Laura’s POV 99
Cameron has officially declared war on The Lynch Group.
This was expected, but what I didn’t expect was for him to move so quickly. During that time various media outlets were scrambling to report on a mysterious consortium from New Avalon by the name of none other than Laura One.
Laura One.
This consortium came out of nowhere, triggering fluctuations in Jerez State’s financial community, and with New Avalon’s Wall Street background, many people were speculating about the owner behind it. At one time almost every reporter in Jerez State was out in force, utilizing all sorts of connections to find news resources, and I was the only one who didn’t make any moves.
I was also the only one who knew that Cameron was behind Laura One.
On Monday, Laura One acquired 25% of The Lynch Group’s shares at lightning speed, becoming the second-largest shareholder and, in a fight with The Scott family, outbidding the Scott family, knocking The Scott Group out of the market. The Scott family’s bottom price when they fought The Scott family, knocking The Scott Group out of the market.
The uproar reshuffled the cards in the Jerez State financial world, an earthquake if you will. Everyone was stunned when Cameron’s figure slowly appeared on the SEC platform.
The bridge of The Lynch Family’s second son returning from nirvana to avenge his death went viral.
Some of the media outlets, who are not afraid of the world, added fuel to the fire and made up a lot of stories about Cameron, but of course, I was not left out of the story. I once again live in the spotlight, even to go to the supermarket I do not dare to strut in, but must be armed with a hat, sunglasses, scarf, like a thief, took something to pay the money quickly escape.
Even so, I couldn’t escape their harassment.
The Lynch Family’s situation is no better than mine. Carter came to me in a rage the other day, and as soon as he walked in the door, he pointed his finger at my nose and yelled, “What the hell is Cameron up to?”
I gave him a look and thought to myself that he would have his day.
I sneer, “What do you think? You and Cameron grew up together, don’t you know his temper? Would he let you off the hook for what you did to him before?”
“Carter,” I looked at him, “and you said he’d never roll over … again heh, now he not only rolled over, but he got up and beat you over the head!”
“Laura, you’re still biased in his favor.” He narrowed his eyes, “You had a hand in this one, didn’t you?”
“I had nothing to do with it.” I said, “I’m a victim too, Cameron said so and he won’t let me off the hook!”
“Then you act like it’s none of your business!” He shook my shoulders violently, “Do something Laura, get it through your head, your last name isn’t Campbell, your last name is Lynch!”
“Now you remember my last name is Lynch? Which one of your family thought I was the daughter of The Lynch Family in the first place? You tried to get rid of me, even when Sunny had an accident, you didn’t say a word! The fact that none of you helped me has completely chilled me and I won’t help you now!”
“You …”
Looking at the way his face was suffocating red, the veins on his head bulging out, his eyes wide and lips pursed, but he couldn’t do anything about me, his mood was inexplicably stormy.
“As much as I’m overwhelmed right now,” I grinned, “I think Cameron really did a great job this time!”
“Laura!”
“Please get out!” I ran over and opened the door, “This is my house and you are not welcome. Please leave right now or I’m going to call the police. Heh, that’s something I’m a lot like Cameron, when I start to get mad … I’m going to lose all six of my parents!”
Carter gave me one last glare and left angrily. I looked at his back and let out a long breath of relief.
That whole afternoon I did not go out.
I always think about a lot of things when I’m quiet, for example, I can understand that Cameron hates Carter, and his retaliation against The Lynch Family was also expected, but I didn’t expect him to come out so hard. When he took the blame for The Scott family and was falsely imprisoned, it was Carter’s conspiracy, and he made such a big move to buy The Lynch Group, wouldn’t it be that even Ethan and Mellisa are also within the scope of his vengeance?
He has always been a person who loves to hate, Carter offended him, he will not spare him. But Ethan is his father, and Mellisa is his aunt. How could he implicate both of them?
Maybe there was another reason for it?
I was so stuffed up inside that I wanted to talk to someone. It just so happened that Patrick’s phone call came in, I told him my confusion, the other end was silent for a long time, then asked softly, “Laura, is it convenient for you to come out now?”
“Not really.” I smiled helplessly, “You’re not unaware of my current situation … Cameron came back this time and made such a big commotion, my name is on the hot list again … I even have to be careful when I go out to buy something! !”
“Then I’ll come to you,” he said, “and you’ll wait for me at that milk tea store in your neighborhood.”
“But …”
“Don’t hesitate, I have to see you!”
I froze. Patrick has never been one to force himself on people, especially at a time like this when the wind is blowing. If he said that, it must be something important.
I simply cleaned up, left the baby in Yasmin’s care for now, put on my turban and went downstairs.
I saw Patrick in the milk tea store.
As soon as he saw me, he smiled, “Do you need to be wrapped up in a dumpling?”
“Of course it’s necessary.” I spit out my tongue in embarrassment, “I’m surrounded by people like animals every day, try looking at me like this!”
“This store is so remote and inside the neighborhood, it’s quiet enough that no one will bother us.”
“Patrick,” I looked at him, “what is it that you have to meet to say?”
“I came to answer your questions.”
He opened his mouth a couple of times with a story hidden in his eyes and swallowed back the words. After a long time he took a deep breath and pulled a dossier out of his carry-on bag.
“Take a look at this.” He pushed the dossier to me.
I was a little surprised, “This … is your work confidential, how do you show me?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
I turned the kraft paper file bag over, and the big black letters on it violently stung my eyes.
Anne.
My heart pounded so violently that I almost didn’t hold it steady.
“This …” I asked him, “isn’t this case closed? How come it’s … again?”
“I used to think so.” His voice was low, “I thought if Jacob was arrested, the case would be closed, and if Jacob died, the case could be put in the archive. But then I realized I was wrong.”
I stared at him, my heart pounding.
Patrick opens the bag and the papers flutter down onto the table like snowflakes. He picked up a few of them, “This case, it wasn’t clear until recently. At first, I only knew that it was a family dispute, and the direction of the investigation was only limited to The Lynch Group’s enemies. The Lynch Group is invincible in the shopping mall, and the tree attracts a lot of wind, so it must have attracted people’s grudges…. But I didn’t think that the root cause of this case was in The Lynch Family internally!”
“What?”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
He licked his lips, each word hitting me hard.
“The person behind this case … is Ethan’s current wife, Mellisa.”
My head exploded, and for a moment I seemed to go deaf, unable to hear anything but the sound of my own apprehensive heartbeat.
As I sat there, shaking, the scene of Anne before she died seemed to come back before my eyes.
Her pale face, slightly curled body, has been twitching, half broken tongue, a bloody ground …
I let out a low cry and covered my mouth tightly to keep from vomiting.
“Laura…” Patrick patted me on the back, “You calm down.”
“I can’t calm down, Patrick,” the tears rushed out like an open flood, “How could it be her … How could she be the one behind this? She’s …”
I almost said, she is my mom.
The words came to my mouth, and I swallowed them back raw.
I said, “She is such an elegant and noble person … and she has always been very good to me, I really can’t believe that she did it!”
“Right now she’s just a suspect, it’s not conclusive.” Patrick comforted me, “All the evidence points to Mellisa, she won’t be able to clear this suspicion. But the police haven’t acted yet because they’re afraid of spooking her.”
“It looks like Cameron already knows?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Yeah …” I said, “How else would Cameron get back at The Lynch Family like this.”
“Cameron wants to put everyone in The Lynch Family to death.” Patrick said, “I’ve tried to persuade him, but he won’t listen.”
“He doesn’t need to be talked out of it, he has a reason to do it. His mom is mentally ill, his sister was killed by his aunt, his dad doesn’t care about any of this, and he has an older brother who sets him up at every turn … What reason does he have to forgive them?”
“But you shouldn’t be involved.”
“I’m the one who should be involved the most.” I said softly, “All of it, and I can’t get out of the fight.”
“What do you mean?”
I realized I had said too much and had to smile without explaining.
“Patrick, thank you for telling me this.”
“You’re welcome.” He looked at me, “Laura, if you have a chance … you might as well talk Cameron out of it. I’m not speaking for The Lynch Family, I’m worried for him.”
“Worried for him about what?”
Patrick’s eyes turned deep and he laughed softly, “I’m afraid … he’ll be blinded by revenge and hurt the people he cares about most.”
I was stunned and forced a smile, “You’re not talking about me, are you?”
“Laura,” he sighed softly, “you actually know Cameron better than I. Do you think he’d feel better in his heart if he hurt you?”
I shook my head, not daring to think about it, nor did I want to think about it so much.
After Patrick left, I walked around the neighborhood for a long time with a big scarf over my head, my mind a jumbled mess.
Suddenly I saw a figure hanging around under my house.
That back is very familiar, elegant and noble figure, black and white plaid trench coat, standing under the ginkgo tree, is simply a bright scenery in the fall.
I suddenly held my breath and approached, she turned her head violently and met my eyes.
“Laura …” she shouted out my name in a trembling voice, and her eyes reddened at that instant. She stepped forward and tried to hold my hand, and I subconsciously ducked back, her hand stopping in mid-air in embarrassment.
“What brings you here?”
I wasn’t expecting Mellisa to show up. Had just been talking to Patrick about her.
“Sunny… she okay?”
“You still care about her?” I looked at her and sneered, “Wouldn’t you all just love for her to disappear from this world?”
“Laura,” Mellisa tried her best to suppress her emotions, “Anyway, I’m your mom and Sunny is my granddaughter …”
“That granddaughter isn’t very honorable!” I mocked, “She’s a disgrace to The Lynch Family. Heh, what’s she going to call Cameron when she sees him from now on? Daddy or Uncle?”
“Don’t talk to me like that, okay?”
“What am I going to say to you then?” I perked up all of a sudden, “I don’t suppose you came to see me today to renew your mother-daughter bond with me? Hurry up with what’s going on, I need to go upstairs and feed Sunny.”
She nodded slightly and kept biting her lip. After hesitating for a long time she still couldn’t open her mouth, in fact, I knew exactly where she was coming from, she and Carter both had the same purpose.
“Or I’ll say it for you.” I smiled, “Is it about Cameron?”
“Yes.” She responded in a low voice, “Can you talk Cameron out of it? He’s coming back this time, and it’s obvious that he’s coming after me and your dad … If he keeps tossing around like this, The Lynch Family will be over!”
“You guys are ridiculous too, aren’t you?” I said, “What makes you guys think that I can persuade Cameron? You guys are not unaware of what kind of temper he is! Who can stop him from doing what he wants to do?”
“Laura!”
“Don’t you ever come back to me again!” I glared at her, “You all brought this on yourselves!”
“Why do you say that?” Mellisa pulls me back, an incredible amount of resentment in her eyes.
“Don’t you know better?”
I couldn’t believe that the ruthless woman in front of me could be my mom!
“Why was Anne kidnapped back then? And how did she die? Could it be that you really don’t have any count at all in your … heart?”
Mellisa opened her eyes wide and looked at me with some horror, backing away.
“Did you really do it?” My heart chills, “How can you be like this … When I learned about all this, I still hold the last glimmer of hope, I especially hope that you can deny it, I especially hope … that you are the same mom in my heart! I can’t believe that you did all of this!”
“Laura …”
“Don’t you call me that!” I said like crazy, “When you had someone kidnap Anne and cut out her tongue back then, you didn’t think that your own daughter was with her, did you? Did you not think that your daughter also suffered abuse as a child, either being scolded or beaten? That’s retribution! All the things you’ve done, they’ve all been paid back to me!”
“Not like that!” Mellisa yelled, grabbing my arm violently, “Listen to me, let me explain!”
“That’s right, I did have a hand in this Anne thing back then, and the kidnappers were also found by me … But think about it, I’m a woman, for no reason, how could I do all this!”
“Because you are jealous!” I was about to break down, “Your husband was taken from you, your marriage was destroyed, so you want to kill other people’s children!”
“You’re wrong!” She was in tears, “Laura, is that the kind of person … mom is in your mind?”
“And what kind of person are you? Anne did die, killed by that adoptive father of mine! And Jacob, was the one you found!”
“No, no!”
Mellisa cried out, her body shaking badly. She had one arm against the wall, her forehead against the back of her hand, and her cries were desperate. The security guard looked our way, and the neighbors poked their heads out as well, I was afraid of making a big deal out of it, and I even helped and dragged her into the building.
“Let’s go upstairs and talk about what’s going on.” I looked at her coldly.
“I’m not going up,” she whimpered, “I only have one thing to say to you … Laura, you think I did all these things? You’re wrong … Think about it, Anne is Ethan’s daughter too, and if I were to move her, wouldn’t your father stand in the way?”
“What are you saying?”
She took a deep breath, “Kidnapping Anne … is actually your father’s intention too!”