Elissa gritted her teeth and dodged Patrick’s advances. She roared irritably, “Patrick Klein! What the hell are you trying to do?
Do you want to break up this family?”
Just as Patrick was about to swing the mop, the phone in the living room suddenly rang. Amidst the chaos, the boldest of the servants went to answer the phone.
“Hello, Klein residence. You want to speak with Mr. Klein? I’m afraid he’s… Busy right now.”
The servant glanced at Patrick, who was about to hit Ritchie with the mop. The caller seemed persistent so she handed over the phone to Patrick, her body trembling slightly.
“Sir, it’s your assistant.” Patrick was in a fit of rage. He snatched the phone from her impatiently and spat into the receiver,
“What?”
“The police have caught several of our men. The man who was sent to kill Sebastian is among them,” the assistant reported anxiously.
“Sir, we have to get him out of there. If the police followed this lead, they’ll trace it back to the Klein family soon.
We have to stop them!” The assistant was so anxious that he raised his voice. Patrick heard his words loud and clear. Ritchie, Elissa, and Patrick all froze in place with a look of horror on their faces.
Ritchie cursed, “Fuck! Sebastian moved really fast! Mom, we’re in trouble now!”
Elissa’s face turned ghastly pale. She tugged at Patrick’s arm and asked desperately, “What should we do now?”
The mother’s and son’s reaction gave Patrick a headache. He hung up the phone and said through gritted teeth,
“This is all your damned fault. This isn’t over!”
Then he stormed out and slammed the door behind him. When Patrick left the house, Elissa’s knees buckled from underneath her and she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.
It was dawn of the following morning when Patrick came back home. His face was ghastly pale, as though he had aged ten years over the span of one night. His shirt was also creased all over. He dragged his tired body to the living room and sank into the sofa. Elissa and Ritchie had been waiting for him to come home. They exchanged glances. Ritchie went to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water for his father.
“How’d it go, Dad?” he asked anxiously. Patrick ignored the water. He rubbed his temples and sighed heavily.
“Sebastian has found out about our secret force. We’ll have to sacrifice it for the sake of the bigger picture.”
Hearing this, Ritchie and Elissa looked at each other and all the color drained from their faces. The Klein family’s “secret force”
was cultivated by Patrick when they first came to Seacisco. It took care of the nasty, under-the-table deals in the dark. It had been there for the Klein family for at least two decades.
With a cold, stony expression, Patrick stood up and declared, “From now on, you two have little to no power in the Klein family.
You’d better behave yourselves from now on!”
After saying that, Patrick stormed out of the room and slammed the door. Elissa and Ritchie were speechless. Elissa sat on the sofa wordlessly, looking dispirited. She was in deep trouble this time. In the hospital in Barnes, Sebastian had just gotten off the phone. His eyes landed on the TV, which was broadcasting news about a gang being sieged by the police.
‘It’s been really dangerous lately. This sort of thing has been happening every day. I heard that the cinema collapsed because it was blown up by gangsters as well.”
Holding a basin of warm water, Natalie strode in and fixed her eyes on the TV. Sebastian pointed the remote at the TV and turned it off. “There’ll always be bad guys,” he said lazily. What he didn’t tell Natalie was that he was the one behind the destruction of the
Klein family’s secret force, which was a major blow to Patrick.
The Klein family patriarch had failed to salvage what he had built over the last two decades. He was weak now. A trace of imperceptible contempt flashed in Sebastian’s eyes. But it was a pity that he was cooped up in the hospital and couldn’t deal with the
Klein family himself. His subordinates were doing most of the work. If it were up to him, he’d have liked to see the desperate look on Patrick’s face.
Natalie shrugged and proceeded to put the basin on the bedside table. She dipped a towel in it, wrung out the excess water, and then strode over to Sebastian to wipe his arms.
“The doctor said that you can leave the hospital in around two or three days.”
When Sebastian turned to look at Natalie in front of him, the gloom in his eyes instantly disappeared. He asked dotingly, “What else did the doctor say?” Before Natalie could reply, a voice came from the door.
“He said that you should exercise more instead of lying in bed all day long.” With a big grin on his face, Garrett strode in.
“Natalie, he’s lucky he has you here taking care of him.” He put bags of tonics on the table and looked Sebastian up and down inquisitively.
“Mr. Larson, it’s only been a few days but it seems you’ve gained weight.” Sebastian glanced at him fiercely. Back when he was in
Seacisco, he had been missing Natalie like crazy and had lost a lot of weight. Garrett chuckled and shook his head. Suddenly, he looked out the door and shouted, “Are you planning on standing there all day, Laney?”
Hearing this, Laney walked in and shot him a death glare. Then she smiled and handed a gift basket to Natalie. “I’ve brought some tonics for you. They’re good for your health.”
Suddenly, Natalie felt as if she had returned to Seacisco, with all her dear friends around her.
She accepted the gift graciously. Sebastian and Garrett proceeded to talk about work in the ward, whereas Natalie and Laney headed out to buy some food for lunch.
“So what’re you up to now?” Natalie looked at Laney carefully. She found that her old bodyguard was wearing light make-up and lipstick. Laney looked lovely.
“After everyone found out Sebastian’s true identity, I didn’t have to be your bodyguard anymore. Since you moved to
Barnes, there was no reason for me to stay with the Larson Group. Garrett joke that if I remained jobless, no man would want to date me. So he recommended me a job as a trainer,” Laney explained.
The truth was that Garrett had specifically asked her to become the chief coach of Pole Shadow, a secret force cultivated by Sebastian himself. At least it was safer than being a bodyguard. Natalie smiled and said sincerely, “That’s good.”
The two fell silent for a while. Suddenly, Natalie poked Laney’s arm and teased, “It seems that Garrett cares about you a lot. I heard he’s been single for a while now. That’s not like him.”