Chapter 257 Revenge
If things really came to that point, Evelyn's plan would be halfway to success.
Evelyn was ruthless and cruel, but he had underestimated her too much.
He thought that just having Kieran lure Evelyn away would keep Amelia safe from any threat.
But he never expected that this time, Evelyn didn't target Amelia and she had set up a trap for Quinton instead.
Today was Christmas Eve, yet Quinton was still in the operating room, his fate uncertain.
Thinking about how all this happened because he let his guard down, he wanted to punch himself.
"This is all my fault!" Samuel said.
But Natalie grabbed Samuel's arm at that moment.
"It's not your fault! You're just like Amelia. Whenever something happens, you only know how to blame yourself."
"But you two don't have that many problems!"
"Samuel, I don't blame you, and Amelia won't blame you either. Please don't beat yourself up."
"When others want to harm you, can you really predict everything? You're human too. There will always be things you'll miss."
"What we need to do right now is make this big, and ideally drag Leonard into it too."
Samuel felt a bit relieved.
Natalie didn't blame him—that was a huge comfort to him.
He said, "You're right. We can't wait anymore. I'll get on it right now."
Natalie nodded.
"Thanks for doing this. I'll stay here, so go ahead. Liam, you go with him too."
"Okay."
The two quickly left the hospital to pave the way for what needed to be done next.
Soon after, trending topics started popping up online one after another.
"Former richest man in Goldenvale gets into car accident on day of release from prison, suspected foul play."
Right after that, another trending topic appeared, explaining that Quinton being taken in for investigation was completely unjust.
Public opinion was deliberately guided. Quinton had gotten in someone's way, which was why he suffered this disaster.
"Who did the Richardson family offend? I remember Quinton always loved doing charity work. When he was taken in for investigation back then, I thought something was off."
"I remember Quinton's case. They said he bribed Goldenvale's former mayor, and when the former mayor went to prison, he was taken in for investigation too. Now that he's proven innocent, doesn't that mean the former mayor was wrongly accused too?"
"The former mayor was on The Porter family's side, right? So does that mean Quinton offended The Hays family?"
"Looks like he really picked the wrong side. How pitiful."
"Even the richest man can be wrongly thrown into detention. If us ordinary people offend the wrong person, we probably won't even know how we died."
Public opinion was extremely unfavorable to Leonard.
Samuel followed Natalie's wishes - from start to finish, the Russell family's name never appeared in the news.
Because the Russell family was just a small player.
If they could use this incident to strip Leonard of his power, their gains would be much greater.
If they didn't succeed, Leonard wouldn't let the Russell family off anyway.
So as long as they made this big and dragged Leonard into it, Samuel's side didn't need to make a move against the Russell family at all.
Leonard would naturally deal with Evelyn himself.
...
Meanwhile, Amelia had finally finished her surgery that lasted over six hours.
This was the longest surgery she had ever performed.
When the surgery ended, Amelia passed out from exhaustion.
Fortunately, the surgery went smoothly.
The assistant doctor explained the situation to Natalie on Amelia's behalf.
"Everyone can rest now. Mr. Richardson is out of danger. But since he had brain surgery, it will take at least three days to a week before he wakes up. He's been transferred to the ICU for observation now. Once he wakes up, he can be moved to a regular room. During this time, you won't be able to visit him yet."
Tears flowed from Natalie's eyes again.
But this time, they were tears of joy.
"Thank goodness, Dad's okay!"
The other Richardson family brothers also hugged each other excitedly.
Faith supported Natalie and said, "Mrs. Richardson, I knew Mr. Richardson would be fine. He couldn't bear to leave you behind."
Natalie was too moved to speak, only nodding hard.
But Natalie quickly thought of Amelia.
"Where's Amelia? Did she go to the ICU too?"
Otherwise, why would someone else come out to deliver the message?
The doctor didn't give the real reason.
Because before Amelia passed out, she used her last bit of strength to tell him not to tell her family.
Natalie was easily affected by emotions, so she didn't want to worry Natalie.
- And before passing out, she had a feeling she might have low blood sugar.
So she quickly gave this instruction.
The assistant doctor agreed and did as she said.
Now Amelia had been arranged into a hospital room, on an IV drip.
He told Natalie, "Clifton needed to see Amelia about something. She'll probably come over in a bit. You can all go to the ICU to take a look. Although you can't go inside, you can see what's happening through the glass window."
Everyone nodded.
Clifton had been so hospitable to them - Amelia was probably thanking him.
Natalie thought that another day, when Quinton woke up, their family should treat Clifton to a meal.
The group headed to the ICU.
Only Grant stayed behind.
After everyone had gone far away, he grabbed the doctor who was about to return to the operating room.
"Where did Amelia really go?"
"What?"
"Don't lie to me. I'm a designer, and designers are best at observing. When you were talking, your micro-expressions were strange. You can't fool me."
The doctor used Clifton as an excuse - no one would doubt it.
But Grant saw something off in his expression.
As he said, he was very good at observing.
Seeing he couldn't hide it, the doctor told the truth.
After all, Amelia was only worried about Natalie.
When Grant heard this, his eyes immediately turned red.
Amelia was simply the best person in the world.
Even before passing out, she still thought of her family.
"Which room is she in?" As the words came out, his voice choked up a bit.
He had held back tears when Quinton got hurt, but now he couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Downstairs, first room."
Grant went immediately.
But when he reached the hospital room door, he saw a tall man sitting by Amelia's bed.
It was Samuel.
He sat by the bed, firmly holding Amelia's hand.
Amelia had already woken up - low blood sugar wouldn't keep her out for long.
The two were talking about something, and Amelia had a smile on her face.
Seeing this, Grant quietly backed away.
Amelia had someone to take care of her now, so he didn't need to worry.
Besides, he couldn't disappear for too long, or Natalie would worry.
He quickly went to the ICU and told Natalie he had just gone to the restroom.
...
In the hospital room.
Samuel held Amelia's hand and told her about the current situation online, explaining that this was Natalie's idea.
She had already talked to Micah on the phone - the blame for this incident would be pinned on Leonard.
After hearing this, Amelia was surprised but also felt it made sense.
"My mom seems gentle, but she's actually very decisive. I thought this would devastate her, but she turned out to be much stronger than I imagined."
"Yes, she's very wise. You inherited her strengths."
Amelia smiled warmly.
When Grant saw Amelia smiling earlier, it was because they were talking about Natalie.
When talking about Natalie, Amelia's expression was always especially soft.
She really liked Natalie.
Although she didn't grow up by Natalie's side, after these few months, her feelings for Natalie had become very deep.
"She's so good to me. Sometimes I don't even know how to repay her. Her birthday is coming up soon, and I don't know what to get her."
"She's your mother. You don't need to do anything special. Just spending time with her is the greatest happiness for her."
"That's true, but..."
Samuel suddenly said, "However, I do have something about Mrs. Richardson I can tell you."
"What?"
"When Mrs. Richardson married Mr. Richardson, the Wood family didn't approve. Because of that, they cut ties with her. Fortunately, Mr. Richardson did well for himself, so the Wood family occasionally sends gifts to the Richardson family, but they've only sent gifts - they've never agreed to see your mother. But I think Mrs. Richardson still wants to reconcile with her family."
Amelia quietly took note of this.
The small IV bottle was soon finished. With Samuel's support, Amelia got up and went to find Natalie and the others.
Before seeing them, she even put on some lipstick to make herself look better.
But Natalie still saw through her weakness at a glance.
"Are you exhausted?"
"I'm okay."
"What do you mean okay? Such a long surgery - we got tired just waiting outside, let alone you. Come on, let's go home and rest."
Amelia agreed.
The whole family went home together.
But Grant stayed behind.
He was pretty sharp - if anything happened with Quinton, he could handle it.
Besides, he had been pretty free lately, so it was good to have something to do.
Samuel also left a group of people to stay with Grant and keep watch over the ICU at all times - first, in case the Russell family had another move, and second, to prevent people from snooping around.
Quinton's condition wouldn't be announced publicly for now - this would let public opinion continue to build.
With everything properly arranged here, the group finally felt comfortable going home.
Meanwhile, the online commotion successfully caught The Hays family's attention.
They reported to Leonard that Quinton was in a car accident and hospitalized, his fate unknown, and online opinion was speculating that this was Leonard's doing.
Leonard was still immersed in the grief of losing his son.
He wasn't holding Leo's ashes anymore, because Leo had been buried a couple days ago.
And the funeral was very grand.
But he still hadn't held Francis's funeral, as if he had forgotten he ever had that son.
He held a photo album from Leo's childhood, looking listless, and asked, "Quinton, which Quinton?"
His subordinate was stunned.
He knew Leonard hadn't been in good shape lately, but he didn't expect him to not even remember who Quinton was.
But thinking about it carefully, it was normal for Leonard not to remember.
When they framed Quinton and sent him to prison, it was first to bring down Goldenvale's former mayor, Magnus, and second to suppress The Porter family - because the Richardson family was The Porter family's money source.
And this whole thing was done by Francis from start to finish. Leonard had only given a few orders.
It was normal that he didn't remember who Quinton was.