Chapter 26 Bow to Me and Apologize!

Chapter 26 Bow to Me and Apologize!

The helicopter took off again with a loud roar that caught everyone's attention.

Edward looked up at the sky for a moment, then turned to Evelyn beside him. "For someone like Anthony to say 'stay in touch,' you're really something."

Evelyn's expression didn't change. She just glanced sideways at Edward. "He came to me for puzzle answers. What about you?"

"You really are smart." Edward smiled and turned around. After making sure no one was nearby, he lowered his voice. "I have some connections with Adrian."

"Did Adrian send you?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

The Morgans ran a big business, so having some connections with government officials wasn't surprising. But the Department of Defense was obviously less helpful than the Commerce Department. That Adrian had connections with someone like the Secretary of Defense truly surprised Evelyn.

What surprised her even more was that Adrian would actually help her?

But the next words quickly dismissed that wishful thinking.

Edward said in a low voice, "Not long ago, the Department of Defense intercepted a math problem during an operation to catch spies. We suspect it contains their encrypted code, but we haven't been able to crack it."

Evelyn stared at Edward in silence for three seconds, then let out a cold laugh. "So Adrian sold me out."

Cracking spy codes—it sounded nice to call it serving the country, but in reality, it could be life-threatening at any moment. After all, until the spies were caught, she, an ordinary high school student, could be targeted for revenge at any time.

No wonder Edward was being so humble.

"Name your conditions, whatever you want," Edward said with a smile.

Evelyn was silent for a moment, then said, "Let me think about it."

Of course she wouldn't take on this troublesome matter, but before dealing with the Ashford Corporation, it was better not to offend the Department of Defense.

Edward didn't pressure her to agree immediately. After saying a few more nice words, he got into his car.

Only after the car disappeared from view did Evelyn turn and walk toward the governor's office.

The hallway was packed with reporters jostling for position, but as soon as they saw her, they immediately stepped aside to make way. Their attitude was even more respectful than toward Harvey.

After all, this person could make Edward bow and scrape, and could summon and dismiss Anthony at will.

Evelyn walked straight ahead without looking sideways and entered the office.

The scene inside was completely different from when she'd left.

Harvey sat upright behind his desk. Ken and two others sat in a row on the sofa, backs straight, hands properly placed on their knees, looking exactly like elementary school students waiting for the teacher to call on them. Even Victor was standing bent over to one side, his face looking terrible.

When Evelyn entered, all five of them stood up almost simultaneously.

"Miss Grant." Harvey came around the desk, taking two steps at once to greet her, bowing so low he was almost folded in half. "You're back? Please, have a seat."

Ken also changed from his earlier principal's attitude, carefully approaching. "I was confused earlier. Please be the bigger person and don't hold it against me."

"Yes, yes." Sam quickly chimed in. "We were blind. Please don't take it to heart."

Jayden put on the most sincere smile of his life. "Don't worry, we'll definitely give you an explanation for today's matter. Whatever you want, just say it."

The four men surrounded Evelyn, talking over each other. They didn't look like government officials but like a group of students who'd done something wrong and were begging the teacher for forgiveness.

The reporters at the door frantically pressed their shutters, flashbulbs going off like crazy.

Evelyn stood there, waiting until they'd said enough, then lazily lifted her eyelids.

"I'm just a high school student."

Her voice was flat, as flat as if she were commenting on nice weather.

Harvey and the others froze, then heard her cold, emotionless voice continue slowly:

"I'm not an adult, so naturally I don't have much generosity."

The smiles froze on the four men's faces.

Evelyn ignored them and called out to Andrew in the distance. "Attorney Andrew, I came back to ask—can the law guarantee that my family and I won't be harassed about this matter again?"

Andrew nodded. "Don't worry, Miss Grant. I'll handle everything."

Evelyn nodded and left the governor's office without another glance at Harvey and the others' pleas for mercy.

Only after getting into a taxi did she receive a message from Owen:

"Boss, you're amazing!"

Followed by a link. Evelyn casually clicked it open.

In the video, Harvey stood in front of the camera, looking serious, reading an apology statement word by word. Ken and the other two stood behind him, bowing lower than ever before.

The comments section had exploded:

"Shocking! The governor personally apologized?"

"Who exactly is this Evelyn?"

"What did I miss? Isn't she just an ordinary high school student?"

Evelyn scrolled through a few comments, smiled slightly, and put away her phone.

Too late.

You have to pay for what you've done. If apologies worked, what would we need laws for?

Besides, it was Andrew who'd be doing the work, not her.

From the current situation, losing their positions was probably the lightest punishment. If they were really involved in heavy bribery, prison was unavoidable.

Evelyn was in a good mood. She tapped her fingers and rested with her eyes closed the whole way, until the taxi stopped smoothly outside the Ashford family villa.

As soon as she got out, she heard a sharp angry shout: "Evelyn!"

Jenny was leaning over the second-floor railing of the villa, looking like she wanted to eat her alive.

Evelyn withdrew her gaze and ignored her, walking leisurely toward the garage.

She wondered how Kyle and Gabriel were doing now, and what their reactions would be when they found out she had an extra two hundred thousand dollars in prize money.

Evelyn had never looked forward so much to seeing other people's reactions to money. But as she passed by the artificial lake behind the villa, Jenny blocked her path.

Really like an annoying fly.

Evelyn looked at her with displeasure, her eyes cold and chilling.

Jenny was startled. She had never seen fatty Evelyn with that kind of look. But that inexplicable unease was quickly suppressed by hatred. A cold gleam flashed in her eyes as she rushed quickly toward Evelyn.

"Last time I pushed you in and you didn't drown—you were lucky!"

Evelyn remembered now. This was the place where the original owner had been pushed into the lake by Jenny and drowned.

In terms of build, Jenny couldn't possibly have pushed the original owner. Jenny had pretended she was about to fall into the lake, the original owner tried to save her, but was pushed in instead.

And Jenny knew the original owner couldn't swim, yet still coldly watched from the shore as she struggled in the water until she lost strength and sank, only then leaving.

"Heh." Evelyn let out a cold snort from her throat. Her body turned slightly, and her right foot kicked hard into Jenny's knee.

With a "splash," Jenny fell into the lake.

She could swim. After choking on a few mouthfuls of water, she steadied herself and cursed at Evelyn in embarrassment and anger: "Fatty Evelyn, I'll kill you sooner or later!"

Evelyn crouched down, staring at her with a half-smile, her tone dark and bone-chilling: "Many people have wanted to kill me. Some are already dead, and others are waiting for me to come collect their lives. Don't worry, you're next."

With that, she walked away under Jenny's terrified gaze.