Chapter 263: Fear of Her
Before leaving, Anthony had Finn divide the gifts he brought into two parts.
One set for Stanley, the other for Amelia, as a token of gratitude.
Stanley glanced at the two sets of gifts on either side. His eyes lingered on Amelia as he gave her a long, meaningful look.
Anthony had come to show his support for Amelia.
Yet Amelia's expression stayed unchanged from before Anthony arrived - neither proud nor anxious.
Her restraint and modesty made Stanley view her in a completely new light.
Amelia was indeed unusual, no wonder the arrogant Samuel listened to her every word.
Even when Samuel was on the verge of losing his temper, Amelia could calm him with just a few casual word of advice.
It truly surprised him.
She was a capable woman.
She was a capable woman. Samuel admired such strength, yet he couldn't help fearing women who were perhaps too capable.
"You should go too. I'll rest here alone. In a couple of days when I'm discharged, I'll come home and have dinner with you guys."
Samuel frowned.
Samuel had already proven Amelia's exceptional medical skills, yet he still wouldn't budge!
Just as he was about to lose his temper, Amelia grabbed his hand again.
"I'm actually a bit hungry. Let's go."
By this point,only three hours had passed since lunch.
It was clear Amelia was using an excuse to get him to leave.
Samuel understood and nodded, turning to Stanley: "We're leaving. We won't stay at the house, we'll be at Grandview Estates. If you change your mind, come find us there."
Without a trace of anger or anxiety; he spoke calmly, then took Amelia's hand and left.
Stanley's brow furrowed again.
Amelia was too capable.
After they left, Nash immediately came to Stanley's side.
"Mr. Crawford, should we stay in the hospital a few more days, or go home?"
"Stay two more days." Stanley said expressionlessly, "Rushing in and out would only fuel gossip."
As before, he valued dignity and appearances.
He couldn't let anyone know he had come to the hospital merely to lie on the operating table for two hours before leaving.
He might as well play the part completely.
He wanted the outside world to believe he had suffered a sudden discomfort and stayed in the hospital for two days.
It wasn't as if he had come for surgery.
Nash acknowledged.
"Should I tell the doctor we'll be discharged in two days?"
"Not yet." Stanley had him close the door before speaking, "If you were me, would you let Amelia operate on you?"
Nash smiled and said, "I can't answer that. I'm different from you. My life isn't worth much - trying wouldn't hurt."
"So if you were in my position, you wouldn't easily agree either?"
Nash rubbed his hands together, "You're putting me in a tough spot with this question. Samuel's already quite unhappy with me."
"He won't know what you say. I just want to hear the truth. Nash, you're the person I trust most."
Nash seemed conflicted, and only spoke after a while: "Ms. Richardson is too young. Samuel is also very young, especially when it comes to relationships - he's practically a blank slate. I'm just afraid he's been deceived too. So I think you could observe Ms. Richardson for a while before deciding."
"That makes sense." Stanley nodded, then said, "You shouldn't have told him about my surgery."
"That was my mistake."
"Forget it, I don't blame you. My condition made you panic, so it's normal you'd find someone reliable to consult. The hospital has many eyes and ears - if you hadn't said something, others would have."
Nash quickly thanked him.
When he called Samuel, that's what he was thinking too.
If he let someone else tell Samuel the news, given Samuel's personality, he probably wouldn't be able to stay with the Crawford family anymore.
Plus, if Stanley had an accident on the operating table, Samuel would probably want his life.
Out of concern for his own safety, Nash made that call.
This way, it became a conflict between Samuel and Stanley, and he wouldn't be the scapegoat.
Stanley understood this clearly but didn't blame him, so he breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Then brought up another matter.
"If you really plan to have Ms. Richardson operate on you, why not call Zachary back? With him keeping Samuel in check, we won't have to worry about problems during the surgery."
"I'll think about it. You can go now. I'll rest for a bit."
"Yes."
Nash quickly left.
He didn't immediately go to the doctor's office, but made an overseas call instead.
The call lasted over ten minutes.
Little did he know, a figure quietly entered Stanley's hospital room.
"Well?" Stanley asked the middle-aged man before him.
This was another of his trusted confidants, named Rex Vaughan.
"Nash is on the phone, deliberately avoiding people. I was afraid of drawing his attention, so I didn't get too close."
"Check his call records, but don't let him find out."
"Yes."
Rex quickly left the room to check Nash's call records.
……
Meanwhile.
Amelia was taken by Samuel to a restaurant.
She had said she wasn't hungry - it was just an excuse to get him to leave - but Samuel still brought her to eat.
"Just have a little something now, we'll have a proper meal tonight."
He said "just have a little," but the table was full of dishes.
Amelia nodded and picked up her utensils, taking two bites of each dish.
"How is it?" Samuel asked her, "Do you like it? Are you not used to Thornfield food?"
Amelia reminded him, "I'm used to it. Before I returned to the Richardson family, I lived in Thornfield the whole time."
Samuel suddenly remembered that Shadow Operations Division's previous base was in Thornfield.
Amelia, as the head of Shadow Operations Division, naturally was stationed in Thornfield.
"Sorry." Samuel pressed his temples, "I might be a bit tired, my mind's not clear."
Amelia knew he was upset about Stanley.
She deliberately tried to cheer him up.
Samuel was hard to make laugh, and Amelia used all her strength before finally getting him to smile.
Samuel held her hand and said, "Don't worry about me. I understand - some people just have weak family bonds. It's not that he favors Zachary, he just cares more about himself."
Amelia nodded and said, "No matter what, I'll be by your side."
Samuel acknowledged and served her food.
"Try this dish. I come to this restaurant often. I think it's better than All Seasons Table."
"Okay."
Though Amelia wasn't hungry, she forced herself to eat a little.
Who knew what might happen later—she needed to eat enough to have the energy to deal with it.
Of all the dishes on the table, Amelia liked the fried fish best.
She didn't like fishy flavors and didn't love seafood, which showed how good this fried fish was.
Before leaving, Samuel had someone go to the kitchen to ask the chef how to make the fried fish.
Amelia had gotten in the car early, so she didn't know about this.
The two then went to the Crawford Group's Thornfield headquarters.
Amelia didn't go with him.
She went to Shadow Operations Division instead.
Shadow Operations Division's bases here had been abandoned or destroyed, but two top-secret locations remained.
She went to meet with the people in charge of these two locations, while Samuel went to the company alone.
They agreed to meet at Grandview Estates at six o'clock.
Samuel hadn't been at headquarters for several months, but he had arranged for trusted subordinates here, and they had indeed managed things well.
But they couldn't help asking, "When will you come back to oversee things?"
Samuel said, "After New Year."
In two more days, it would be New Year.
The subordinate nodded.
"Please come back soon, I'm exhausted. Only now do I understand how hard it is for you."
Samuel's lips curved slightly in a smile: "I know you've worked hard. Your year-end bonus will be tripled."
The subordinate was very surprised.
He remembered Samuel wasn't this "gentle" before.
After finishing things here, it was already past five.
Samuel put on his suit and had Jeremy drive toward Grandview Estates.
Jeremy asked, "Do we need to pick up Ms. Richardson?"
"The place she went is top secret, let's not make things difficult for her."
But as soon as he finished speaking, Amelia called asking him to pick her up.
Samuel's eyes immediately lit up.
He had just said that, but in his heart he still hoped Amelia would trust him.
And Amelia did trust him.
He felt warm inside.
The trust he didn't get from Stanley, he got from Amelia.
Looking at it this way, he wasn't so pitiful after all.
"Okay, wait for me, I'll be right there."
He made Jeremy get out and went to pick her up himself, leaving Jeremy alone in the cold wind.
Jeremy felt miserable, thinking he should hurry up and find himself a wife too.
Someone to care when he was cold and tired.
Just then, his phone rang - it was actually York calling.
He didn't want to answer and hung up directly, calling his subordinates to come pick him up.
But his subordinates didn't come - York did instead.
He looked like a playboy, driving a bright red sports car.
"Get in, you look pretty pathetic."
Jeremy frowned, "Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to stay in Goldenvale? If Mr. Crawford finds out you sneaked over here, he'll kill you!"
"Don't worry, I reported to Mr. Crawford. Goldenvale is very safe, they don't need me."
Goldenvale was now Magnus's territory.
And Magnus had a good relationship with Frank.
Frank in turn had a deep relationship with Samuel, so there was no worry about problems there.
Only then did Jeremy get in the car.
The heating was on full blast inside, and he let out a satisfied breath.
"I almost froze to death just now!"
The northern winter outdoors was unbearable.
And Samuel had left him in a remote place without even shelter from the wind.
York laughed heartily.
"Now you know how good I am? Since I rarely come back, you're buying dinner tonight."
Jeremy pouted, "I knew you didn't have good intentions coming to pick me up!"
The two bickered as usual, while on the other side Samuel had picked up Amelia.
They drove toward Grandview Estates.
"This house - I bought and renovated it myself." Samuel said, "Back then, I wasn't yet the head of the Crawford family."
Amelia was quite surprised.
This meant he didn't use the Crawford family's money, but bought it with money he earned himself.
To be able to buy such a large piece of land in Thornfield without relying on the Crawford family's money and power showed that Samuel wasn't someone who got to where he was today by relying on family help.