Chapter 224 Marlon Steps Down
"Nonsense! All of you, shut up! Framing me? Do you want to die!" Janet said, almost screaming.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she said this, the young man immediately grabbed onto Dominic's leg.
"Officer, she's threatening me! I don't want to die! You have to protect me!"
Janet's face instantly turned ashen.
For a moment, she didn't know what to say.
But suddenly, she turned toward Amelia.
Amelia was looking at her too.
Unlike the twisted expression on her face, Amelia was very calm.
From the beginning up until now, she seemed to have been totally calm.
In an instant, Janet understood what was going on—all of this was orchestrated by Amelia behind the scenes.
These people were indeed hired by her, but her instructions were to have them sprinkle the powder on Amelia.
But now, although they had betrayed her, they had changed the target she was trying to frame.
This was nothing more than an effort to completely clear Amelia from this incident.
So this must be Amelia's doing!
What a vicious person Amelia was!
But Janet forgot that while Amelia did do these things, it was only to protect herself.
She had never actively sought to harm Janet.
Once at Luminance Art Gallery, and once now—in both confrontations, it was Janet who attacked her first, and she only fought back.
If anyone was vicious, Janet was the vicious one.
But in Janet's mind, Amelia was the enemy, so she believed all her misfortunes stemmed from Amelia.
At this point, Billy spoke up, "In that case, everything's clear. Dominic, you won't be taking my daughter away anymore, right?"
Outsiders speculated that the mastermind behind this was Marlon, who was trying to compete with Billy for power.
But Billy knew very well in his heart that they were both Leonard's subordinates—there was nothing to compete over.
And with this incident, Janet was done for, and Marlon was basically done for too.
He indeed had one less competitor and would only be more valued by Leonard in the future.
So he didn't care what would happen to Janet; he was only focused on clearing Tessa of suspicion.
Dominic still took Tessa away in the end—he needed to conduct routine questioning.
To ask about some details.
Like whether those young men had gotten close to her.
Tessa was already terrified, anxious to clear her name, and readily admitted that those young men had approached her.
The case was investigated for a day and a night. Janet was indeed the one behind the attempt to kill Mark.
She bought the poison and secretly put it in Mark's drink, then framed Tessa for it.
But she said no one made her do it—she simply couldn't stand Tessa.
She didn't mention Amelia, because bringing Amelia into it would easily implicate Francis too.
Once Francis was implicated, the Rojas family would be finished.
And as long as Marlon was still around, she had a chance to get out of prison.
Throughout the entire process, Amelia remained perfectly hidden.
Later that evening, Amelia treated Samuel to dinner.
"Thank you for your hard work, helping me catch those guys who were helping Janet frame me."
"It was nothing," Samuel said. "Just a bunch of cowards. I hadn't even made a move and they were scared stiff, confessing everything. But if you want to thank me, you still can. Just not verbally—I want something concrete."
Amelia replied, "I bought you a small gift. When you take me home later, I'll give it to you."
Samuel's eyes lit up. "Are you done eating? Should we go get it now?"
Amelia was speechless—they had just started eating!
Samuel laughed, "Just kidding. I'm just really happy that you bought me a gift."
"It's just a small gift."
"I still like it. Anything you give me, I like."
Amelia blushed a little.
She didn't quite understand how Samuel could say sweet words so naturally, as if they were having everyday conversation.
If it were her, she'd be very embarrassed.
However, she didn't dislike Samuel's sweet talk—in fact, she was quite pleased with it.
They quickly finished dinner, and for the first time, Samuel couldn't wait to take Amelia home.
When Amelia got home, she greeted Natalie first, then hurried upstairs.
Natalie had already heard about Mark's death.
This incident had caused quite a stir because the killer was Janet.
Natalie had many questions for Amelia.
But Amelia ran so fast that she was momentarily stunned.
"What's going on?"
Uma smiled, "I just saw Mr. Crawford's car parked outside."
"Oh, no wonder," Natalie chuckled.
She wasn't in a hurry to stop Amelia anymore; she just waited quietly in the living room.
Soon, Amelia ran downstairs, holding a large box.
"Mom, I'm going out for a bit. I'll be right back."
Natalie smiled and nodded. "Go ahead!"
Amelia felt inexplicably embarrassed.
Nevertheless, she carried the box to Samuel. "This is for you. Try it on when you get home and see if it fits."
"Clothes?"
"Yes. A suit. If it doesn't fit, tell me and I'll take it back to have it altered."
"Okay." Samuel nodded but was reluctant to leave. "I want to see Lyric."
"Okay." Amelia nodded and brought him in to see Lyric.
Natalie had been taking good care of Lyric. In just half a month, it had grown quite a bit.
Lyric still recognized Samuel and nuzzled around his feet.
"You're not afraid of it anymore, right?" Samuel asked.
Amelia replied, "Right, Lyric is very cute and smart. It helped me a lot with Isaac's situation."
"Good that you're not afraid. Sometimes, when you have fears in your heart, you need to overcome them, not avoid them. If you avoid them, the shadow stays with you forever. But if you have the courage to face them, you'll find that they're not so bad."
This statement made Amelia think of Finn.
Should she meet him?
But this thought only flashed through her mind before she pushed it aside.
The two of them played with Lyric for quite a while.
But after Natalie came out to check two different times, Samuel knew it was time to go.
He held Amelia's hand and kissed her forehead.
"I'm going now. You should go back inside too. Mrs. Richardson probably has a lot to ask you. I won't take up her time."
"So generous?" Amelia chuckled.
"After you marry me, all your time will be mine. I don't mind sharing it a little bit for now. Anyway, I'm leaving now."
"Okay."
Samuel went with her to the living room, said goodbye to Natalie, and then left.
Natalie had Holden see Samuel off while she asked Amelia about the day's events.
Amelia told her everything in detail.
"Liam and I went there today just to take the opportunity to warn them. To remind everyone of the Young family's ingratitude, and also to help build Liam's reputation. I just didn't expect Mark to die. At the time, some people approached me and bumped into me, and I felt something was wrong. I went to the restroom to check and found powder on me. I got some on my hand and sprinkled it on Tessa, because I initially thought it was Tessa's doing. After that, I washed my hands clean and asked Samuel to find me an identical dress to change into. Later, I had him investigate the identities of those people who bumped into me. He caught them and questioned them, and that's when I learned that it was Janet trying to harm me. Then Mark died, and the police brought police dogs. Samuel released those people at just the right time, making them run away. After the police caught them, they gave Janet up."
This also explained why Samuel kept appearing and disappearing.
He had been helping her with all these things.
Natalie listened with her heart in her throat.
Hearing that Samuel had helped so much, her expression softened a bit.
"Good thing he helped you. Did you thank him?"
Amelia shrugged, "No need to thank him. This is all his fault."
"Why?"
"Janet likes him, and I blocked Janet's pursuit of him, so Janet resented me. Without him, I wouldn't have become enemies with Janet, so there's no need to thank him."
Yet, she had just given him a suit as a gift.
"By the way, Mom, Liam went to take up his position in Thornfield. You need to pick out some clothes and daily necessities to send him."
But Natalie assured her, "Don't worry, I already sent them this afternoon. Liam called me after he left."
Her eyes shining brightly, she added, "Liam hasn't abandoned the medical skills you passed on to him. He'll make a name for himself."
Amelia nodded in agreement.
Natalie added, "After today, the Young family's reputation is completely gone. They deserve it!"
"It's Karma," Amelia concurred.
Natalie and Amelia chatted for a long time before finally going to their rooms to sleep.
……
A few days later, Marlon worked hard to help Janet, but this was a criminal case, and Janet had confessed to it herself—or rather, with the evidence laid out before her, she couldn't deny it and could only confess.
So, no matter how powerful Marlon was, he was helpless.
He could only turn to Leonard for help.
Leonard didn't get angry with him, because he already knew this was Francis's doing.
He just didn't expose it, afraid that Marlon would give up Francis too in order to save Janet.
So he didn't get angry, but comforted him instead. However, he didn't help, only saying, "Things are tight right now, I can't help either. When things blow over and our big plan succeeds, we'll get Janet out."
Though these words were just meant to placate him, to Marlon's ears, they were a lifeline.
He was just waiting for Leonard to gain power so he could save Janet.
But before that day came, orders came down from above.
He was being transferred to Mistveil City.
His position dropped several levels at once.
He was angry but didn't dare speak out. He could only comply with the transfer order and leave in disgrace.
The position of mayor in Goldenvale suddenly became vacant, and Marlon's duties were temporarily taken over by Billy and Frank.
This was great news for Micah because Frank was already his man. Amelia had won Frank over for him, and the Hays family still didn't know.
Of course, the Hays family wasn't without their suspicions though.
But Frank was famously neutral and very timid. The Hays family assumed he wouldn't dare take sides, so they were careless.
Micah personally called Amelia to thank her.
Amelia responded appropriately, neither humble nor arrogant.
Micah said, "You're very composed, just like your dad when he was young."
Amelia was stunned.
"My dad's personality was a lot like mine when he was young?"
That was impossible!