Chapter 196
The Timberlake family’s front door swung wide open, letting the winter wind rush in. Bowen stood framed in the entrance, his coat trapped at his sides, hair whipping wildly. The refined elegance he usually displayed was nowhere to be seen. His eyes now held nothing but bleak, steely coldness.
At that moment, Gareth fully realized just how his overconfidence had utterly doomed him. He had well and truly dug his own grave this time.
“You’re trespassing!” Mandy, standing nearby, mustered unexpected courage and shrieked.
Bowen merely chuckled. “Do you want me to help you call the police? And while we’re at it, maybe we should talk about Gareth hiring thugs for kidnapping? That’s a much more serious crime than your son’s pathetic attempt to molest a girl.”
Gareth and Mandy collapsed in utter despair. Mandy’s lips trembled as she pleaded, her voice shaking, “Bowen, for Jacqueline’s sake, I’m begging you. Please spare us this time. Nothing happened to that girl, did it?”
“Then if I beat Gareth half to death and send him to the hospital, can we also pretend nothing happened?” Bowen retorted mercilessly.
Seeing that the two of them fell silent, Bowen didn’t lay a hand on them or say another word. He cast one last, penetrating glance at them, then turned and strode away.
No sooner had Gareth and Mandy finally breathed a sigh of relief than a throng of reporters, who had been waiting in ambush, swarmed in and blocked every exit. Hot on their heels came the piercing wail of police sirens.
Merely charging Gareth with hiring thugs for kidnapping would be letting him off too lightly. Bowen wanted to saddle him with far more serious charges: carrying prohibited weapons, being a dangerous fugitive, and attempted murder.
In less than half a day, the Timberlake family scandal exploded everywhere, with Jacob’s past misdeeds dragged into the spotlight, every dirty detail laid bare.
Victims who were silenced by the Timberlake family’s influence finally came forward, exposing Jacob’s crimes one after another.
One by one they fell, first Jacob, then Gareth, leaving spalled Mandy stranded. She was powerless to stop the family’s collapse.
The Timberlake family was finished.
Enrique was reading the newspaper when he learned of the incident. True to his age, he was a man of old habits. He never cared for news on his phone, always preferring the feel of a physical newspaper in his hands.
Enrique remained unfazed. He remarked, “The Timberlake family has grown increasingly brazen these past few years. It’s no surprise they’ve finally landed themselves in trouble.”
“But I heard they crossed Bowen this time. They harmed someone under his protection,” one of Enrique’s subordinates said.
“Oh?” Enrique responded, his interest piqued.
“And it was a woman,” the subordinate added.
Enrique’s eyes glinted. “Now that’s interesting.”
After settling matters with the Timberlake family, Bowen rushed straight to the hospital without a moment’s delay.
When he arrived at the hospital, Aubree was still unconscious, with Alvin and Matilda waiting outside the ward.
“How is she?” Bowen asked.
“Still asleep,” Alvin replied.
“You two go get some rest. I’ll stay with her,” Bowen said.
Even the most oblivious person could tell Bowen had special feelings for Aubree. Realizing there was no reason for her to stay, Matilda nodded.
Alvin silently studied Bowen for a moment. “I’ll go check on Isla. She’s completely shaken up.”
Aubree woke to find night had already fallen. She opened her eyes groggily, her head throbbing as if about to explode, and her mouth feeling parched. Spotting a glass of water on the nightstand, she reached for it, but her body was still weak. Her fingers fumbled, and the glass slipped from her hand, crashing to the floor.
The water spilled across the floor. Aubree shuddered. She saw blood, so much blood, a vast crimson pool spreading just like spilled water.
Even though it was just clear water, in Aubree’s eyes, it instantly became a vivid replay of that bloody scene in the parking garage.
Even after living two lives, this still shook her to the core.
Did that guy die? Did I kill someone? Aubree wondered, her lips deathly pale.
Aubree shrieked and couldn’t stop shaking. She clutched her head and let out a desperate scream.
At that very moment, the hospital room door burst open.
Aubree’s eyes lifted, and she saw Bowen standing there. Almost instinctively, her hand shot out toward him.