Chapter 21

While everyone present was stunned at once, Helen asked puzzledly, “W-What suit are you referring to?”

“It’s the one that Mr. Larson wore last night…” Speaking of which, Mr. Walker suddenly spotted Liam and said, “Ah yes, the suit that this gentleman is wearing is the one!”

“T-This suit?” Liam was dumbfounded. Did the suit have to be returned?

“That’s right! Mr. Larson was just trying it on last night. If all of you would like to have it, please purchase it directly!” Mr. Walker said with a smile. “The total price of this set is seven hundred and thirty thousand!”

Liam trembled as he could not fork out that kind of money.

“Have you made a mistake? This suit is a gift for us from Mr. Newman!” Helen said anxiously.

“I’m sure that I’m not mistaken!” Mr. Walker nodded as he explained, “It was indeed collected by Mr.

Newman, but he didn’t make a payment for it.”

Helen was left speechless as she went wide-eyed and open-mouthed in shock. Since Billy Newman had sent them a car which cost several millions and a watch which cost nearly a million, she was surprised to learn that he did not pay for the suit which cost only several hundred thousand.

“Forget it, we’re not keeping the suit!” James snapped indignantly.

Reluctantly, Liam removed the attire and handed it to Mr. Walker. Suddenly, Mr. Walker exclaimed in surprise, “T-There’s something wrong with the suit! D-Did you guys alter it?”

Liam was so frightened by Mr. Walker’s question that he quivered and stammered, “I-I only had a very slight alteration done to it. It can be undone…”

“You must be crazy!” Mr. Walker glared at him and snapped. “This is a suit from Armani and it’s purely handmade by Italian tailors! You actually amended the suit?! It has been completely ruined by y’all!”

“It can’t be that serious. We only got a couple of stitches done to it…” replied Helen.

Mr. Walker refuted her furiously, “It can’t be that serious? No alterations should be done to suits like these because they are all custom made! Now, you guys have no choice but to purchase it, because it won’t be merchantable anymore even if I take it back to my store. The price is seven hundred and thirty thousand. Would you prefer to pay it by credit card or cash?”

Every single one of them was stupefied. There was no way they could afford it.

“Y-You’re being rather unreasonable!” In her agitation, Helen confronted him, “What’s so big a deal about doing a couple of stitches to the suit? What’s more, the suit is a gift from Mr. Newman, so why should we pay for it ourselves?”

“I’ll just ask for payment from whoever is in possession of the attire. If you guys are unhappy with this arrangement, please visit Mr. Newman and ask him to pay for it!”

Helen was left speechless because there was no way she had the guts to visit Billy for such an issue.

“If you all refuse to make the payment, I’ll have no choice but to call the police!” Mr. Walker fished out his phone in a threatening manner.

Helen and the rest went panic-stricken, especially Liam, who was so shaken that his forehead was covered with beads of sweat and he looked like he was on the verge of crying. Never had he thought that he would bring such a great mess upon himself by getting the suit altered earlier that morning.

Meanwhile, Sasha was pleased to watch the ensuing drama. Finally, she understood what Matthew meant last night—it really wouldn’t do Liam any good by taking the suit as his own.

Out of the blue, Helen shouted at the top of her lungs, “In fact, you should ask Matthew to pay for the suit!”

“Mom, what has this got anything to do with him?” Sasha was eager to defend Matthew.

“Why not?” With her eyes widened, Helen emphasized, “This was given to him by Mr. Newman.

Matthew was the one who wore it back and he even sent it as a gift to Liam. Obviously, he was trying to sabotage Liam by giving it to him without paying!”

“He didn’t give him as a gift; it was Liam who snatched it from him!” Sasha countered.

“He was wearing the suit last night. If he didn’t remove it, could Liam strip it off him? I was wondering why he was willing to give it away so readily last night. It turns out that it was his plot to sabotage your brother-in-law! Matthew, I really have no idea you’re actually so poisonous!” Helen spat furiously.

“Mom, t-this is too much…” Sasha chimed in.

“Hmph, I don’t see why? Don’t you understand how a debt should be settled by its debtor? Well, Liam, you may go first and we’ll let Matthew handle this!”

Liam took to his heels immediately.

“Mom…” Just as Sasha wanted to interject, she was stopped by Helen, who reproached angrily, “Matthew, I’ll leave this to you. You have to clean up the mess you created yourself!” With that, Helen dragged Sasha into one of the bedrooms without giving a chance for Matthew to speak.

“Mom, you’re being too mean! How could you do this to Matthew?” Sasha confronted her mother indignantly.

“What’s the problem with the way that I am treating him? How do you think we should deal with this matter? Are we going to let Liam bear the heavy price tag of that suit? Sasha, do you think Liam can fork out that kind of money?”

“He can’t afford it, but can Matthew? It’s such a huge sum, so he might have to go to jail if it can’t be solved properly!” Sasha said angrily.

“That’s a different story. Liam is a businessman and he can earn up to two to three hundred thousand per year, but Matthew only gets an annual salary of around thirty to forty thousand. Can’t you see who’s more important in our family?”

“How could you see it this way? Whoever caused the problem has to bear the responsibility of it. What gives him the right to push that to someone else?” Sasha retorted.

“Matthew is a live-in son-in-law. Since he depends on our family for a living, he’s obligated to step up when we’re in trouble.”

“W-What sort of nonsense is that?!” Sasha was exasperated.

“This is common sense. As a live-in son-in-law of our family, what’s the point of keeping him if he’s not contributing anything to our family, or, if he refused to step up when we’re at the most desperate of situations? Even if I am keeping a dog, it would lunge forward and bite a stranger who yells at me!”

“How could you speak in this way? I don’t care! Matthew hasn’t got anything to do with this and I can’t allow him to take the blame!” Sasha declared angrily.

Just as she was heading for the door, Helen suddenly pushed the window open and yelled furiously, “I’ll jump off the building through this window if you go out of that door. So, do you want to save my life or do you want to help that useless man?!”

Much frightened by her mother’s behavior, Sasha immediately retrieved her hands from the doorknob with tears of anger streaming down her face. “Mom, h-how could you do this to me…”

At the same time, James too had fled into his own bedroom. All three of them only opened the door secretly to a slit to take a peek outside the room when the voices seemed to finally die down after a long time. Now that Mr. Walker had left, Matthew was alone at the living room sipping tea. Sasha was the first to dart out to the living room. “Matthew, how was it? Are you alright?” she asked anxiously.

“I’m fine,” he said with a smile.

“You’re fine?” asked Helen as she edged closer. “How did you settle it?”

“I gave Mr. Newman a call just now. He forgot to pay for the suit yesterday and he arranged for someone to settle the sum just now!”

“Huh?” Helen widened her eyes in shock who then confronted him all of a sudden in a furious tone, “W-

Why didn’t you make that call earlier?”

“You didn’t ask me to.” Matthew shrugged and continued, “Moreover, the suit was taken away by Liam yesterday. How should I put it when I call Mr. Newman? Do I ask him to pay for Liam? Wouldn’t he assume that I am trying to bluff him?”

Helen got so enraged that she was left stumped. James immediately came over to join the conversation. “Matthew, you’re actually allowed to call Mr. Newman? I-In that case, could you ask him for more items like some money, for example?”

Helen too held her breath while she eyed Matthew with great anticipation.

“I’m afraid not.” Matthew shook his head and said, “From the earlier phone call we had, Mr. Newman told me that we’re even now.”

James and Helen, who were greatly disappointed, criticized him angrily, “You’re hopeless!”

“Forget it. We shouldn’t waste our time speaking to a useless man like him!” Helen picked up the suit left on the floor and said, “Give Liam a call and ask him to get the suit back.”

James called up Liam but to his surprise, Liam was so traumatized by the incident earlier that he dared not take it back anymore. “Never mind then. This Liam is not any better either!” James remarked angrily. Just as he was about to thrust his phone away in exasperation, he received a call.

“It’s from my father!” James, who was pleasantly surprised to get Eric’s call, quickly calmed himself down before he picked it up. “Dad…”

“James Cunningham, you really have a marvelous pair of daughter and son-in-law!” Eric roared. “How dare they steal our newly invented drug and use it to cure people?! All of you, get ready to be put to jail for leaking the confidential information of the company!”