Chapter 46
At the FitzGerald Group.
“Mr. FitzGerald, this quarter’s…”
Rhett was in the middle of a meeting when suddenly, out of nowhere, someone’s phone started to ring.
The conference room went dead silent in an instant.
Everyone shot nervous glances at each other, wondering who had the guts to forget to put their phone on silent, let alone bring it into an internal meeting..
Just as everyone was shivering with fear, Rhett himself pulled out his phone. And just like that. everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Rhett frowned slightly as he looked at the unfamiliar number on his personal cell, knowing that not many people had this number.
“Hello?”
On the other end, a tearful and sweet voice came through. “Daddy, you gotta come save me…” It was Summer, crying and calling for Rhett to the rescue.
The room was so quiet that everyone’s eyes were glued to Rhett in shock.
Since when did Mr. FitzGerald have a kid? Had he been keeping his marriage under wraps?
Listening to the crying on the phone, Rhett clenched his heart and shot up from his seat.
He gestured to his deputy to carry on with the meeting and strode towards the exit. “Summer, what’s happened?” :
“They… they set the house on fire, I’m scared…” Summer was crying so hard she was gasping for breath. “Daddy, they hit me. There’s so much blood. It won’t stop. They hit Uncle Garner too, his hands are all bloody… Mommy’s gone.”
Rhett turned as dark as a storm cloud, his mood plunging to rock bottom.
Everyone in the conference room watched Rhett with a mix of fear and awe. Was Mr. FitzGerald about to go on a rampage?
Outside the room, York, who was carrying coffee, stopped in his tracks, seeing Mr. FitzGerald’s fierce expression. He handed off the coffee to someone nearby and quickly followed. “Mr. FitzGerald, what’s going on?”
“Get the car!” Rhett was barely in control of his emotions.
York dashed into the elevator, frantically pressing buttons, desperate to get to the underground parking lot and get the car, thinking something major had gone down.
“Don’t be scared, I’ll be there soon.” Rhett spoke softly to calm Summer down.
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pter 46
Rhett pondered, “Did I really mess this up? Without Kristin tipping off the cops about Ruby’s link to the families yesterday, would the Turners and Vincent have left her in peace?”
“Daddy, I’m scared…” Summer was still crying.
Rhett wasn’t great at soothing kids. After all, he’d never had to do it before. “Summer, count to one hundred, and I’ll be there, okay?”
For some reason, Rhett felt his heart twinge with pain.
He
was never someone who liked kids, but when it came to Summer, he couldn’t find it in him to dislike this kid, and he even felt a bit of tenderness.
Summer, through his tears, began to count.
Rhett didn’t dare hang up the phone and walked briskly out of the company. York had just pulled up with the car.
“Mr. FitzGerald, get in!” York floored the accelerator and they were off, but then he remembered to ask. “Mr. FitzGerald, where are we headed?”
“To Garner’s place.”
York slammed on the brakes. “What?”
“Hurry up!”
Rhett was grim.
York, shivering with fright, didn’t dare ask any more questions, whipped out his phone to look. up Garner’s Garage, and sped off. Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
In the demolition area.
Summer was hiding in a corner, looking at the charred remains of the house, counting through his tears.
In the yard, Garner didn’t want Summer to see his injuries and couldn’t bear to go to the hospital for X– rays, so he just clumsily fixed his fingers and palm with some wooden splints and wrapped them up.
“89,90…” Summer kept counting, his eyes filled with hope as he glanced towards the door. But Rhett wasn’t there yet.
“98…”
“Summer!”
A black luxury car came tearing in, and Rhett and York jumped out in a frenzy.
Garner panicked at the sight of the car and Rhett getting out, instinctively grabbing a stick nearby. “What do you guys want?! Do you think you can keep driving people to the brink of death because you’ve got money and power?!”
Garner had seen Rhett before when he had knelt before the FitzGerald family begging Vincent. to spare Kristin. To Garner, these people were no different from Vincent and Clarence.
“Daddy!” Summer ended the call, crying as he ran and threw himself into Rhett’s arms.
Garner was stunned, looking from Summer to Rhett who was holding him. Rhett looked harmless, but Garner no longer trusted them. “Rhett, what do you want?! Summer, he’s not your father, come here!”
Summer’s eyes were red as he looked at Garner. “Uncle Garner, Rhett can protect me and Mommy.”
Garner stood there frozen. Even a five–year–old understood the need for refuge.
He blamed himself entirely for failing to provide Summer with a sense of security.
“Summer, he’s no different from those bad guys, stay away from him…” Garner didn’t believe Rhett had good intentions. These kinds of people had no heart.
“Mr. Collins, you should come with us to the hospital first, your hand looks pretty bad.” York glanced at Garner’s hand and winced.
Garner gave York a cold look and hid his hand behind his back. “I don’t need your fake
concern.”
“Where’s Kristin?” Rhett asked with a frown.
Garner scoffed, knowing they were here for Kristin. “Rhett, Kristin hasn’t done anything to wrong your family. If she owes anyone, it’s the Turner family, not you. You have no right to lay a finger on her. Please leave.”
Kristin had left. Perhaps her choice to flee Silvergrove City was the right one.
She had to get away from these scumbags.