Chapter 357 - 341: Congratulations on Your Pregnancy

"What do you mean? He suspects someone around me..."

"It never hurts to be vigilant."

Dylan Heston lowered his head and smiled. "Oh, and congratulations on the pregnancy."

Georgia Thorne found an excuse to leave the wedding banquet midway through.

As a pregnant woman, her health came first, so no one would stop her.

Sitting in Sam Yates’s car, she mulled over a question.

’Dylan Heston and Elliot Sheridan must be very close. If Dylan knows I’m pregnant, does that mean Elliot knows too?’

’Did he find out before I went to see him, or after?’

Georgia’s mind raced with countless possibilities, imagining Elliot’s reaction when he learned they were having a child.

’He must like children. Would he prefer a girl, or would he like a boy more?’

「The next morning」

Georgia Thorne woke up with a headache. Her head felt groggy, and she had no energy at all.

The previous day’s wedding had been a huge sensation, with Erin Irving and Joanne Donovan becoming a couple everyone envied.

On the second day of their marriage, the couple made a high-profile appearance before the cameras, becoming the center of attention.

During the interview, the reporters’ questions focused not only on Erin Irving’s newlywed life but also, and more so, on his company.

Georgia Thorne listlessly slept in her room the entire day. Sharon Ennis just assumed Georgia was feeling unwell because of the pregnancy.

By evening, a phone call woke the lethargic Georgia.

The call was from Sylvie. "Miss Thorne, are you busy? Could you come to the office?"

"What’s wrong?" Georgia propped herself up, glancing at the time. It was already past five.

"The manager at the dyeing factory said the design drafts we sent over are wrong. We need to go over there. Miss Thorne, um, can you come with me?" Sylvie sounded like she was about to cry. "I don’t know what happened. I remember they were fine when I sent them. I checked them over and over, but they’re saying... They’re about to start printing now, I..."

"Sylvie, don’t cry. I’ll be right there!" Georgia comforted her for a few moments before hanging up in a hurry.

She threw on some clothes and patted her cheeks to wake herself up.

As she went downstairs, she ran into Sharon Ennis. "Hey, Georgia, where are you going?"

"I have to go to the office for something."

Georgia hastily called Sam Yates. He answered quickly and arrived within ten minutes.

Sam Yates glanced at the time, his brow furrowed in suspicion. "You’re going to the studio this late?"

"Just drive!"

Georgia got in the car and called Sylvie again, but the line went unanswered. She had no choice but to call the manager of the dyeing factory instead.

It was an hour’s drive. As the sun slowly set in the west, Georgia’s anxiety grew.

The car stopped at the entrance. "Wait for me in the car. I’ll be right back down!"

"Alright!"

Georgia ran upstairs to the studio, only to find it dark. Sylvie wasn’t there.

Sensing something was wrong, she immediately called Sylvie.

This time, the call went through. Georgia breathed a sigh of relief. "Sylvie, where are you right now?"

Sylvie sounded confused. "I just got home!"

"Just got home? How can that be? Didn’t you say... Mmph—"

Just as Georgia realized something was terribly wrong and turned to run back downstairs, a man who had been lying in wait lunged out, clamping a cloth soaked in ether over her mouth and nose.

The man’s grip was incredibly strong. Georgia struggled with all her might, kicking and flailing, but it was useless.

Her consciousness faded. Her already groggy mind grew heavier, and her eyelids felt too heavy to keep open. Before she could even see her kidnapper’s face, her vision went black, and all sensation vanished.

When Georgia Thorne woke up, she found herself in a hospital.

Her eyes opened to a plain white ceiling. The smell of disinfectant mingled with the scent of flowers. Before her scattered thoughts could fully return, she heard Sharon Ennis’s excited voice, "Georgia? I’ll go get the doctor, just a moment!"

Georgia stared at the ceiling, and it took a long while before she could recall what had happened.

’I think I was kidnapped. Drugged. I couldn’t break free from that man, and then I passed out.’

She had no memory of what happened after that.

Sharon Ennis brought a doctor in to give Georgia a check-up.

Georgia’s head was spinning. "Mom, how long was I asleep?"

"You still have the nerve to ask? You scared me to death! Didn’t you know you had a cold? And you still ran off to the studio. You slept for a whole night, but your fever has finally broken!" Sharon Ennis reached out and touched Georgia’s forehead, the worry that had been gripping her heart finally easing.

’I had a fever?’

’How is this different from what I remember?’

Having just woken up, Georgia was still weak. Likely due to her pregnancy, she soon fell asleep again.

Somehow, word of her hospitalization got out.

Sylvie and Felix Sinclair came to visit her. They had just left when Erin Irving arrived at the hospital room.

Sharon Ennis didn’t have a strong impression of Erin Irving, nor did she know about the conflicts between him and Elliot Sheridan. She had only heard from Georgia that he was her boss.

Erin Irving stood before the hospital bed. Seeing Georgia’s pale face, his brow furrowed slightly. "Getting sick is not a good thing for a pregnant woman!"

"Er..." Georgia pressed her lips together, her expression sour.

Erin Irving showed no sign of leaving. Instead, he pulled a chair over to the window. While Georgia remained silent, he struck up a conversation with Sharon Ennis.

’Erin Irving looked as harmless as a fly, but deep down, who knew how ruthless he truly was.’

Georgia wanted Sharon to stay away from him, but she couldn’t find the right words to say it.

While Erin Irving was chatting with Sharon Ennis, Dylan Heston also paid a visit.

"Mr. Irving, long time no see!" Dylan Heston greeted him.

With the two men seated in the hospital room, the atmosphere instantly grew awkward.

Erin Irving suddenly stood up and said to Georgia, "Get some good rest for now. You can come back to work after the baby is born."

"Thank you, President Irving!"

After Erin Irving left the room, Dylan Heston found an excuse to send Sharon Ennis out.

"What exactly happened?"

"You were almost kidnapped last night. Luckily, Sam Yates got there in time, so you weren’t taken!"

"And the person who kidnapped me? Did you catch him?"

"Sam had to prioritize your safety, so the guy got away!"

"Do you know who sent him?" ’Who would want to capture me?’

"Remember how I warned you before the wedding not to blindly trust others?"

Georgia had been resting at home, but a phone call from Sylvie had sent her rushing to the studio. Then she was drugged unconscious. If it hadn’t been for Sam Yates...

"Are you saying it was Sylvie?"

"Not her. Someone else!"

"Luther!" Georgia hesitantly uttered the name, and Dylan Heston’s affirmative look confirmed it.

Luther and Sylvie were very close, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he used her phone to call her. But the voice on the line was clearly Sylvie’s.

"They have their methods. I’m not sure of the details," Dylan Heston said, standing up. "Now, get ready. Elliot’s getting out soon!"

"Really?"

"Everything is ready!"

Georgia was overjoyed at Dylan’s words. If Elliot was getting out soon, it meant she wouldn’t have to wait much longer to see him.

Dylan had said "soon," but it wasn’t that soon.

A week later, an explosive story broke one morning. Georgia was idly scrolling through Weibo when she saw that her entire feed was dominated by the news.

The new secretary, Quincy Rhodes, was suspected of embezzling public funds. Several images filled with data suddenly appeared online. Red circles highlighted discrepancies in the figures. An industry insider could tell at a glance that the embezzled amount was over 300 million RMB. Besides embezzlement, she was also suspected of money laundering.

Quincy Rhodes had served in Portmire for many years and had always been famous for her integrity and incorruptibility. She was seen as a good mayor in the eyes of the people.

Once this news broke, it immediately captured the public’s attention. To make matters worse, reporters revealed that Quincy Rhodes owned multiple luxury apartments and villas in Portmire.

The question was, how could a supposedly incorruptible public servant have so many assets?

Overnight, Quincy Rhodes became the target of a media frenzy. Both the government office building and her luxury apartment were completely swamped by reporters, none of whom wanted to miss out on such a huge story.

And yet, as if she had a guilty conscience, Quincy Rhodes did not come forward to clarify the situation immediately.

This only made everyone more certain that she had indeed embezzled public funds and was involved in money laundering.

As public attention continued to mount and Quincy Rhodes remained silent, the relevant government departments announced they were launching an investigation into the embezzlement allegations.

Reporters began digging into Quincy Rhodes’s life, and soon, details about her private affairs, not just her public ones, were also exposed.

Surprisingly, the only information anyone could find about Quincy Rhodes was from after she married Connor Donovan. Her entire life before that was a blank slate, as if all traces of it had been intentionally erased.

Many speculated that Quincy Rhodes’s identity was anything but simple and that there was surely a greater power behind her.

This "power behind her" easily led people to think of Erin Irving, who had also been receiving a lot of media exposure recently.

’Erin Irving has a company. It would be the simplest thing in the world for him to use it to help Quincy Rhodes launder money.’

Inside Quincy Rhodes’s apartment, she hadn’t stepped outside for two days since the news broke.