Chapter 157 York Takes Advantage of the Situation
Amelia walked around the corner, her clenched hands trembling constantly, but she still didn't stop. Finally, she turned and walked into the restroom.
Turning on the faucet, she pressed the soap dispenser twice and washed the blood off her hands.
She was alone here, with only the sound of running water.
Amelia cleaned each finger carefully, washing them thoroughly inside and out.
After washing them clean, she turned off the faucet.
But the next moment.
A tear fell, landing on the back of her hand.
Then, one drop after another kept falling.
Amelia looked up at herself in the mirror. Her lips were pressed tightly together, still looking stubborn, but her eyes were completely red.
In her life, she had experienced childhood happiness, but after Jasper died, everything changed.
The Martinez family fell apart. Beatrix took her and they wandered from place to place, and then Beatrix remarried.
Lon treated her badly, taking his anger out on her at every turn, even nearly beating her to death.
Later, he appeared and rescued her from the demon's hands.
She thought he would be her salvation.
Although Beatrix stopped recognizing her as a daughter after that, she thought she still had him, and having him was enough.
She thought he would understand her, know that all she wanted was ordinary happiness, but he still destroyed everything completely.
Amelia's tears kept flowing, but she refused to make a sound.
The Martinez family's legacy included not only the old employees Jasper left behind, but also an encrypted information system, an encrypted black box, and some other things.
Jasper's death was full of mysteries, and she had investigated quite a bit over the years, but always ran into obstacles.
After much exploration, the most likely scenario was that Jasper learned something he shouldn't have known, or touched someone's interests—or some group's interests—and was killed because of it.
And over these years, in that black box that could never be decrypted, in that massive encrypted information that couldn't be copied, perhaps the final truth was hidden.
When Jasper died, these things were personally handed over to William, who took over the system creation department. He had the highest level of access.
That encrypted information was massive and couldn't be copied—it could only run on the corresponding system. So she could only get it from him.
He probably knew this, which was why he deliberately delayed.
Amelia lowered her eyes slightly, clenched her fists, and suppressed the surging emotions in her heart.
Just a delay.
She thought.
Without her, those things were useless to him.
Through litigation, she could get them.
This was already the best outcome. If William hadn't thought their divorce was fake at the time and hadn't carefully read that agreement, she would have had almost no chance of getting them.
Now she just needed to wait for a while.
She needed some patience, and also some time to turn her business value into cash.
When she looked up again, Amelia had calmed down.
She wiped the tears from her face, steadied herself a bit, and looking at herself in the mirror, she lifted the corners of her mouth slightly.
She was going to Mia's office to pick up Briar soon. She needed to pull herself together.
After standing for a little while longer, Amelia made sure she had composed herself before walking out and heading toward Mia's office.
From a distance, she could hear Briar's clear, bright voice. Briar was laughing.
Amelia couldn't help but smile. It seemed she and Mia were having a great time.
Thinking this, Amelia continued forward but didn't make a sound. She wanted to see what they were doing.
But when she reached the door of Mia's office, she saw that the person standing next to Briar wasn't Mia.
It was York.
They both had their backs to her.
Briar was standing on a small stool, staring at something on the desk.
York stood beside her, holding a pen in his right hand, occasionally smiling and explaining something to Briar.
"Mr. Jenkins, does this little cat really look like this?" Briar pointed at something on the desk and asked in her clear voice.
York nodded and smiled, saying, "It's at my house right now. When Amelia allows it, I'll take you to play with it, or bring it to play with you."
Briar nodded vigorously, then said with some frustration, "Mr. Jenkins, your hand is so steady. When I draw, I always draw crooked lines."
"I was like that when I was little too. I couldn't learn and even cried about it secretly."
In the office, York said gently to Briar, "Later I made up my mind and practiced calmly. Then, slowly, I improved a little bit each day, and I learned."
"Really?" Briar's eyes sparkled.
York nodded, then reached out to hold Briar's hand, guiding her.
"See, isn't this a bit better?" York asked softly.
"It really is!" Briar jumped a little with happiness.
York reached out to steady her, preventing her from falling off the small stool.
The two of them, one big and one small, smiled at each other—a warm scene.
Amelia just watched like this.
Standing at the office door.
Feeling somewhat unreal.
"Amelia!" Briar suddenly noticed her.
She got down from the small stool and came to her side.
Amelia crouched down and hugged Briar.
"Amelia, Mr. Jenkins and I were drawing," Briar said, leading Amelia toward the desk.
Amelia looked up and saw York smiling and nodding at her.
Amelia nodded back and, led by Briar, came to the desk together.
On the desk were two drawings. One had childish lines—it was drawn by Briar. The other, though it only had a few strokes, looked very skilled and lifelike.
It was a drawing of a cat, the ragdoll cat Amelia had seen before.
York had drawn it.
"Amelia, Mr. Jenkins said you've seen this cat. Is that true?" Briar asked curiously. "Does it really have such a big tail, and can it do backflips?"
Amelia found it a bit funny. It seemed York really loved his cat.
She smiled and nodded. "Yes, it even did a flip right in front of me."
"Then can I..." Briar looked at Amelia, then sneaked a glance at York beside them. After hesitating for a moment, she asked quietly, "Can I play with it?"
Briar's face showed an expression that was both hopeful and a bit embarrassed.
She really seemed to want to see that cat. In her mind appeared the image from that evening at the Adams Group, when York had brought that cat over to her.
"If York agrees, then you can," Amelia said, cupping Briar's little face.
"Yay!" Briar immediately looked at York expectantly.
York crouched down to be at eye level with Briar. "I'll bring it to play with you another day."
The two were already discussing specific times and places.
They went back and forth, looking very harmonious.
This made her feel a bit dazed.