Chapter 234: A Special Habit
Feeling she had taken care of any future trouble, Arabella Donovan spent a little more time packing up the raw stone, which was exceptional in both weight and size, and had it sent to the Kerr mother and son.
By the time she finished, the sky was already growing dark.
Enduring Desmond Donovan’s intense, watchful gaze, Caspian Rhodes regretfully declined Arabella Donovan’s invitation to stay for dinner.
Arabella Donovan just figured that as the boss of a large company, he must be busy, so she didn’t insist.
After dinner, Arabella Donovan kept feeling like she had forgotten something. She wracked her brain for a moment before finally remembering what she had overlooked.
"Oh no, how could I have forgotten about Justin?"
Arabella Donovan slapped her forehead and quickly pulled out her phone. She saw that the message she’d sent last night had been answered, but it was just two simple words: "I’m fine."
Arabella Donovan stared at those two words for a long time, her brows furrowing in thought.
When she sensed something was wrong last night, she had messaged Justin Donovan to ask if he’d run into any trouble recently.
Justin hadn’t replied at the time. Although Arabella was worried, she figured he was probably already asleep since it was so late and planned to call and ask him about it the next day.
But then she’d taken a trip to Delicacy Pavilion, run into Victor Donovan’s bizarre family, that Mr. Vaughn, and Samuel Foster, and the whole thing had slipped her mind.
Justin Donovan had replied the following afternoon. His response was concise and clear, but Arabella couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
After a moment’s thought, she called Justin Donovan. "Justin, have you run into some kind of trouble recently?"
"Why do you ask?" Justin Donovan, who was in a late-night meeting at the office, raised a hand to signal for everyone in the room to be quiet.
"I’m fine. The company is expanding, so I’ve been busy. When you messaged me last night, I was in the middle of partnership talks with another company’s CEO, so I couldn’t call. Do you have enough money? I can send you more if you need it."
"I have enough, I have enough."
Hearing Justin say that he was just discussing business with a partner last night, not tied up with some major problem, Arabella breathed a sigh of relief.
"I just got worried when you didn’t reply to my message yesterday. As long as you’re okay, I’m relieved."
Worried about interrupting her brother’s work and forcing him to stay up even later, Arabella quickly ended the call.
However, while Justin Donovan’s explanation might have fooled Arabella, it didn’t fool Desmond Donovan.
"Is your family’s company planning to expand?"
"That’s what Justin said. I don’t really understand business matters, and I rarely ask about them."
"In that case, I’ll give your brother a call later and ask him what’s going on."
Arabella’s eyes lit up. "That would be great! You’re so experienced and knowledgeable, I’m sure you could give Justin some solid advice. Of course, if you have any connections you could introduce him to, that would be even better."
Desmond Donovan almost laughed in exasperation at the girl’s fawning. "So *now* you’re not shy about asking your grand-uncle for favors? Why don’t I ever see you looking out for yourself like this?"
"I don’t run into any major problems, so I don’t need you to worry about me. And who says I’m not looking out for myself? Justin runs the family company, and I get dividends. In other words, he’s my meal ticket! Wanting him to do well is the same as wanting myself to do well, isn’t it?"
"...Fine, I can’t win an argument with you. Now go on, get some rest. I don’t want to look at you anymore, or you’ll get me so worked up I won’t be able to sleep."
Arabella pouted, not wanting to take the blame for that, but she obediently went upstairs to catch up on her sleep.
What she didn’t know, however, was that the moment she left, Desmond Donovan, who had just been joking with her, saw his expression turn grim.
Guinevere Preston, who had overheard their conversation, also suspected something was wrong. She leaned closer to Desmond Donovan and asked in a low voice, "Is that child’s family in trouble?"
"More than likely."
"Could it be because of us? If so, you have to help him. We can’t let those young people get hurt because of us two old folks."
Desmond Donovan frowned and said in a low, serious voice, "I know what to do. Don’t worry."
The two elders assumed the problems at The Donovan Company were because their doting on Arabella had been too conspicuous, prompting certain impatient people to make a move against the Donovan Family that stood behind her.
In reality, however, this disaster facing Justin’s company had very little to do with them.
The Donovan Company’s stock had suddenly plummeted. Arabella, a layman who didn’t follow the market, hadn’t noticed, but that didn’t mean Hector Donovan, who was always away working, had also missed it.
For this very reason, he had rushed home from his film set and hastily called a family meeting, gathering everyone except Aurora Donovan, who was far away in Brynn, and Arabella.
"What the hell is going on? How could the company’s stock just plummet like this out of nowhere? Who’s behind it?"
Mr. and Mrs. Donovan exchanged a look and sighed. "Your brother can explain it to you."
"It’s Jasper Jacobs."
"Jasper Jacobs?" Hector and Eloise were completely baffled. "Who’s that?"
"Um..." Mrs. Donovan glanced at her eldest son, then decided to explain. "He’s the father of Claire Bishop’s baby."
Hector: "???"
Eloise: "!!!"
A dead silence spread through the room. After a long moment, Eloise finally stammered, "So it was him."
Compared to his sister, Hector was far more direct.
"Wait, is this guy insane?! Didn’t Justin already expose that woman’s true colors and send her packing? How could he still... Hold on. Don’t tell me he found out that woman failed to blackmail Justin, thought she was wronged by our family, and is now coming after us to get revenge?"
The more Hector thought about it, the more certain he became! Back when Arabella was mentally ranting about this "lawless madman," he’d already felt the guy wasn’t all there.
Now it was clear he really wasn’t. The guy was a psycho, a pervert, a complete moron!
Hearing this, Mr. and Mrs. Donovan looked back at their eldest son. Justin sighed and admitted, "There are a few minor differences, but overall, you’re not wrong."
Hector and Eloise: "???"
"Justin, I have a question." Eloise quickly raised her hand.
"What is it?"
"What are the differences?"
"The difference is that he did bring Claire Bishop to confront me and demand to know about my relationship with her."
"...And what did you say?"
"How else could I have answered? I obviously did everything I could to distance myself, telling him I had absolutely nothing to do with her. And even if I did, it was just a connection from our parents’ generation. Her parents are gone, and with her character the way it is now, what connection could possibly be left?"
"And... did he believe you?"
Justin paused, his expression turning strange as he recalled what had happened that day. "He asked if I was questioning his taste in women."
Eloise: "???"
Everyone else in the room: "..."
At that moment, the exact same thought that had crossed Justin’s mind that day now surfaced in everyone else’s.
’Does this idiotic pervert have some kind of special fetish? Like, say, a love for being cuckolded?’