Chapter 210: "Hero" Saves the Beauty
Amelia sat in the taxi, telling Byron that she had seen Leo and Francis.
"They might follow us. When you see me, pretend you don't know me and just follow from a distance."
"Got it."
Byron didn't waste any time and headed straight to Urban Oasis Mall.
Amelia strolled through the mall at a leisurely pace.
She was certain Francis would follow her.
Whether he would actually make a move was another matter.
Soon, Byron sent her a message saying that he had spotted Leo and Francis.
[They're following you from a distance.]
Amelia replied with [OK] and turned into a men's suit shop.
The shop specialized in men's suits, and one of the staff members politely approached her, worried that she might have entered the wrong store.
Amelia said, "I'm picking out clothes for my brother."
Since she was already here, she decided to buy a suit for each of her brothers.
"I see. What does your brother need it for? Does he prefer something more stylish or more formal?"
"I'll choose myself. I have several brothers."
The staff member's eyes lit up.
That meant several sales.
"Take your time. I'll bring you something to drink."
"Thanks."
The staff member quickly returned with a cup of coffee and a small cake on a delicate plate.
"Miss, would you like some coffee first? We don't have many ready-made suits here. Most of them are custom-made. You can browse our independent designer collections on the tablet."
"Sure."
Amelia agreed.
Before long, she had selected four designer suits.
Hunter and Felix weren't home, so she'd skip buying theirs for now.
As for Byron's, she picked a ready-made suit with a flashy collar design.
Byron usually wore bold, eye-catching clothes, so Amelia figured he would definitely like it.
Besides, the size was just right for him.
"Excuse me, could you wrap this one for me first? My brother needs to wear it right away."
Byron was two months older than her, so calling him her brother wasn't really a lie.
"Of course, miss. Just a moment."
At that moment, a group of people walked into the store.
"Everyone out! Mr. Graves is here to shop! Where's the staff? Clear the store!"
The staff member froze for a moment, then hurried over with an apologetic smile to explain.
But the group refused to listen.
"If you don't clear the store and disturb Mr. Graves, I'll make sure this shop shuts down immediately!"
The staff member's face turned pale.
She couldn't afford to offend them, so she could only apologize to Amelia.
"Miss, I'm so sorry. We've run into some unreasonable people. Your custom suits will be ready in half a month. I'll wrap up the one you've chosen right away. Would you mind browsing in the shop next door for a little while? I'll bring it to you as soon as it's ready."
Amelia glanced at the group.
The man in the center, the one they were calling Mr. Graves, was dressed in expensive clothes, but he had no class at all.
She immediately guessed who they were.
Francis's people.
She just didn't know what they were trying to do.
Deliberately, she stood up and let a displeased look cross her face.
"Don't they understand first come, first served? And what about you? Why should I have to wait next door?"
The staff member was stunned. She had assumed Amelia was easygoing, but she hadn't expected her to be this firm.
All she could do was apologize again.
"Miss, then how about this? Leave me your address, and I'll deliver it to your home."
"I already told you, my brother needs to wear it right away. Go pack it up now. It won't take more than two minutes."
"Alright then. I'll pack it for you right now."
But the group walked over at once and said unhappily, "Pack what? Until Mr. Graves has finished choosing, not a single item in this store can be sold! You, get out of here right now!"
The man pointed right at Amelia's face.
Her expression darkened. She stood up, about to argue, when a man with a buzz-cut walked in and stopped in front of her.
"What's going on here? A bunch of grown men ganging up on a woman?"
The speaker was Leo.
Having just gotten out of prison, he wore his hair in a buzz cut, but even so, simply standing there, he looked more like a real nobleman than the so-called Mr. Graves.
True nobility and fake nobility were easy to tell apart at a glance.
At least, women could tell. Men's instincts weren't usually as sharp as a woman's finer intuition.
Amelia glanced at him, feeling even more puzzled.
What was The Hays family trying to do with this act?
Were they really staging some ridiculous hero-saves-the-damsel scene?
That sounded like something Leo would do, but Francis was here too.
Francis was deeply calculating. Once he set his mind on something, he wouldn't stop until he got it.
He couldn't possibly be putting on a childish little show like this just for the sake of a heroic rescue.
There had to be another scheme behind it.
Keeping her expression neutral, Amelia quietly watched them perform.
The so-called Mr. Graves glared at Leo and said unhappily, "None of your business. Get lost if you don't want to die!"
The moment he finished speaking, Leo punched him in the face.
The man flew into a rage.
"You dare hit me? Get him!"
As soon as he gave the order, another group rushed in and quickly pinned everyone down.
Before long, the group was begging for mercy and fleeing in disgrace.
"Miss, are you alright?" Leo looked at her with concern.
Leo had striking features and captivating eyes, and he was clearly very confident in his appearance.
Amelia shook her head gratefully. "I'm fine."
"That's good." He looked open and sincere, but his eyes kept drifting toward Amelia's lips.
A wave of disgust rose in Amelia's heart.
But she kept her grateful expression in place.
"I don't know how to thank you. If it weren't for you, those thugs might really have hurt me."
"I was only doing the right thing. You don't need to thank me. But if you really want to, maybe you can buy me dinner sometime?"
Amelia agreed.
The two of them exchanged contact information.
"What should I call you?" Amelia asked.
"Levi."
Amelia sneered inwardly, but aloud she said, "I'm Amelia Richardson."
"Alright, Ms. Richardson. I'll wait for you to contact me."
"Okay."
Amelia nodded and watched Leo leave.
The moment he was gone, the smile vanished from her face.
She turned to the staff member and said, "Sorry for the trouble earlier."
"Not at all. I'll go wrap up your suit."
The staff member no longer dared chat casually with Amelia. She efficiently packaged the suit and handed it over.
"Thank you."
Amelia was about to leave when she suddenly remembered something.
She asked for the tablet again, selected another suit, and gave the staff member the approximate measurements.
"If it doesn't fit, can I bring it back for alterations?" she asked.
The staff member nodded. "Of course."
Amelia paid and left with Byron's suit.
Soon, Byron caught up with her and said quietly, "Amelia, Leo and Francis have left."
Amelia nodded.
Byron continued, "I saw them arguing, but I didn't dare get too close, so I couldn't hear what they were fighting about. But I had Louis follow them."
Amelia nodded again and said thoughtfully, "Francis is planning something, and Leo probably didn't agree with him, so they argued."
But what exactly were they arguing about?
Amelia couldn't figure it out, though it most likely had something to do with her.
When she couldn't make sense of something, she decided not to dwell on it for now.
"Just keep watching them. Report back to me wherever they go and whoever they meet."
"Yes."
"Alright, go change into this suit. We're going out for dinner."
"Okay."
Byron quickly changed clothes.
He usually wore loose, brightly colored outfits. Now, dressed in a proper black suit, Amelia almost didn't recognize him.
"You should shave off that curly hair. With your head shape, a buzz cut would look really good."
"No way. Buzz cuts are ugly."
"Trust me. With a buzz cut, Faith will love you even more."
Byron's face instantly turned red.
"Amelia, you really love teasing me."
Amelia smiled. "I'll give you a chance to tease me back."
"What?"
"That thing I didn't finish saying on the phone earlier. I'll finish it now."
Byron remembered that Amelia had left her sentence unfinished on the phone.
She had said: You don't need to think so pessimistically. Actually, Samuel and I...
And then she had stopped.
He hadn't thought much of it at the time. He had assumed Amelia was only trying to comfort him.
But now that she mentioned "teasing," a possibility suddenly crossed his mind, and he looked at her in surprise.
Then he heard Amelia say, "Samuel and I are together."
Byron's eyes widened even more.
He was a man through and through, yet his eyes were bigger than most women's. Faith had once joked with him, saying that if he had been born a woman, he would definitely have been prettier than she was.
Now that his eyes were wide open, they looked even larger.
"Your eyes are about to pop out. Close them for a second."
Amelia felt a bit embarrassed, so she deliberately made a joke to ease the mood.
Byron did close his eyes, but when he opened them again, they were still wide with shock.
"Amelia, don't joke about something like that. Is it true or not?"
"When have you ever known me to joke about something like this?"
That was true. She never had.
He glanced at Amelia, then looked away, then glanced at her again, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't decide how.
Amelia said, "Just say what's on your mind. I actually wanted to ask your opinion too."
But Byron immediately shook his head.
"I have absolutely no objections."
Amelia looked puzzled.
Byron said seriously, "I'm just happy for you. Really. The fact that you can find the courage to love someone again makes me genuinely happy. Truly, Amelia, I'm very happy for you. I wasonly... hesitating over whether I should mention Finn."
Amelia hadn't expected Byron's hesitation to be nothing more than concern that mentioning Finn would upset her.
She was silent for a moment before saying, "I'm happy too. Happy that my heart can come back to life. It's just that Samuel's status is too special. It would be better if he were an ordinary person."
"What's so good about ordinary people? Finn was an ordinary person. I think someone like Mr. Crawford is exactly the kind of man who would never betray you."
"Why?"
Byron said, "Ordinary people want too many things. That creates greed, and greed leads to betrayal. But Samuel already has everything ordinary people want. In some ways, his approach to relationships is actually purer than theirs"