Chapter 461 Gary Appears
Right now, Laura had kinda bounced back from her initial freak-out and the shock that followed, but Jared's few words earlier hit her right in the feels.
The more Jared acted all cool and distant, the more it tore her up inside, and the guilt just kept piling on.
No way she believed that eight years in the slammer could be brushed off with a few words.
"Jared, here's the hundred grand your family gave me back then. I didn't touch a dime of it, and now it's time to give it back to where it belongs." Outta nowhere, Laura wiped her tears, fished out a bank card from her pocket, and handed it to Jared.
Jared stared at the card in Laura's hand, his brow furrowing hard. He knew exactly what that hundred grand meant to his family.
When he announced he was getting hitched, Gerald had practically sold his soul and even borrowed sixty grand from Curtis to scrape together the wedding money. They never thought the wedding would crash and burn, they'd end up in court, and the hundred grand would go to Laura as compensation.
Gerald even put the house on the line with Curtis. Jared couldn't stand it, but he had no choice back then.
"Nope." Holding back his anger, Jared straight-up refused the money.
"This was your family's cash. Even if you don't want it, it should go back to Gerald and Emily." Hearing this, Laura got all anxious and tried to convince Jared.
"Dad, Mom, it's on me. But I'll find a way to pay you back someday." Gritting his teeth, Jared didn't even glance at Laura again but turned to Gerald and Emily and dropped to his knees.
"Jared, what the heck are you doing? Get up, now." Emily and Gerald rushed forward to help Jared up.
Ethan turned his head, kinda surprised at the scene, but quickly got the gist and nodded.
He already had a hunch about what Jared was thinking. Both Jared and Laura were in a tough spot. Jared seemed like he couldn't forgive Laura on the surface, but deep down, he still cared.
But even if Jared could forgive Laura, he couldn't speak for Gerald and Emily. Maybe that's why he acted so cold towards Laura but still refused to take back the hundred grand.
But Laura didn't need the hundred grand. Even a million bucks, the Hall family could easily cough it up now.
"You don't need to pay me back. I know you're not hurting for cash, but I wanna use this hundred grand to end our story. From now on, we're square," After getting up, Jared turned around, clenched his fists, and said to Laura.
Hearing this, Laura felt like all the strength drained out of her, and she crumpled to the ground.
Laura felt a wave of bitterness. She kinda got why Jared was doing this. She owed him, and maybe she could never make it right. In the end, he wanted to use this money to close the chapter, which felt so damn ironic to her.
Just a moment ago, when Laura realized that Ivan and Enrique might be toast, she even thought about whether she could start over with Jared. But now, even if he didn't mind, she couldn't get past her own guilt.
"Can I go now?" After a long pause, Laura softly asked Ethan.
"Yeah, sure, even though you were in on framing Jared, I get that you were pushed into it. Be glad you still got some conscience left," Ethan nodded slowly.
"Thanks." Laura let out a light laugh and got up from the ground. Ethan's words felt like a twisted joke to her.
As Laura walked away, Gerald and Emily watched with mixed feelings. They didn't blame Jared for his choice, nor did they care about getting the hundred grand back. After everything, they just wanted Jared to have a good life and for the three of them to be together again.
Not long after Laura left, a convoy of cars came speeding towards them from a distance.
Everyone turned their heads and saw it was the garrison's vehicles, realizing Gary, the guy they were waiting for, was finally showing up.
Soon, dozens of cars pulled up by the roadside in front of the prison, making quite a scene. Hundreds of armed soldiers surrounded the area.
Gary stepped out of the first car and immediately spotted Ivan in the crowd, but Enrique was nowhere to be seen, making him frown.
"Gary, thank God you're here. You gotta save Enrique," Ivan rushed forward, pleading.
"Dad, what's going on? Where's the guy you mentioned?" Gary scanned Ethan and the others suspiciously, but none of them seemed to fit the big shot description Ivan had given.
"It's that guy. He seems to have some serious background and is supposedly a Half-Step Grandmaster," Ivan quickly pointed to Ethan and explained.
"He's a Half-Step Grandmaster?" Gary looked at Ethan in shock, thinking this guy was way too young for that title.
He'd seen Half-Step Grandmasters before. During his time in the military, he met a few on missions, and they were all in their forties or fifties. He never expected to see such a young one.
"Could there be a mistake?" Gary couldn't help but doubt it.
"I've never seen a Half-Step Grandmaster before. This is the first time I've heard of it, so I'm not sure," Ivan explained awkwardly.
"Alright, I get it. I'll handle the rest." Gary nodded and, without further ado, walked towards Ethan with his crew.
"Mr. Collins, you're finally here." Lester saw Gary and immediately led his men to greet him.
"Lester, didn't I tell you to control the scene? Is this how you control it?" Gary came up with an accusatory tone, questioning angrily.
Lester cursed inwardly but kept a smile as he explained, "He's a Half-Step Grandmaster, and his mom's also a martial artist. With my small crew, it's a miracle I managed to keep an eye on them. Plus, they threatened us with Mr. Coleman. I had no choice."
"Where's Enrique?" Gary suddenly remembered he hadn't seen Enrique and frowned.
"He's lying on the ground over there." Lester pointed to the unconscious Enrique lying on the ground.
Seeing the bruised and swollen Enrique, Gary's eyes widened in shock.
"Why'd you let them beat Enrique like this?" Gary was furious, pointing at Lester and scolding him.
"Mr. Collins, quite the authority you have." Ethan suddenly chuckled, "I told them to beat up Enrique. Why blame Lester? You were just using him to test me. Lester's not stupid, right, Lester?"
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
