Chapter 226: Flattery
"Francis! I need to talk to you!"
"Leo, you can't go in there."
The next second, Leo pushed the door open.
The two guards at the door quickly apologized, "Sorry, Francis, we couldn't stop Leo."
Francis had already composed his expression and waved at the two guards, signaling them to leave.
Only then did he meet Leo's angry eyes.
"Who upset you? Tell me, I'll teach them a lesson for you."
Francis's attitude was very good. Leo suppressed his dissatisfaction, walked forward, and got straight to the point.
"Francis, you told me before that you'd give me that Amelia we met at the hospital entrance. How long has it been now? Almost a month, right? I haven't even seen a trace of her. Did you forget about this? If you forgot, I'll go find her myself. Anyway, I already exchanged contact information with her last time."
At the mention of "last time," Francis's expression darkened involuntarily.
He had other plans that day.
He wanted to grab Amelia when she went into the changing room and frame Leo for it.
He didn't expect that Amelia was buying men's clothes and didn't go into the fitting room at all.
He had planned to give up and just leave.
Who would have thought that foolish Leo would put on a hero-saves-the-beauty act.
Such a clumsy trick—if Amelia had looked into it at all, or if she had called Samuel, they would have been traced immediately.
He had scolded Leo harshly at the mall entrance because of this.
Later, after having calmed down, he apologized to Leo and promised to deliver Amelia to his bed.
Then the Young family engagement party happened, and with one delay after another, it dragged on until now.
Francis suppressed his anger again. After calming down, his senses became sharper.
He smelled alcohol on Leo.
"You've been drinking?"
"Just had a little."
"Who were you drinking with?"
Leo felt inexplicably guilty, and his attitude wasn't as arrogant as before.
"Just some friends I knew back in Goldenvale."
"Don't hang out with shady people. You just got out of prison—make some normal friends."
Leo's anger flared up immediately.
"What? Your friends are normal, but all my friends are weird?"
"That's not what I meant."
"You don't need to give me all that talk. Just answer me—are you going to help me with the Amelia thing or not? If not, I'll do it myself."
Francis had calmed down, so he didn't get angry with Leo.
He said calmly, "Do it yourself then."
Leo frowned, then heard Francis say, "Go ahead and tie her to your bed yourself. But don't say I didn't warn you—Amelia's identity is unusual."
Leo scoffed.
"No matter how unusual her identity is, can it be higher than our Hays family's status?"
Francis froze Leo with one sentence.
"She's Samuel's fiancée."
Leo was shocked, his tongue stumbling.
"Really?"
"When have I ever lied to you?"
Leo fell silent, his expression turning ugly.
He had drunk a bit today with a fellow ex-inmate.
That friend had ordered some drinking girls for him in the private room. He usually enjoyed this sort of thing, but today he found it boring.
The reason was simple—all these women combined weren't as beautiful as Amelia.
So he left halfway through and came back to ask Francis for Amelia.
But he never expected that Amelia was actually Samuel's fiancée?
Then her identity really was unusual.
Although he didn't manage affairs, he knew very well that even Leonard had to show Samuel some respect. If he angered Samuel, even Leonard couldn't protect him.
But giving up like this was really hard to accept.
Originally it was just a woman—no matter how beautiful, if he got her, it wouldn't seem like such a big deal anymore.
But after discovering he couldn't possibly have Amelia, she became his obsession.
"So I have no chance?" He couldn't help asking one more time.
He still had some admiration for Francis.
Only because every time he got into trouble, Francis could help him out of it.
Of course, he didn't think deeply about why Leonard and Alon always knew immediately whenever he got into trouble.
His brain just wasn't good at thinking about these things—only good at eating, drinking, and having fun.
He heard Francis say, "Of course there's a chance."
Leo hadn't held much hope, so hearing this, made him surprised and stunned.
"Francis, you really have a way?"
"When have I ever failed to get you what you wanted? She's just a woman."
"But you said she's Samuel's woman."
"True, so it needs some time and planning, not just kidnapping her directly. If you trust me, I'll plan this for you. If you don't trust me, figure it out yourself."
"Of course I trust you!"
"Then you can't be as impatient as you were today."
"I was wrong, Francis." Leo apologized quickly because he knew it was in his interest to do so.
Francis nodded.
"Then go back and rest well, sober up. Don't run around these days—I might need you anytime."
"Got it!"
Leo left happily.
Francis watched Leo's excited back, his eyes full of mockery.
Idiot.
But this idiot was one he had "cultivated" himself.
When he was young, Leo was actually quite clever, even often getting first place in exams.
Someone had told him how to "cultivate" Leo.
That person was Philip, three years his senior.
Philip had ruined Yosef the same way.
Philip's method worked well, so he succeeded too.
And he was even more successful than Philip.
Leo was more foolish and more ridiculous than Yosef.
Francis lit another cigarette and smiled quietly.
This time, he wanted Amelia and Leo to die together.
The smoke drifted upward, like a venomous snake winding forward.
...
Amelia sneezed hard at the Shadow Operations Division.
"What's wrong? Do you have a cold?" Lyndon beside her asked.
Amelia shook her head. "No, I just breathed in some dust."
The underground base of the Shadow Operations Division was finished, and today she was here to inspect it.
"Well done. Clean it thoroughly in the next day or two, put in some formaldehyde removal machines, and in a few months we can move in."
Everyone was upstairs. Although the factory provided cover, it still wasn't very safe.
Byron was also happy, saying, "This place is exactly like our old base in Thornfield. I really want to move in soon."
"No rush," Amelia said. "Let it air out first. We'll move in after the formaldehyde test passes."
Lyndon said, "I used good materials, basically no formaldehyde. At most one month and it'll be ready."
"Good, then in one month, we'll have a party and everyone can get together properly," Amelia said.
Byron cheered.
Amelia shook her head helplessly.
She and Lyndon walked around while talking.
She had assigned the investigation of the Combat Arts Association to Lyndon.
Lyndon had already found something.
"That hotel is indeed their base, but they only meet there on the first of each month. The rest of the time, they're scattered."
Amelia understood.
"No wonder the people I sent to investigate didn't find anything wrong at the hotel—it wasn't the right date. But according to what you're saying, if we go arrest them on the first of each month, we can catch them all in one net?"
"Exactly!"
Amelia was getting impatient.
Unfortunately, it was October 9th now, and there were still over twenty days until November 1st.
"No rush," Lyndon advised. "We can use this time to prepare well, and then we'll catch them like turtles in a jar, all at once."
Amelia nodded.
"Don't worry, I won't rush. One step at a time."
Lyndon agreed.
Byron came over at this point.
"Amelia, want to have some late-night dinner together?"
Amelia said okay.
Then Byron brought over two cups of instant noodles.
"Which flavor do you want?"
Amelia asked, "You invited me to have late-night dinner, and this is it?"
"Yeah." Byron scratched his head and said, "Faith isn't here, no one to cook."
Amelia understood and laughed. "If you miss Faith, you can come see her at my place anytime. You can say you're my friend."
"Thank you, Amelia!"
After thanking her, he quickly brought over a plate of grilled meat skewers.
Amelia was speechless—she knew Byron was doing this for Faith!
"If you dare play pitiful with me again, just you wait!"
Byron quickly made a pleading gesture.
"I was wrong, Amelia."
Of course Amelia wasn't really angry. After some joking around, she said seriously, "What's the situation between you and Faith now?"
Byron glanced at Lyndon.
Lyndon immediately said he'd go check if there were any problems with the drainage pipes and left.
Only then did Byron speak. "We're together."
Amelia's eyelid twitched. "That fast?"
Byron nodded. "After talking with you that day, I thought it through. I planned to test her feelings first. If she wasn't interested in me, I'd just be friends with her from then on and wouldn't make things awkward. But before I could test the waters, Faith confessed to me first."
Amelia felt it was both expected and normal.
"Faith is a very free-spirited girl who dares to love and hate. You can't let her down. If you ever change your heart, I'll cripple you for her first."
Changing hearts was very serious to Amelia.
Byron understood.
He solemnly stated that Faith would be his only woman in this lifetime.
"It's just," Byron said, "her family might not accept me."
Amelia said, "We won't always live underground. Soon, we'll see the light. Maybe we won't even need this underground level."
She added, "Faith's relationship with her parents is average, but she's closer to her grandfather. You need to think carefully about how to win over Faith's grandfather when the time comes."
After hearing this, Byron rubbed his hands together, looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated.
Amelia glanced at him and asked, "You've already thought of how to win over Faith's grandfather?"
"I have a dumb idea, don't know if it'll work."
"Tell me."
Byron lowered his voice and explained his idea.
After hearing it, Amelia was shocked.
"Are you serious?"