Chapter 266 Two Contests
That smile never touched his eyes, and it sent a shiver racing down Nash’s spine. "Why... why are you smiling?"
Samuel's smile widened as he said,"Nash, you have connections everywhere. So how did your information network fail you at such a crucial time? Do you honestly expect me to believe you know nothing?"
"What do you mean? What happened?"
Samuel’s smile slowly disappeared, leaving his face completely blank. "My dad collapsed out of nowhere and is in the operating room right now. And you were the last person who saw him."
He purposely left out that Rex had gone to see Stanley after Nash.
Nash’s eyes suddenly widened, clearly taken by surprise.
That reaction didn’t look staged. Samuel observed every detail of his expression. "Now that your supporter is gone, you'd better tell the truth while you still can. I might let you live."
Nash didn’t answer him. Instead, he simply asked about Stanley’s condition.
"How is Mr. Crawford doing now? Why did he suddenly fall ill? What caused him to lose consciousness? Was it the brain tumor?"
Samuel shot York a glance.
York nodded in understanding and stepped forward, delivering a sharp slap across Nash’s face.
He struck with full force, knocking out one of Nash’s teeth and flooding his mouth with blood.
Nash’s mouth throbbed with pain, and his ears were ringing.
"You... you!" "You what? When Mr. Crawford asks you something, you answer. Stop pretending to be clueless!"
"I really don't know what to confess!"
Nash spoke unclearly, "I last saw Mr. Crawford an hour and a half ago. I went to check what he wanted for lunch. He said he wasn’t hungry and asked me to bring him some oatmeal. I knew he liked the oatmeal from a specific restaurant, so I went there myself. Who would’ve imagined, I had just returned to the hospital with the oatmeal when your men grabbed me and brought me here!"
Samuel glanced at Jeremy, who gave a slight nod. When they seized Nash, he had truly just come back from outside, carrying a thermos. Inside it was oatmeal.
Though that bowl of oatmeal had now ended up in the trash. On this point at least, Nash wasn’t lying. Samuel moved his gaze from Jeremy back to Nash.
"In that case, let’s settle a few other matters."
"Please let me go first, and we can discuss things properly. If Mr. Crawford needs me, I can get to him quickly."
Nash brought up Stanley again.
He had discreetly verified yesterday that Amelia was indeed the famous Miracle Physician of the Shadow Operations Division.
Even if Stanley’s coma was truly due to the brain tumor, there was a strong chance he could recover with Amelia’s treatment.
So he stayed unafraid, convinced that Samuel wouldn’t dare harm him.
A look of blatant mockery crossed Samuel’s eyes.
"You really think that if you stay silent, I won’t find out? Even if I killed you, my dad wouldn’t reveal much when he wakes up. Your gravest mistake was joining forces with Zachary against me.".
Nash's expression froze, but the next moment, he put on an innocent look.
"Samuel, you can't slander me!"
"Slander?"
Samuel lifted an eyebrow and motioned toward Jeremy.
Jeremy stepped forward without hesitation, presenting all the evidence he had gathered last night of Nash secretly reaching out to Zachary.
This included admissions from employees at the branch offices who had betrayed them. Nash’s face drained of color.
But Samuel had already gotten what he wanted and rose to his feet. "York, I’m leaving him in your hands. Don’t kill him—I still have plans for him."
"Yes."
York responded and walked toward Nash.
"Nash, you’ve probably heard about my methods. Today, you’ll experience firsthand what it’s like to wish you’d never been born once you’re in my hands!"
Nash’s expression shifted drastically. Unable to contain himself any longer, he let out a cry.
"I was wrong! Samuel! I was wrong! I'll never do it again! Please, for the sake of my past service to Mr. Crawford, even if I had no merit, I put in effort—spare me!"
Jeremy shut the door firmly and walked alongside Samuel toward the hospital room at the far end of the corridor.
In the innermost room at the far end, Rex was being held. Of course, he wasn’t placed there simply because Samuel had no other place to keep him.
In fact, holding them at the hospital served two purposes: first, Samuel could quickly reach Stanley’s side at any moment; second, it ensured the news wouldn’t get out.
With Stanley’s two confidants detained, his subordinates would start gossiping and could even panic. In the past, he wouldn’t have paid this any mind.
If things ever got out of control, he would simply eliminate them all. As for the whispers behind his back, he never cared.
But after meeting Amelia, he had learned patience and realized that public opinion could be just as sharp a weapon.
He had done so much for the Crawford Group—he couldn’t allow himself to become a target over something so trivial. Amelia had taught him all of this.
Although he had a natural talent for managing subordinates, Amelia had worked her way up from the bottom and possessed more experience and a deeper understanding of human nature.
Soon Samuel and Jeremy reached Rex's hospital room.
The door opened.
Rex remained quiet and composed, but when he saw Samuel enter, his eyes widened slightly, as if he had something important to say.
Jeremy once more set up a chair for Samuel, positioning it less than six feet from Rex. This time, however, Samuel didn’t take a seat.
After having Jeremy remove the cotton from Rex’s mouth, he asked, "Rex, do you know what happened?" Unlike with Nash, Samuel’s tone toward Rex was noticeably more polite.
Back when Samuel was still an illegitimate child, Rex would occasionally watch out for him in private. Samuel was not an ungrateful person.
Of course, this was only because Rex hadn’t, like Nash, taken Zachary’s side.
Rex’s eyes were slightly reddened. "Did something happen to Mr. Crawford?"
He couldn’t imagine any other reason why Samuel would have him restrained.
Samuel nodded and replied candidly, "He had an episode. He’s in the operating room now, and Amelia is performing the surgery."
"Can Amelia’s skills save Mr. Crawford?"
Before he could finish his question, Samuel interrupted sharply, "Yes." Relief washed over Rex, but then his eyes grew even redder.
"It’s entirely my fault. You were justified in tying me up."
Samuel furrowed his brow. "What do you mean by that?"
Rex hesitated for a moment before speaking at last.
"Yesterday, Mr. Crawford asked me to keep an eye on Nash and find out who he had been in contact with lately."
"I discovered that Nash had been in frequent private contact with Zachary." "About an hour ago, I informed Mr. Crawford of what I had found."
"Mr. Crawford was enraged. He destroyed everything in the room that could be destroyed."
"Later, he told me to leave, saying he needed to be alone for a while."
"So I left. After that, your men brought me here, and I realized something must have happened to Mr. Crawford." The more he spoke, the more his regret showed.
"Mr. Crawford's health isn't good. I should have been more tactful, or waited until after his surgery to tell him. It's all my fault! I'm the one who harmed Mr. Crawford!"
He was full of remorse, not at all bothered that Samuel had tied him up.
Unlike Nash, who had only come to the Crawford family a dozen years ago, Rex had been working for Stanley since he was young, back when Samuel and Zachary hadn't even been born.
While Nash managed the Crawford family’s internal affairs, Rex handled external matters. He primarily took care of company business for Stanley, traveling frequently and rarely staying in Thornfield.
So he had little contact with Zachary. Likewise, he rarely interacted with Samuel.
"This isn't your fault," Samuel said. "What really angered him was Nash. If he hadn't betrayed us, my dad wouldn't have had this sudden episode."
Even with this reassurance, Rex still felt guilty.
He hesitated a moment before asking about Nash.
"What about Nash?"
"He's also being held on this floor."
Rex relaxed slightly and asked, "What do you plan to do with us?"
"Nash—I plan to let my dad deal with him himself after he wakes up."
After a pause, he instructed Jeremy, "Untie Rex."
"Yes."
The ropes were quickly removed.
Rex was confused.
"What's this about?"
"I need you to help me with something. Are you willing?"
"Does it involve Zachary?"
"Yes."
Rex was silent for a full two seconds before speaking. "I'm willing."
Samuel nodded and said, "Rest here for a while. Once I've figured out exactly what I need you to do, I'll come tell you. Until then, you can't leave. I hope you understand."
"I understand."
Samuel nodded again and turned to leave.
In the corridor, Jeremy asked, "You trust him?"
"He and Nash are different types of people. He cares more about the company's interests than his own. Zachary has no business sense, just some petty cleverness. Someone like him can't handle big responsibilities. Rex knows this very well. He's a smart man—he won't side with a fool."
Changing his tone, he added, "But to be safe, we still need to check if he's had any dealings with Zachary."
"Yes, I’ll check immediately." Jeremy hurried away.
Samuel approached the operating room door.
Unaware of what was happening inside, he could only pace anxiously outside.
Meanwhile, inside the operating room, Amelia had already changed her sweat towels twice.
The procedure was known as a "left temporal lobe glioma resection." The downside was that this surgery came with extremely high risks.
Without surgery, the patient would live at most six more months. The fortunate part was that Stanley’s collapse wasn’t due to the tumor.
But if Stanley were awake, he certainly wouldn’t have allowed her to perform the surgery. This situation was actually a rare opportunity.
By the time Jeremy verified that Rex had no secret dealings with Zachary, Amelia had already finished drilling into the skull and begun removing the tumor.
Inside the operating room was a battle between man and death. Outside, Samuel had begun his own battle with Zachary.