Anna asked in disbelief, “Huh? What arrangements?”
The TV in the cafe was playing the news channel. As they were talking, a piece of breaking news broke in.
“Twenty minutes ago, at exactly 10:00 a.m., the court shut down the headquarters building of a major corporation in Birmingham. The group’s board members got into an argument once the police arrived. Miss Gabriel, the group’s freshly appointed president, jumped off the roof and died right away. Ms. Gabriel, the vice president, however, disappeared.”
Anna’s hand shook, and the coffee cup she held knocked heavily on the table. Subsequently, the coffee spilled all over her.
The waiter rushed over to her side and began cleaning it up. On the other hand, Anna kept her gaze fixed on the television. She was taken aback, perplexed, and even terrified.
After a long while, she heard the waitress apologize to her. It took her a long time to return to her senses after hearing a loud ringing in her ears.
“Thank you, I can do it myself,” Anna said.
She looked flustered as she sat back in her seat. She asked, “Mr. Lee, what’s going on with the group?”
Mr. Lee hadn’t looked at the TV at all. He replied coldly, “My guess is that someone told the court that the Gabriel Group was evading taxes. Now, they have to pay a huge fine, and someone must be responsible for that. That’s a lot of money, so the person in charge may have to be in jail for a long time.”
Bewildered, Anna asked, “What? Someone reported them? Who?”
Mr. Lee gave her a thoughtful look before responding slowly and firmly, “Your father.”
Frank had perfectly organized everything a long time ago.
Frank couldn’t be a fool if he could achieve so much success in business. So, of course, he knew whether the people around him were treating him sincerely or not. He pretended he didn’t know about their schemes when he was about to die because he wanted to get back at them later.
Anna thought everything was ridiculous at that time.
To her, her father had always seemed like a kind and amiable man. What she didn’t expect was that her father and Shirley would keep scheming against each other after they got married. In addition, he devised a plan when he was about to die and set up his wife and daughter in his will. As it turned out, no businessman would give his whole heart and soul to anything.
Mr. Lee walked along the street for a while after coming out of the cafe at noon. Then, he immediately got into a black Ferrari parked by the roadside.
The man’s gentle face was reflected in the rearview mirror. He was dressed in an haute couture suit, making him look elegant.
“Did you tell Anna everything?” The man sitting in the front seat asked.
Mr. Lee nodded and replied, “I only told her about the group’s problems and Frank’s scheme on the will, as you said. But I didn’t tell her that Frank had long been aware of Shirley and her daughter’s plot to poison him.”
The man breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Okay, perfect. I’ll have my assistant pay you what you deserve.”
Mr. Lee smiled and replied, “No, that won’t be necessary. Frank has already paid me. Besides, he didn’t want Miss Gabriel to know too much. To be honest, I just hope she can live her life peacefully after she gets the compensation. So, Frank would have made up for what he owed her in this way. Well, I won’t do anything beyond my duty.”
The man nodded and then pulled the car slowly to the side of the road. After Mr. Lee got out of the car, he pulled back onto the road.
Lilian then asked, “Why couldn’t he tell Anna the truth? She has a right to know the truth about her father’s death, doesn’t she?”
“No, that’s not it. Anna no longer wants to pursue the case after it has been settled. If he had told Anna about it, Anna would have been annoyed. Since Frank intended to hide it from her, it seems that it was not the only thing he was worried about. He wasn’t only worried that she would feel bothered.” Jasper answered.
“What? What else?” Lillian asked, puzzled.
Jasper gave Lillian a look and replied, “For the sake of the group. Frank is doing this to show Anna that he is fully aware of the situation. As a result, he doesn’t want her to intervene. He even convinced Anna that what occurred to the group was a planned retaliation against Shirley and her daughter. That way, Anna wouldn’t get involved in the group because of her sister.”
But, in fact, nothing could save the Gabriel Group anymore. The tax evasion was just a trigger for its collapse.
“Anyway, it’s best to keep it from her. You know, she’s had a lot on her mind lately. So, I’ll take care of these trifles for her.”
After that, Jasper looked out of the window, and his gentle gaze turned serious.
“Everyone is talking about it, Anna. And you might get yourself into trouble because of it. So, you better not go to Allie’s funeral.” Scott said to Anna over the phone.
“Oh, no! I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t know that her funeral was shortly after. Now that I know that, I’m definitely attending her funeral.”
Anna looked at herself in the mirror and tried to make her black shirt and black pants look neater. She then tied her long hair into a ponytail.
She heard Scott sigh through her wireless earphone. He said, “Okay. I’ve got stuff to do right now, so I might be late. Well, I’ll be there anyway.”
“All right, drive safely,” Anna said. She then hung up the phone.
Everyone said that Allie’s death was an accident. However, after asking several board members who were present at the time, Anna learned that Allie had jumped off the building on her own. They all said that the situation in the company was a mess at that time. However, it was Shirley who caused all this chaos.
But, no matter what, Allie was dead.
Dylan, Allie’s uncle, planned her funeral and invited as many people as he could, including Anna.
When Anna got there, she noticed there were very few people around. So, she even suspected that she had come at the wrong time. However, it then occurred to her that no one would want to be associated with the Gabriel Group after what had happened to them.
Anna then went to Dylan and said, “My condolences.”
Dylan nodded. His eyes welled up with tears at that point as he said, “Allie had a bad temper, but she was a good girl,”
Although Anna didn’t fully agree with that, she didn’t say anything more. She just nodded her head and then turned around and prepared to leave.
Dylan suddenly stopped her and said, “Wait a minute! Allie died because something happened to the company, and she couldn’t handle the pressure. The group has become a mess now. You should be held accountable because you are Frank’s daughter!”
After hearing his words, Anna’s brow furrowed. However, Anna restrained the urge to create a fuss because they were at a funeral. She patiently explained, “I don’t own any of the company’s stock, and my father didn’t give me any assets. I have nothing to do with the group. If you’re still confused, you can ask Mr. Lee. He’s my father’s lawyer.”
Dylan looked irritated. He said, “No, I’m not going to talk to that lawyer; I’m just going to let you take the responsibility! Why did Frank expect us to clean up this huge mess for him? You should take action since you’re his daughter.”
Anna thought he was ridiculous and immediately said sarcastically, “But when you even seem to care about ‘fairness’ at all.”
Dylan looked even more somber. He said, “That’s different! Now is the time for you to explain yourself to Allie and the rest of us! This company belongs to your father, so you must be responsible for this mess!”
“Just leave Anna the f**k alone!” Scott said. Even though he was standing in the crowd, Anna could hear him clearly.
Anna felt a hand gently tugging at her before she could turn around. She had just looked up when she saw Randal standing behind Scott.
“Get Anna out of here.” Randal, Scott said. He then took off his sunglasses and looked at everyone; his expression became extremely unpleasant.
As Anna left with Randal, she heard Scott saying in the distance, “I knew you all were up to no good when you made Anna go to Allie’s funeral! What did you want to do to her? Did you guys think no one would support Anna? You can’t blame her for this disaster! When you divided her father’s estate, you utterly ignored her. What makes you think you get to take advantage of her now?! I’m telling you, no f*****g way!”
“There’s a lot of people there! I’m afraid they will hurt Scott!” Anna expressed her apprehension.
“Don’t worry, Anna. Someone is protecting him,” Randal said without glancing back as he helped Anna to get into his car.
Anna immediately looked in the direction he was looking,
Instead of pretending to be polite at all, Dylan Who are you to meddle in our business here?”
Anna became irritated as soon as she heard these words. When she looked up, she noticed Randal standing against the car door. He was dressed in a fine suit and expressionless.
“Teach that person a lesson,” he said calmly.
Someone let out a dismayed yell just as he finished speaking. Even she heard the man cry bitterly and the sound of bones breaking.
“Just hit him! Don’t worry about anything else. I’ll take care of everything.” That miserable scream became more frequent in the distant crowd.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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