Chapter 782: That’s Just an Excuse

Dylan Finch relayed the contents of the photos, his expression grim. "What Mr. Quinn is doing is going entirely too far," he said. If he disliked Nathaniel Monroe, he could have just sent someone to mislead him so he couldn’t find the island, or he could have simply knocked him out and notified Walker Grant to pick him up. Instead, he had locked the man up and tortured him into this state. Just what was he trying to do?

Walker Grant’s tone was extremely cold as he asked, "Did he go to the Stygan Strait or not?"

"He has already gone," Dylan nodded.

"Notify Lucas Shaw to head directly to the island and extract Iris Yates and Nathaniel Monroe," Walker said plainly. "Increase the bounty to one hundred million this time."

"Understood," Dylan replied.

"Additionally..." Dylan took a deep breath before continuing, "Chairman Grant has been visiting the corporate headquarters frequently lately to inspect operations. He has raised a lot of objections to your recent decisions. Because his shareholding is relatively small and he lacks executive voting power, the vice chairmen haven’t agreed with him. But if this continues, there is no guarantee those vice chairmen won’t waver."

After all, Walker’s eyes still hadn’t healed, and it was hard to say if they ever would. They couldn’t possibly follow a blind CEO forever, could they? Wouldn’t that just be leading the corporation to a dead end?

"Let him do whatever he wants with the unimportant projects," Walker said.

"Yes, sir."

Having finished his report, Dylan left Jardinelle.

The massive Jardinelle estate had been quite desolate over the past few days. Walker had ordered the servants not to wander around casually. Meanwhile, he paced back and forth in his room, familiarizing himself with his surroundings. Whenever he accidentally bumped into something, he would grope around, take a picture with his phone, and send it to Chloe Reed. He didn’t say anything; he only sent the photos.

Chloe texted back, "If you need something done, ask someone else to do it. Stop trying to do it yourself."

Walker held down the voice message button and said, "I can’t rely on others for the rest of my life. I have to learn how to be independent, don’t I?"

His tone was clearly mild and gentle, yet listening to it made Chloe feel terrible.

She was currently standing in a park. Preston Vance stood in front of her, asking in confusion, "Is there a situation with Mr. Grant?"

Chloe looked up at him, a complex emotion flashing through her watery eyes. She quickly typed on her phone, "I’m heading back in a few days."

A look of surprise appeared on Preston’s face. "The Spring Festival is only a week away. I thought you were going to stay here and celebrate it with your grandmother before leaving."

She wanted to. But whenever she thought of Walker groping around the massive villa all by himself, constantly bumping into things, she couldn’t control the painful, sour ache in her heart.

Chloe lowered her eyes slightly, her long eyelashes trembling. She typed, "I’ve already spoken to my grandmother about it, and she agreed."

Preston nodded. "Then let’s buy some extra groceries today, shall we? We can treat it as having an early reunion dinner with your grandmother."

Chloe nodded, then typed another question. "Weren’t you supposed to be here for work? You’ve seemed awfully free these past few days."

"That was just an excuse," Preston said, a smile curling his lips. Behind his glasses, his eyes were exceptionally gentle as he looked at her. "I knew you were coming here, so I simply followed you. I figured once I arrived, you definitely wouldn’t chase me away and might even host me well. After all, this place is like a second home to you."

Chloe fell silent for a moment.

Preston smiled warmly, his gaze still tender. "What’s wrong? Are you not used to me speaking like this anymore? Aren’t we close friends? Naturally, I’m just speaking my mind."