Carlos pulled out his phone, pressed some buttons, and put it back in his pocket.
"I shouldn't have mistreated you in the past. I shouldn't have threatened you with your kid. But I didn't abort your kid, so please forgive me," James pleaded, looking at Debbie with a hopeful expression.
When he had finished, Debbie stared at him with daggers in her eyes. "James Huo, because of you, Carlos and I had been separated for three long years. Do you think that weak, insincere apology could make up for the happiness that had been missing for three years? Not good enough!"
James swallowed hard and continued, "I shouldn't have let Stephanie masquerade as Carlos' girlfriend after he lost his memory. I was a fool back then. I swear I won't do it again. If you let me go, I'll leave Y City forever with Stephanie and never appear before you—"
"Stop it!" Debbie yelled. She couldn't stand to listen to James' sniveling and hypocrisy any longer.
Carlos pulled her into his arms and kissed her head to comfort her. Then he turned to James, who was still kneeling on the ground, and said coldly, "James Huo."
James feebly raised his head.
"Let you go? Well, that's never gonna happen," Carlos said menacingly.
"How could you break your word!" James shouted defiantly.
Carlos growled through gritted teeth, "Did I say that I'd let you go after you apologized?"
Carlos then took Debbie's hand and led her to their car.
Once they got in, Carlos called out to Niles, who was still packing his first-aid kit. "If you're not getting in, we'll be leaving!"
Niles raised his head to look at Carlos with his eyes as wide as saucers. Then he quickly grabbed the box, picked up the loose bits of medical items lying around, stuffing them into his pockets and ran towards the car. "Carlos Huo! Is this how you repay me? Don't forget it was me who just saved James' life! If it weren't for me, he'd be dead right now!"
Niles threw the medical box into the car and dived into the passenger seat just in time before the car drove off.
Ignoring his complaints, Carlos asked, "How's his health condition? How many years does he have left?"
Niles buckled himself up and answered, slightly out of breath, "He has nothing wrong but high blood pressure. He's probably got at least another twenty years in him, though what you've done to him recently will undoubtedly have some effect on his lifespan."
After pondering for a moment, Carlos told Debbie, "I'll have Dixon send you all the proof of the crimes that James and Stephanie had committed. You can do whatever you like to them."
James and his men must be dealt with as soon as possible. Otherwise, Debbie's safety would be in constant jeopardy.
"Okay!" Debbie replied. By then, James had knelt before her and apologized twice. And the evil man had been punished. That was something to cool her anger. Now she was ready to take the next step—sue James.
Carlos had his men take James to the Huo family's old house and asked him to reflect on himself. In fact, he was placed under house arrest.
As soon as Debbie received all of the evidence against James and Stephanie, she had perused it and then forwarded it to Xavier.
Debbie thought the right thing to do was hand all the evidence over to the authorities and let the law punish them accordingly.
As soon as Debbie reported it to the police, they arrested James. The evidence was conclusive, and there was no use for him to try and deny it.
Debbie postponed all of her work, and her entire attention centered on James' case. She wanted to make sure that he would rot in jail and never be released again.
She exposed what James had done in the past four years on the Internet, and even posted the DNA test results online proving that Evelyn was Carlos' daughter. She accepted an interview of a tell-all where she told the reporters what James had done to her while she was still pregnant with Evelyn.
With the help of Carlos, James had been convicted of murder, corruption, accepting bribes, illegal transfer of property, kidnapping, and extortion.
During the investigation, they even found that James was the instigator behind the car accident that Carlos had been in four years ago. James had bought the guilty driver over, who had died on the spot, and lied in his testimony.
Therefore, it was James who caused Emmett's death.
Apart from that case, James had also killed several other people of which he pleaded guilty.
Stephanie was also arrested. It wasn't because James had betrayed his daughter. The police found out what she had done.
When the police found her, she was in bed with some wealthy man. She had been working hard for the past few days to find herself a new way out. She thought if she could worm herself into the man's family group by sleeping with him, she would be able to live a luxurious life once again.
However, her fantasy bubble burst when the police barged into the hotel room and led her away in handcuffs.
The police had evidence that the man who had raped Megan before her death had been sent by Aldrich. They also found the woman that had murdered Megan. She admitted to having cosmetic surgery to look like Debbie to frame her for Megan's murder. She also confessed that it was Stephanie who had hired her to do it.
It was also Stephanie who tried to cause the death of Carlos and Debbie at the seaside resort. She bribed the captain and sailors in an attempt to get Debbie and Carlos killed.
Glenda received public condemnation after it was made known through the media that she had been cheating on her husband for more than thirty years. Left humiliated and disgraced, she tried to leave Y City.
However, she was intercepted by the police at the airport, and they took her away for questioning. She had to cooperate with them in the investigation of James and Stephanie.
In the information age, for those who cared about Debbie, it was of great importance to support her on the Internet.
Her friends reposted Debbie's Weibo posts accusing James and confirmed that what she had said was all true.
These were all influential people including Kinsley, Carlos, Curtis, Xavier, and other big shots.
James' case had made quite a stir, and everyone was keeping an eye on it. After several months had passed, the court issued the convictions of James and company.
According to the Supreme People's Court of Y City, Stephanie was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, incitement, and framing.
James was deprived of political rights and sentenced to death for what he had done.
Several senior executives of the ZL Group who had committed serious crimes were sentenced to life imprisonment as well.
James' capital punishment was carried out immediately. On the day he was executed by shooting squad, Valerie flew in from New York and claimed his ashes. She had his ashes buried in a remote cemetery.
There was a temple not far from the cemetery. Valerie decided to spend the rest of her life there to atone for James' crimes.
By the time everything was over, it was almost the end of the year.
Debbie was emotionally and physically exhausted by the end of it all. She stayed in her bedroom at Carlos' manor for two days, and the maid would bring her food and drinks for sustenance.
Douglas was dead, and Valerie was now in Y City. Miranda and Carlos were in Y City too. So the other members of the Huo family decided to move back as well.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Miranda and Wade went to the Huo family's old house, while Carlos and Debbie went abroad to travel.