Dylan did not sound like he was joking at all.
Staring at the serious expression on his face, Avery could feel cold sweat drenching her.
“You're the one who took my grandpa away?” she asked.
As Dylan stared at her panicking and resentful eyes, he solemnly responded, “Who else could have taken your grandpa away so discreetly?”
Their eyes met.
In the next second, tears welled up in Avery's eyes as she began hitting him frantically. While she tried to break free from him, she cried out, “You despicable man! You shameless man! You're committing a crime! You're a kidnapper!”
Dylan held on tightly to her weak body to stop her from thrashing. “Do you even know what a crime is? You're just an inexperienced young girl!”
Once she was too tired to kick and hit him anymore, Dylan showed her his phone screen.
She saw a video playing on the screen. Although Avery did not know who was the one filming with the phone, she could see that Dylan and Blake were in the video.
They interacted as if they were grandfather and grandson.
“Ery doesn't want you to know that she passed out from exhaustion, so you have to pretend not to know about it when she wakes,” Dylan said with a smile to Blake.
At the same time, Dylan was holding Blake's luggage.
Gratefully, Blake then left with Dylan.
The surveillance cameras in the residential area were nothing but decoration. The management would only send people to repair or replace them after something major had happened. Hence, they did not record the moment when Dylan took Blake away.
After that video ended, Dylan played another one.
In the video, Blake's mouth was covered, and only his muffled cries could be heard as he struggled. Then, a young man raised a metal rod and hit it on the pillar that Avery's grandfather was tied to.
The loud bang from the hit and its resulting reverberation nearly scared the living daylights out of Blake.
How could an elderly man like him endure that?
“I'm going to call the cops,” Avery blurted out as she digested the content of the videos in disbelief.
As she shook her head, she continued to cry out, “Do you really want to go to jail a second time? Let my grandpa go! I don't know why you're doing this! What does your need for a wife have anything to do with me? Please find someone else to help you with this instead!”
Dylan said nothing as he kept away his phone before showing her the time on his watch.
It was ten minutes past five.
Before she could look away from his watch, a loud sound traveled into her ears. It turned out that the man had thrown the phone to the middle of the road, and the incoming cars crushed it.
By the time Avery looked at it, the phone was already in pieces.
“Since I'm the one who did it, I won't let you all, including the police, get any solid evidence of my involvement,” Dylan said as he let go of her.
Before he turned around, he arched his brow and added, “It's almost six. Think well whether you want to collect your grandpa's body or come with me to register our marriage.”
With that said, he turned around.
Just as he was about to light his cigarette, Avery mumbled, “Is there no law anymore?”
Hearing that, Dylan turned around and said to her, “What are laws anyway? The laws are set by humans, and the people are the ones looking into the cases. You have to know that there are always more powerful people out there. Moreover, I haven't done anything insane, have I?”
“But you said you're going to do it!”
“Do what? Something crazy? Helping your grandpa end his life?” Dylan stared intently at her. “Let's put aside whether or not I'll be punished by the law if I'm arrested because the cops won't get any evidence of this. Instead, let's just talk about whether or not this is worth it. In the worst-case scenario, your grandpa would lose his life while I would only think of this incident as a fun episode.”
“You're a madman,” Avery hissed.
However, it seemed like Dylan did not agree with that. He mulled over her words for a moment before saying, “There are even crazier people than me in this world. Have you not met them yet?” The person he was talking about was naturally Cayden.
“It's twenty minutes past five.” Dylan glanced at the time before stepping forward to grab her shaking hands.
Cayden drove out of Trident Group's underground parking lot as he called Avery.
“Sorry, but the number you have dialed is currently unavailable.”
No matter how many times he tried calling her, that was the only answer he received.
Hence, Cayden called Xavier.
Xavier picked up the call, but he said, “Sorry, Mr. Moore. I didn't see Ms. Rumpley returning to her residential area.”
“Ring her doorbell and call back.”
At that, Cayden ended the call.
After that, the black Land Rover headed straight to the nearby children's education center. When Zachary brought Rory out of the building, he spotted his father making calls in his car.
At Centennial Hotel, Toby and his wife were greeting the relatives that they had invited in a hurry.
When he had a break, Toby looked at his wife and whispered, “Look at how busy we are now. Couldn't you wait until the next weekend before having this meal?”
“No.” Talia shot him a glare before softly grumbling, “It took so long before our son finally agreed to marry someone. How can I possibly suppress my joy?”
Toby fell silent at her words. Since they had already given out the invitations, they had no choice but to proceed with the banquet.
Meanwhile, Allie had rushed over to the hotel and gone upstairs.
By the doorway of the room, Allie hugged her sister-in-law and said with a chuckle, “I felt bad that I couldn't come for the celebration of Dylan's release back then. Who knew that I would be able to come to celebrate his upcoming wedding? I hope you didn't take my absence to heart. I really was too busy.”
“Of course not.” Talia smiled. “I was just telling Dylan the night before that his aunt was angry on my behalf that he's not getting proper work. He's already in his thirties, but he still refuses to get a wife and have children. I told him that's why his aunt was so angry she didn't want to come and celebrate his release from jail. But, look! Dylan told us earlier today that he's going to be marrying. He's not going to go back on his words!”
Allie could hear the boasting and sarcasm in her sister-in-law's words. However, her brother was around, and she did not want to embarrass her. Hence, she did not refute Talia and went in to take a seat instead.
The guests inside the room were all relatives. Soon, Allie was merrily chatting away with them.
Right then, Toby entered and called out for Allie, who turned around in response.
Toby then asked, “Why isn't Cayden with you? Didn't I ask you to call him?”
“Granduncle Toby...”
Right as that question was out of Toby's mouth, a child's voice sounded out. Then, two children ran into the room, leaving their father behind.
In an instant, everyone turned their attention to the children.
Meanwhile, Dylan was on the first floor of the Centennial Hotel. He had two marriage certificates in one hand and his wife's hand in the other as he walked into the hotel.
Avery was like an unfeeling puppet as she let Dylan tow her along.
When they were in the elevator, Dylan's soft voice sounded out. “Keep that frown off your face. Your grandpa has already been sent to the hospital. Once we're done with this meal, I'll bring you to visit your grandpa.”
As the elevator went up, Dylan turned around to tidy the expressionless woman's hair. Then, he stared at her pretty face.
When the elevator doors opened, the man grabbed Avery's hand again and dragged her toward the private room.
The moment the room door was opened, a wave of cold air rushed toward Avery. Before she could muster the courage to lift her head to look at the others, Dylan had put down two marriage certificates on the table and wrapped his arm around her waist. He introduced, “This is my wife, Avery Rumpley.”
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