Chapter 245 To Have and Hold for Better and Worse
“It’s over, Ben. There is no more hope.” Jean stared at the completely burnt room. There was bleak emptiness in her eyes. The information she had gathered—her only hope of getting her revenge, was all gone.
Ben clenched his fists. Although he was furious about what happened at the Knox’s that day, after some thinking, he realized that Jean had no other choices too.
He quickly rushed over when he heard that her place was on fire. “Jean, don’t think like that. There must still be…”
“Are you Jean Eyer?” A police officer spoke from outside the door. “We suspect that the fire was man-made. We need your cooperation in our investigation. Please follow us to the station.”
Jean frowned and looked at Ben. “They are leading me to a dead end.”
That way, no one would find out the truth of her father’s death. The evidence that those people had destroyed Eyer Group will be gone forever too.
This happened right after Zenith had passed the evidence to her. It was evident that those people were concerned about it.
“I’ll go with you.”
“No, I’ll go myself. If you really want to help me, go to the Knox’s for me.”
Jean completed the interrogation without a lawyer nor a friend present. She sat in the corridor of the police station to wait for the results.
The TV on the wall was broadcasting today’s economic news.
“Royden Group plans to expand into the real estate market by the end of this year…”
The Royden’s business was indeed flourishing.
“Ms. Eyer?” A voice sounded.
Jean raised her head and looked. A well-dressed man in a suit was looking at her.
“You are?”
“I’m Mr. Martin, a social security lawyer assigned to you. I shall assist you in all the questionings you face later.” He passed his name card to Jean as he spoke.
Jean took a quick glance at his name card. “Thank you.”
Twenty minutes later, Mr. Martin walked Jean out of the station. “Don’t worry Ms. Eyer, I will follow up with the case.”
“As for the cost…”
Jean could tell that Mr. Martin was an able lawyer. If it wasn’t for him, she would have wasted a long time at the station.
“You don’t have to worry about it. We do this for free. It’s a public welfare program.” Mr. Martin smiled. “But you can’t stay in that apartment anymore. You’ll have to look for another place to stay.”
Jean nodded. “Thank you.”
She went back to her apartment and searched through the ruins. She could only find a few things that were still useable.
It was back to the start again for her.
Some of her neighbors passed by from time to time. The look in their eyes was hostile as they glanced at Jean.
“What a jinx.”
“We haven’t had peace ever since she moved in. And now our whole building was almost burned down because of her.”
Jean sighed silently with her back facing the door.
“What a coincidence, Ms. Eyer! Have you not moved yet? This place is not fit for anyone to stay anymore.” The landlord muttered as she walked in. “The balance from your rent will be used as compensation for this house.”
“The cause of the fire is not confirmed yet. The police suspect that someone might have deliberately…”
The landlord snorted, “Ms. Eyer, even if someone deliberately set the fire, who would that person be targeting? You are surely responsible for this.”
Her one year’s rent had gone down the drain.
Jane sat on the bench by the street. She felt hopeless once more as she watched the passing traffic.
Her phone buzzed. She thought it was Ben.
She tapped onto her phone screen and found out that it was from the court. After reading its contents, Jean jumped up from the bench and quickly flagged a cab.
The taxi driver asked, “Where to, miss?”
“Autumn Bay Area A.” Jean’s eyes were teary as she mentioned the place.
It was where the Eyer’s old family villa was located.
Ever since what happened to her father, the court had seized and impounded the place. It was auctioned off in the end.
From then on, Jean had not received any updates about the place anymore.
When she stood in front of her old family villa, she felt like she was in a dream. It felt so surreal.
“Ms. Eyer, you are lucky. Your old family villa has been seized for a long time and did not manag to get auctioned off. You’ll only need to go through some of the procedures and it will be automatically transferred to your name.” The person in charge took out the documents and a pen. “Sign here.”
Jean’s hands were shaking when she signed her name.
“Can I really have this villa back?”
The person in charge nodded. “Here are the keys.”
Before he left, he muttered. “What luck she has. It’s practically a windfall.”
Although the villa had been deserted for many years, and was overgrown with weeds, it was Jean’s safe haven.
She took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and walked in slowly.
A black car stopped at the intersection not far away from her.
“Mr. Royden, we have done as you ordered. Ms. Eyer’s apartment was indeed deliberately set on fire. The investigation is still ongoing. Her father’s old villa will soon be under her name.”
Some orders were heard through the phone.
Mr. Martin laughed, “Don’t mention it, Mr. Royden. This is my job.”
He glanced at the bag full of cash on the passenger’s seat. He thought to himself, Royden Group is indeed powerful. What a generous amount for a reward.
At this time, the man, who was sitting in a conference room in Royal Majestic Hotel, put his phone aside.
There were hundreds of documents piled up on the desk. Miles was leading a team of staff in going through the paperwork.
Nathan hurried over, “Did you really give the Eyer’s old family villa back to her? Did she take it?”
Edgar nodded. The look in his eyes was dark. It was impossible for anyone to read his thoughts.
“It’s a good thing that you returned it to her. Then both of you owe each other nothing anymore. However, I still don’t know why you kept the house.”
When the Eyers landed in difficulty at first, Edgar was already prepared to free himself from all responsibilities.
Then, he took over the heavily indebted Eyer Group and their old family villa, which was impounded by the court.
He had been secretly watching over it since.
If he hadn’t, the villa would have been destroyed by the Eyers’ creditors.
Edgar’s revenge plan looked successful, but the money and time he had spent on all this was unimaginable.
“But you don’t look too happy!”
Nathan’s words were bold and straightforward.
Edgar, who was flipping through the documents, paused for a while. He stared at the information and said, “How can I be happy when the AI project Royden Group invested in last year has some problems?”
“Isn’t Andy in charge of that AI project?” As soon as Nathan said this, a thought suddenly came to his mind, “That rascal wouldn’t have other plans, would he?”
“Sans Group’s newly announced AI robot’s data shows that that they are faster than us.” Miles added. “Our legal advisors has already started to draft our complaints.”
