Chapter 224 Going Abroad

Chapter 224 Going Abroad

The group hastily escorted Rhiannon onto the helicopter, leaving Adeline alone in the empty hospital room.

Her phone suddenly rang. Seeing it was Sylvia, she quickly answered. "Aunt Sylvia."

"Where did you run off to? Are you with Ronald? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Sylvia was furious, her voice growing more frantic. "Send me your location. I'm coming to get you right now. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is right now?"

"Aunt Sylvia, I saw Ms. Stewart, Ronald's grandmother." Adeline said softly. The other end of the line went silent for a moment. After a while, Sylvia asked, "Did she tell you the truth?"

"And about the last pink diamond." Adeline said, clutching the key in her hand. "Aunt Sylvia, I trust Ronald, and I trust his grandmother."

After a dozen seconds, Sylvia let out a long sigh. "Yes, they are trustworthy. But the real culprits from back then were never found. You could be in danger. Now that this has blown up, we're worried about you."

"If you want to be with Ronald, I'll tell your parents. But you must not run around. You have to stay within his sight, do you understand?"

"And don't mention the pink diamond to anyone else. Anyone."

Sylvia nagged Adeline for a while longer before finally hanging up.

Adeline sat on the hospital bed, a growing unease in her heart. Rhiannon's condition was not optimistic. Without Amara's special medicine, would she really be okay?

After what felt like an eternity, the door to the room opened, and Ronald walked in. "Is everything arranged?" Adeline asked softly, turning her head.

Ronald nodded and sat down beside her. "There are reporters all around the apartment now. I've booked a hotel room. We'll stay there for now."

Adeline nodded silently, then shook her head. "Let's go back to the apartment across from the company. Together." She took Ronald's hand, her gaze firm. "Ronald, only if we appear together will the reporters stop making things up. I don't want this to affect the company."

She pressed the key back into Ronald's hand. "You keep this. When the truth comes out, let Ms. Stewart take out the pink diamond herself and let everyone know what really happened back then."

Ronald stared at her, stunned. After a long moment, he nodded. "Okay. I'll do whatever you say."

This time, they didn't avoid the reporters as they left the hospital. Flashbulbs went off incessantly.

"Ms. Smith, have you heard about your grandmother? Don't you mind at all?"

"If Ms. Stewart really built her success on your grandmother's grave, are you still willing to be with Ronald?"

"Will the Smith family sue? Or did the Williams family give you a hefty sum to keep quiet, and that's the end of it?"

Adeline, who was about to get into the car, suddenly stopped. She turned to the last reporter who had spoken. "Facts speak for themselves. If you have evidence, present it."

"Everyone, if you slander my boyfriend and his family without any evidence, we will sue the rumor-mongers, and we will not accept financial compensation." With that, she pulled Ronald into the car, her face expressionless.

It wasn't until the car had driven a few hundred feet that she let out a long breath. She knew her words just now represented her parents' stance. She looked down at her phone, feeling a little guilty.

The next morning, Ronald didn't wake her. He made breakfast and went to work. When Adeline woke up, she saw a message from Sandra.

Sandra: [Adeline, call me when you wake up.]

Adeline clutched her phone. She knew her parents must have seen the news. After she and Ronald left the hospital yesterday, the reporters had published the story. They must have seen what she said.

After hesitating for a few minutes, Adeline made a video call.

"Adeline, how are you? The reporters didn't give you a hard time, did they? Is Ronald with you? Is his grandmother okay? I saw on the news that she's going abroad for treatment. What happened?" Ryder appeared on the screen, firing off a series of questions.

Sandra pushed him aside and looked at Adeline. "Adeline, don't mind Ryder. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm back at the apartment with Ronald," Adeline said, looking at her parents apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't discuss it with you first."

"As long as you're okay." Sandra sighed. "Ryder and I are staying at a friend's house, a high school classmate of mine. The reporters found our house too, so we had no choice. Don't read the comments online. Some things are not what they seem."

"Mom, I saw Ms. Stewart yesterday. She told me everything," Adeline said, licking her dry lips, and slowly recounted the events of the previous day.

The two on the other end of the screen were silent. After a long while, Sandra finally nodded. "What she said is true."

"Then why didn't you tell me in the first place?" Adeline asked.

"Actually, all these years, Ms. Stewart gave me a bank card. A sum of money was deposited into it every month, but we never used it." Sandra said, her voice choking up as she mentioned the past. "Since you know everything, then you and Ronald..."

"Mom, I want to be with him." Adeline said, taking a deep breath, and then revealed something that shocked both Sandra and Ryder. "Ms. Stewart told me where the other pink diamond is, but I gave the safe deposit box key to Ronald."

"What? The other pink diamond?" Sandra looked at Adeline in disbelief.

Ryder's voice trembled. "A pink diamond, are you sure?"

"Yes. The largest, one-hundred-carat pink diamond didn't fall into the river with Grandma," Adeline said, clutching her phone tightly. "And Ms. Stewart found out who was behind it. It was the Jones and Murphy families. Allen's father was also involved."

Half an hour later, Adeline finally ended the video call. She knew that her parents, like her, were hurting. Nancy's death had been a huge blow to them. That was when the Smith family had retreated into the background, and her parents had resigned from their jobs. It was because they didn't know who was behind it, whether they would be targeted. Now that the truth was finally coming out, how could they not feel hatred?

Thinking of Sandra's final instruction to stay in the apartment and not leave, Adeline also felt a surge of worry. She knew a little about the Jones family's background. As new money, they were ruthless. As for the Murphy family, Gemma's actions were a good indication of what they were like. Would they go after her parents?

Adeline spent the rest of the day in a daze. It wasn't until evening that Ronald called. "Adeline, Grandma's condition is not good. My mom has a show in Olympia she has to get to, so I have to go abroad now."

"You..." his voice paused. "Can you take care of yourself?"