One of the men immediately yanked Yura by his hair before slapping him several times. It was only when Yura saw one of Shane’s other subordinates brandishing a knife at him when he finally returned to his senses. “L-let’s not act recklessly now, Mr. Long! If anything, let’s just talk it out!” stuttered Yura as his fear grew by the second. “Hah! If you were a bit more aware of how to properly behave, then I wouldn’t have needed to treat you like this in the first place! Regardless, why are you speaking as though I’ve come after you looking for trouble? I’m here for your own good! After all, nobody would’ve ever been able to guess that Bea had the Crawford siblings on her side. As a result, she’s now the most influential big shot in all of Yanken! While the Long family will surely suffer a lot from that, I’m sure the one suffering the greatest loss is you, Mr. Yaleman! Don’t you agree? Once the future heir of your family, now reduced to a nobody, am I not right?” Hearing that, Yu
Gerald was honestly feeling slightly disappointed as he made his way toward the house. ‘Would a large family even be able to live in such a secluded place…?’ Just as he was a few steps away from the wooden house’s door, Gerald watched as an old man—who looked to be over sixty—exited the house. Though the old man was dressed like a villager, his clothes were rather clean. The second he noticed Gerald, he was momentarily stunned though he quickly hid his shock with a smile before asking, “Well hello there, mister! Can I help you with anything?” “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir! I’d just like to ask whether you know of any large families living up here on this mountain,” replied Gerald. “Large families? Haha! Take a good look around, mister! There’s nothing but mountains and trees all around! I’m only living here since I guard the forests! Nobody else here but me!” explained the man as he continued to smile. “I trust my friend who told me to look for him here. Are you absol
“Didn’t you say that your aunt was here? The construction zone is completely devoid of life!” said Bea within a parked car. The site itself was connected to their family. After all, it was initially her uncle’s project. However, due to a very serious issue with her uncle’s loan, any further development of the construction zone was completely terminated. While that was so, since the handover ceremony was held just the other day, a few people should still be present. The fact that nobody was there was honestly what surprised Bea the most. “Humph! Your aunt’s waiting for you inside there!” shouted Yura in a cold tone, a stark contrast to his desperate voice just minutes ago. “…What do you mean by that, Yura?” said Bea, realizing now that something was terribly off with him. “Oh, nothing really! Since we’re already here anyway, why not just follow me in after a little chat!” replied Yura with a wicked grin before locking the car doors. Frowning, Bea then casually said, “I’m not
It was at that moment when a phone belonging to one of Yura’s subordinates began to ring. “It’s Mr. Long, Mr. Yaleman,” said the subordinate. “So you’ve actually sided with the Long family now! You’ve truly gone insane, Yura! And not just you, aunt and uncle must have lost their minds as well!” said Bea in disbelief. “Just take her away already!” ordered Yura as he waved a hand impatiently before answering the call. “Everything’s going smoothly, Mr. Long. You better not forget the promise you’ve made me.” “But of course I haven’t! I’d never forget such a promise, Mr. Yaleman!” It was nearing night at the Yaleman family house and nobody seemed to have noticed anything particularly abnormal. However, many family members did notice that Bea had been missing for the entire day, particularly Second aunt and her family who had been waiting to treat Bea and Catherine to a meal. Due to her absence for most of the day, they simply assumed that Bea was extremely busy. When they e
Bea’s disappearance had caused a massive uproar among those living in Yanken, and that included several big shots from Jacksonville. Since they were aware that Mr. Crawford wasn’t around, they had personally sent their own subordinates out to search for Bea in the meantime. While they did suspect a few people to be involved, in the end, there simply weren’t enough clues to go with. Bea just seemed to have vanished into thin air! Though Catherine herself wanted to contact the Crawfords from Northbay, only Bea had the means to contact them! Nobody else knew how to even get to them! They weren’t even sure if Bea was still alive. After all, it had already been seven days since anyone had seen her. From the day she realized that her daughter could very well already be dead, Catherine had had an extremely haggard expression etched on her face. Today, the Yaleman family’s members were all gathered to discuss how to progress with Bea’s disappearance. Though everyone at the meeting was
Though the thought of it alone was terrifying, Rose kept her cool. “Worry not, we’ll just act accordingly. Though the Longs aren’t as powerful as Gerald, their family still wins in terms of size and history. I’m sure it won’t be that easy for Gerald to sniff us out!” Soon after, Gerald issued a command for all the members of the Yaleman family to remain inside the Yaleman family house unless he permitted them to leave. “There’s something I’m not sure whether I should tell you, Mr. Crawford,” said Philip to Gerald in a private room within the Yaleman family house a little later. “Go on!” replied Gerald as he nodded. “In all honesty, I find Yura and his family to be rather suspicious. After all, they clearly have a motive to do something like this,” said Philip. At that, Gerald nodded before replying, “Indeed. I suspect them to be the culprits as well. I’ve already ordered a few people to investigate more about them. After all, his family is being a little too quiet this time
“Mom… Aren’t we being a bit too cruel…? Gerald’s not to be trifled with! If the truth ever gets out and Jessica realizes that we were involved…” Within their own room, Yura was now talking in an extremely worried manner to his mother. In response, Rose sneered, “In for a penny, in for a pound! It’s not like we can help it! We were already running out of options from the moment we decided to snatch the right to inherit the Yaleman family from Bea. With Gerald dead, we won’t have any more enemies! If we’re lucky, the properties up North—that Gerald gave Bea—may even eventually fall into our hands!” assured Rose. “For now, we can only pray that Sheldon doesn’t mess up. After all, I’m aware of how much Gerald trusts that butler!” added the villainous mother. “But… But what if someone finds out about the poison?” “Worry not, the poison I picked was both colorless and odorless. Besides, even if someone does manage to detect the poison, Sheldon’s the one who technically killed Mr. C
Obeying his orders, a few subordinates then descended the stairs. However, even after they went down, no noise followed. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. It was at that moment when Shane realized that something was terribly wrong. “You there, you stay guard here. The rest of you follow me downstairs!” ordered Shane as a lone subordinate stood at attention in the room while the rest of them descended the stairs together with Shane. The moment Shane arrived at the last step, however, he stopped. The room was pitch black and not a sound could be heard. Before he could even proceed any further, he felt a sharp pain against the back of his head! He could only assume that someone had smashed his head with a bat before he eventually passed out. It was late that night when Gerald and a very exhausted Bea finally made it back to Bea’s room. As she fell asleep almost instantaneously, Gerald covered her with a blanket before leaving the room. Standing right outside her room was a