Similar in height and appearance with Joseph, Franklin carried a totally different air.
At first sight, he seemed to be much more approachable than Joseph.
It’s only a persona, Hayden thought after studying him critically, “Thanks, but no. I need to notify the
factory as soon as possible in order to ensure our cooperation goes smoothly.”
“You are accountable.” he smiled.
“I heard that my cousin is currently working for you. It’s really impressive of to induce him to work at a
small firm. You really have him eating out the palm of your hand, don’t you?”
“Cut that crap.” Franklin’s insinuation made her really impatient.
“Mind your own business, Mr. Franklin. You don’t want to fall off again, do you? The higher you climb,
the further you’ll fall.”
Franklin’s face changed, his voice gloomy, “Seems like my cousin tells you everything.”
“I would still know if he hadn’t told me. After all, I once worked for ST Group and know at least one
thing or two about the company history.”
“Is that so?” Franklin sniffed, “what you see is what we want you to see, you’re way far from the truth.”
“I don't need to know anyway. You lost, that is the only thing I need to know, and you will lose again,
and again.”
“What if I told you I never lost?”
He rose his chin a little, complacent, “I just spent three years to lay my foundation. Lose is not a word in
my dictionary, never have, never will.”
“What do you mean?”
Hayden frowned.
But Franklin didn’t answered her, instead, he walked away into the elevator saying, “Guess I shouldn’t
press you if you don’t feel like having lunch with us. Take care, Miss Hayden, see you.”
Standing where she was, what Franklin told him reverberated around her.
She got the feeling that something wrong was happening.
She mused about his words on her way back and had an epiphany when they got back in Downey
Group.
“Miss Hayden,” Vanessa said, “We are here, you don’t want to get off?”
“Make sure Dante gets the contract and these file,” Hayden replied, “I have to do something, I’ll catch
up with you later.”
“Noted.” Vanessa replied.
Hayden drove to the Police University.
Rules were strict here, vehicles except for bicycles were not allowed to enter the campus.
She waited ten minutes before Benjamin showed up with his bike
“What’s the emergency? Hayden.”
“The accident happened three years ago. I think Franklin was involved.”
She got straight to the point and told Benjamin what happened between her and Franklin.
Frowning, Benjamin pondered over Franklin’s words. Few moments later, he patted the backseat of his
bike, “get on, Hayden. It’s not a place to talk about this.”
“What?”Hayden seemed to be in hesitation.
“What? My bike doesn’t suit your status?” he teased, “I’d like to enter the school in your car. But that’s
the rule. Even the principle would not get in here in his car.”
“That’s not what I mean, let’s go.” She mounted on at the end.
Hayden was wearing a vintage green dress with a hemline at her calf. That’s the reason why she’s
reluctant to be on the bicycle.
She kept grabbing the skirt of her dress so it wouldn’t be ripped by the wheel. But still, she got off the
bike at the milktea store with the cut on her dress.
“I’m sorry,” Benjamin seemed regretful, “it’s my oversight.”
“It’s alright,” Hayden replied smiling, “I saw it coming when I got on.”
“I’ll buy you another one.”
“It’s kind of expensive.”
“Doesn’t matter, I’m buying you one.”
They entered the store and sat down in a quiet corner.
“Two hot Caramel Macchiato, please.”
A girl responded immediately from the counter.
“You take me as a fool? Who drinks cold Macchiato in this freezing cold?”
“Get out your room to see the world sometime, girl. Some people just have cold drinks all the
year.”Benjamin refuted her, “I’ll tell your boss about your attitude.”
“Go ahead! I’ll spit in your Macchiato, how about that?”
“Hey, your mom is going to kick your ass if she hears that.”
Out of curiosity, Hayden turned her eyes to the counter to see this girl that Benjamin was talking to.
She’s really cute, wearing a green sweater and a red beret, her eyes sparkling.
She looked back at Hayden and was somehow mad when she saw Benjamin was sitting with Hayden.
She turned around and stopped talking.
“Don’t mind her, Hayden. She’s just a bad temper. About the accident, what do you have in mind?”
Hayden smiled at him.
“I sensed something wrong when Mark came to me. And I think I figured it out after Franklin told me
about three years ago.”
“What is it?”
“Mark told me that Joseph never went to the Mansion in the first few years when Noah just got there.
He took Noah away after the accident. So how did Theresa make sure that the man was Joseph? She
couldn’t have seen him.”
Joseph was not in charge of ST Group back then, and hardly got on TV. However, Theresa said she
saw him on the TV all the time and met him in the Mansion several times. That’s why she’s certain that
it was Joseph.
But that is weird.
“At the time, the one who was interviewed frequently could only be the CEO of ST Group.”
“It’s Franklin.” Benjamin blurted out.
His eyes met Hayden’s. her eyes told everything even though she didn’t utter a word.
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