Chapter 71 Extortion
When Francis got home that evening, Jennifer had prepared a table full of delicious dishes waiting for him, but he came back very late from working overtime. Looking at the table of his favorite dishes, he said with some regret, "Too bad I already ate."
Not only did Jennifer not get angry, she even felt sorry for him and helped him with his clothes, then had him sit on the sofa while she massaged his shoulders and neck. She asked gently, "You must be exhausted after doing surgeries all day?" Francis took her hand, closed his eyes, and leaned against her, nodding slightly. But this was all his own choice - he'd rather stand in the operating room all day than sit in a conference room yelling at people. Lately, Wesley had been pushing him harder and harder, saying that insisting on being a doctor was a waste of time and he should just go home and take over the family business. He could only juggle the projects assigned by the company while finding time to work at the hospital.
Jennifer had specifically learned massage from a professional, and her technique was very comfortable. Francis actually fell asleep holding her. Jennifer looked tenderly at Francis in her arms with his eyes tightly closed. Even in sleep, he was frowning, worried about something. Her fingertips gently pressed his brow, as if trying to smooth away his troubles. Jennifer held him like this until an hour later, when Francis opened his eyes, and only then did she realize her arm had gone numb from being pressed on.
Francis helped massage her arm muscles, asking quietly, "Why didn't you wake me?"
"I saw you were so tired, I couldn't bear to." Before Jennifer could finish speaking, Francis pulled her over and silenced her with a kiss. A deep, lingering kiss. But Francis was truly exhausted - he only kissed her and didn't follow through with punishing her as promised. Watching Francis take his pajamas off to shower, Jennifer actually felt a bit disappointed.
The next day, Jennifer got a call from Sandra early in the morning, asking her to go look at some locations suitable for a studio. Jennifer drove her new car out and witnessed a car accident at an intersection. An old man pushing a cart had run a red light, and a low-key white BMW had clipped him, scattering the vegetables and eggs from his cart all over the ground.
The road ahead was blocked, so Jennifer had to stop and wait for them to resolve the issue. She saw an elegantly dressed middle-aged woman get out of the car. Even from a distance, Jennifer could tell the pearl necklace around her neck was worth a fortune. The woman tiptoed across the vegetables and eggs scattered on the road. Whatever she said to the old man sitting on the ground, he suddenly threw himself at her feet, crying loudly. While wailing, he shouted, "Rich people are so heartless, hitting someone and not wanting to pay! Someone help me!"
A crowd gathered around, pointing and talking about the two of them. The middle-aged woman seemed to feel very embarrassed, taking out a handkerchief to cover her face. She wanted to shake off the old man's dirty fingers, but she was afraid that struggling forcefully might kick him, leaving her in a difficult position. This woman was Isabella Lockwood, Francis's biological mother. She usually had a driver take her everywhere, but today the driver happened to have the day off, and she wanted to go see Francis, so she drove herself out. Who would have thought she'd run into this kind of trouble? She told the old man who was hit that they could contact her lawyer, or she could call an ambulance for him. But the old man refused everything, just held onto her and wouldn't let her go, demanding money. It wasn't that she didn't want to pay; she just didn't know how much to pay, and she didn't have much cash on her.
Jennifer saw them starting to argue and knew she wouldn't be able to leave anytime soon, so she got out to see what was happening. She even took a photo and sent it to Sandra, explaining she'd be a bit late. As soon as she walked over, she saw the two of them pulling at each other, and the middle-aged woman actually fell down. The crowd of onlookers gasped, but they were just watching the show - no one stepped forward to help. Jennifer saw the woman's face showing pain, and without thinking much, rushed over to help her up.
But the old man grabbed her and said, "Don't run, you're in on this together, aren't you?"
Jennifer noticed that this supposedly injured old man had a loud voice and no obvious injuries, and asked somewhat puzzled, "Sir, are you really hurt?"
"What are you saying? I was hit so hard that I couldn't get up. Of course, I'm seriously injured. I feel pain all over my body. You need to take me to the hospital for a full examination, and you have to pay me at least a hundred thousand dollars in medical expenses!" He could tell at a glance that the woman who hit him was rich - a hundred thousand dollars would be pocket change to her.
Isabella looked at Jennifer pleadingly. This was her first time encountering something like this, and she didn't know how to handle it. Usually this kind of thing would be handled by her driver or butler. Jennifer smiled reassuringly at her, "Ma'am, don't worry. Do you have a dashcam in your car? We can look at what actually happened. If you two can't reach an agreement, you can also just call the police and let them handle it." She remembered when she went out with Declan before; he had explained the process for handling car accident disputes, so she repeated what she remembered.
Isabella took out her phone from her bag and said happily, "Right, I can call the police. I was so flustered I forgot. I remember the name of the Golden Harbor police chief; I even have his number saved." She inadvertently revealed her powerful background. The old man sitting on the ground's expression changed, and he kept saying, "No need to call the police, no need to call the police. We can settle this between ourselves. How about this - you pay me fifty thousand dollars, and I'll never bother you again. Or, twenty thousand dollars would be fine too?"
Seeing how quickly the old man's attitude changed, Jennifer became even more certain of her suspicion. She held back the woman's hand reaching for money and said, "Ma'am, I suggest you check the dashcam first. Don't let yourself be scammed." She remembered Declan mentioning a type of scam where elderly people would deliberately walk in front of cars, pretend to be hit, and use that to demand compensation from drivers.
Isabella rolled her eyes and said, "Right, I think I didn't actually hit him. Let me go check the dashcam footage."
Before she could get back to her car, the old man immediately jumped up from the ground, grabbed his cart, and ran off quickly, not even bothering to pick up the vegetables on the ground. The crowd of onlookers was stunned - they had thought he was a poor old man who'd really been injured, but he turned out to be a scammer.
Isabella said with a smile, "Thank you, miss. If it weren't for you, I would have been scammed today. What's your name? I'm Isabella."
Jennifer said politely, "No need to thank me, I'm Jennifer. Isabella, your knee is scraped, too. Should we find a clinic to treat it?" She pointed to Isabella's knee, showing blood. She was wearing a white knee-length suit dress with flesh-colored stockings, and the blood spreading was very obvious.
Only when Jennifer reminded her did Isabella notice the dense pain in her knee. She immediately cried out, "It hurts! I didn't even notice earlier. Jennifer, right? Do you know where the nearest clinic is? Could you take me there?" Coming from a wealthy family, she'd never really been injured before, and couldn't drive with this kind of pain.
Jennifer had no choice but to tell Sandra she had something come up and couldn't make it, then took Isabella to a nearby clinic to treat her wound. Although she didn't know the other person's identity, Isabella really liked the warm, gentle, and sweet Jennifer. After bandaging the wound, she insisted on adding Jennifer's contact information.