Chapter 743 Falling Out

As soon as those words fell, a terrified Azure tugged on Barnaby’s sleeve with a pleading look in her “Don’t agree to it,” she begged.

Enraged, Barnaby shook her off and replied haughtily, “Mrs. Hadley, we’ll do it your way then.”

“No!” Azure blurted as the crowd’s eyes fell on her. “Having your children apologize to me isn’t going to completely undo all the bad reputation I’m getting. Don’t you think you’re being very unfair by making such a request?”

At that instant, Barnaby wished he could shove something into Azure’s mouth to shut her up. “Hmph! Why would we fear being incriminated if we’ve done nothing wrong? There’s no point in Azure meddling with something so trivial. I believe the Hadleys still have some credibility.”

Azure had a pained expression on her face as she heard that. Barnaby had taken matters into his own hands out of fear that she would cause more trouble.

“The investigation will take some time. I have other matters to deal with, so I’ll be taking my leave now. Please have someone update me when the results are out, Mrs. Hadley,” the elderly man requested. “She’ll come with me since there hasn’t been any solid evidence yet.”

He was already respecting Christina and the Hadley family enough.

“If you’re taking her with you, I hope you’ll at least keep to your word,” Nathaniel remarked.

Barnaby scoffed. “Worry not, Mr. Hadley. You’ll get everything as promised.”

Then, he left with Azure.

Nathaniel shot Sebastian a glance, and the latter used a handkerchief to soak up the spilled wine, placed the cloth into a zip–

lock bag, and instructed someone to have it examined.

With that, the unpleasant interlude came to an end.

“It’s all my fault,” Charlie lamented, blaming himself. “They wouldn’t have come looking for trouble with you if I hadn’t spent so long outside on my phone. Thank goodness Lucas and Camila saw through Azure’s schemes beforehand. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened otherwise.”

The thought of the possible consequences sent a chill down his spine.

“Relax, Charlie. Aren’t I perfectly fine? You don’t have to blame yourself.” Timothy smiled. “Anyway, you two should go attend to your guests. I’ll carry on with my game of chess.”

With lots of work to do, Christina and Nathaniel left, heading to Lucas‘ and Camila’s playroom.

The two children rushed up to them. “Mommy, Daddy, has everything been taken care of?”

“Yup. Everything’s okay now,” Christina responded while pinching their chubby cheeks. “Remember, if you ever encounter something like this again, be sure to let an adult know right away. Don’t try to tackle it yourselves, okay? It’s too dangerous.”

Lucas paused. “But it was Granddad. He would’ve been in danger if we hadn’t stopped those guys.”

Camila nodded in agreement. “Lucas is right.”

“Granddad’s a grown man. He knows how to look after himself,” Christina advised despite feeling proud of them. “You’re still young, so you’ll have to make sure you’re safe before trying to help others. Okay?”

“Okay,” the children answered in unison.

“Very good.” Christina beamed.

Just then, Nathaniel returned with a grave expression after picking up a phone call.

Knowing he had something to tell her, Christina had Rayne keep Lucas and Camila company so she could head into the office next door with Nathaniel.

“What’s wrong, Nathaniel?” she then asked.

“It’s about the sample that Sebastian had someone send to the lab. Someone stole it during the journey,” Nathaniel explained.

“This may essentially seem like a case of robbery, but someone definitely knows the truth more than we do.”

Christina’s brows knitted, but her reaction was much calmer than Nathaniel had expected. “All the footage from the studio’s probably been wiped out too,” she remarked.

Sebastian soon returned with more news, and just as Christina had predicted, they had lost all the footage recorded on the studio’s surveillance cameras.

The fact that Barnaby acted so openly and fearlessly showed how much he wanted to burn bridges with the Hadley family.

“I went to get a technician right away, but even he couldn’t do anything to recover the footage,” Sebastian reported.

At this point, Barnaby wasn’t just disregarding the Hadley family lightly anymore; he was practically challenging them now.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. Then, he suddenly recalled something and asked, “When is Nigel’s closest trial?”

Sebastian pondered for a moment before looking it up on his phone. “This coming Tuesday.”

Nathaniel turned to Christina. “Since Barnaby and Azure are trying to get Nigel a lighter sentence, then I’d say we attack them from there. What do you think?”

The woman smirked. “That’s a great idea. The more they want something, the more we’ll stop them from getting it.”

“Hand all the details and evidence we’ve gathered secretly to the police, and let them deal with this according to the law,”

Nathaniel instructed Sebastian. “Also, let Winston know that Nigel might rat them out.”

“Right away, Mr. Hadley.” The latter turned around and left.

Nathaniel wanted to make Barnaby and Azuré regret everything they had done today. There were many others who wanted to watch Nigel fall too..

It’s time to turn this fight really ugly. Some people keep thinking they can mess with us.

Then, an idea came to Christina. “We can’t inform Winston and the others yet. This has something to do with the Stone family’s ongoing feud over their inheritance. Sheridan must be involved.”

“Didn’t you and Sheridan use to get along pretty well? Nathaniel asked in an unusual tone.

Wow! Someone sounds so jealous.

Christina chuckled. “Since when? Sheridan and I are just friends, but it looks like we might become enemies after today.”

“I don’t care what you intend to use him for. Stay away from him. I don’t like you having any sort of interaction with him,”

Nathaniel demanded.

Christina nodded carnestly. “Okay. I’ll do my best to avoid contact with him. You’re not mad anymore, right?”

She then cupped his face boldly and stood on her toes to kiss his lips, her eyes sparkling like the stars.

“Can’t you do something about that jealousy of yours, Little Nathaniel?” Despite those words of dissatisfaction, the woman’s tone was filled with adoration.

“I can’t change that because it’s you,” Nathaniel answered candidly. “If anything, they should be the ones changing and staying away from you without being told to.”

Overcome by how unreasonable the man was, Christina hugged his arm and leaned onto him affectionately. “It’s fine if you can’t change. Well, it’s not like it’s a bad trait. Anyway, it looks like there are lots of guests outside. We should make an appearance as hosts. Let’s go.”

With a curl of his lips, Nathaniel headed outside as she continued to lean against him.

Meanwhile, Barnaby and Azure remained silent throughout the journey home after leaving the banquet. The rigid atmosphere remained until they arrived back at the Stone residence.

Then, an odd look appeared on their faces as they walked into the living room and noticed the person seated on the couch.

“Back so soon? Did something unpleasant happen at the banquet?”