Chapter 23
After Jeremiah left, Andrew had initially planned to ask the girl he was hitting it off with to grab a drink, chat a bit, and maybe… Yet at the crucial moment, Jeremiah called, demanding that he meet him in the back alley of the bar in three minutes.
“The back alley of the bar? What’s doing there?’ Regardless, Andrew didn’t waste any time. He hurriedly sent the girl off, barely managing to throw on his jacket before rushing over, wondering if there was an emergency
But when he arrived, he found Jeremiah there, totally still, smiling at a cigarette butt on the ground. Jeremiah was actually smiling? Andrew rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be seeing things, only to see that Jeremiah was indeed smiling.
Andrew was shocked. He had grown up with Jeremiah, and he could count on one hand the times he had seen Jeremiah laugh. Jeremiah had always been cold. Getting him to chuckle was like pulling teeth. After all, no one would be silly enough to ask Jeremiah-the heir of the Chambers family, the youngest major general in the country-to smile for him.
‘What’s going on? Why’s Jeremiah chuckling at a cigarette butt? This is more unsettling than being in the dark alley. Should I run away now? Uh, seems too late for that…’ Andrew sighed.
“Get over here,” Jeremiah ordered.
“Alright, I’m coming!” Andrew replied. ‘Great! This is classic Jeremiah-still as cold and terse as ever, insisting on using fewer words than necessary.
Andrew scurried over to Jeremiah while stealing a few glances. Oddly enough, he felt like Jeremiah was in a good mood. It made Andrew itch with what had happened in the last half hour, but he didn’t dare ask, worried about unaffordable consequences.
Jeremiah slowly shifted his gaze away from the cigarette butt, his tone tinged with annoyance. “Get the surveillance footage from the bar’s back alley for the past hour. Back it up and send it to the current mayor, Wyatt Langford.”
Andrew had thought Jeremiah changed moods way too fast. But after seeing the video footage, he understood why and felt furious at those lowlifes. Still, now his focus was all on the conversation at hand.
“Wyatt Langford? David Langford’s second son? The one sent to Seacrity to polish his reputation? Wow, he’s made it to mayor now?” Andrew was taken aback. A forty-year-old mayor had endless potential.
“No wonder David stepped down early. He was setting his favorite son up for a bright future. What a good dad!” Andrew felt a wave of envy. Living off his dad’s success was impossible for him. His dad cared only about discipline and barely acknowledged Andrew’s existence.
“Tell him I want results by tomorrow,” added Jeremiah coldly.
Andrew nodded. ‘Well, I guess I’m just meant to be a lackey. But it seems not bad. I must be a bit of a masochist. No matter how hard Jeremiah pushes me, I still treat him with affection!’ He never really thought about how he was the son of the deputy commander of the military district- except for Jeremiah, no one dared mess with him.
*****
When Yvette returned home, it was already past midnight. The Chambers family was fast asleep. Only Lucas was waiting for her in the living room.
As soon as Lucas saw Yvette walk in, he noticed a tear in her jacket, like it had been ripped. He rushed over, worry written all over his face. “Ms. Zeller, is everything okay? Did someone bully you? Who would be foolish enough to mess with the Chambers family’s lady?”
Yvette raised an eyebrow. The fierce energy she’d had earlier had faded. She appreciated Lucas’s concern and replied politely, “It’s nothing. I was the one doing the hitting.”
“You were hitting someone? Ms. Zeller, you have quite the sense of humor.” Lucas let out a sigh of relief as he thought to himself, ‘Who could this little lady possibly take down? She must be exaggerating.
Sensing Lucas’s disbelief, Yvette didn’t want to argue. Anyway, she had told the truth.This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.
“What do you need?” Yvette yawned, feeling drowsiness creeping back in. She glanced at Lucas and figured he was too weak to handle a fight. She decided it was best to head to bed now.
Lucas was there at Zachary’s command, ready to deliver a message. “Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have planned your welcome home party and Ms. Winona Chambers’ apprenticeship ceremony both for the 5th of next month. If you’d rather not have it, Mr. Chambers said he could make other arrangements.”
“They can do whatever they want.” Yvette didn’t care about any of that.
“Then, Ms. Zeller, get some rest. I’ll take you to school tomorrow,” said Lucas respectfully before leaving.
Thanks to her drunkenness, Yvette ended up having a pretty good night’s sleep.
*****
On Monday morning, Seacrity was buzzing with two major stories. First, the deputy chief of the Seacrity police station, Henry Zimmerman, was fired after reports of his corrupt activities surfaced. And the second was about what happened last night-a big deal that even the cleaning ladies were discussing it.
“Those guys are the worst! They treated that young lady so badly it drove her to despair. They even disrespected her grandmother.”
“Seriously! They should go to hell! Anything less isn’t enough for those jerks. It’s just tragic.”
“Exactly! I need to keep a close eye on my granddaughter and make sure she knows to steer clear of bars. Yeah, I should hurry back home.”
Last night, on the busiest street in Seacrity, a group of guys started stripping, laughing and acting ridiculous. They even went so far as to engage in lewd behavior, leaving passersby in shock and disgust.
Some people couldn’t resist recording everything and posting it online. Eventually, the police showed up and took the men away, but the chaos didn’t end there. Less than an hour later, a new video appeared online.
In that video, the men openly discussed their vile acts-how they had drugged a girl and even made threats about her grandmother. They also revealed that there were more victims, and they had filmed their shameful actions to intimidate the girls into silence.
Within just two hours, the video spread like wildfire on social media, igniting outrage among netizens. People lost sleep over the scandal, flooding official platforms with messages demanding justice, especially for the deputy chief featured in the video. They insisted he faced serious consequences.
Meanwhile, Henry was enjoying a cozy moment with his new mistress, completely oblivious to the chaos outside. When he arrived at the police station the next morning, officials were waiting for him at the door. Without a word, they arrested him, not even giving him a chance to defend himself.
The situation was extremely serious, prompting Wyatt the mayor to quickly address the public. He assured everyone that no criminal would escape justice and vowed accountability for the victims. Only then did the crowd, who had been outraged online all night, begin to calm down, but they remained eager for results.
After finishing his press conference, Wyatt rushed back to his office. His secretary was puzzled by his urgency and suddenly recalled the mysterious man who had come in earlier that morning. A chill ran down her spine–who was this big shot making the mayor act so submissive?
As Wyatt reached the door to the Mayor’s office, he took a deep breath, straightened his jacket, and double-checked with his secretary to ensure everything was alright before entering. “The task you assigned has been completed,” he said.
Jeremiah, standing by the window, turned around slowly, extinguishing his cigarette in the ashtray. He had a calm yet intimidating presence that made everyone around him uneasy-his silence spoke volumes.
Wyatt thought to himself, ‘Mr. Jeremiah Chavez really lives up to his reputation. Not only is he a high-profile heir, but he’s also the youngest major general in the country. I’ve heard he commands a secret unit handling overseas matters, work most folks in Betrico would never see him do. His vibe is just terrifying!’
Last night, Wyatt had received a mysterious call. At first, he thought it was just another spam call and hung up. But the caller kept trying, and he eventually answered. Shockingly, it was Andrew, the troublesome grandson of the Mitchell family.
Andrew sent over a video, and after watching it, Wyatt knew what it was about. The problem was, Andrew didn’t quite fall under their typical chain of command. Even with the Mitchell family behind him, could he not talk about this tomorrow instead?
Wyatt initially planned to brush Andrew off with some official jargon. After all, this video involved Henry, a man whose family held significant sway in Seacrity and even some support from Betrico. Dealing with Henry wouldn’t be easy, and Wyatt needed time to figure out how to handle this situation.
But when Andrew simply mentioned a name, Wyatt felt his stomach drop and couldn’t say another word-“Jeremiah.”