The moment they turned around, the light that seemed to suffuse their very beings dimmed.
Not until the family of four had left Reflections Villa did Kenneth and Louisa burst into tears.
The trust they had built bit by bit with their younger brother's family over the years, the affection interwoven in their lives, the
tthey spent together—like a huge mountain collapsing suddenly, leaving them reeling, wounded and bleeding from the
unexpected blow.
Their sons approached to console them. Only Sean approached Arabella, gently patting her head in a comforting gesture, as if to
tell her that it was over and that everything was over and they would start a new life.
Arabella carried a heaviness in her heart.
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Even with the truth laid bare, there was not a trace of joy to be found within her. Perhaps it was because too much had happened
recently.
Kenneth and Louisa, restless and sleepless throughout the night, didn’t cdown for breakfast the next morning.
By noon, however, Bernard and Cornelia mustered their spirits and called everyone down for lunch.
Arabella saw the swollen eyes and the weary faces of her grandparents and her parents at the dining table.
Kenneth’s mood calmed down a bit. With a husky voice, he asked, “Before Bella's homecoming banquet, there was a raffle.
Someone won a car and then there was a crash. That car—was it tampered with by those two?”
“Yes,” Arabella answered truthfully. “At first, everyone thought it was Martin's doing, to avenge Serena against the Collins family.”
At that time, one of Martin's subordinates called the deputy manager of the film company, who then called a person named Esther.
Shortly thereafter, Esther ordered someone to tamper with the car.
The news that followed painted a picture of Martin coercing his subordinate into suicide, describing him as the prsuspect.
“But all of this was deliberately misguidance by Uncle and Aunt,” Arabella continued.
She had investigated Martin's subordinate and discovered that he had been threatened and coerced by her uncle and aunt's
people, and he had no choice but to betray Martin.
In other words, Martin was innocent.
Her uncle and aunt didn't let their people sabotage the prize cars to distance their own involvement.
They had forced Martin's subordinate into the act to let Martin take the blame.
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“Sof their incwas dirty, and they needed the film company to launder it. | found someone nicknamed ‘The Ghost’ who
had laundered money for them more than once and had even gone after Stinger. He's the ‘Mystery Man’ Martin spoke of, and now
he’s in our custody.”
Kenneth'’s feelings were a complex tangle, and it took him a while to speak again. “I wonder if there are any of their informants still
inside the group.”
His daughter had once mentioned that not only had his brother and sister-in-law planted Erik Martha in their lives to spy on them,
but they had also secretly planted confidants in the group.
With countless subsidiaries, rooting these individuals out seemed like finding needles in a haystack.
As he pondered this, Hans received a message from the head of human resources: several managers and vice presidents from
various subsidiaries, and even a few board members, had abruptly tendered their resignations that very morning.
It was so baffling that the HR chief had urgently relayed the matter to Hans.