Chapter 397 Aren't You Afraid of Offending the Powell Family by Doing This?
He had wanted Kennedy dead for a long time.
If it weren't for Kennedy's father, the Hope family would have been theirs all along. What were Eldridge and Kennedy's branch of the family anyway? They should have died long ago.
A sinister and vicious smile crept across Orville's lips.
"Come help me carry her body," he said to those rich kids. "Let's take Kennedy to my family's basement first, and we'll get rid of her tonight."
The rich kids took a long time to react.
After some hesitation, they finally worked together to carry Kennedy's body into the car.
Orville shot them a fierce glare. "Don't you dare tell anyone about today, or I'll kill you!"
The rich kids frowned but said nothing.
Orville drove the car back to the castle.
The guard at the basement entrance watched as Orville and another young man carried something wrapped in white cloth toward him, confusion showing in his eyes. "Mr. Hope, what are you..."
"Mind your own business!" Orville shot the guard a cold glance.
The guard immediately lowered his head, not daring to say anything.
Orville dumped Kennedy's body in a corner and left the basement.
At the same time, at the Powell family castle.
In the back hall.
Louie was meditating when he suddenly opened his eyes.
He paused, then let out a soft sigh.
When some people are determined to die, no one can stop them.
"Silas, go prepare my medical supplies," Louie instructed.
Silas Powell was Louie's apprentice, who had been following him for seven or eight years.
"Master, did you arrange with Ms. Isabella Powell to open the energy channels for the former Hope family head's daughter tomorrow?" Silas asked.
"Yes." Louie stroked his beard and said calmly, "Get everything ready in advance."
——
Radiant University.
Isabella woke up from a nap and came to the dorm's living room, finding that Kennedy hadn't returned.
She turned to ask Cecilia, "Where's Kennedy?"
"She probably went to her mom's place. She packed some snacks when she left."
"When did she leave?"
"Around noon."
Isabella knew where Kennedy and Calista lived—it wasn't far from Radiant University.
She should have been back by now.
Isabella glanced out the window. It was already dark.
Isabella frowned, and just then, her phone rang.
It was Silas calling.
"Ms. Powell, my master asked me to pass along a message—go check the basement of the Hope family castle."
Louie was an odd person who never used a phone. Whenever he needed to contact someone, he had Silas relay messages.
"The Hope family castle's basement?"
Isabella's expression darkened.
——
The Hope family castle.
Garth sat in his chair, casually drinking coffee.
"Mr. Hope, the Powell family sent an invitation."
Garth glanced at the butler Nico who had hurried in, took the invitation, and opened it. His face immediately changed.
Looking at the content of the invitation, he said in disbelief, "The Powell family?"
The invitation clearly stated that the purpose of this banquet was to announce to all the nobles and declare the identity of the Powell family's daughter.
Garth couldn't process this at all.
When did Gwyneth have a child?
Garth quickly made a phone call. "Ryan, did you receive an invitation from the Powell family?"
Ryan Martin, the head of the Martin family, was also very confused. When he received Garth's call, he immediately felt like he'd found a companion and said excitedly, "Garth, did you also receive the Powell family's invitation? It says they're going to announce Gwyneth's daughter's identity. Is this real or fake? Who is Gwyneth's daughter? How does Gwyneth suddenly have a daughter?"
Garth chatted with Ryan for a bit, then called several other nobles he was on good terms with. The result was that everyone had received this invitation.
After hanging up, Garth stroked his chin, deep in thought.
"It seems all the nobles received this invitation. It shouldn't be fake—it even has the Powell family's seal..."
"Mr. Hope, what do we do now?" Nico asked.
"What else can we do? We'll attend the banquet at the appointed time, of course."
But he was really curious about who Gwyneth's daughter actually was.
While Garth was pondering, suddenly a guard came in and whispered something in his ear.
Garth's expression changed dramatically. "What?"
"That bastard!"
"Didn't I tell him to keep a low profile during this time! Is he treating my words like they go in one ear and out the other?"
"Tell Orville to get his ass over here!"
"..."
Soon, Orville walked in.
"Dad, you wanted to see me..."
Garth lifted his foot and kicked Orville hard in the chest. "You beat Kennedy to death?"
Orville was knocked to the ground.
But he quickly got up and yelled at Garth, "That's right! I beat her to death! So what? What's the problem? She's just a waste of space. What's wrong with me beating her to death?"
"You..." Garth looked at Orville's rebellious attitude, so angry his chest hurt.
He clutched his chest and shouted angrily, "Didn't I tell you not to touch Kennedy? If killing her really didn't come with consequences, do you think I'd let her live?"
Last time at the hospital, the Powell family's army guarded Kennedy's hospital room door around the clock. Didn't that tell him something?
He didn't dare cause trouble for Kennedy anymore, but he never expected that Orville would go ahead and beat her to death.
"Don't you know that the Powell family is involved in Kennedy's affairs?" Garth pointed at Orville and said sternly, "By doing this, aren't you afraid of offending the Powell family?"
Orville was stunned.
But soon, he laughed. "How is that possible? How could Kennedy know anyone from the Powell family? How could the Powell family have anything to do with her?"
Who would want to associate with a stray dog?
Garth couldn't get through to Orville. He gritted his teeth. "Where is Kennedy's body?"
Since Kennedy was already dead, the urgent matter was to dispose of Kennedy's body cleanly so no one would know Kennedy died at Orville's hands.
Orville also came to his senses, but he still didn't care about what Garth had just said. There wasn't a trace of panic on his face.
"The body's in the basement. I was planning to bury it tonight."
Garth said nothing and rushed to the basement.
When he reached the basement entrance, he found that the guards who should have been on duty were nowhere to be seen. There wasn't a single guard in the passage leading to the basement!
Garth immediately had a bad feeling.
He quickened his pace and walked in.
But he saw that the basement was completely empty.
"Where's the body?" Garth looked at Orville with blazing eyes. "Didn't you say Kennedy's body was here? Where is it?"
Orville was also stunned.
The corner where Kennedy's body had been placed was now empty.
Where did Kennedy's body go?
"That's impossible." Orville scratched the back of his head, completely confused. "The body was right here. How could it be gone?"
Garth frowned and said nothing more, getting up to leave the basement.
Passing by a storage compartment, Garth faintly smelled blood.
He stopped, pulled open the wooden door.
As the door opened, seven or eight guards' bodies suddenly tumbled toward him.
Garth was shocked!
Looking at the seven or eight guards lying on the ground with horrible deaths, Garth's face was extremely grim.
Orville was also startled by the scene.
Who was it?
Who could sneak into the basement without a sound and kill seven or eight guards?
All seven or eight guards had their throats slit with a single cut, the wounds made with almost identical technique.
"Look! Look at what you've done!" Garth really couldn't hold it in anymore.
He raised his hand and slapped Orville hard across the face. "The body's gone! Where's the person you killed? Where did the body go?"
Why would someone know that Orville had hidden the body in the basement and directly take it away?
Garth felt inexplicably panicked.
Who did this? Who exactly did this?
He had an ominous premonition, as if some huge disaster was about to come.
Orville felt wronged after being slapped by Garth.
"So what if the body's missing?"
He didn't know who had taken Kennedy's body, but it was just a corpse. He wanted to know why Garth cared so much about this body.
Hearing Orville's indifferent tone, Garth was so angry his eyes went wide.
"You really don't fear death, Orville! You really don't fear death!"
"Why should I fear death?" Orville said. "Are you saying the person who took Kennedy's body will kill me? Would they dare? Dad, you're the family head now. What exactly are you afraid of?"
Garth couldn't get through to him. He cursed, "Idiot!"
Just then, Theodosia came over.
She poked her head in from the entrance. "Dad? Orville? What are you arguing about?"
When Orville saw Theodosia, he immediately complained with his neck stiff, "Theodosia, I just beat Kennedy to death. Dad insists I shouldn't have killed her and says I'll bring disaster on myself. How is that possible? Who would dare kill me? Does anyone have the guts?"
"Then what's this? Tell me, what is this?" Garth pointed angrily at the seven or eight guards' bodies on the ground. "Who killed them? And who took Kennedy's body?"
When Theodosia heard Orville say he'd beaten Kennedy to death, a flash of surprise crossed her eyes, but she quickly returned to her normal expression. "Dad, since Kennedy's already dead, let's not worry about who took her body. Kennedy dying is actually a good thing for us, isn't it? Otherwise, if she found out we killed her father, she definitely wouldn't let it go."
"Exactly." Orville clenched his fists. "Dad, no one dares touch me. Don't worry!"
He didn't believe anyone would dare harm him over Kennedy.
——
On a street five hundred meters from the Hope family castle.
Isabella saw a black figure rapidly approaching from a distance, moving like lightning, changing position in the blink of an eye.
"Ms. Powell, I've brought the person out for you."
The black-clothed infiltrator came before Isabella carrying Kennedy.
Isabella looked at the body in the black-clothed person's arms, her breathing catching. She took a deep breath, her face somewhat pale. "Is she dead?"
She couldn't believe it.
"Not dead," the black-clothed person said. "There's very faint breathing, and a pulse."
Kennedy's condition did look very much like death—her breathing was barely detectable, and her pulse was extremely weak.
"Take her to Saul."
"Yes."
The black-clothed person disappeared quickly with Kennedy, moving even faster than a car, mainly because they could run along walls and rooftops, taking shortcuts.
The black-clothed person arrived at the hospital first, with Isabella arriving later.
By the time she got there, Kennedy had already been wheeled into the emergency room.
"Ms. Powell, you're here."
A female doctor came over.
Isabella glanced toward the operating room door. "How's the person who was just brought in?"
"Very seriously injured, mainly head trauma. Saul is personally performing surgery inside, but in the worst case... she might become a vegetable," the female doctor said.
Isabella's eyes immediately turned dark.
"Notify me when she wakes up."
Isabella left the hospital.