Beckett couldn''t exin his reasons.


    Was he supposed to announce in front of everyone that he had partnered with Ste for Laurel Quinn''s sake?


    Doing so would inevitably drag Laurel Quinn into the situation.


    The Williams family was aplete mess right now; anyone who got involved would be asking for trouble.


    He couldn''t let Laurel Quinn get dragged into this.


    With that in mind, Beckett said coldly, "Does a partnership need a reason? Why


    don''t you go ask all the other partners of the Williams family why they chose to work with you?"


    Joshua replied, "Others don''t need to, but Mr. Torres definitely owes everyone an exnation.


    After all, none of the other partners are obsessively tracking your kidnapped daughter, are they?


    Mr. Torres, your intense focus on Ms. Williams can only mean one of two things.


    One, you''re the culprit who kidnapped her.


    Two, you have a secret crush on her."


    Joshua looked at Beckett with a slight smile. "Which is it, Mr. Torres?"


    Beckett was so furious he could have spit blood.


    Joshua was forcing him to either admit to kidnapping Aurora or to having a crush on her.


    He would never choose either.


    But if he absolutely had to pick one, he would rather admit to the kidnapping.


    Admit he had a crush on Aurora?


    His standards weren''t that low.


    In Beckett''s eyes, Aurora wasn''t even in the same league as Ste.


    "Joshua," Beckett said icily, "everything you''ve said is just spection. It''s not evidence."


    Joshua''s tone waszy. "As the esteemed head of the Torres family, it would be all too easy for you to destroy any evidence. Finding these few breadcrumbs was hard enough."


    At that moment, Beckett suddenly realized that Joshua hadpletely seized control of the situation.


    Even though everything Joshua said was spection without solid proof, he didn''t need proof. All he needed was to nt a seed of doubt in everyone''s minds, and that was enough.


    The Williams family probably knew this was a deliberate setup by Joshua.


    But Joshua had already seen through their n to scapegoat Ste.


    Now, with a viable suspect like him on the table, continuing to push the me onto


    Ste would seem desperate and undignified.


    The Williams family wasn''t that foolish.


    Skyler assessed the situation and knew the oue.


    Jonathan had lost this round.


    Although Jonathan was the heir to


    ef


    The Williams Group, as a father, Skyler didn''t interfere with thepetition among his e children.


    As long as no lives were at stake, he let them fight it out.


    The most capable would rise to the top.


    After all, they were all his children.


    With that, Skyler stood up.


    I''ll leave you all to it. I''ve had enough excitement for one day; I''m retiring for the evening."


    Though Skyler was still the head of the Williams family and held real power, he had grown to dislike


    gettolved in these disputes as


    hgot older


    Besides, he was an elder. It was unseemly for him to be trading barbs with the younger generation.


    After Skyler left, the housekeeper informed him that Aurora was awake, so he went to see her.


    Back with the Williams brothers, Jonathan was lost in thought.


    He was weighing his options: should he insist on holding Ste responsible, or


    should he shift his focus to Beckett?


    Continuing to press Ste had a low chance of sess.


    Now that Beckett was avable to take the fall, it wasn''t a bad oue.