Chapter 282: Quinlan's Identity
Harriet almost rolled her eyes. "It seems like the women who like you all have extraordinary backgrounds. Lark was the Romanov family's long-lost daughter, and Quinlan is the Clifford family's daughter."
Tristan smiled and pinched Harriet's cheek. "That sounds pretty jealous."
"Why would I be jealous of them? I don't think being born into a wealthy family is necessarily good. I'm happy being born into the Getty family."
Tristan went along with it. "So I'm very grateful to your grandmother for raising you so well."
Harriet couldn't help but smile. "Back to the point. So the Romanov family was asked by the Clifford family to poison me to avenge Quinlan?"
"Caspian denies poisoning you."
"Not necessarily." Harriet said, "At first I also thought it was one of the Romanov family's servants who poisoned me. But I quickly noticed something."
"What?"
"After that night, there were noticeably fewer servants at the Romanov family villa. Don't you think that's strange?"
Tristan looked thoughtful.
"Harriet, although the Romanov family has a reputation for kindness, that's just on the surface."
"You have to understand, anyone with that level of status can't possibly be easy to deal with."
"I know." Harriet said thoughtfully, "I have a theory, but I need to find a chance to verify it."
At the Romanov family's villa.
Caspian looked at Ulysses lounging lazily on the sofa eating ice cream. "Ulysses, for your sake, I've completely offended Tristan. My grandfather's health still needs Harriet's treatment. If she refuses to help, you'll bear the consequences."
Ulysses smiled. "My sister is going to marry you, so it's only natural you'd save her."
Caspian sneered. "You think I'd want Quinlan?"
"You're a germaphobe, so naturally you won't want her, but the engagement between our two families can't be canceled." Ulysses scoffed. "I wouldn't mind marrying your sister, so why don't you bring her back to life!"
Caspian's expression darkened slightly. "You can joke like this in front of me, but don't say a single word in front of my grandfather. Lark's death is already his pain."
"I'm stating facts. The engagement between our families means either you marry someone from mine, or I marry someone from yours." Ulysses took a bite of ice cream. "Caspian, seriously, Harriet is great. I really like her. Can you help me figure something out?"
"What are you talking about?" Caspian felt inexplicably uncomfortable. "She's Tristan's wife. Don't go looking for death!"
"I don't care." Ulysses smiled. "Other men's wives, I love them even more!"
"If you want to die, fine, but don't drag me down with you." Caspian said seriously. "I've already explained Quinlan's situation to Tristan. Whatever he does next, I can't help you."
"That heartless?"
"You already know what kind of person Quinlan is." A hint of mockery flashed in Caspian's eyes. "Helping her would dirty my hands."
"You think I wanted this sister?" Ulysses looked innocent. "I got along fine with my sister for over thirty years, then suddenly I'm told she was switched at birth. I'm pretty speechless too."
Caspian stood up. "Anyway, I'm warning you, Tristan is not someone to mess with. Also, don't covet Harriet."
"Look how anxious you are, she's not even your sister!"
Caspian froze.
He really wished Harriet was his sister.
But how could that be possible?
Caspian said nothing and went straight upstairs.
Quinlan had been cyberbullied to the point of nearly wanting to commit suicide, but unexpectedly things took a turn - her biological parents found her!
What surprised her even more was that her biological parents were from a wealthy Everglade City family, and even had close ties with the Romanov family!
Quinlan knew it - heaven favored her!
Quinlan was quickly transferred to a better private hospital, and the Clifford family even gave Quinlan's adoptive parents money to thank them for raising her.
Quinlan lay in the hospital bed, seriously thinking about her next steps.
The door opened, and in came a middle-aged woman who looked like a wealthy lady, and a handsome young man.
Her biological mother and brother.
"Mom, Ulysses, you're here." Quinlan greeted them familiarly. "Have you eaten?"
"We have." Ainsley Medici looked at her biological daughter in the hospital bed with heartache, tears welling up again. "It's all that damn nanny's fault for switching her daughter with you and leaving you at an orphanage, making you suffer so much."
Quinlan obediently comforted her. "Mom, finding you is already a blessing in disguise. Don't cry, or I'll feel bad."
"My good, understanding child. I'll make it up to you..."
Quinlan looked at Ulysses, who was focused on playing games on the sofa.
She could tell Ulysses didn't like her.
"Ulysses, have you contacted a lawyer for the lawsuit?" Quinlan reminded him. "Finnegan has never lost a case. You need to find several excellent lawyers to handle this."
"Tristan hasn't sued you, so what lawsuit." Ulysses didn't even lift his eyelids. "Looks like he's considering that you gave birth to his child and decided to let you go."
"Impossible!" Quinlan's expression changed. "He and I have already fallen out. He'll never let me go!"
"But he has indeed dropped the lawsuit."
"That's the scariest part," Quinlan was trembling all over. "He wants to kill me..."
Ulysses finally looked up at her. "What are you saying? He wants to kill you?"
"You don't understand. I worked by his side for years and know how he operates!" Quinlan said trembling. "Years ago, when the Lancaster Group was developing the Cloud Bay project, there was a holdout who had already accepted the relocation payment but changed his mind at the last minute, trying to extort the Lancaster Group."
"Tristan has always hated greedy people like that, so naturally he refused. But that holdout made a big scene and even got on the news."
"To calm things down, the Lancaster Group compromised, but that was just for show. Tristan was waiting for the heat to die down so he could quietly deal with him!"
"I heard that man died horribly, and it was ultimately ruled an accidental death. Tristan let him live to take the money but not live to spend it!"
"If Tristan had Finnegan sue me, I could still survive, but him dropping the lawsuit means he's decided to kill me! Ulysses, you have to save me!"
"That's easy." Ulysses said. "I'll take you back to Everglade City. The family will naturally protect your life."
"No!" Quinlan said urgently. "Everglade City is also in Athenia, which is Tristan's territory. His influence can definitely reach Everglade City!"
Ulysses was getting impatient. "Then what do you suggest!"
The fake sister in his family was fine - she got married off in a business marriage right after college.
Now suddenly there's a real sister who likes to cause trouble.
Getting involved with someone like Tristan was driving him crazy!
Quinlan thought it over and said, "Ulysses, right now the only one who can stand up to Tristan is the Romanov family!"
"The Romanov family and our family are old friends, right? They'll definitely help protect me."
Ulysses rolled his eyes. "Even though we're old friends, asking for help means owing a favor. Do you know how hard it is to repay a favor from the Romanov family? Since you offended Tristan, why don't you just apologize to him?"
"After all this, how could he easily forgive me?" Quinlan cried anxiously. "If you hadn't switched us at birth, would I have been adopted by the Stewart family? Would I have ended up like this?"
"I'm in this situation because of the Clifford family's mistake. If you won't even protect my life, why did you come find me? You might as well let me die!"
Ulysses was instantly furious. Just as he was about to speak, Ainsley glared at him.
"Don't fight with your sister!" Ainsley held Quinlan's hand with heartache. "Quinlan, you're right. It's my fault. I didn't protect you."
"Don't worry, I'll personally ask the Romanov family to protect you..."
Harriet didn't expect Caspian to come to the hospital the next afternoon.
"Why is Mr. Romanov here?"
"I came to see the child." After Caspian's assistant placed the toys on the coffee table, he left.
"This way, please."
Harriet led him to the lounge and made him a cup of tea.
"Thank you." Caspian said. "Actually I wanted to come a few days ago, but couldn't find the time. Ms. Getty has worked so hard for my grandfather. It's only proper that I come visit your daughter."
Harriet smiled. "Thank you."
Caspian picked up the teacup to drink, but as soon as it entered his mouth, his expression froze.
He calmly put down the teacup and looked up at Harriet.
After their eyes met for a few seconds, Caspian got up and went to the bathroom.
Harriet smiled slightly.
Soon, Caspian came out of the bathroom and pulled a tissue from the coffee table to wipe the water from his lips.
"Ms. Getty, what's the meaning of this?"
"A test." Harriet admitted. "It looks like I guessed right. The person who poisoned me was you. If you hadn't poisoned me, you wouldn't have been able to taste that I put the same poison in this tea, right?"
Caspian didn't confirm or deny. "How did you guess?"
"After the poisoning incident, logically you should have kept all the servants at home to investigate thoroughly and give my husband an explanation."
"But the number of servants at the Romanov family noticeably decreased. That's not quite normal, is it?"
"So I suspect you used the incident of poisoning me as an excuse to clean out people you couldn't trust, right?"
"Ms. Getty is much smarter than I imagined." Caspian said calmly. "I don't know who's been giving my grandfather chronic poison. With so many people around, it's hard to investigate openly."
"But I couldn't reduce the number of people serving my grandfather without reason, so I could only use this method."
"It is indeed a good method." Harriet's eyes turned cold. "If the poisoning had succeeded, you could have conveniently avenged your sister Lark."
"Ms. Getty, I never intended to kill you." Caspian explained. "The antidote was on me at the time. If you had really drunk that tea, I would have immediately given you the antidote."
"Those words are easy to say now, who knows if they're true or false." Harriet said coldly. "All I know is that you did put deadly poison in my teacup."
"Caspian, I value my life, so I hate it most when people try to harm me."
"From now on, our deal is over. I won't continue treating your grandfather."
"I'm afraid that's not up to you." Caspian smiled calmly. "If my grandfather doesn't get treatment, Ms. Getty will also pay a price."
The atmosphere suddenly became tense!
Their eyes met, the coldness in Harriet's eyes impossible to suppress. "Caspian, are you threatening me?"
Caspian froze slightly.
For some reason, seeing Harriet angry made him inexplicably irritated.