Emily,” Ashton called out. His patience was clearly running out as he watched her glare resentfully at Briar in silence. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and carried a clear warning.
Emily looked up and met Ashton’s deep, dark eyes. There was something dangerous and heavy in his gaze that made her shrink back. Swallowing her fear, she muttered, “Briar, I’m sorry.”
She sounded like she’d rather be anywhere else than apologizing.
Emily had been slapped and kicked by Briar in front of everyone, and now Ashton showed up; he did not defend his own family, but forced her to apologize to Briar. The humiliation was almost too much to bear.
‘Fine,‘ Emily seethed inwardly. ‘The more you all try to shield Briar, the more determined I am to drag her down and grind her into the dirt.‘
Briar met Emily’s glare head–on, catching every bit of her anger and hatred. With a smirk that didn’t reach her eyes, she said, “No worries. It’s not like I’m the one who got hurt anyway.”
Emily’s face twisted with rage, and in her mind, she was cursing up a storm.
But Ashton was watching her, and all she could do was grit her teeth and keep her mouth shut.
Ashton finally stepped around Emily and walked straight up to Briar. “Are your people looking for Sawyer?” he asked, making no effort to lower his voice.
He didn’t bother to keep it private, and everyone present heard him loud and clear.
Frank and Mason showed zero reaction, but Emily and Jewell shot each other a quick, secret glance, surprise flickering in their eyes.
‘Sawyer just left Shoneport University, and Ashton already knows about it?
‘Did Ashton already have people tailing Sawyer?
‘But didn’t Sawyer mention that the ones watching him at school weren’t working for Ashton?‘ Emily thought, her confusion only growing.
“Yeah, lan went to the school infirmary earlier, but he didn’t see him there,” Briar replied.
Briar glanced meaningfully at Emily, catching the way her eyes darted around before she tried and failed to look composed. With a mocking tone, she said, “Why are people like him vanishing all of a sudden? That never sits right with me. We really should track him down fast, and who knows, maybe he’ll get caught at another crime scene, and then some friend will jump out to cover for him again.”
Ashton nodded, fully cooperating with Briar’s act as he replied, “Yeah, it’s concerning. My men are already tailing him. I’ll take you to cut him off!”
14:31 Wed 20 A00 HUO
Chapter 174
As Ashton spoke, his mood seemed to brighten. He reached out and placed his hand on Briar’s shoulder, guiding her forward. The slight upward carry the corner of his eyes canied a hint of coldness and something almost soul–piercing. Emily couldn’t tell if it was just her imagination, but as he spoke felt like he cast a fleeting, ambiguous glance in her direction.
‘Could it be that Ashton found out about that Jewell and I had secretly met with Sawyer at noon to help him sneak off campus?‘ Emily wondered her heart pounding.
“Your people have been following him around this whole time?” Briar asked as she blinked in surprise. Before she even realized it, her body was already moving, and her feet automatically trailed after Ashton.
Marvin watched as the two walked off, chatting and laughing, with Hamish tagging along behind, clearly just there for the drama. He couldn’t help but grumble inwardly, ‘With Ashton and Hamish both on the case, as long as Sawyer keeps his nose clean, he’ll be fine.
‘But if he’s really up to something shady behind everyone’s back, then it won’t matter who tries to cover for him this time. He’s done for
As Marvin was grumbling to himself, he turned around and found Frank and his crew all staring at him. Their stares gave him the creeps, so he shot Frank a sharp look and asked, “What are you all still doing here? Why aren’t you back in the lab? Are your experiments done? Got too much free time or something?”
Frank rounded up Mason and the rest, and they all bolted out of there in a
‘My goodness, the principal’s kicking us out! There’s no way we’re sticking around to be eyesores,’ the group collectively thought.
That just left Emily, who looked very pale, almost like a ghost, and Jewell, who seemed so uncomfortable that he nearly looked like he was trying to melt into the background.
“Emily, what brings you to the lab building today? The professors in charge of the labs are all out this afternoon,” Marvin said.
His meaning couldn’t have been clearer. He was basically telling them that with no professors around, they weren’t allowed in, and that was his not–so- subtle way of kicking them out.
As for Jewell, even if he barely managed to keep his title as a professor, he no longer had any real standing at Shoneport University.
Ever since Ashton and the others showed up, Jewell had been wishing he could just dig a hole and disappear. The last thing he wanted was to get on Ashton’s radar again.
The last time he got into trouble, he had to pull almost every string the Morphew family had just to keep his title as a professor at Shoneport University. Of course, Sawyer had also helped him a lot behind the scenes.
As such, he had agreed to help Sawyer when he was in trouble.
Emily wasn’t stupid, and she could tell Marvin was trying to get rid of them.
She glanced at Jewell, who was doing everything he could to avoid Marvin’s gaze, and couldn’t help but feel a surge of contempt for how spineless he looked. However, she put on a polite front and replied, “Mr. Goodwin, I was just passing by. I’ll be leaving now.”
Marvin nodded in response, “Well, since you’re leaving, I won’t invite you to my office for tea. Go on, get busy.”
Then, without giving Emily or Jewell a chance to come up with any other excuse to stay, he stood there with his hands clasped behind his back, smiling pleasantly, making it clear he wouldn’t budge until he saw them leave with his own eyes.
Emily had no choice but to turn and leave, and Jewell quickly hurried after her.
As he watched the two of them walk away, Marvin snorted coldly through his nose before strolling off at a leisurely pace with his hands clasped behind
his back.
Once the area in front of the lab building was empty, Robert, who had been hiding in the corner, finally stepped out. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but he was just here to find his brother. However, he just happened to catch Emily trying to mess with Briar, and like he’d ever pass up that kind of drama.
wed, zu AUT
Chapter 174
‘So Emily’s supposed to be from the Wade family, huh? And she got totally defeated by Briar with just a slap and a kick! Talk about humiliatan thought.
Just then, Ashton showed up, and Robert didn’t dare show his face. The whole thing about him testifying for Sawyer wasn’t exactly on the level, andh dr. only done it because Beatrice put him up to it. There was no way he was going to risk running into Ashton now,
Luckily, what he said on the stand wasn’t technically a lie, or else he’d be in for it. Ashton wouldn’t even have to do anything, his brother would’ve dealt with him first.
“Robert, were you looking for me?” Richard’s voice suddenly came from behind him, making him jumpi
Robert turned around and gave Richard a sheepish grin in response, “Uh, yeah, Richard…”
“You little brat, I saw someone sneaking around here earlier and just knew it had to be you hiding out,” Richard said, shaking his head at his hopeless little brother. ‘Seriously, how does he end up dragged into a murder case and even have the guts to give false testimony? If I hadn’t stepped in yesterday and thrown out the evidence to clear his name, the cops would’ve hauled him off for sure,‘ he thought.
“Hey, Richard, I need to talk to you about something,” Robert said.
Richard had a pretty good idea what this was about. He nodded in response, “Come on, let’s talk inside.”
