Chapter 292: Felix Faulkner Pleads Guilty

Chapter 292: Chapter 292: Felix Faulkner Pleads Guilty

When the Drakes suddenly appeared, the smile on Vivian’s face instantly vanished.

She didn’t like these people.

Mr. Drake also frowned. He stole a quiet glance at Vivian and lowered his voice. "Just stay by my side later."

Vivian agreed softly.

She understood what Mr. Drake meant.

Mr. Drake had his own arrangements, and Vivian needed to cooperate with him!

By the ticket window, Joy led Shelly over. Smiling as she approached Master Drake, she said, "Master Drake. When Shelly woke up this morning, she originally wanted to cook breakfast for you.

"But after she finished cooking, she realized you weren’t home. Worried about you, she asked around to find out where you were, and finally learned that you had come here.

"What’s the occasion today? Why are President Faulkner, Mrs. Faulkner, President Rhodes, Mrs. Rhodes, and Miss Rhodes all here? Oh... is this Mr. Sterling?"

Joy had a very sharp eye.

She immediately recognized Henry, even though they had only met a few times.

Moreover, addressing him as "Mr. Sterling" instead of "Professor Sterling" clearly showed that she was well aware of his family background.

"Shelly," Mr. Drake said.

Hearing Joy’s words, Mr. Drake merely shot her a glance, showing no intention of entertaining her. Instead, he looked at Shelly affectionately.

"There’s an event at Aethelburg University today, and Professor Sterling invited me to come hiking for charity. Since you’re in poor health, I didn’t tell you about it.

"You really should just stay home and rest. I will help you figure out a way to find a bone marrow match. Be a good girl. It’s hot and sunny outside today, so let’s head home first, alright?"

Mr. Drake showed deep concern for Shelly. His tone was incredibly gentle, a stark contrast to how he usually treated Joy.

As for Joy.

She had said so much, only to be completely ignored by everyone. Her expression turned a bit ugly, but with her strong psychological resilience, she didn’t say anything else and just continued holding onto Shelly.

"That’s right, Shelly!"

Joy cast a triumphant look at Vivian and said, "You are the precious young lady of our family. How can you just casually go out in the hot sun?

"Master Drake cares about you, so let’s go home right now!"

Shelly felt a surge of joy in her heart.

Seeing how gentle Master Drake was being with her, she suddenly felt that he might actually know nothing at all!

Their private interactions hadn’t been that great so far, but that was probably just because they had been separated for too long and didn’t understand each other well. Master Drake was likely just afraid of making her unhappy, which was why he hadn’t talked to her much!

"Okay, Grandpa!"

Shelly smiled happily. Suddenly thinking of something, she glanced at Vivian and muttered in a low voice, "Actually, it’s not like there hasn’t been any progress with the matching process.

"Grandpa, I know someone who—"

"Let’s go."

Before Shelly could even finish her sentence, Mr. Drake grabbed her hand. With great force, he practically dragged her away.

"Grandpa..."

Shelly wanted to cry out in pain, but seeing Joy watching her, she swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue and silently endured it.

The Drakes, along with Mr. Drake, finally left.

Watching them walk away, Vivian chuckled and shook her head. She turned to Eleanor and said, "Eleanor, you should head back too. As for the charity event, I think the follow-up..."

"I’ll handle the follow-up communication with Eleanor. After all, she has her own pet hospital and is the former president of the association. It’s only right to keep her informed," Henry suddenly interjected, his face full of smiles and looking exceptionally amiable.

Vivian fell silent.

What she had originally wanted to say was that the organizers at Aethelburg University would definitely follow up, so there shouldn’t be any need to trouble Eleanor.

Who knew Henry would beat her to the punch?

It seemed that Henry was now seizing absolutely every tiny opportunity he could find to interact with Eleanor.

There was nothing Vivian could do about this.

"Eleanor, just handle it however you see fit," Vivian said helplessly.

Eleanor just bit her lip and cast a complicated look at Henry before replying, "It’s fine if you want to discuss it with me, but I’m no longer at the university, and I don’t have that much time to go back.

"If you send it to me, I’ll just be forwarding it to the students at school anyway, so it’s all the same. It’s getting late, Professor Sterling. You should head back early too."

After saying their goodbyes, the group gradually parted ways.

On the way home, Vivian leaned against the cushion and watched the street scenes outside the window.

Briarmont was still relatively cool in the summer, though the scenery was slightly inferior to autumn. Once the red leaves appeared in Briarmont around October and November, it would become an even more wonderful sight.

The brilliant colors covering the mountains and plains were truly mesmerizing.

It was exactly noon when they arrived home.

Ms. Shaw had lunch prepared, so Vivian and Julian accompanied Grandma Faulkner for the meal.

"Were you tired from the hike?" Grandma Faulkner asked, bringing up the topic before adding a reminder. "Vivian, doing charity work is good, but when there are crowds, you still need to be careful.

"Be careful not to bump into anything or get hurt. It breaks my heart!"

"Yes, Grandma, I know."

Vivian smiled and agreed, adding, "Summer is still a bit too hot. Grandma, how about we go hiking again when autumn comes? We can treat it as exercise!"

"Alright."

Grandma Faulkner agreed with a beaming smile and helped scoop another bowl of soup for Vivian.

After lunch, Vivian and Julian went upstairs to rest. Vivian sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, holding Yuumi on her lap as she looked outside.

The sunlight was bright and clear, almost a bit glaring.

The weather forecast said that Aethelburg would be very hot over the next few days, with temperatures approaching forty degrees Celsius. Vivian hated the heat more than anything, so the air conditioning in the room was already running.

PURR, PURR.

Yuumi was thoroughly enjoying Vivian’s pets and had already started purring.

Vivian patted Yuumi’s head affectionately again. Just then, Julian’s phone rang. He picked it up, said a few words, and suddenly glanced at Vivian.

Hmm?

Noticing Julian’s look, Vivian felt a bit confused. She looked over, wanting to ask him what was wrong, only to see Julian place the phone on the table in front of her and turn on the speaker.

She immediately saw the name "Vance" displayed on the screen.

"Go ahead," Julian spoke into the phone as he sat down beside Vivian.

Hearing this on the other end, Vance started explaining the situation again.

"President Faulkner, Madam. Felix has confessed everything he needs to confess. He’s not someone with a lot of endurance anyway, so once the police applied some pressure, he caved.

"At first, he played dumb, but later he incoherently blurted out some of the truth, and slowly, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

"This includes some of the big shots he collaborated with domestically, as well as certain individuals overseas. After this incident, they’re probably going to be in deep trouble.

"As for Felix himself, the charges against him are very severe! According to our lawyers’ assessment, he basically can’t escape the death penalty! Now, the only issue is Rachel, who acted as an accomplice...

"The lawyers’ view is that Rachel has a chance to pin all the blame on Felix, which might allow her to avoid the death penalty!

"However, Rachel only has Lawyer Donovan on her side, and Lawyer Donovan is already under our control. How to handle this depends on your wishes, President Faulkner!"

Having finished his report, Vance waited for Julian’s response.

After hearing all this, everything became clear to Vivian.

Felix had committed many crimes, which Vivian knew a bit about. He certainly couldn’t have pulled off all those things on his own.

He definitely had accomplices in the country!

None of those people would meet a good end. The only question was how Julian wanted to deal with Rachel!

Rachel was a major accomplice in this case. She was involved in assisting with murder, but it seemed Felix hadn’t let her participate in the smuggling operations.

This meant that if Julian wanted to, there was a chance to reduce Rachel’s sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment, or even thirty years in prison.

Vance was asking so Julian could make a decision, which he could then relay to the Faulkner Group’s legal team for their next steps.

"Julian..."

Vivian knew it was time to make a decision.

Julian also looked very serious. Gazing at Vivian, he said, "She should pay for her crimes with the death penalty. That time, if it weren’t for your quick wits and our early preparations, an accident would have already happened.

"I won’t take that gamble. The core of who she is will never change."

Julian’s words put Vivian’s mind at ease.

In the past, the two times Rachel had wanted Vivian dead were no mere fabrications. Since that was the case, Julian had no reason to forgive her.

They had used Rachel previously, but that was only because Rachel herself was so stupid and wicked that she ended up betraying Felix.

"Mhm." Vivian understood Julian’s intentions and nodded.

Julian then picked up the phone, stood up, and walked out the door. Only after closing the door did he speak to Vance. "Handle this matter exactly as the law dictates.

"I have only one principle: strict impartiality. Rachel must bear the consequences of her own mistakes. Throughout my journey, I’ve never been afraid of retribution or karma.

"Even if it does cost me my blessings, that’s my own burden to bear. It has absolutely nothing to do with Vivian or the baby."

Vance understood.

He chuckled and said, "President Faulkner. Rest assured, that is just superstitious nonsense. How could they possibly drain your blessings? I will take care of the follow-up."

With that, Vance hung up.

Julian leaned against the door, chuckling as he shook his head.

A rush of memories suddenly came back to him.

He remembered interacting with Rachel when they were children, how he used to call her "Sister." They had once been happy siblings, intimately close, sharing their secrets with each other.

When their mother passed away, Rachel had also comforted him.

But...

He didn’t know when, but at some point, all of that had changed.

Now, it was up to him to decide his sister’s fate.

He had no regrets. After all, Rachel had committed those crimes herself. His current decisiveness probably paled in comparison to the black-heartedness Rachel had shown back then.

Rachel had betrayed the Faulkner Family, betrayed him, and betrayed Grandma a long time ago.

Karmic retribution.

They said that one should do more good deeds when there was a baby on the way. Julian felt that what he was doing this time didn’t count as a good deed, so he figured he might as well just keep it a secret from Vivian.

That was why he had come to the door to take the call. Vivian wouldn’t know he was the one making the final call anyway. Even if it did cost someone their blessings, it would only be his.

He wasn’t afraid. He only wanted to protect her.