?Chapter 359:


    Felix, feeling the temperature shift, instinctively drew his jacket tighter around him. When Wesley was consumed by jealousy, his presence seemed to crystallize the very atmosphere. Who needed air conditioning when he exuded this frosty aura?


    Wesley’s eyes, usually so calm, now shuttered with thickshes, became dark pools of unreadable emotions.


    Silence stretched between them, thick and heavy, until Wesley finally broke it. “Are you close with the Johnson family?”


    His voice was casual, but this question had surfaced before.


    Elena hesitated, her thoughts flickering to Kiera. She wouldn’t say she was close to the Johnson family—only to Kiera. But then again, Kiera was part of the Johnson family, wasn’t she? “Sort of,” she replied with a cautious nod.


    Wesley’s jaw tightened, irritation flickering across his features.


    At the same time, Malcolm, deep in a meeting, suddenly started sneezing nonstop. He paused, wondering briefly if someone was thinking about him.


    Meanwhile, in Foiclens, at the once-bustling Reed family home, the atmosphere was grim.


    Thewsuit didn’t go in Benjamin’s favor, and the Reed family ended up paying a hefty price to get him out on bail.


    Sylvia, engaged to Darren, was to be married soon. Yet, with the Reed family bankrupt and entangled in legal woes, there were no wedding gifts or money saved up for her to speak of.


    Distress etched deep into her features, Sylvia addressed her parents in a quavering voice, “Mom, Dad, didn’t you say you had money set aside for me? If I don’t have any money, the Griffiths will surely scorn me. Darren’s mother already holds such contempt for our family. How am I to face them?” Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.


    Cecily felt overwhelmed by their dire circumstances. The family’s funds were depleted, thest of their reserves gone after selling Sylvia’s wedding gifts and the money intended for her to cover Benjamin’s bail. Now, their family was penniless.


    Thankfully, Sylvia’s timely pregnancy with Darren’s child had secured her a ce in the affluent Griffiths family, a glimmer of hope in their gloom.


    Benjamin, weathered by his stint in jail, had returned with a hardened resolve. His eyes, once brimming with rity, now burned with a relentless fire. “The Reeds may be bankrupt, but the Harpers are still rich,” he dered, his voice thick with determination.


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    Cecily, startled by his sudden intensity, faltered. “What are you suggesting?”


    Benjamin’s strategy unfolded with cold precision. “Elena owes us after all the years we’ve raised her. It’s not unreasonable to im half of the Harper fortune as our due, is it?”


    Cecily hesitated, her brows knitting into a frown. “Would Elena even agree to this?”


    “We’ll ensure she does,” Benjamin countered, his eyes gleaming cunningly. “Sylvia’s wedding will be the perfect lure to bring Elena back to Foiclens. Just the other day, Perry expressed his interest in her. It seems like fate is on our side.”


    Understanding dawned on Cecily as she grasped the full extent of Benjamin’s n. However, her concern quickly surfaced. “But Elena is now part of the Harper family. Aren’t we risking too much by antagonizing such a powerful family?”


    Benjamin scoffed, his smirkden with malice. “What are you so afraid of? Once we have a video to ckmail Elena with, do you think she would still have the guts to speak up? Those elite families are too entangled in their public facades to risk scandal. She wouldn’t dare retaliate. Soon enough, it won’t just be half of the Harper family’s wealth in our hands, but everything we desire.”


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