Chapter 268: Chapter 269

“Fine. Come in. No matter what, I can’t leave my husband stranded outside. Besides, this is his house.

There’s no reason not to open the door for him.”

The next second, the door opened and revealed a beautiful, charming middle-aged lady. Even though there were visible wrinkles on her face, there was no doubt she must have been a knockout in her younger days.

Her eyes glittered with emotion as she glanced at the unconscious Terrence, but when she turned to Casper, she was shocked to see how young he was. “Pity that you’re doing this sort of dirty work at your age,” she mumbled. “Wait here. I’ll get the money for you. There’s only twenty thousand left at home, though. That’s all I can give you.”

“You’ve misunderstood, Mrs. Clauder,” Casper hurriedly explained. “I really am Giselle’s friend, and all I want is to get Mr. Clauder home safe and sound. I’m not here to collect any debts.”

Upon hearing Giselle’s name, a tinge of anger appeared on Belinda Yach’s face. “How dare you bother Gigi. She’s my child! Come at me if you have the guts!”

With that, Belinda stepped forward and deftly kicked Casper above his waist. Taking advantage of the momentum, she went on and landed a chop to his neck.

Although her strikes seemed light, they were so powerful that even Casper almost couldn’t bear the brunt of the attack.

“You’ve got slick moves, Mrs. Clauder!” he exclaimed in utter shock.

No wonder she had the guts to open the door for me. Given her abilities, she wouldn’t have any problem taking down three or four ordinary guys!”

“Mrs. Clauder, you’ve truly gotten the wrong idea. My only intention is to get Mr. Clauder home,” Casper pleaded.

Belinda, on the other hand, was stunned when she saw Casper merely bent over slightly after taking her hits. “It looks like you’re pretty skillful too. You barely flinched after my two strikes,” she remarked, giving Casper another once-over. “Are you really Giselle’s friend?”

“Why would I lie to you? Ouch, this hurts so much…” Casper hissed as he pretended to be in pain.

Seeing that, Belinda couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Listen, kid, if you had cried out when I hit you, I might have believed it. But it’s been a while, and you’re only now wincing in pain? Do you think I’m blind?”

Casper let out a sheepish chuckle. “You’re right. I’m only pretending. I must say, though, you didn’t go easy on me at all, Mrs. Clauder. If I weren’t strong enough, I’d have collapsed.”

“Yes, I’ve indeed gone overboard. Since you’ve brought Terrence home and are Giselle’s friend, would you like to come in for a cup of tea?”

Casper readily agreed to it and carried Terrence into the house. The decor was plain and modest, but the set of training gear on the balcony and the sword in the living room didn’t escape his eyes. Ah, I see. Giselle’s mother is a trained fighter too.

As soon as he put Terrence down on the couch, Belinda returned with a cup of tea. The light outside the house was dim earlier, so Casper didn’t realize until now that there was a tear stain on her face. It was already so late, yet she was still weeping for Terrence.

“Thank you, Mrs. Clauder,” Casper said as he took the cup of tea. Belinda, however, crouched beside Terrence and caressed his face, her eyes filled with gentleness and affection.

“You’ve dealt quite the blow, haven’t you?” she quipped, knowing at a glance that Casper was the one who knocked Terrence out cold.

“Not really… I only hit him lightly, and he fainted from it. I think the main reason is he knocked his head against the car.”

Of course, Casper had to lie. After all, how could he offend his future mother-in-law?

“Well, it’d do him good to feel some pain… Don’t worry. By the way, what’s your relationship with Giselle? I can’t believe she’s told you about this.”

“Giselle and I are just normal friends, but I have no idea what you’re referring to, Mrs. Clauder,” Casper replied cautiously. “She has briefly described Mr. Clauder’s appearance to me before, so when I ran into him today, I decided to give him a lift home.”

Alas, Belinda wasn’t buying the story as she fixed a piercing gaze on him. “You look like an honest kid, so why are you afraid of telling the truth? Are you worried about having to pay off Terrence’s debts?

You’ve won over Giselle, but now you don’t want to take on this responsibility?”

Casper was dumbfounded. He could practically hear his mind buzzing, just like what Stallion would say.

Not only was Belinda beautiful, but she was also a lot more sharp-witted than Giselle. Fearing that she might accuse him of something more, Casper decided to come clean to her.

“I have to hand it to you, Mrs. Clauder. Nothing escapes your eyes. I didn’t want any misunderstandings, so I refrained from telling the truth about Giselle and me. As you may have guessed, we’re indeed dating.”

Belinda’s lips instantly curled into a smile. “It wasn’t a guess. I called Giselle up recently, and I could hear from her voice that she’s found a partner. From the looks of it, she must like you a lot. She tends to keep everything to herself, and no matter what problem she runs into, she’ll shoulder the burden.

The fact that she has told you about this means she has truly accepted you.”

Unfortunately, those words only made Casper somewhat disheartened, especially since Giselle had never told him about her family situation. “Mrs. Clauder, the truth is, I didn’t know anything about this before tonight. It was purely coincidental that I found out about Mr. Clauder’s gambling addiction. I’m not trying to run away from his debts either. I can still afford to take out tens of millions to pay them off, but more importantly, I want to help him before the situation gets any worse.”

“T-Tens of millions?” Belinda stammered as her face paled. “His debt has snowballed into tens of millions…”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Clauder,” Casper reassured. “I’ll settle his debts. All we need to do now is figure out how to help Mr. Clauder quit his addiction.”

Belinda once again scrutinized Casper, her fourth time thus far. “We’re talking tens of millions. How can you afford it?”

She wasn’t a snob by all means, but even she could tell from Casper’s eloquence and simple, classy outfit that he was no ordinary person. That said, they weren’t talking about a small sum. How could he possibly shell out tens of millions without batting an eyelid?

“Yes. You don’t have to worry one bit, Mrs. Clauder. I’ll settle everything. I wasn’t thinking about avoiding my responsibilities when I brought Mr. Clauder here. I have no problem taking out tens of millions as long as it’s to help Giselle. I’d do anything for her.”

“Wow, those are big words. Youngsters these days sure are getting bolder. However, I do appreciate that you’re a responsible man. That alone already makes you miles better than Giselle’s father.”

Belinda caressed Terrence’s face again and added, “Since his debts have already snowballed to this amount, I guess I should probably make a trip home. In the past, my family was vehemently against me marrying Terrence, but if I plead with them now, I’m sure I’d still be able to pay off his debts.”

By the sound of it, Belinda had to have come from a big, prestigious family if tens of millions weren’t a problem to them.

Despite that, Casper shook his head. “No, Mrs. Clauder. Our current goal isn’t to clear Mr. Clauder’s debts. It’s to rid him of his gambling addiction and find the person who had set him up for this downfall.

That’s the only way to get to the root of the problem.”

“Are you saying someone’s intentionally set a trap for Terrence?” Belinda asked as she gracefully wept her tears away with her sleeve.

Casper nodded. Although he had Eugene to thank for the advice, there was no harm in flaunting his newfound knowledge.

“Think about it, Mrs. Clauder. Mr. Clauder was already knee-deep in debt, yet those people continued to lend him money. They haven’t been very forceful with debt collection either, have they? Other people would’ve been threatened or beaten up, yet all they’ve done is chase Mr. Clauder for money. Isn’t it clear someone’s using the boiling frog theory on him?”

Upon hearing that, Belinda finally seemed to understand the situation. “Who’s the mastermind behind it?”

“I have no idea,” Casper answered, feigning ignorance. “But I’m sure that person has incredible wealth and influence. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to set this whole thing up.”

Belinda narrowed her eyes, clearly thinking about who the person might be.

The next second, Casper glanced at the night sky and cleared his throat. “Anyway, Mrs. Clauder, I think I ought to make a move first. I’ll come back tomorrow to help Mr. Clauder settle all these…”

“Fine. I’ll wait for you,” Belinda said as she threw him a glance. “I’m curious to know why you have so much confidence to make those promises. If you can really take care of this issue, it’d be Giselle’s fortune to have found you.”