Chapter 123 Arthur’s Decision
Arthur's lips parted slightly, his voice cold as ice, without a trace of warmth. "I have my own plans for company staffing. You don't need to meddle so much."
Sophie's whole body stiffened, her face turning pale as she stared at the man before her. "Arthur, you..."
Arthur frowned impatiently and cut her off coldly before she could finish. "Enough. If you still want to stay at the company, you can go as normal. But if you don't want to go anymore, just stay home. As for Aria, stop interfering. I don't want to make this any uglier than it needs to be. Understand?"
As soon as Arthur finished speaking, he headed straight upstairs without giving her another glance.
His expression remained calm, as if Sophie's grievance behind him had no effect on him whatsoever.
Arthur's cold words pierced Sophie's heart like countless needles, causing her unbearable pain.
Grievance and resentment mixed together, tightening her throat, making her want to cry but unable to.
Arthur's attitude just now confirmed her suspicions—he still couldn't forget Aria. She had merely mentioned Aria's name, and he defended her like this.
What did she even mean to him?
Arthur didn't care about Sophie's inner turmoil. After going upstairs, he didn't enter the master bedroom. Instead, he turned and pushed open the study door.
Over these years, he rarely stayed with Sophie anyway. He had converted part of the study into a small rest area, with a simple single bed against the wall—his only refuge when feeling irritated.
Outside the window, the night was deep. He raised his hand and dialed William, who was far away in Iceland.
Without any pleasantries, Arthur got straight to the point. "Do you have results on what I asked you to investigate?"
William on the other end paused, his tone clearly confused as he lowered his voice. "Mr. Grant, didn't Mrs. Grant say you arranged for someone else to investigate?"
At these words, the study fell into dead silence.
Arthur's grip on his phone tightened suddenly, his knuckles turning white, the hostility he had just suppressed now surging back even more fiercely.
"When did she tell you this?"
William answered honestly, "The same day you gave me the assignment, she told me about it."
A cold fury crept up his spine. Now he understood why Sophie had suddenly removed those flowers—she had gotten this information.
No wonder!
Arthur's lips pressed into a tight line, his voice utterly devoid of warmth. "William, you've made the same mistake again, five years later!"
William froze instantly, cold sweat soaking through his shirt as he belatedly realized that Sophie had replayed the events from five years ago.
The exact same trap, and he'd stepped right into it again.
"Mr. Grant, I..."
William was too nervous to speak, filled with fear and panic.
Arthur had no patience for unnecessary explanations, his tone cold and hard. "No need to explain. You have three days to get to the bottom of this."
William didn't dare breathe, quickly responding, "Yes, Mr. Grant. I'll get on it right away."
Arthur ended the call and tossed his phone onto the corner of the desk with such force it made a dull thud.
Over these five years, it wasn't that he didn't know about Sophie's schemes. He had turned a blind eye, indulging her as she planted people in his domain.
In his view, as long as those people did their jobs properly, he didn't care who they were.
But he never expected that his indulgence would be seen as stupidity in her eyes, making her think he was a fool who could be deceived repeatedly, crossing the line again and again.
Since she had no sense of boundaries, she couldn't blame him for showing no mercy.
Iceland.
"The Potting Shed" flower shop.
With Jasper as their little mascot, the shop was bustling with people every day, and they'd built up quite a few regular customers.
Sometimes when Jasper was at school, those regulars would instinctively ask when they didn't see the small figure, "Is the little boss not here today?"
Whenever Aria heard this, she would smile warmly in response, her heart melting.
That afternoon, sunlight streamed through the shop's glass windows, falling on the warm yellow wooden floor.
Lance came by as usual to help organize the flowers, but his movements were heavier than usual.
When there were fewer customers in the shop, he walked over to Aria, lowering his voice with a serious tone.
"Aria, I need to tell you something."
Aria paused from trimming flower stems and looked up at him.
"Recently, I found out that someone's been investigating you."
Lance's voice was very low, his eyes scanning the shop entrance. After confirming no one was there, he continued, "I suspect... it's Arthur's people."
Aria's fingertips trembled sharply, and with a "snip," she cut off the wrong section of stem.
"Arthur..."
Five years had passed, and hearing Arthur's name again, she only felt it was unfamiliar.
"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would've almost forgotten such a person existed."
Lance softened his voice to comfort her. "Don't worry, I'm just letting you know. With me here, it'll be fine."
"Yeah, I'm not afraid of him finding me. To me, he's already a stranger."
Aria's expression didn't show much change as she continued trimming the flowers in her hands.
Seeing that Aria wasn't too affected, Lance quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Over these five years, he'd watched Aria raise her child alone in a foreign country. He knew her struggles and her strength—she wouldn't be easily defeated anymore.
Honestly, when he was preparing to tell her about this, he had felt some apprehension.
Now it seemed he'd worried too much.
Still, Lance had people keep watch around the area. He cleverly used time differences to help Aria and Jasper avoid those people, and with Aria's instructions to the shop staff, no one revealed her information.
After all this, William only managed to find the address but never encountered Aria or Jasper in person.
He sent this information back home.
Arthur looked at the information William had sent back, his brow furrowed.
He compared William's information with the location from Mrs. Bennett's previous video, looking at the little boy in the video who resembled both him and Aria, his eyes inscrutable.
The Potting Shed...
This flower shop's name, plus this child—how could he not overthink it?
After much deliberation, Arthur finally made up his mind and called William, his voice steady. "Don't show yourself. Find someone to contact that flower shop."
William was taken aback, somewhat confused. "Mr. Grant, what are you planning?"
"I want to order a large quantity of flowers to ship back home."
William asked, "Do you need someone to coordinate directly?"
"No, just make the purchase. Have them deliver to the villa. As for the recipient information, write down any random name—don't expose anything. But have people keep a close watch on the shop during this time."
Although William didn't understand what Arthur was planning, he nodded and complied. "Alright."