Joshua had Aaron send over the number and, without missing a beat, scooped up Aaron’sptop.
His fingers dashed across the keyboard, moving so fast they were a blur. Code flooded the screen in a wild frenzy, crawling everywhere like a swarm of ants–impossible to keep up with.
After a long while, Joshua finally stopped, his expression turning grim.
“Thest signal pinged at Kaiser Street in Daltonia. If I recall, Richard headed there just recently–supposedly to discuss some contract, right?”
When Joshua brought up Richard, Aaron’s face
grew serious.
His eyes narrowed, a chill shing through them as he thought to himself, ‘So that’s how it is…
He said quietly, “Honestly, if Noelle’s holding a grudge against us and goes to Richard for help, that makes perfect sense.”
Richard had been the Garcia family’s sworn enemy for decades. This wasn’t your average powerhouse rivalry -it went way beyond that.
He wasn’t like the usual rivals among the rich and powerful.
Richard was technically from Alvend, but his family originated from Daltonia.
Richard’s father used to be Aaron’s right–hand man, but he betrayed the Garcia Group by stealing confidential information,nding the Garcia family in deep trouble. Aaron had no choice but to take him to court for the massive losses he caused.
While in prison, Richard’s father somehow found a way out–pulled some serious strings, escaped custody, smuggled himself abroad, and started fresh under a new identity.
It wasn’t until Aaron traveled to Daltonia for business that he unexpectedly ran into Richard’s father again.
By then, the Shaw family were already running the show in Daltonia’s criminal underworld.
Richard, still young, had already picked up his father’s knack for scheming and cruelty. Behind those wide, innocent eyes was nothing but a thirst for blood and mayhem.
Aaron gotpletely blindsided back in Daltonia–he never saw iting–and even Joshua got caught up
in the fallout,
Back then, Joshua was being hunted down overseas by Dexter’s crew, and that was when Xylia pulled off her legendary rescue,
Aaron and his father got totally yed by Richard and his dad.
That was when Richard and his father stopped hiding–every little scheme they’d pulled against the Garcia Group before, they brought it all out into the open. Using their dirty tricks, they threatened countless listed
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For those years, Joshua and Aaron were kept busy–on one hand, working nonstop to keep thepany safe from outside threats; on the other, figuring out how to give the Shaw family back some of their own
medicine.
But Richard and his father had been dug deep in Daltonia for way too long, their political connections ran strong. The Garcia family had never done business there and had no one on the inside to help them.
In other words, there was just no way topletely corner the Shaw family, so long as they kept themselves holed up in Daltonia, always staying one step out of reach.
It wasn’t until Richard’s father diedst year that Joshua and Aaron finally got a bit of breathing room.
Recently, Richard had been keeping an unusually low profile, and the Garcia family’s sources in Daltonia hadn’t spotted anything out of the ordinary.
But now, even though Noelle knew Richard was the Garcia family’s sworn enemy, she still chose to team up with him. Aaron was worried this would end up upsetting Eliza.
“Let’s keep this from Mom for now,” Aaron said.
Joshua’s expression softened, clearly thinking the same thing.
After all, Eliza had always treated Noelle like her own daughter.
Aaron nodded. ‘Got it.‘
“I’ll have Graham look for Noelle in Daltonia and keep tabs on Richard. If any business tripse up, I’ll take care of them myself,” Joshua said.
Aaron shot a sideways look at his son.
He was young and fit.
Joshua snorted, “What, you think your old man’s past his prime?”
“You calling me old now?” Joshua quipped back, raising an eyebrow.
Aaron stifled augh, chest rising with faint exasperation. ‘With a mouth that sharp, if this brat tried licking his own lips, he’d poison himself!‘
“Alright, enough already. We agreed I’d handle thepany for two years–I’m sticking to that. Just hurry and bring your future wife back, would you? Your mom’s been on my case about it every single day.”
Joshua gave Aaron a silent look, then let the matter drop.
When Joshua returned to the apartment, it was already noon.
Xylia had already gotten up<b>, </b>and the lunch Joshua had ordered was set out on the table.
<b>8:34 </b><b>Thu</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>25 </b>
Xylia’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re back already?”
“Everything’s taken care of, so I came back,” Joshua replied.
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He’d only ordered one serving of rice, so Xylia grabbed a bowl and split it with him.
Xylia said as she started heading for the kitchen, “There’s not much food. I’ll go make some noodles.”
But just as Xylia stepped toward the kitchen, Joshua stopped her. “I’ll do it.”
Joshua was dead serious about his no–Xylia–in–the–kitchen rule–he guarded that ce like it was top secret.
Xylia set her chopsticks down and waited, watching Joshua busy himself in the kitchen. Her gaze lingered on him as she asked, “Did something happen?”
After spending so much time side by side, Xylia could sense straight away that something was wrong. Joshua still wore that usual rebellious attitude on his face, but there was a heaviness about him tonight she couldn’t shake off.
He was never like this–not unless something serious had gone down.
As Joshua got the water boiling and started prepping the food, he heard Xylia’s question and answered without hesitation.
“Noelle’s out of touch overseas, but I’ve more or less figured out where she is,” he said.
He waspletely honest with Xylia.
“Is she in some kind of danger?” Xylia asked, worry evident in her voice.
Xylia couldn’t help thinking of all those international news reports she’d seentely–girls vanishing one after another, most likely kidnapped by traffickers. The thought made her uneasy; what if Noelle had run into the same thing?
‘Noelle’s put me through a lot–more times than I can count,‘ Xylia admitted to herself. ‘But she’s Joshua’s savior’s little sister, and honestly, none of her tricks ever actually hurt me. I really don’t want anything bad happening to her.‘
Joshua heard the worry in Xylia’s tone and paused, a hint of surprise flickering in his eyes.
“She’s probably not in any real danger. Looks like she left with someone of her own free will,” Joshua replied, his voice edged with uncertainty.
Xylia’s brows knitted as she nced over at Joshua, obvious confusion on her face.
Joshua didn’t have the full picture yet, so he said, “We’re still checking things out. If Noelle went with someone willingly, it’s probably nothing serious<b>.</b><b>” </b>
Xylia wanted to ask more, but Joshua had already turned away.
He started rummaging through the fridge.
<b>8:34 </b><b>Thu</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>25 </b>
He clearly didn’t want to talk about it, so Xylia hesitated and let it go.
But one thing <b>was </b>obvious–Joshua had something weighing on his mind.
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Joshua brought over two modest bowls of noodles, and finally, the two of them sat down together for lunch.
It was the weekend, so Xylia was off work and finally got to chill for once.
With nothing pressing on her schedule, she finished lunch and immediately started plotting to crawl right back into bed and make up for all the sleep she’d been missing.
But before she could even flop onto the mattress, Joshua caught her by the wrist and yanked her out of bed.
“Don’t even think about napping right after eating. It’s murder on your stomach. At least walk around a bit first,” he teased.
Xylia stared out at the scorching sun and scrunched up her brows. “Ugh, I really don’t wanna go outside.”
“Who says you need to step out to walk it off?” Joshua replied, already steering her straight toward the gym.
He set the treadmill to a slow pace and basically dragged Xylia onto it.
Xylia walkedzily on the treadmill while Joshua propped himself nearby, eyes glued to his phone.
Xylia turned her head, catching sight of Joshua’s perfect profile. With the warm sunlight pouring in, his silver hair fell softly over his eyes, casting a gentle shadow across his features.
‘Just great, Xylia grumbled inwardly. ‘He’s telling me to walk off my lunch while he just stands there, barely lifting a finger. Typical.’
The AC was set perfectly, sunlight warmed the room, and Xylia was getting seriously sleepy. She barelysted two minutes on the treadmill before hopping right off.
“Okay, walk’s over. I’m going back to bed for a nap.”
曲
AD