Chapter 244 Brandon's Omnipotent Influence, Protecting Her Completely
Candice ignored Brandon's mood, turned around, and hopped into the bathroom to wash up, not bothering with him anymore.
About an hour later, when she came out, Brandon had already left.
Although she was still a bit shaken by what happened tonight, she was just too tired.
So shortly after lying down, she quickly fell asleep and slept dreamlessly through the night.
The next day, when Candice woke up and came downstairs, Brandon was already there, keeping the two little ones company during breakfast.
Holden had also returned and seemed to be waiting for her.
Candice asked about last night's outcome.
Holden responded, "That person definitely came prepared. They had figured out the routes inside the research institute beforehand and eventually escaped through an underground pipe at the facility."
"Plus, when they broke into the research institute, they had disguised their appearance. Although our people tracked them all the way, we couldn't catch them because we didn't know what they actually looked like."
Brandon's expression darkened as he asked, "Does this mean we can't tell whether that person came for the drugs or was targeting someone?"
Holden nodded and said, "That's right. What we can do now is assign more people to protect Ms. Elikin."
"We definitely need to protect her better, not just in secret. It's best to have bodyguards accompany her when she goes out too."
Brandon agreed with Holden's suggestion.
He also reminded Candice, "You should also investigate the people inside your research institute."
Candice was confused, "Why?"
Everyone at the research institute was their own people. Even if they wanted to do something bad, they had keys and wouldn't need to pick locks.
Brandon explained to her, "Research institutes generally maintain strong confidentiality. Outsiders basically wouldn't know much about the internal routes or the designated purposes of work areas."
"But the intruder knew the inside routes like the back of their hand, and could even find your main circuit breaker. This suggests either there's an insider at the research institute, or someone was working from the inside."
Holden's heart stirred, and he agreed, "Ms. Elikin, I think Mr. Obelon makes a very good point!"
Candice's heart also tensed up.
She immediately instructed Holden, "I'm putting you in charge of this matter."
"Okay!" Holden nodded right away.
After giving instructions, Candice finally started eating.
For some reason, she felt like she was overlooking something important, but couldn't think of what it was at the moment!
On the Elikin family's side.
Ever since being exposed and having their account suspended, Xander and Vesper had been trying various ways to keep making trouble.
Vesper appealed the account suspension, bought other accounts, and hired media companies to write press releases, all to clear her name.
Unfortunately, it barely made a splash.
Plus, with all the previous exposés piled up, no matter how she explained, nobody believed her.
As for matters concerning Candice, Xander also had people make exposés using various small accounts.
But what he didn't expect was that every time an exposé about Candice was posted, those posts would be deleted and blocked by the system shortly after, the accounts would be suspended, or they'd be reported and silenced!
After repeated failed attempts, the Elikin family had to admit that someone was controlling all of this behind the scenes.
They witnessed for the first time what the power of capital really meant!
Brandon truly had connections everywhere!
The Obelon Group had grown so powerful that no one could compete with it.
This was the capability of the Obelon family that the Elikin family had always longed to attach themselves to!
Under pressure, the Elikin family could only try to scrape together money to cover part of Vesper's penalty fees.
This included selling a villa in the suburbs, a luxury sports car, and some of Gemma's treasured jewelry!
But even so, they only managed to temporarily pay back part of the penalty fees.
As for the other part, the Elikin family had nothing else to sell, so they thought they'd try to drag it out over time.
This incident was like adding insult to injury for the already declining Elikin family!
Gemma was still complaining, "My jewelry set was worth quite a bit, and now it's all gone!"
"There's nothing we can do about it!"
Xander had developed more wrinkles on his face recently because of all this.
But he still said, "When things get better, I'll buy you even nicer ones."
Vesper didn't dare say anything, only apologizing to Gemma with a guilty expression, "I'm sorry, Mom, it's all my fault!"
Gemma's resentment toward Vesper had been growing lately.
Hearing Vesper say this, she bluntly said, "Of course it's your fault! How could you act so thoughtlessly? What a waste of all that time you spent in the entertainment industry!"
"Now that our family has fallen so low, Candice must be so smug! Even Brandon is helping her. We created such good conditions for you, and you still failed this badly. You're really useless!"
Gemma's words were too harsh.
Vesper hung her head, her face ashen.
These past few days, Gemma had said plenty of things like this.
Vesper knew what kind of mother Gemma was.
'Make her look good, and she'd treat you well.'
'Make her lose face, and if not outright cursing you, she definitely wouldn't have anything nice to say.'
Every time Vesper heard it, she felt angry inside, but didn't dare show it.
Because she didn't want to lose her status as the Elikin family's young lady.
She held it in, adjusted her emotions, then consoled with a wronged expression, "Mom, I admit I didn't think things through before. Don't worry, I'll definitely find a way to turn this all around! And Candice won't be smug for much longer. She'll be completely disgraced soon!"
By the end, her tone carried deep hatred and malice.
After hearing this, Xander immediately asked, "What do you mean by that? What are you planning to do to Candice?"
As he spoke, his whole face tensed up, looking rather displeased as he scolded, "The situation is already chaotic enough. Don't make things worse!"
Vesper shook her head and said, "It's not me doing anything, but one of my fans, a devoted fan who's very angry about what I'm going through! That person seems to have some personality issues, very obsessive. I think he'll most likely go cause trouble for Candice!"
Whatever method that person used, as long as it made Candice uncomfortable, that was good enough for Vesper!
But Xander frowned with concern and asked, "This won't implicate the Elikin family, will it?"
Vesper immediately said, "No, don't worry. The one communicating with that person is Yara, and I haven't said anything online that obviously hints at him."
"Even if they eventually find out he's my fan, whatever he does has nothing to do with me and won't implicate our family."
The family of three was discussing this intently, completely unaware that Mason had come down from upstairs and was now standing at the stairway.
Hearing this conversation, Mason immediately shouted, "What is your fan planning to do to Candice?"
Mason's sudden scolding startled all three of them.
"Grandpa." Vesper called out reluctantly.
Mason looked furious and lectured, "Vesper, you're supposedly well-educated. Can you stop always thinking up these underhanded schemes? And you two as a couple—the Elikin family is in this state, and instead of properly trying to save the company, you spend all day plotting these harmful tricks! This is ridiculous!"
Tamsin, hearing this, felt he was defending Candice.
She snapped back displeasedly, "You shut up! There's nothing wrong with what they're doing! Candice was heartless first. You're always so confused about right and wrong."
"Do you really want to watch the Elikin family completely fall apart?"
Mason was quite angry.
He sternly rebuked, "Who's really confused about right and wrong, you know in your hearts! The most important thing in life is being down-to-earth. Right now, the Elikin family has no capital to take on risks, yet you remain stubborn!"
"If this continues, the Elikin family will be finished sooner or later!"
After saying this, Mason went upstairs disappointedly.
Tamsin couldn't help feeling irritated, muttering at his back, "Your father is getting more and more stubborn!"
Vesper was also furious inside.
Mason only knew how to help that bitch.
Candice wasn't even blood-related to him, yet he only knew how to protect that bitch!
Candice was still completely unaware of all this.
However, at noon, when she finished work and came out for lunch, her phone received a message from an unknown number.
【Be very careful when going out these days!】
When Candice saw it, she didn't pay much attention at first.
But the next second, she realized this number had sent a warning message before.
Who was this person, exactly?