Chapter 235: A Mouth Dipped in Poison
Hector Donovan was stunned for a few seconds before letting out a bewildered question. "Is that guy completely nuts? What in the world does that woman, Claire Bishop, see in him? Does she like that he’s a moron? A psycho? Or that he imprisoned and abused her?"
Eloise Donovan sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "Hector, have you forgotten? That woman’s no saint herself. What kind of decent person falls for a violent outlaw who’s capable of anything? Most importantly, this outlaw is the man who killed her father. He’s hurt her and even forced her to be his secret mistress."
"Then those two should be chained together! Why are they running around and causing trouble for everyone else?"
Eloise Donovan rolled her eyes speechlessly. "How should I know? Maybe someone forgot to leash their dog, and it ran out to bite people. He’s a mad dog to begin with—who knows if you’ll get rabies after being bitten."
"...When did your tongue get so sharp? Every word is lethally precise."
Eloise Donovan feigned a bashful look. "I learned from the best—Serena, of course."
Hector Donovan: "..." ’It’s a good thing Serena isn’t home, or she’d definitely sue you for slander!’
Realizing she’d gotten a bit carried away, Eloise Donovan cleared her throat and quickly steered the conversation back.
"Anyway, back on topic. So that guy can’t stand you just because of that, and now he’s resorting to dirty tricks to get back at our family? Is he right in the head? It’s one thing to treasure a fickle woman like she’s a jewel, but to not even allow anyone to disagree? He’s a complete tyrant!"
Hector Donovan, however, saw right through it. "He’s not crazy. He’s just using this as an excuse to pick a fight with Justin. Believe me, if Justin had shown even a hint of sympathy for Claire Bishop, he would’ve assumed Justin had designs on her and would be coming after us all the same."
"...That makes sense. So, did he give you a hard time afterward, Justin? Did he have his men beat you up?"
The moment she spoke, all eyes in the room once again fixed on Justin Donovan.
Justin Donovan’s lips twitched. "He didn’t hit me. I wouldn’t say he gave me a hard time, exactly. He just spouted some threats and said he’d come after the rest of you..."
"He’s gone too far! Does he think we’re a bunch of cowards?"
"He must think he’s still abroad. This is a society governed by law. If he lays a finger on us, he’ll be arrested in no time."
Hector Donovan and the others were filled with righteous indignation, wishing they could personally tear this freak-brained bastard to shreds.
"So, in a fit of anger, I called the police on him."
The others, still fuming, were left speechless: "???"
"Justin, what did you just... say? You reported him? And then what happened?"
"And then our local authorities proved very reliable. They intercepted their car on the road and hauled every single one of them away."
Everyone: "Pfft..."
Eloise couldn’t help but give Justin a thumbs-up, exclaiming with genuine admiration, "As expected of our big brother. We were just thinking about it, and you’d already done it."
"That’s exactly how you should handle him! How dare he threaten us? He really thinks he’s some kind of king. Still, Justin, doing that must have really pissed him off. No wonder he’s coming back to make trouble for us after all this time."
"Even if I hadn’t, with Jacobs’s arrogant and domineering nature, it was only a matter of time before he came after us anyway." ’I figured I might as well go all in, meet him head-on, and see which one of us is tougher.’
"That’s true."
"However, there’s another reason he’s targeting our company."
"What is it?" Everyone in the room instantly looked over, their curiosity piqued.
"After Claire Bishop failed to extort our family, she found another sucker to take her in. The man is a lawyer named Douglas. Because he gave Claire Bishop shelter, Jasper Jacobs made him suffer horribly. He didn’t just lose his job—one of his legs was broken."
"HISS—"
Everyone in the room sucked in a sharp breath. They were about to comment on how awful it was, but then they remembered—if it hadn’t been for their Serena, their own family’s fate probably wouldn’t have been any better than that poor sap’s.
"What did I tell you?" Hector burst out. "That Bishop woman is a walking disaster, and that Jacobs guy is a rabid psycho. They’re both stupid and vicious. They should be chained together somewhere so they can’t harm any more innocent people."
Justin Donovan nodded in agreement with his brother. "This Lawyer Douglas may have been motivated by lust, but his fate is still quite pitiful. Especially since he’s a man of genuine talent. After he found out that my reporting Jasper Jacobs had inadvertently landed him in jail for a while, he proactively contacted me. He wanted my help to get revenge on that scumbag and his slut."
"And you agreed?"
Justin shot his brother a look of undisguised disdain. "Do I look like an idiot?"
"So you refused him. Then..."
"That’s why I said he has genuine talent. Even without my help, he managed to use the situation to cause Jasper Jacobs a great deal of trouble."
That was why it had taken so long for Jasper Jacobs to finally get around to seeking revenge on their family.
"I was responsible for his first trip to jail. Then, with all the trouble Lawyer Douglas caused, he almost ended up going back for a second. When he finally got things under control and discovered that Douglas had come to me before starting all that trouble..."
Everyone: "..." ’We get it. So he’s pinning the blame for that on our family, too!’
"So the company now..."
"All the previous oversights have been remedied. The current turmoil is merely superficial. I’m using this as an opportunity to purge the company of anyone who’s getting restless and has divided loyalties."
Jasper Jacobs’s sudden move had indeed caught Justin Donovan off guard.
But thanks to the information Arabella had given them, plus his own recent clash with the man, Justin knew full well how vindictive he was. He was already prepared.
He had thoroughly vetted every aspect of the company beforehand to ensure he wouldn’t repeat the disaster that Arabella had described.
Therefore, after the initial turbulence, Justin Donovan had managed to keep the chaos within the company under control.
The only reason things still appeared chaotic was that he was turning the situation to his advantage, using it as bait to lure out some of the company’s insatiable parasites.
Seeing his confident and composed demeanor, the others felt their worries mostly melt away.
"As long as you’ve got the company handled, that’s good," Hector said. "But... you still need to watch your back. From what Serena told us, that Jacobs fellow was involved in a lot of shady, despicable business overseas. Once he realizes he can’t take you down through corporate channels, there’s no telling if he’ll resort to other, more thuggish tactics to hurt you."
"Hector’s right," Eloise added. "The man has no moral compass. He might be more cautious on our home turf, but a person’s nature doesn’t change that easily. If he was willing to break Lawyer Douglas’s leg through underhanded means, there’s no guarantee he won’t do it again."
’Of course, the real fear was that he might not just be after a leg. He might be after a life!’