Chapter 157 Ms. Garcia Is Still Reliable

Chapter 157 Ms. Garcia Is Still Reliable

Oliver knew he was in a dangerous situation, yet he kept moving forward without backing down.

Not because he didn't want to retreat, but because he had no room to retreat.

He couldn't afford to offend the Garcia family, nor could he afford to offend the Grey family. The result was that he had no choice but to live by latching onto others.

He was like a parasite—without a host, death was his only option.

A sense of defeat emanated from Oliver, the kind of defeat you'd see in someone on death's door, inevitably seeping out to everything around him.

Tessa knew there was nothing more to ask. She pulled Ryan along and left the hospital room.

Eleanor was leaning against Chloe, crying. Though Chloe looked annoyed, she still patted Eleanor's back gently with one hand, as if trying to comfort her.

When she saw them come out, Chloe jerked her hand back like she'd been burned.

"Done already?"

Tessa gave an almost imperceptible nod, swallowing the words she'd left unsaid.

"Keep an eye on Ms. Mitchell for me. We're heading out."

"Why should I look after her? Let her son do it!" Chloe didn't get up, still speaking loudly with disdain.

Tessa just smiled knowingly.

Chloe had always been all bark and no bite. No matter how harsh her words got, her actions always spoke louder.

After leaving the hospital, Tessa finally asked Ryan, who'd been silent the whole time.

"What do you think? Can you tell anything?"

"The general public thinks that after using illegal drugs, people get thin and lethargic," Ryan said to Tessa. "But that's only true for ordinary people who can't afford the high cost of drugs."

"For someone like Oliver who's already financially independent, who doesn't have to work himself ragged just to survive, drugs will be delivered to him in an endless supply. So of course he won't show the kind of symptoms we'd expect to see."

"Judging from appearance alone, whether Oliver's been using illegal drugs? The chances are basically zero. Drug damage to the body is cumulative over time. What's more, both Oliver and Cecilia are cunning people. We can't be sure—this might be a trap they've set for us."

Ryan's analysis matched Tessa's thinking exactly. This was their shared concern.

What if this was a trap?

If they made a move against Oliver, they'd only alert him to their suspicions, which would backfire completely.

"Let's play it by ear. We'll figure out what to do once we have more evidence."

The next morning, before Tessa had even opened her eyes, Chloe's call came through.

"Have you seen the news?"

Tessa let out a long, drawn-out sound of acknowledgment, squinting through sleepy eyes as she crawled up to check the time. "Ms. Saunders, I need to remind you—it's eight o'clock in the morning. That might be a normal time for you, but for someone at home trying to rest, it's way too early."

"What news..."

After getting through that long string of words, Tessa was mostly awake. She finally started paying attention to whatever bombshell Chloe was about to drop.

"That person Oliver hit yesterday? His condition got worse last night. They tried to save him but couldn't. He died. Talk about bad luck, right?"

Tessa went rigid sitting on the bed, her mind going blank for a moment.

That person really was unlucky.

Who would've thought a simple car accident—something everyone initially thought was just a fracture—could escalate to the point where someone actually died?

"And then?"

"The victim's family somehow found out Oliver's the executive president of our company. Now they're convinced that Eleanor's quick settlement yesterday was because she knew he was going to die."

Though that speculation wasn't entirely baseless, Tessa still felt Eleanor's generous offer was simply meant to settle things privately.

"Right now they're downstairs at the company with banners, they've got media there, livestreaming our building and their whole plan to fight for justice."

Chloe let out a dry laugh on the other end. "Serves him right. Who told Oliver to be stupid enough to do something like this? I'd love to see how Cecilia plans to clean up this mess."

Tessa hung up and opened X to find the incident trending on her homepage.

The PR department was probably already trying to suppress the trending topics, but their moves weren't as fast as enthusiastic netizens—they'd take down one hashtag, and people would put up another.

After scrolling for a while, Tessa noticed that the online mob had escalated their attacks to target the Arkbridge Group itself.

Oliver, the executive president, was still in the hospital, but the people denouncing him were at the company. That detail was quite telling.

Phone in hand, Tessa headed downstairs to find Ryan sitting at the dining table, a tablet in front of him displaying a livestream of the incident.

"They say karma comes fast, but this is ridiculous. How long has Oliver been causing trouble? And his comeuppance is already here?"

"In an ordinary collision accident, once there's a fatality, the attitude of the perpetrator's family gets judged just as harshly," Ryan said objectively.

Eleanor's attitude yesterday had been too accommodating, too unusual—it didn't match people's expectations of how a perpetrator's family should act.

Tessa opened the stock market app to check the Arkbridge Group's share price.

"This just happened this morning. It won't affect things that quickly yet." Ryan poured Tessa a glass of milk, reminding her, "Tell both Chloe and Calista not to participate in the online attacks against Oliver."

Online public opinion shifted fast. Who knew when it might swing in Oliver's favor?

Those two were Tessa's trusted followers and were known to be close to her. If someone exposed them for steering public opinion, that wouldn't look good for Tessa.

Tessa nodded, scrolling through her phone and sighing.

Just then, Aubrey suddenly called.

"Tessa, you and Ryan need to get to the estate right away. There's something very important we need to discuss."

Tessa didn't dare delay. After finishing breakfast, she pulled Ryan along to the estate.

The estate was bustling today. Aubrey wasn't the only one home—several of the company's older, more senior shareholders were there too.

When they saw Tessa and Ryan walk in, they all showed visible relief.

"I'm telling you, Ms. Garcia's the one you can count on. I was against Oliver taking power from the start, but we had too little influence. Nobody listened to anything we said."

Tessa couldn't help but glance up at the speaker.

If she remembered correctly, when she'd first risen to power, this same person had supported her without hesitation.

Sure enough, when it came to matters of profit, most people sided with whoever held the most power.

"If my niece is so trustworthy, why did you all band together with Oliver to replace her?" Aubrey was no longer at the company, so he didn't mince words, ruthlessly exposing the man's lie.

The man chuckled awkwardly, his expression slightly embarrassed. "What choice did I have? You know Oliver's personality. If I'd dared not to support him, wouldn't he have gone out of his way to target me?"