Chapter 76: Trouble at the Banquet
Vivian Lowell watched as Mason Grant’s back disappeared from view, narrowing her eyes slightly. She felt a little uncomfortable.
’Did Rachel Faulkner really just bump into Mason Grant by chance and bring him in?’
Vivian’s intuition told her that wasn’t the case.
’Things weren’t that simple.’
’What on earth is Rachel Faulkner trying to do?’
’That business with the doctor before, and now Mason Grant today... It seemed like Rachel Faulkner was trying to pull something, deliberately or not, against either Julian Faulkner or me.’
She stared into the distance for a moment.
At her side, Julian Faulkner appeared with a glass of juice he’d gotten from the bar. He held it out to her. "Want a drink?"
Julian Faulkner was standing right in front of her, blocking her view.
...
Snapping out of it, Vivian Lowell looked up at Julian Faulkner. There was something off about his gaze, she felt, as if he was telling her not to stare after Mason Grant’s back anymore.
’This wasn’t him offering me juice!’
’He was just trying to distract me!’
"I don’t want any."
Vivian Lowell pouted and shot Julian Faulkner a sideways glance. "I’m suddenly not in the mood for orange juice. I want apple juice. Why don’t you see if you can get me some?"
Vivian was deliberately making things difficult for him.
Julian Faulkner’s brow furrowed. He retracted his hand, passed the orange juice to Vance Wyatt, and said coolly, "Did you hear that?"
??
Vance Wyatt desperately wanted to roll his eyes at Julian Faulkner.
But given the oppressive aura radiating from Julian Faulkner, he could only take the orange juice dutifully and silently turn to find a hotel server to see if he could rustle up some apple juice.
Vivian Lowell was in a reasonably good mood.
She sat on a high stool to the side. Seeing as no one was approaching her for small talk at the moment, she took the opportunity to pull out her phone and browse.
But just as Vivian pulled out her phone, a scream pierced the air from somewhere behind her.
It was followed by a loud THUD, as if a heavy object had plummeted from a high place outside.
!?
’Did something fall from above and hit someone?’
Vivian’s first instinct was to look up at the ceiling, but everything above her was perfectly fine.
’Then what was that?’
Baffled, Vivian looked in the direction of the sound and heard a woman scream, "Someone... someone jumped!"
「Ten minutes later, the police arrived.」
The area outside the Grand West Aethelburg Hotel was cordoned off. Hotel staff who checked on the person who fell found no vital signs.
Vance Wyatt returned as well.
He held a carton of apple juice, which he seemed to have bought from a nearby supermarket. His expression was grim as he said, "Someone jumped from the roof of the hotel."
"He checked into the hotel an hour ago. Before this, he went to the indoor swimming pool on the top floor."
"No one expected it. When no one was looking, he secretly climbed onto a window ledge and jumped. With so many people at the banquet tonight, some of the ladies were terrified."
"Now, they’re starting to leave one after another."
No one wanted an incident like this to suddenly mar the banquet.
Vivian breathed a small sigh of relief. At least the host of tonight’s banquet wasn’t the Faulkner Group, but Mr. Sterling and the CEOs of a few other companies.
"Have they identified him? Why did he jump?"
Vivian pressed. Her first thought was, ’Could he have had some dispute with one of the companies attending the banquet?’
’Was he trying to use this to generate public outrage and leverage it for his own gain?’
’But he’s dead now.’
’What’s the point of winning anything back then?’
Vance Wyatt shook his head. "That’s all the information I have right now. President Faulkner, Ma’am, should I arrange for a car to take you home?"
"There are a lot of police outside, and the media has shown up too. In a little while..."
Vivian understood what Vance Wyatt was implying. She glanced at Julian Faulkner and nodded. The two of them headed for the parking lot, intending to leave first.
’The Lowell Family’s business is still a hot topic online.’
’Sharon Galahad was taken away by the authorities and still hasn’t been released, and on top of that, someone had just exposed my relationship with Julian Faulkner...’
’With the media here, it would be another frenzy.’
After getting in the car, Vivian watched the flashing police lights reflect off the window, leaned back against her seat, and sighed.
As the car pulled away and the scene behind them grew quiet, Vivian gazed out the window, bored, until another matter came to mind.
The Lion Cat.
She still hadn’t told Julian about it.
"The cat... it was adopted by someone else."
Vivian gave Julian a rough summary of what had happened. When she finished, his brow was tightly furrowed. "You mean that Wendy Wynn?" he asked.
"That’s her."
Vivian didn’t try to hide anything. "Wendy Wynn is really something else. To think she could even fool someone like Professor Sterling."
"Unfortunately, Professor Sterling is fond of Wendy Wynn. Even though Eleanor and I know her true colors, we couldn’t produce any evidence last time, so he could never bring himself to truly suspect her."
...
Julian was silent for a long moment before stating coldly, "That’s because Henry Sterling is an idiot!"
*Ahem.*
’That’s a bit too blunt.’
Vivian glanced at Julian, and just as she was about to speak, she got a WhatsApp call.
It was from Henry Sterling.
??
Vivian was a little surprised to be getting a sudden call from Henry Sterling.
Henry Sterling had been her professor in college, and they had a good relationship, somewhere between a mentor and a friend. But ever since Wendy Wynn returned...
Vivian’s attitude toward him had changed, and they hadn’t been in contact for a long time.
And now, just as she was talking with Julian about him and Wendy Wynn, Henry Sterling was suddenly calling her. Vivian had a strange feeling about it.
Her phone kept ringing.
Julian Faulkner looked over as well. When he saw the name "Henry Sterling" on the caller ID, his eyes grew several shades colder.
"Why aren’t you answering?" he asked.
...
Vivian hesitated. ’He must be calling for a good reason,’ she thought, and finally answered.
"Hello? Professor Sterling, is something wrong?"
"Vivian, something’s happened!"
On the other end, Henry Sterling’s voice was frantic. "I was just passing the pet hospital and saw a woman charge in with a German Shepherd!"
"Eleanor Rhodes is hurt! The woman had a weapon—it looked like she was there to get revenge on her!"
"I called for an ambulance, and it’s here now. We’re on our way to Concordia Hospital. Can you come over right away, if possible?"
!?
Vivian’s mind reeled.
"Vance, quick! Turn around! We’re going to Concordia Hospital!"
After quickly telling Vance, she turned her attention back to the phone. "Henry, what exactly happened? Why on earth would someone be after Eleanor for revenge?"
"She’s hurt? How bad is it?"
Henry Sterling sighed. "She was stabbed in the shoulder. I got there just in time to subdue the woman. The wound isn’t deep, but she’ll probably need stitches."
"She’s still relatively conscious, so don’t worry. Just get to Concordia first!"
"It’s just unfortunate for the two vets on duty. They got bitten by the dog."
As he was speaking, Eleanor Rhodes’s weak voice could be heard over the phone.
Henry then said, "Eleanor has something to say to you."
The moment he finished, he must have held the phone to Eleanor’s lips, because Vivian could then hear her voice.
"Vivian, do you remember that man in the raincoat from last time?"
Eleanor’s voice was faint; she was obviously injured and in a lot of pain. "The person who came today... it was his wife."
"She said that because we exposed him online, they were both doxxed. Their son was in the hospital before all this."
"Someone found out which hospital he was in, went there, and removed their son’s oxygen tube. By the time they discovered what had happened, it was too late."
"She said... her son is dead, and she wants revenge on us. Vivian, you need to be careful! I’m afraid that man in the raincoat will try to do something to you!"
At this point, Eleanor was exhausted and gasping for breath.
Vivian’s heart sank to the pit of her stomach.