Nathan spent a lot of money to pay off those who filed the lawsuits against Crystal; as a result, all lawsuits were withdrawn. Even the old man who tried to blackmail Crystal eventually withdrew his case after accepting one million as a pay-off from Nathan.
Needless to say, Crystal would not be put into prison now that all lawsuits had been withdrawn, and she would be released within 24 hours. However, Natalie couldn’t bear the thought of Crystal spending another minute in jail, so she came and pester me about this matter.
I roared as I couldn’t take it anymore, “Has she ever treated me as her cousin? I don’t think so. Why should I help you guys when you did nothing but bully me? Don’t take me for a fool.”
Natalie stopped pestering me after that. Then, I picked up a newspaper that was sitting on the shelf and flipped through it. There was news coverage on economic development and some other news in Avenport. Then suddenly, I noticed a piece of news in a small section of the newspaper.
Darius was re-elected and appointed as mayor. On the other hand, more than a dozen officials filed a joint report to accuse the Walker family of embezzlement and siphoning funds. As a result, the Walker family failed to run for the position of mayor.
I was a little stunned and read it a few times again. In Avenport, there was none other than the Walker family who was a huge threat to the Lane family. The Walker and the Lane families had a long history of competing with each other, and this outcome was rather surprising.
It was rumored that the Martins were related to the Walkers. The last time I met Monica, I perceived her as someone dangerous. One night, when I woke up in the middle of the night, I overheard Christopher on the phone with someone, and Monica’s name was mentioned.
I walked over quietly and leaned against the door.
Christopher said in a whisper, “Monica, together with Benson and Crystal, are working together with the Walker family to go up against us. Thanks to Crystal, we can’t depend on the Smiths and the Tanners anymore. You have to be careful, Darius. Mitchell is a shrewd person, don’t be careless, and you’d better watch your back.”
Upon hearing that, I realized that Monica collaborated with the Walker family to go up against the Lane family. That’s utterly ridiculous. Monica had always talked about how much she loved Christopher, but yet she kept doing things that anger him. Does that approach count as loving someone?
The whole charade by Monica and Crystal was just to go up against the Lane family. They probably couldn’t stand seeing me together with Christopher and tried to break us apart.
Many times, I had asked Christopher about this privately. But he would always tell me to ignore those petty matters and just focus on my paintings. But how could I ignore those so-called petty matters? Unfortunately, even if I knew what was going on, I wouldn’t be able to come up with a solution.
I’m so useless.
Thank goodness that the ploys by Monica and the Walkers didn’t work. I was relieved that their conniving ways did not affect the Lane family and Christopher.
When I went to pick up Crystal, I saw her squatting in the corner behind bars. Her sunken eyes were downcast, and she looked so forlorn. She was no longer high-spirited as before.
Her bed was occupied by another woman whom she shared in the cell.
“Crystal, someone is here to pick you up,” the guard shouted as she opened the door.
A look of surprise flashed in Crystal’s eyes before she jumped up and shouted at the fat woman in her cell, “I’m telling you, don’t be too happy. My mom is here to pick me up. And I have told you before, once I’m out of here, I will screw you over. Just wait and see.”
