Chapter 1305 Joseph seems to have changed somehow
Evening.
Cassie barely caught any Z's.
Even though she had laid it all out for Joseph before, she couldn't shake the worry that he might be overthinking everything after the whirlwind of the past couple of days.
Plus, it felt weird not having him around all of a sudden.
Next morning, she was up at the crack of dawn, around six, and noticed the light was on in the study upstairs.
She tiptoed over, cracked the door open, and there was Joseph, still in his PJs, buried in a mountain of documents on the desk.
"What are you up to?" she asked.
Joseph turned around, "Just going through some stuff on the Hernandez Group."
"Where'd you get all that?" Cassie asked.
"Nathaniel brought it over last night," Joseph said, looking a bit sheepish.
Cassie was taken aback. That meant Nathaniel must've swung by super late, probably when she was already out cold. "You didn't pull an all-nighter, did you?" she asked.
Joseph shook his head, "Nah, I got some sleep. But I'm heading to the Hernandez Group today, and I don't wanna go in blind," he said, all serious.
Cassie bit her lip.
She felt a mix of emotions, a bit self-mocking. Looked like he was getting the hang of things pretty quick. Maybe she was the one overthinking.
Maybe after their chat last night, he had come to terms with everything and felt better.
"It's still early. Why don't you catch some more sleep?" Joseph suggested, noticing she looked pretty beat.
"No, I need a run," Cassie shook her head, "Oh, and after breakfast, I'll go to the company with you."
"No need. Nathaniel's picking me up soon, and I wanna get an early start. Cassie, you should focus on your own stuff," Joseph declined. Now that he knew the Hernandez Group was his, he couldn't keep leaning on her. Plus, with the mess the Hernandez Group was in, Lars could easily humiliate Cassie.
He didn't want her to go through that.
The old Joseph might've been the richest guy in Madison, which was cool, but he was always being manipulated and losing his memory. He gave Cassie love but also left her with a ton of baggage and hurt.
A guy who couldn't even keep his own memories had no right to love a woman.
Sure, he wasn't the old him anymore, but some things couldn't just be fixed with words.
The old him must've sweet-talked Cassie into being his wife.
But Joseph didn't want that. He wanted to clear all the hurdles and then stand before her, telling her he was now worthy of loving her.
"Okay." Cassie didn't know what was going on in his head; she just felt like overnight, Joseph had changed somehow.
When Cassie left the study and went downstairs, she felt a bit out of it.
If it were the old Joseph, hearing she wanted to run, he would've been all over it, joining her in a heartbeat.
Before, he always needed her around.
Even though she knew he would grow, his rapid change still left her feeling a bit lost.
Luckily, she had always been aware.
She knew Joseph just relied on her after the accident, but didn't really love her.
When Cassie got back from her run, she saw Joseph getting into a black car and taking off.
She stood there, staring blankly for a while, then snapped back to reality.
After dropping the kids off at school, she headed straight to the hospital.
She parked, walked in, and spotted the burly Declan chilling in a private garden, his back to her.
"Declan," Cassie called out softly.
Declan snapped out of his thoughts, "What are you doing here?"
"I got in touch with your assistant, and he let me in," Cassie noticed his bloodshot eyes and asked, "Didn't you get any sleep?"
Declan rubbed his brow, "I was up late dealing with some stuff last night."
"Are you worried about Everett?" Cassie asked.
"I've said it before, as my son, if he can't even protect himself and gets caught so easily, he deserves it. The Wittelsbach family doesn't tolerate weakness," Declan's voice was cold and ruthless.
Cassie thought of Everett's handsome young face, and her heart ached. She couldn't imagine what Everett would be like when she saw him again. "Declan, you're talking like the head of the Wittelsbach family. But as Everett's dad, you must be strict, but I believe you love your kid more than anyone. What you did at the meeting yesterday was satisfying, but I'm worried David will take out his humiliation and hatred on Everett."
"The best I can do is make sure he's alive when I rescue him." Declan turned to look into her eyes, "I've never been so severely manipulated since my youth when I was forced by family disputes. My wife was imprisoned by me, and my son is missing. You know what it means if I compromise or back down."
"It means the powerful Wittelsbach family is being controlled by a nobody like David. It would be a global joke. Our family's reputation would be trashed, and the forces I've worked so hard to control would think I'm old. Then, there would be a lot of violence or bloodshed in Neya City, a place that's always been fiercely competitive and ruthless."
Cassie was stunned. She hadn't expected the implications to be so vast.
"You didn't see that coming, and neither did David. That's why he used Everett to threaten me, thinking he could control me. I can't back down. The most I can do is give Everett a chance to live."
Declan sneered, "And do you really think if I don't mess with the Hernandez Group, he'll just let Everett go? You're wrong. He would still fear my retaliation and keep using Everett to threaten me for at least five or six years. By then, he would control both the Hernandez Group and the Wit Group. Not just in Madison, but globally, he would be a powerful and unbeatable figure. Then, he would support Ralph in running for the next president and eliminate the Jude family. At that point, whether he returns Everett to me or not wouldn't matter. I wouldn't be able to do anything to him."
Cassie was horrified.
David's schemes were terrifying.
Even more terrifying was how clearly Declan saw through David. "How do you know all this?" Cassie asked.
"You see enough of these things, and you just know," Declan said calmly, "Otherwise, why do you think Ralph is helping him? They both have mutual interests."
Cassie fell silent, not knowing what to say.
In the presence of these powerful figures, she felt very insignificant.
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