Nicholas' sharp ears naturally caught the hint of displeasure in his tone, but he merely smirked and said calmly, "I wasn't really thinking then."
Liar! Timothy sneered inwardly but didn't call Nicholas that to his face.
Soon, they reached Dynasty Gardens, where Tessa initially wanted Timothy and Sabrina to stay for the night. However, they insisted on returning, so she didn't force the matter.
When they were back in the living room, Nicholas asked the servant to help Gregory wash up for the night before he urged Tessa, "You should get ready for bed, too. It's been days since you had a good sleep."
"What about you?" Tessa asked, turning to look at him.
He wanted to tell her that he was going to the study, but she had already read his mind before he could even give voice to his thoughts.
She grabbed his hand and shot him a reprimanding glare. "You're not allowed to go to the study. Come to bed with me."
Her bossy attitude made him chuckle softly as he conceded to her mother henning. Therefore, he obediently washed up as they lay in each other's arms on the bed.
Tessa wasn't feeling quite so sleepy at the moment, so she started chatting idly with him.
"Thank God, Kieran is fine. Otherwise, I'm worried that Mom might not be able to handle the blow so well," she began. Then, the annoyance caught up to her as she was also kept in the dark about his plans, so she smacked his chest lightly. "Also, you kept such an important thing from mom and dad because you're worried that they'll give your plan away. I can understand that logic. But you even kept me in the dark! Am I a cause for concern as well?"
"I didn't keep it from you. I told you about it," he said, catching her fist in his hand.
She immediately froze as she tilted her head and gave him a puzzled look. "When did you tell me?"
"Do you remember that time when you lamented that Kieran didn't have a chance to get married? I told you that he'll have the chance for that."
His answer immediately reminded her that such a conversation did happen between them, and she said with a huff of amusement, "I thought you were merely comforting yourself at that time, so I didn't take you seriously!"
"So, you're the one who didn't listen to me. You can't blame me for not telling you," he argued, defending himself.
Tessa had no words to refute, but she jokingly threatened, "Don't lie to me again, or else I'll move into Greg's room."
Meanwhile, Timothy had dropped Sabrina home safe and sound. The next day, Tessa and Nicholas woke up wonderfully well-rested as they weren't disturbed from their slumber.
Alas, the moment they were just finished with their breakfast, Edward frantically came in search of Nicholas. When Nicholas saw how anxious Edward seemed, he immediately brought him to the study and sat down at the desk before asking, "What brings you here so early? Did something happen?"
"I just found out that Zachary and his people are trying to get Adam and Joseph out," Edward said.
Nicholas sneered, "They want to bail them out? I would like to see what they're capable of and how they plan to do it."
In the meantime, at the police station, Zachary and Calvin had brought their lawyer and were trying to negotiate with the police. Their main intention was to bail out the elderly men, but the officers in charge harshly denied their request.
"Murder and smuggling contraband, just these two charges alone are sufficient enough to send them to prison. Rather than trying to bail them out, why don't you speak with your fathers so that they'll cooperate and assist with the investigation?" the police officer questioned sharply.
Of course, the men refused to heed the police officer's words as this would mean getting a confession out of Joseph and Adam. Eventually, they were left with no choice as they had to leave the police station with gloomy faces.
"What are we going to do now? I'm sure that Nicholas has forewarned the police, and they won't release our fathers just like that," Calvin complained as he and Felix turned to Zachary for help.
Zachary narrowed his eyes as he pondered their options and snorted. "Let's go to Uncle Remus. I can't believe that he could be so heartless as to leave our fathers in a lurch."
His suggestion quickly received the approval of his two younger brothers, and they soon arrived at Sawyer Residence.
When Remus heard from Ian that they had arrived, his first reaction was to chase them off, but in the end, he agreed to meet them because he wanted to find out whether they were here for their fathers' sake or to apologize.
On the other hand, the three others didn't know what was on Remus' mind and that their actions would spell their fathers' doom.
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