Chapter 242: Plan One
Although it had been over three months since Amelia single-handedly stormed into the Combat Arts Association to rescue Felix, the remaining members of the Combat Arts Association were still at large.
Amelia had never let her guard down.
After learning that Leonard was the mastermind behind the Combat Arts Association, she focused even more on investigating them.
At the beginning of the month, they finally discovered that the remaining members of the Combat Arts Association gathered for meetings at Harmony Heights Resort on the first of every month.
People from The Hays family would also show up.
On the first of each month, they would assign that month's tasks to the Combat Arts Association here.
Amelia worried that with all the recent attention, they might not show up tomorrow, so that evening she arranged for Max to release Philip's scandal.
The Hays family relied on Philip to maintain their connection with The Dobbins family. Without this link, they would have to find other ways.
Maybe Francis would show up in person.
If so, they could catch them all in one go.
If Francis didn't go, they could still take the opportunity to completely eliminate the Combat Arts Association and severely cut off The Hays family's arm in the underground world.
After discussing the specific strategy, Amelia called Samuel to pick her up.
Samuel arrived quickly.
This time, he still didn't enter the Shadow Operations Division's door, just waited for her at the intersection in front of the abandoned factory.
When they met, Samuel spoke first, "Yosef has already flown to Thornfield."
Amelia nodded, "I know, I called him."
Samuel's thin lips curved slightly as he said, "When he comes back, we should make him treat you to a big meal."
Amelia shrugged and said, "I didn't help much. Stella and Yosef investigated Philip themselves."
"But without you building a relationship with Stella beforehand, Yosef wouldn't have known Philip had a male lover. And no one would have helped him from inside The Dobbins family."
Amelia had connected Yosef with a very important lead.
Stella played a crucial role in it.
Hearing this, Amelia stopped being modest and said, "Then let him treat us to a whole year at All Seasons Table."
Samuel shook his head.
"Make him give you half the shares of All Seasons Table."
Amelia was stunned.
"That's way too much. He'll be scared to death, won't he?"
Samuel laughed, "What's that? Compared to what he's about to get, what is All Seasons Table? If you ask, he might give you all the shares of All Seasons Table."
Amelia knew that what Samuel meant by "what he's about to get" was the inheritance rights of The Dobbins family.
The Dobbins family only had two sons.
Philip was completely ruined, so the inheritance could only go to Yosef.
"That's great, I won't have to pay for meals at All Seasons Table for the rest of my life."
After joking around for a bit, they both got serious.
Samuel said, "Yosef will have to fight a tough battle on this trip back. Even if Philip is ruined, his parents may not feel comfortable handing over the family business to Yosef."
Amelia said with certainty, "No, things will go more smoothly than you think."
"Why?"
Amelia mentioned that she had previously asked Stella to help do a paternity test that involves Philip and his parents.
Samuel looked at her in surprise.
"Philip isn't their biological son?"
Amelia shook her head, "Unfortunately, he is their biological son."
"Then what?"
"The test results did show a parent-child relationship. But Stella happened to overhear Philip's parents mention that they had always planned to give the family business to Yosef to inherit, even though he was just a good-for-nothing playboy."
Samuel was even more confused.
"Why is that?"
Amelia said, "I was also curious at the time, so I had Stella continue investigating, and later she did find out the reason."
The reason was absurd — at the time, his mother Rowan Dobbins was in poor health and thought she couldn't bear children, so when Philip was born, they used artificial methods.
That is, the embryo was placed in another woman's womb to be born.
"Although biologically speaking, Philip is still her biological son, she always felt that a child who came out of someone else's belly was somehow distant from her. Later, after Rowan's health improved, she gave birth to Yosef. Toward Yosef, she had mixed feelings of love and resentment. Rowan and Martin had long decided that no matter what Yosef turned out like, the family business would eventually go to him."
Samuel was very surprised.
"So that's how it is."
"Yes." Amelia sighed, "Both are biological sons, one she gave birth to herself and one someone else helped give birth to, yet they're treated so differently. I didn't expect that either."
"If this was the plan all along, why bother having Philip in the first place?"
"She needed a child to secure her position as Mrs. Dobbins."
Both fell into a brief silence.
When you think about it, Philip was somewhat pitiful too.
But they didn't sympathize with Philip.
Sympathizing with the enemy is like handing them a knife to use against yourself.
"Then it looks like Yosef's trip back to Thornfield will go smoothly."
"The Dobbins family is a big family. To truly win everyone over will take a lot of effort."
"I believe in Yosef. He seems unreliable, but he's actually very smart and does things properly. He hasn't failed at anything I've asked him to do."
"I believe in him too."
The two exchanged smiles.
They vaguely felt that their dawn was about to arrive.
Just before getting out of the car, Amelia brought up the Harmony Heights Resort matter.
"I'll go there myself tomorrow."
Samuel immediately said, "I'll go with you."
"Don't." Amelia said, "You're too noticeable. If you show up, the Combat Arts Association people will definitely run."
"What about you? You're even more noticeable than me."
Amelia pointed at her face.
"Don't forget, I can modify my appearance."
"Then make one for me too."
"There's not enough time. Just wait for my good news."
Samuel had to give up.
But he said, "I'll be on a nearby street. If you need any help, find me anytime."
This time Amelia didn't refuse and nodded, saying "okay."
Samuel asked about her detailed plan, and Amelia explained everything clearly.
After listening, Samuel looked at her with even brighter eyes.
"Amelia, you're a treasure heaven sent me. I must have done many good things in my past life to have you appear in my life."
"You're so smooth with words, have you really never been in a relationship before?"
"What smooth words? I'm speaking from my heart."
"That line itself is pretty smooth."
"You're just looking for reasons to accuse me." Samuel joked, then said seriously, "Besides you, no other woman has ever stayed in my heart."
"What about men? Like Philip."
Samuel immediately stopped the car, held her shoulders, and kissed her hard.
Amelia didn't dare say anything more after that.
She was quite afraid of this move of his.
The kiss made her feel like she was floating in the clouds, her whole body out of control.
……
Soon it was the next day.
A small local news notification popped up on Goldenvale residents' phones.
During natural gas pipeline renovation work on Pine Valley Way, workers made a mistake and accidentally broke an underground water pipe.
After the pipe broke, tap water burst out of the ground and flooded several nearby shops.
The worst affected was Harmony Heights Resort.
The hotel lobby was flooded, so the hotel had to compensate guests and ask them to temporarily stay in their rooms.
When Francis and the others learned the news, the lobby was almost impossible to walk through.
"Sir, we're sorry, the lobby downstairs is flooded. It will take about two hours to fix. During this time, please stay in your room and don't wander around."
Francis had come this time to discuss Philip's matter with the Combat Arts Association people.
Within The Dobbins family, Philip was their only connection.
Now that this connection was gone, they had to find another opportunity to reconnect with The Dobbins family.
But before they could discuss what to do next, this happened.
There was noise and commotion downstairs. Service staff came up to apologize, knocking on guests' doors one by one to explain the situation.
The one who opened the door was Francis himself.
The Combat Arts Association people were all hiding in the bathroom.
Francis's hawk-like eyes stared at the service staff.
"How did it suddenly get flooded?"
The service staff was a bit scared, not understanding why this guest seemed so cold and menacing, like he wanted to kill someone.
"It.. it wasn't our fault, it was the construction crew."
The service staff stammered through the explanation, then said, "We'll compensate you for your losses. Today's room fee is waived."
This Harmony Heights Resort had changed hands three times. The Combat Arts Association now had no connection to it, but everyone was very familiar with the place.
They knew where the surveillance cameras were and weren't, and how to get upstairs without being noticed by staff.
Therefore, for every meeting, they still chose Harmony Heights Resort.
Francis listened carefully to the service staff's words, judging their truthfulness.
Seeing that although this person was afraid of him, his eyes didn't dodge, he knew this person was indeed just a service staff member.
He was pretty good at reading people.
Just like before, although he hadn't met Amelia yet, he had already sensed she was dangerous and had to be eliminated.
"I understand, thank you for letting me know."
"You're welcome."
The service staff breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave when suddenly there was a loud noise from the bathroom.
The service staff was startled and quickly looked inside.
But the door was only half open, with Francis blocking the doorway, so he couldn't see anything.
He just asked Francis, "Is there someone else in the room? Do you need help?"
"No need, I'm alone. Something probably just fell."
"Okay, if you need anything, please call the front desk anytime."
"Okay."
Francis watched the service staff walk away before closing the door.
He turned and walked toward the bathroom, his face very dark.
Knowing someone was knocking at the door, they still dared make noise!
A bunch of idiots!
Fortunately, that was just an ordinary service staff member.
Francis walked back to the bathroom with a grim face.
Inside stood seven burly men and a white-haired but spry old man.
This old man was the former leader of the Combat Arts Association, Caleb.
His son, Drake, was the new leader, but had already been arrested with no hope of release in this lifetime.
Unless The Hays family achieved final victory - then they could easily help his son with just a word.
Because of this, the Combat Arts Association was actually more obedient to The Hays family than before.
"What just happened?" Caleb asked.