Julian Grant tapped lightly on the steering wheel with his fingertips.
His face still wore a gentle smile, but his tone had gained a touch of steadiness: "Josephine, no matter what you see later, don’t panic, just follow ."
He quietly pressed the accelerator.
The car gradually picked up speed.
At the sa ti, he locked eyes on the rearview mirror, fixing on the gray sedan that was changing lanes frequently.
It was the sa model Audi driven by the bodyguards yesterday.
He could confirm it was sent by his mom.
However...
He also sensed that not only were people sent by his mom tracking him.
Another group was following them as well.
Josephine Thompson clenched his hand, her fingertips slightly cool: "Are they... still following us?"
Julian Grant reversed his grip, holding her tightly, the warmth of his palm transferring a reassuring strength: "Don’t be afraid, it’s just so small trouble."
He suddenly made a sharp turn, not continuing to follow Ryan Zimrman’s car.
Instead, he veered onto a side road.
As expected, the gray sedan hesitated montarily before following them in.
"Hold on tight," Julian Grant whispered a reminder, sharply turning the wheel, maneuvering the car agilely through the narrow alleys.
While driving, he fished out his phone and pressed a shortcut key, his voice lowered yet clear: "Zeke, help divert that gray sedan behind us, the license plate ends in 379, location’s in the east alley of the old town."
On the other end of the call, Zeke quickly responded: "Got it, Julian, three minutes to you."
Josephine Thompson’s heart raced, she kept glancing back anxiously.
Probably a psychological effect.
She felt every car seed like it was tailing them.
Julian Grant ended the call and turned to look at Josephine Thompson, her face pale, reaching out to ruffle her hair: "It’ll be over soon, don’t worry."
Just after he spoke.
A black SUV suddenly darted out at the intersection ahead, it was Zeke and his team’s car.
"Beep beep beep..." Zeke honked sharply.
Deliberately blocking the gray sedan, slowing its speed.
Julian Grant seized the opportunity to accelerate.
After rushing through the intersection, he swiftly ducked into a hidden alley, stopping by an abandoned warehouse.
He turned off the engine, pulling Josephine Thompson out, shielding her behind him, vigilantly observing the surroundings.
"It’s temporarily safe here, they wouldn’t dare make a move so blatantly in a place like this."
Josephine Thompson leaned against him, listening to his steady heartbeat, her nerves gradually eased.
Julian Grant looked down at her, reached out to brush away the stray hair from her cheek, bending to place a gentle kiss on her forehead: "I scared you, didn’t I?"
Josephine Thompson shook her head, reached out to hug his waist: "With you here, I’m not afraid."
As they were speaking.
Julian Grant’s phone rang, it was Kevin calling: "Julian, that car has been led to the suburbs, but judging by their setup, they seem to have back up. Should we deploy more people?"
Julian Grant’s eyes turned cold: "No need, let’s first see what they’re about. Help check the owner information of that car, and also inform the apartnt to step up security."
"Alright."
After hanging up.
Julian Grant took Josephine Thompson’s hand again, his tone returning to gentle: "Let’s go, we’ll move to another place to check the equipnt, and keep them from finding us."
He led her towards the backup vehicle on the other side of the warehouse.
When opening the car door.
He deliberately blocked the door fra with his arm to prevent her from hitting her head.
Inside the car.
Josephine Thompson watched Julian Grant expertly start the vehicle, his profile looking exceptionally reliable under the sunset.
She couldn’t help but reach out to touch his cheek: "You noticed them early on, didn’t you?"
Julian Grant smiled and caught her hand, bringing it to his lips for a kiss: "I took note yesterday, I was planning to tell you after resolving it, so as not to make you worry."
The car slowly drove out of the alley.
This ti there were no cars tailing them.
Julian Grant held her hand, his fingertips gently stroking: "Once we handle these matters, we’ll go look for the Astral Temple Ruins in peace, nobody will be able to disturb us."
"Mm." Josephine Thompson leaned back into the seat, her eyes on his focused driving profile, feeling warm inside.
She knew.
No matter what danger appeared, Julian Grant would protect her at all costs.
Giving her his one and only affection.
Nathaniel Gallagher once treated her well too.
Maybe he really loved her.
But alas...
She wasn’t his only one.
She couldn’t accept sharing a man with another woman, couldn’t accept the man she loved having feelings for soone else.
Thus...
Even though it was very painful and hurtful.
She had to fully let go of Nathaniel Gallagher.
...
Audenburg.
"Whizz whizz whizz--"
Cell phone ssages kept coming in.
Nathaniel Gallagher sat on the leather sofa in the top-floor office, holding an unlit cigar between his fingers.
The tablet screen on the desk lit up.
A bodyguard sent a ssage with over ten photos attached.
Casually, he swiped open the screen.
In the photos.
Julian Grant was spinning Josephine around at the alley entrance.
She bead radiantly, clinging to his neck.
The sunset bathed them, the scene dazzlingly bright.
Boom!
Nathaniel Gallagher’s fingers suddenly clenched, the cigar warping between his grip.
He continued to scroll down.
The photos were all of them intimately kissing.
Previously, bodyguards had also sent him photos!
But those photos mostly showed Julian Grant initiating kisses with Josephine,
while she had a resistant face, unwilling to kiss him.
As for the current photos!
Their state was clearly different.
In several photos, Josephine was smiling, holding his neck, taking the initiative to kiss him.
"Bang--"
Nathaniel Gallagher slamd his fist heavily on the table.
He enlarged the photos on the tablet.
The photo resolution was high.
He could clearly see the blue-purple hickeys on Josephine’s neck and curry chicken.
He’s a man.
He knew well what this ant.
"Darn--darn--"
"Josephine Thompson, you actually slept with Julian Grant..."
"Crash bang—"
His emotions suddenly lost control, like a raging lion, furiously smashing everything off the desk onto the ground.
"Josephine Thompson--"
"You’ve barely left for long, and you’re already in another man’s bed? Can’t you stay away from n at all?"
"Creak, creak--"
His fingers clenched tight with a creaking noise, veins bulging at his temples, his eyebrows and eyelids furrowed together in a knot.
"President Gallagher..." The assistant timidly pushed the door open, staring at the ss strewn across the floor, not daring to step forward.
Nathaniel Gallagher abruptly turned his head, his eyes bloodshot, like a beast out of control.
He grabbed the shattered tablet on the table, pointing at Josephine Thompson’s smiling face on the screen, his voice hoarse: "What right does she have to smile? What right does she have to smile at another man?"
The assistant hung his head, not daring to breathe loudly.
He had followed Nathaniel Gallagher for years and had never seen him so out of control.
Even when he was angry before.
He always maintained the calmness of soone in power, but now, all his restraint had been torn apart by the image in the photo.
Nathaniel Gallagher took a deep breath, forcing himself to suppress the surging violence, his fingers trembling as he picked up his phone and dialed the bodyguard. As soon as a voice ca through the receiver, he roared: "I don’t care what you have to do, bring Josephine back imdiately."
"President Gallagher, Julian Grant switched cars, and now we can’t find their tracks... " The bodyguard’s voice was filled with undisguised panic.
"Useless!" Nathaniel Gallagher angrily threw the phone, the screen instantly shattered into pieces.
He staggered back a step, leaning against the cold wall, his mind repeatedly flashing with the image of Josephine actively kissing Julian Grant in the photo, and those glaring marks on her neck.
Jealousy... it wrapped around his heart like a poisonous vine, tightening more and more.
He recalled the tender monts he once shared with her.
Rembered the despair and hatred in her eyes when she proposed a divorce.
Back then, he thought she would eventually co back, after all, she had depended on him so much.
But now he finally understood.
So departures, once turned, will never return.
"Impossible... She can’t do this to . She loves , there’s no way she could change her heart so fast!" Nathaniel Gallagher muttered to himself, his eyes gradually turning sinister. He wiped his face with a hand, stood up straight again, his tone regaining so of its icy calm: "Prepare the car, go find out where the ’Astral Temple Ruins’ Julian Grant ntioned is?"
"Find out what exactly he’s planning to do?"
The assistant quickly complied: "Yes, President Gallagher, I’ll investigate right away."
Nathaniel Gallagher moved to the floor-to-ceiling window.
He gazed at the splendid night view outside, his eyes, however, were pitch black.
He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit a cigar.
The spicy taste of nicotine made him cough a couple of tis but couldn’t suppress the rage in his heart.
"Julian Grant, Josephine..." he uttered their nas through gritted teeth, his voice full of malice, "Do you think you can get away? What I, Nathaniel Gallagher, want, I’ve never not gotten."
The smoke from the cigar swirled before his eyes, blurring the lights outside the window.
He seed to already see himself locking Josephine back by his side and Julian Grant’s miserable end.
This ga, he couldn’t afford to lose, and he absolutely wouldn’t lose.
"Julian Grant, I want you dead!"
He cursed angrily, pressing the cigar onto his wrist.
"Sizzle."
A sll like roasted at wafted from his arm.
The burning pain brought so clarity to Nathaniel Gallagher’s muddled mind.
He stared at the rapidly swelling burn mark on his wrist, the madness in his eyes gradually settling into icy obsession.
The assistant stood aside, his whole body stiff with fear, not daring to step forward and intervene.
He understood that any persuasion at this point would only add fuel to the fire.
"Did you find it?" Nathaniel Gallagher suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse as if scraped by sandpaper, devoid of emotion.
The assistant quickly retrieved the tablet and handed it to him: "... President Gallagher, the Astral Temple Ruins are on the edge of The Barrens in The Khergit Highlands. It’s remote, with complicated roads, Julian Grant and the others are probably trying to hide under the guise of an expedition."
Nathaniel Gallagher took the tablet, his fingers sliding across the screen, his gaze sweeping over the topographical photos of the ruins.
The isolation and desolation of The Barrens made it easier for him to act.
He wanted Julian Grant to die there.
"Very good." He laughed softly, his tone cruelly certain, "Notify the ’Shadow’ squad, prepare the equipnt, and set out for The Khergit Highlands tomorrow morning."
"President Gallagher, the environnt there is harsh, and Julian Grant will definitely be prepared..." The assistant hesitated to remind him.
"Prepared?" Nathaniel Gallagher turned to look at him, the coldness in his eyes instantly silencing the assistant.
"In the face of absolute power, any preparation is futile." He paused, his fingers once again stroking Josephine’s face in the photo, his tone malicious, "I want Julian Grant to disappear forever in The Barrens, and as for Josephine..."
At this point.
His gaze softened for a mont but was quickly covered by possessiveness: "Bring her back, lock her by my side, until she rembers who is her only man."
The assistant dared not say more, quickly responding: "Yes, I will arrange it imdiately."
After the assistant left, Nathaniel Gallagher stood alone in the office, looking out at the night.
The burn mark on his wrist still throbbed with pain.
But this pain was nothing compared to the bone-deep pain of Josephine’s betrayal.
He picked up the phone and dialed an encrypted number, a deep male voice ca through the receiver: "President Gallagher."
"Help investigate two people." Nathaniel Gallagher’s voice was devoid of warmth.
"The illegal evidence regarding Leo Ford’s involvent in the selection of candidates."
"Understood."
He hung up the phone.
Nathaniel Gallagher walked to the liquor cabinet, poured a glass of strong liquor, and drank it down in one gulp.
The spicy liquid burned down his throat but could not suppress the ferocity in his heart.
He continually recalled his past with Josephine.
Those neglected details now surfaced one by one.
The tenderness when she handed him warm water, the loneliness waiting for him to co ho at night, the forced calm when she filed for divorce...
"Did I push you to soone else?" He muttered to himself, his tone containing a trace of an uncertainty even he hadn’t noticed.
But in the next second.
This uncertainty was replaced by a frenzy of possessiveness, "No, you are mine, only mine."
Half an hour later.
The phone vibrated, the information had arrived.
As expected, it was information on Leo Ford’s subordinates.
"With this evidence, how can I not bring down The Grant Family? Hahaha... Hehehe..." Nathaniel Gallagher let out a disturbingly eerie laugh.
Currently, the evidence had been almost completely gathered!
Of course, he needed to cover all bases!
First, he needed to pave a retreat for himself.
Once his retreat was secure.
The mont to strike would co.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz..."
The phone vibrated again.
Nathaniel Gallagher glanced at it with a sinister gaze.
It was Evelyn Thorne calling.
"Sizzle～, really annoying."
He irritably hung up the phone, not wanting to get entangled with her anymore.
The evidence had been almost completely gathered.
Evelyn Thorne no longer held much usefulness.
So, there was no need to flatter her wholeheartedly anymore.
Of course, he couldn’t ignore her completely.
"Nathaniel, why are you not answering the phone again? What have you been busy with recently? Pick up the phone quickly."
"If you don’t answer, I’ll get angry."
"I’m going to the hospital for a prenatal check tomorrow, co with ."
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
Evelyn Thorne bombarded him incessantly, calling him every few minutes. The ssages every day were one after another.
Nathaniel Gallagher glanced at it again, making his head throb with annoyance.
"Won like this are really speechless."
After a few more vibrations of the phone, he finally answered, "Hello."
As soon as the call was connected, Evelyn Thorne’s angry and enraged voice ca from the other side, "Nathaniel Gallagher, what the hell do you an? Why have you not been answering my calls?"
"I’m busy with work every day, can you stop calling constantly? I have a lot of work to do, I can’t be with you every single mont."
"I never said you have to be with every mont, but can’t you at least see once a week? I’m pregnant now and you don’t care about the baby at all? What do you an? Are you planning to burn bridges with ?"
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