Ch. 651..660
Always Been Yours Chapter 651
Made Him Stay
“I’m not suitable for this task. I’ve left the troop, so I shouldn’t meddle in this,” Nicholas said. Although Gregory couldn’t understand what the two adults were talking about, he started urging his father to make a move when he saw that it was about time for their flight. “Let’s go, Daddy. We’re running out of time,” Gregory said. Gregory didn’t want to be late as he was eager to see Tessa.
Janet’s expression darkened when she heard the kid’s voice. She knew Nicholas was going to meet Tessa that night, so she intentionally exposed Cole’s whereabouts to create opportunities for herself. Nicholas had no idea about any of this, of course. He glanced at the time to realize that they were about to be late. “Well, I can’t help with this. You should contact one of your higher-ups and get them to send some people over,” Nicholas replied before preparing to leave.
But Janet wasn’t going to let him leave so easily. “You’re right. But I don’t think there’s enough time to contact the higher-ups now. Forget it. I’ll go on my own. I should be fine.” Janet attempted to use reverse psychology as she pretended to agree before turning around to leave. However, her footsteps were plodding as she was sure that Nicholas wouldn’t allow her to go just like that. She was right—his voice sounded in her ear just after she took a few steps.
“Wait,” he said.
“Are you going to help, Nicholas?” Janet turned around excitedly, her eyes twinkling as she looked at Nicholas. He nodded as he thought, I still have two days until Tessa’s performance. I should be able to make it in time. Gregory seemed to have understood some of the conversations, for he stuck his lips into a pout. “I don’t want to stay. I’m going to meet Miss Tessa. You agreed to leave today, Daddy. Miss Tessa will be so disappointed if she doesn’t see us tomorrow.”
Janet was fuming when she heard the kid’s words. I worked so hard just to convince Nicholas to stay. I’m not going to allow someone else to ruin this. “Be a good boy, Gregory. Daddy has other important stuff to do,” Janet snapped at him rather impatiently.
“Is there anything more important than Miss Tessa?” Gregory shot Janet a glare. This woman’s the reason I can’t meet Miss Tessa, he thought. Janet could sense the hostility coming from the young boy, and her gaze darkened for a second before she put on her usual kind and loving expression. “You’re still young, Gregory. You don’t understand how these two things are completely different matters. You can’t compare one to another,” she said.
After that, she no longer talked to the kid. Instead, she turned to Nicholas worriedly. “I think we need to take action to look for Cole immediately. I’m afraid the situation might turn for the worse if we keep wasting time here.” Nicholas had thought about this as well, so he nodded in agreement.
Gregory assumed that he wasn’t going to meet Tessa at this point, and tears began to well up in his eyes just at the thought of not seeing her. “I don’t want to stay here. I want Miss Tessa! Daddy, you promised that you would bring me to her,” he whined.
Janet felt the urge to strangle Gregory when she saw the kid crying. Her gaze was dark and eerie. However, Nicholas didn’t realize the peculiar look in her eyes. Instead, he knelt down and spoke in a gentle voice. “Stop crying. I’m not telling you to stay. I’ll get Edward to send you over first, and I’ll join you guys once I’m done here,” Nicholas explained.
Gregory stopped crying when he heard that he didn’t have to stay. He wiped his tears off and sniffed a few times before speaking. “You’ll have to stick to your promise, Daddy. You have to come.”
After sending Gregory off, Nicholas pulled his phone out to start dealing with Cole’s disappearance. He led Janet to the study in order to better understand the story. Janet had to contain her excitement as she glanced at her surroundings in the bright study. I did it. I made Nicholas stay! I’m even standing in his private space!
At that moment, Janet swore to herself—one day, I will be able to openly walk in and out of all Nicholas’ private spaces. Of course, Nicholas didn’t know what she was thinking about, so he simply gestured for her to sit on the couch before getting to the main point. “When did you lose contact with Cole? What was the plan that he had made before disappearing? Tell me everything,” Nicholas ordered.
Janet quickly gathered her emotions before she told him everything that she knew about the situation.
Always Been Yours Chapter 652
A Traitor
“He was in Exelter when I last contacted him, so I think he must have disappeared there,” Janet replied. Nicholas frowned at this. “What about his tracker? I recall how everyone in the team used to have a GPS tracker on them,” he said.
“I can’t detect it. It seems like it had been deactivated,” Janet said while shaking her head. “I think we should take action right now, Nicholas. I suspect that Exelter might be where our opponent’s hideout is,” she said worriedly. He thought about this for a moment before nodding in agreement. Then, he contacted some of Cole’s men and agreed to gather at the highway that led them out of the city. They were planning to take a night drive to Exelter.
After all of this was arranged, Nicholas prepared to leave. “You should go home and get some rest. Let me know if you get any new information,” he told Janet before leaving. She nodded before reminding him to take care of himself again.
The man responded with an icy grunt before he got into the car and left. Once his vehicle drove off into the night, a victorious and sly smile spread across Janet’s face. She returned to the villa and ordered Kaiden to go to her room. Her eyes were twinkling as she gave him orders. “I want you to find men who can cause some troubles along Nicholas’ journey to save Cole. I want to ensure that the whole process isn’t smooth for him.”
“Isn’t that a little too risky? What if he realizes something?” Kaiden sounded somewhat worried.
Janet’s gaze turned icy as she replied in a hostile tone. “Well, make sure it’s secretive then! Don’t let them realize anything!” she hissed. However, Kaiden knew that he wouldn’t be able to change her mind, so he had no choice but to go along with her orders.
A few hours later, Nicholas’ car arrived at Exelter, where he bumped into Cole’s assistant, Tony Rush. Tony was an extremely buff man and looked especially stern and firm in his black outfit. “Chief Sawyer.” Tony referred to Nicholas by the name that he had called him during their earlier days.
Nicholas nodded, his lips curling up slightly as he spoke. “What information do you guys have now?”
“We’ve found the spot where Cole had disappeared, and we can confirm that this was a kidnapping. Someone had lured Cole into the suburban area, where the routes and streets are intertwined. I got someone to scout that area, and the geography of that place is really complicated—there are cliffs around where people can sneak in from to attack Cole,” Tony said.
“Show me the map,” Nicholas ordered. Tony immediately handed the map over before pointing at an opening. “This is where Cole disappeared,” Tony said. Nicholas narrowed his eyes when he saw the spot that Tony was pointing at. It only took Nicholas a few moments to thoroughly memorize the whole map. “There are four routes to get to the top of the mountain. Let’s split up into four teams to hunt for clues in the different areas. We’ll have to remain in contact. The rest of the people will stay here to prepare any emergency treatment or support needed,” he said.
That said, Tony hastily followed Nicholas’s orders and set their men up to the mountains. Meanwhile, Nicholas returned to the hotel in the town, where he waited for Tony’s update. His expression was blank and cold as he sat on the couch and contemplated Cole’s sudden disappearance. Typically speaking, only the team members would know his whereabouts. Could there be a traitor among us? Nicholas’ expression turned pale when he realized how this could be true.
If that were the case, Cole would be severely punished, especially if he returned with a failed mission. Nicholas’ lowered his gaze as he thought about this. Cole gave me a lot of help in the past. I wouldn’t meddle with this if I didn’t know about it, but I can’t just sit around without doing anything since I know what’s going on.
“Guys!” Nicholas called for his staff. “I want you guys to do some research. Check if anyone around Cole has been acting oddly lately,” he ordered.
“This guy is an official, Boss. Would it be appropriate for us to research him?” Nicholas’ staff seemed somewhat hesitant, and Nicholas began to question himself as well. It was true that he was no longer part of the team and that it’d be inappropriate for him to search up on this. He was about to call Tony to tell him about this when another one of his men knocked on the door and entered.
“Boss. Miss Brenner’s assistant, Kaiden, is asking to meet you.”
Always Been Yours Chapter 653
Knock Knock
“What’s he doing here?” Nicholas still allowed his men to bring Kaiden in despite sounding rather disdainful.
Soon enough, Kaiden was brought into the room and Nicholas threw him an icy glare. “Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to take care of Janet?” Nicholas asked.
“Janet was worried, and wanted me to come here to help you with anything you might need.” Kaiden hung his head low to speak in a respectful tone. However, underlying the dark pupils was a spark of evil that surfaced as he thought about their plan.
At that point, Nicholas hadn’t suspected anything. He shifted his focus to think about the undercover in their group, and he figured that it’d be better for Kaiden to do the research. Since Kaiden was one of the people on the team, others might not be as suspicious of his sudden change in actions.
“I happen to have something I need you to do,” Nicholas said.
“Anything at all, President Sawyer.” Kaiden looked extremely prepared to follow whatever orders.
Nicholas nodded and told Kaiden about the situation. “I suspect there must be a mole in the group who revealed Cole’s whereabouts. I want you to investigate who it was who exposed Cole’s location.”
Kaiden felt his heart pounding when he heard the man’s words. He hadn’t expected Nicholas to make the correct guess so soon, and he was also glad that he had shown up in time. If Nicholas had ordered someone else to do this, they might have exposed Janet for what she did.
“I got it,” Kaiden agreed to the instructions. He placed all his emotions aside as he nodded and excused himself.
Nicholas told his other men to leave as well.
The air around him was hushed once they left. He slumped into the couch as tiredness washed over his figure. He massaged his temples for a while and fell asleep before realizing it.
Sometime later, he was awakened by the sound of sirens outside. His eyes shot open to find that the skies were bright out. He hastily went to the shower and washed up. Once he was awake, he took his phone and went to the hall to call Tessa. He had to tell her he hadn’t managed to make the trip to Yvetlava, anyway.
On the other end, Tessa had just ended practice and returned to her hotel. She was puzzled when she saw Nicholas. “Why aren’t you on the plane yet? Did something happen?”
Her question made sense. Nicholas was a man of his word—he would never go against his promises unless something important occurred. He didn’t explain too much about his situation. “Some emergency came up, but I told Gregory to head first. I’ll definitely arrive before your performance starts,” he said.
Tessa was slightly disappointed that she couldn’t see Nicholas the next day, but she didn’t say much about it. “Hurry up and get things settled, then. Stay safe. I’ll wait for you,” she uttered gently.
“I’ll be safe.” A faint smile hung from Nicholas’ face as he asked her about her practice. She picked a few interesting stories to tell him, and they chatted for a while more after that before Nicholas told Tessa to go to bed.
After they ended the call, Tessa lay in bed for a time as she couldn’t fall asleep. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about the whole thing regarding Nicholas. Is something terrible about to happen? She knitted her brows and thought about it for a long while, but she couldn’t pinpoint anything. The best she could do was hope that she was just overthinking.
Meanwhile, after more than 10 hours on the flight, Gregory finally arrived at Yvetlava, where it was the middle of the night. Edward led the young boy out of the airport, walking alongside Timothy. This was Tessa’s first official performance as the lead violinist, and he had to be there for such a significant moment.
Three of them hurried over to the hotel where Tessa was staying. Gregory had just dumped his luggage in the room when he pestered the adults to let him meet Tessa. “Let’s visit Miss Tessa, Uncle Tim! I really miss her.”
It had been a while since Timothy saw his sister, and he also missed her. So, both of them hurried off, leaving Edward behind as he watched the two figures rushing ahead without him. Edward had wanted to comment on how Tessa might be sleeping, but he figured that Tessa wouldn’t mind being disturbed.
Meanwhile, Tessa was fast asleep in dreamland when she heard a knocking on the door. She was startled at first but still dazedly tried to get out of bed.
Always Been Yours Chapter 654
Generosity
“Who is it?” Tessa asked in a raspy voice as she walked over to open the door. To her surprise, a tiny figure leaped into her arms when she opened the door. “I’m finally here to see you, Miss Tessa. I’m so happy!” Gregory grinned widely as he wrapped his arms around Tessa’s thighs.
Tessa finally woke up right then. She gazed at the boy with a look of shock and surprise on her face. “When did you get here, Gregory? Why didn’t you call me to pick you up?” She bent down and lifted him into her arms. “I wanted to surprise you,” Gregory replied as he rubbed his cheeks against Tessa’s.
Tessa felt like her heart was about to melt at that point—she couldn’t stop kissing and hugging the small boy in her arms. When Timothy saw how close they were, he couldn’t help but feel jealous. So, he let out a slight cough. “Am I no longer your favorite brother now, Tessa? I’ve been standing here for half a day, yet you haven’t even glanced at me,” he muttered.
“How old are you? Are you getting jealous over a kid for getting more attention?” Tessa laughed as she gazed at Timothy fondly.
Gregory nodded in agreement. “That’s shameful behavior, Uncle Tim.” Timothy was amused but faked a sad expression. “Oh no. This is it! Tessa doesn’t love me anymore!” he wailed dramatically. Three of them fooled around for a bit more before Tessa asked about Timothy’s situation in the country. “How have you been? How’s the company doing?”
“Both me and the company are fine. Don’t worry about it.” They chatted for a while before Timothy stood up to leave. “You should get some rest, Tessa. I’ll head home to rest too.” She nodded and sent him off. On the other hand, Gregory had already fallen asleep in Tessa’s arms a while ago.
The next morning, Tessa happily brought Gregory and Timothy out for breakfast. Mona beamed and greeted the three of them when she saw them. “Tessa, Gregory, and Mr. Reinhart! Good morning,” she said. Now that Mona had upgraded to become the orchestra’s substitute, she was allowed to travel around with the orchestra. “Good morning, Miss Mona!” Gregory responded in a cute and polite tone that threatened to melt Mona’s heart.
“Your son is way too cute, Tessa.” Mona beamed before she shifted her gaze onto the tall figure dressed in a black suit. Her eyes lit up when she saw Timothy. “You have such a handsome brother as well! I’m so envious of you.” That was just pure Mona, and she said anything that came to mind. Tessa was used to it. Meanwhile, Timothy felt rather bashful when he heard her compliments. However, he responded to Mona in a friendly tone. “Morning! Thank you for taking care of my sister throughout this time,” he said conversationally.
“I didn’t do much.” Mona waved her hand to brush his comment off. Kathleen happened to overhear their conversation as she walked past them, and she felt an uneasy feeling in her chest. Nowadays, Tessa’s position in the orchestra is getting higher and higher. She’s about to surpass my levels. I can’t believe it!
“Hey, Tessa, isn’t your brother a little immature? If he’s here to show his gratitude, shouldn’t he thank everyone in the orchestra—my mom included? Why is Timothy only thanking Mona? What does that mean? Are you looking down on the rest of us?” Kathleen walked over while speaking patronizingly.
Her words instantly wiped off Tessa’s and Timothy’s smiles. Mona simply frowned to show a dissatisfied look on her face. She would’ve picked a fight with Kathleen if it weren’t for their huge difference in status. Timothy didn’t want to cause any trouble for his sister, so he simply stared at Kathleen while speaking calmly. “You’re right. I should be thanking everyone. I’d like to buy all of you a meal after you guys finish practice tonight,” Timothy offered.
“What a statement! Do you know how many people we have with us? You should quit it if you’re trying to act generously. You’re the only one who will get embarrassed.” Kathleen was exceptionally sharp with her words as she felt a lot of resentment when she saw how Timothy protected Tessa.
Always Been Yours Chapter 655
Huge Feast
It was no surprise that Timothy and Tessa’s expressions turned sour after that. Tessa, in particular, seemed especially furious. She thought that Kathleen had changed by then, but it seemed like she was still the same idiot from before. In the past, Tessa didn’t mind it when Kathleen attacked her personally. However, she was offended now that Kathleen had tried to bully her brother.
“I think you must’ve misunderstood something, Kathleen. My brother is doing this out of his kind intentions. Furthermore, I often tell him that you guys are really nice to me.” Tessa spoke up protectively. “You might not know this, but my brother and I have always been each other’s pillar in the family, and we haven’t been able to meet for a long time because we’ve been staying in different countries. That’s why he wants to thank everyone for taking care of me,” Tessa explained.
Edward stepped forward to speak for them as well. “You guys might think that Miss Reinhart’s brother looks really young, but he’s actually a successful businessman who currently owns a company with a net worth of more than tens of millions.” Everyone gasped in surprise when they heard this. Timothy was just a twenty-something-year-old, after all. He was still young.
“That’s impressive,” someone commented.
“Well, his sister’s really talented, so I bet he’s talented in his own ways too!” another one said.
“I still think it’s quite impossible for someone like him to exist.” When Gregory heard all the sighs of awe around him, he spread his lips into a proud grin. “Uncle Timothy is amazing. You have no right to bully Uncle Timothy, you bad woman!” The woman he was trying to scare was none other than Kathleen.
Kathleen’s expression turned grim, whereas Timothy was floored by how adorable Gregory’s expression was at that moment. On top of that, he was touched by the boy’s words. Tessa felt just as touched to see her son speaking up. She ruffled Gregory’s black hair as she shifted her gaze back to Kathleen. “Of course, it’s fine if you don’t want to attend the gathering. You’re a busy woman, right? I won’t force you to come,” she uttered.
Kathleen’s expression turned even angrier after that. Tessa’s words were indirectly indicating that Kathleen had never been of much help to her and that Kathleen had only ever caused her trouble. The rest of the members understood the underlying meaning behind Tessa’s words, but they didn’t say much.
Even though Kathleen was Hathaway’s daughter, most of the members preferred spending time with Tessa. They felt even more disgusted after what Kathleen had said and done earlier. On the other hand, Tessa had never been a show-off in front of them. Yet, Kathleen kept finding ways to attack Tessa, which only increased the tension in the group.
At that moment, the air around them turned cold as silence filled the room. Finally, it was Mona who stepped forward to shatter the awkwardness. “It’s so rare for Timothy to buy us a meal. But, as a friend, I’ll have to be there! I want a huge feast tonight, Timothy. Give me the best and only the best!” she said.
“Of course! It’s going to be a huge feast!” Timothy chuckled. Group Two’s members supported their lead violinist and quickly expressed interest in joining. “We’ll go too, Timothy,” one said.
“You’ll have to prepare a huge room, or it wouldn’t be able to fit us all,” another one commented.
“There are two groups here, so many of us. You’ll need a whole hall for this,” another said. A few members from Group One who had a good relationship with Tessa also giggled and agreed to be there. Timothy beamed as he responded to each one of their comments, and Tessa expressed her gratitude for everyone’s support.
Kathleen was the only one who stood in the corner, her face turning green with anger. She glared at Tessa as if she wanted to eat her up. In the end, she had to rush off before having breakfast.
No one else seemed bothered by her departure. Instead, they simply chuckled to themselves before they continued with their breakfast. Right then, Mona edged closer to Tessa while whispering into her ear. “I thought Kathleen had changed for the better after she tried getting closer to you. I can’t believe it was all an act. I wonder what triggered her today—she threw her façade out the window this time.”
“You don’t have to worry about her because she’s unimportant. Hurry up and eat!” Tessa didn’t waste the slightest bit of her attention on Kathleen. Perhaps she knew that Kathleen was acting all along.
Mona nodded, and she no longer talked about Kathleen after that. Meanwhile, Kathleen had been storming out of the place when she bumped into Hathaway.
Always Been Yours Chapter 656
Bad News
Hathaway felt the urge to stop Kathleen when she saw the angry look on Kathleen’s face. “Why are you all worked up at such an early hour? Who made you angry?” Hathaway asked.
“There’s no one in this orchestra which has the guts to make me angry apart from that beloved student of yours,” Kathleen hissed through gritted teeth. Hathaway frowned at this. “Did you try to provoke her again?” she asked.
“What do you mean when you say that? You’re assuming that it’s my fault before asking me about what happened. Sometimes, I really suspect that you’re not my mother!” Kathleen was furious, but she also felt sorry for herself—she unleashed all these emotions on Hathaway.
Hathaway’s expression turned sour at this point, but she controlled her temper and questioned her daughter. “Well, what did you guys argue about this time?” Kathleen explained the situation in the restaurant earlier, and she added some of her own details to make the story juicier.
“She just happened to have a good fiancé and a good brother. So what’s there to be proud of? If she’s that great, she wouldn’t need to rely on others at all,” Kathleen muttered. Hathaway’s expression turned utterly dark after hearing Kathleen’s words because she felt Tessa hadn’t done anything wrong.
“That’s enough. I don’t think Tessa did anything wrong here. You, on the other hand, were the one who interrupted when Tessa’s brother was talking. Furthermore, Tessa doesn’t have ill intentions like you think she does. So, why do you have to keep attacking and belittling her?” Hathaway asked.
Kathleen lost her temper when she heard how protective Hathaway was of Tessa. “You sure are a great mother, huh? You don’t seem to care even when your daughter is being bullied, and you’re even protecting that b*tch, Tessa, the way everyone else is!” she cried.
“Calm down, Kathleen,” Hathaway called after her.
“I can’t calm down!” Kathleen ran off after finishing her words. No matter how much Hathaway called for her to stop, Kathleen simply refused to slow her footsteps down. Later that day, when Kathleen followed the rest of Group One over to the theater, she still wore the same dark expression on her face. She looked as if someone had slaughtered her entire family. Everyone was nervous and eager to practice for the show after they arrived at the theater. However, Kathleen was like a ticking time bomb—she burst out in anger whenever she noticed something that didn’t fit her preferences. It didn’t even matter whether the person had made a genuine mistake—Kathleen refused to keep her temper under control.
Things got heated up soon. Kathleen had been walking when she nearly tripped and fell because of an instrument casing on the ground. The instrument casing belonged to the assistant concertmaster in Group One, and it was a violin casing. At that moment, Kathleen concluded that the assistant concertmaster had been trying to harm her, so she began to curse at her.
“You placed this box here because you wanted me to fall, right? Do you think you can turn into another Tessa, and do you think you can replace me? That’s impossible!” Kathleen hissed.
“You’re exaggerating things and making them seem bad. I never had such intentions at all,” the assistant concertmaster spoke frantically in her defense.
“Hmph. Deep down, you know the answer to how much you care,” Kathleen sneered at the assistant concertmaster. The rest of the members had their brows knitted, but they were reluctant to voice out. This incident spread over to Group Two, and Tessa heard about it but didn’t allow it to bother her.
…
Meanwhile, at a hotel in Exelter, Nicholas waited for nearly one day without hearing any news. He couldn’t help but feel rather anxious as he wouldn’t be able to make it in time for his flight if he couldn’t find the man. Tony had returned to the hotel twice, both with important information. Soon, he came back a third time.
“I found a secret code that Cole left in the mountains, but someone had been trying to misdirect us, so we wasted a lot of time there. I believe that our enemies were the ones doing this. They must have had their eyes on us all along,” Tony reported.
Nicholas squinted and remained deep in thought for a long while after hearing what Tony said. He previously suspected that there was a spy in their team, and he figured that this spy could be the one providing information to the other party. Finally, after he contemplated the matter for a moment, he parted his lips to speak in an exceptionally cold tone. “I want you to bring only the core members of our team for this mission. For now, we’ll focus on finding Cole, and we can think about the rest once we’ve done that.”
Tony nodded and turned to leave after he received his orders. This time, he left for a long while and only returned after the skies turned dark. Unfortunately, he returned with some bad news.
Always Been Yours Chapter 657
The Cave
“We found a spot that looks like it might be the enemies’ hideout, but I suspect that something bad might have happened to Cole,” Tony said. Nicholas’ gaze darkened as he opened the map and questioned the other man. “Where’s the hideout?”
“It’s somewhere here.” Tony pointed at a spot on the map. “I think we can send a large group of people in for a rescue mission,” he said.
“Have you checked the grounds? Would the rescue mission have a high chance of success?” Nicholas glared at the other man as he tried to think of tactics that could help in rescuing Cole.
“The hideout is on high grounds, so it’s hard for a large group to charge in. However, we can sneak in from the fences beside their hideout.” Tony proceeded to describe the location of the hideout. Nicholas thought that a rescue mission could work, so he made a quick decision. “Let’s stick to this plan. We’ll gather some men, put them into groups and get them to sneak in.”
Tony nodded and left to handle the logistics. That night, once they gathered all their men, Nicholas and Tony entered the mountains, leading their teams in from two different pathways. They trailed along the planned routes, using the moon’s dim light to guide their footsteps. Finally, they found the enemy’s den on a small hill. However, Nicholas halted his footsteps before they could go any nearer. “Aren’t we going over there, Chief Sawyer?” one of the members whispered.
Nicholas didn’t respond immediately—he merely looked up to check the den’s entrance. Unfortunately, the opening was just a large cave, and there was only a dim light that made it hard for one to see what was going on inside. Nicholas was more puzzled by the fact that there wasn’t a single person keeping watch at the entrance. He narrowed his eyes and seemed to realize something then. “I want everyone to take 50 steps back.” Many of his team members were confused but stuck to Nicholas’ orders and stepped back. Once they were done, one of the members couldn’t help but question Nicholas. “Why did we have to take a step back, Chief Sawyer? Since we found the den, we should focus on getting Cole out.
Nicholas looked at their surroundings before speaking in a whisper. “If this is the enemy’s den, then why isn’t there anyone keeping watch at the front entrance?” The rest of the members came to a realization after hearing Nicholas’ words. “Could the enemies know that we’re coming?” one asked.
“It doesn’t seem like it. Chief Sawyer asked us to take 50 steps back, so I suspect CCTVs are watching us from somewhere,” another one said. A look of approval surfaced on Nicholas’ face upon hearing this. “That’s right. We were really close to the zone where the enemies would be able to see us just now,” Nicholas uttered. “Is there a technician here?”
“Yeah!” Two voices piped up in unison. Nicholas nodded before giving his orders. “You guys can work together. One of you needs to focus on obfuscating the cameras while the other will guide a drone to enter the mountains and assess the grounds there. The rest of the men can wait here for my orders.
“Got it!” Everyone started on their missions. Soon enough, one of the technicians controlled a tiny drone and brought it into the mountains. But what they saw next came as a complete shock to them. They found out that there was a completely different scenery waiting for them within the cave. The cave had obviously been refurbished, but what was shocking was the number of prohibited items that were stacked up against the walls of the cave.
Right then, another one of the technicians reported his findings as well. “I’ve shut down all the CCTVs, Chief Sawyer.”
“That’s great. I want everyone to follow me. You can continue monitoring the insides of the cave.” His last sentence was meant for the technician who was controlling the drone. The rest of the men entered the cave. They were just about to enter the central area of the cave when an accident occurred. They had slowed down at a turning when they bumped into a few men patrolling the area. Nicholas and his people didn’t have anywhere to hide.
“Guys! Guys! Some cops are sneaking in.” The enemies had clearly assumed that Nicholas and the rest were policemen, so they shouted at the top of their lungs while they ran back to the base.
Nicholas had no choice but to give up on his original plan at that point. “Get them!” he hollered.
Always Been Yours Chapter 658
Step Aside
However, they barely needed to chase after the men before they found the men coming after them. Both parties immediately started throwing punches at each other without uttering a single word. Although there were a good number of people on the other team, Nicholas’ men still outnumbered the enemies, and they eventually overpowered them. Finally, he sent a flying kick toward the enemy in front of him with a glacial look on his face.
If the enemies continued to delay their invasion, They may transfer Cole and other important dignitaries to another place before Nicholas could get to them. “I need ten people with me. The rest of you can strategize ways to capture all these people!” Nicholas intended to bring his team into the cave, where he wanted to save Cole and other witnesses inside.
The men fought their way into the heart of the cave to find Cole and the witnesses locked up in metal cages. “You guys can deal with the men. I’ll save them.” Nicholas hurried toward Cole immediately after giving his orders. Cole’s tense expression seemed to relax a little when he saw Nicholas and the rest of them. “Be careful, Nicholas,” he said.
“Are you injured, Cole?” Nicholas checked on Cole while fighting off the other people who were trying to stop him. He was inches away from the metal cave when a dark shadow attacked him from the side. Nicholas immediately sensed danger nearing him, and he instinctively took a step back to find a buff and strong figure standing in front of him. Nicholas narrowed his eyes as he felt his hairs stand on end. The man in front of him looked extremely powerful.
When Cole saw the man in front of Nicholas, his expression changed into one of fear. “Be careful of that guy. You can’t defeat him with just strength!” he shouted to Nicholas. The man attacked right after Cole finished his sentence, and the guy began to strike Nicholas again. Nicholas had no other way than to charge forward. As they engaged in combat, every hit they sent out seemed more powerful than the last. Although the man was skillful, Nicholas had the same level of skills as he did. In fact, Nicholas even had the upper hand toward the end of the fight.
This made the man more furious than ever. The man fought as if his life depended on it—he gave his everything to defeat Nicholas. The man’s reckless fighting left Nicholas rather helpless as he didn’t want to get himself injured, which would delay his plans to travel overseas. Yet, things didn’t always go as planned.
It wasn’t clear if Nicholas or the man was winning the fight when a loud swoosh came from behind Nicholas. Nicholas immediately sensed the danger coming from behind him, and he tried his best to dodge the attack, but he still injured his shoulder in the process. He stumbled for a moment, and the man started closing into him. A swift figure zoomed in from beside him when the figure saw that Nicholas was about to lose the fight. “Step aside, Nicholas.” Cole protected Nicholas from the other man’s attacks before he turned to start a fight with the man. It seemed like Cole hadn’t been injured before that—he had only been captured because he wanted to stay around to protect the witness. Cole had feigned weakness while waiting for the rest of the men to save him. Nevertheless, when he saw Nicholas getting injured, he decided that he could no longer stand aside. Since Nicholas was there, Cole believed that the rest of the team would show up soon.
He wasn’t wrong—Cole had only attacked the other man about 20 times when Tony and the others hurried over to gain control over the enemies in the cave. “Stop moving. Freeze!” Their team held their weapons out while shouting at the enemies. “Everyone put your hands behind your head and kneel by the corner. Keep your mouths shut!” Of course, the enemies didn’t want to do so, but they had no choice in the situation.
Right then, more noises came from outside the cave. Cole and Nicholas’ expressions stiffened as they were worried that the enemies had brought their men to back them up. “Go take a look at what’s going on outside, Tony,” Cole ordered.
“Yes, sir!” Tony obediently hurried out of the cave, but he had barely made his way out when he saw a bunch of uniformed police walking in. “We’ve received orders to come here and provide support. We’ve got the men outside under control.” The lead officer walked up to Cole while reporting their progress.
Always Been Yours Chapter 659
Don’t Wait
They hadn’t just captured the men trying to run out of the cave, and even surrounded the entire hill to ensure that all the criminals were put behind bars. Once this was done, Cole finally had the time to check on Nicholas. “How’s your injury? Can you hang in there for a while more?”
“I’m fine,” Nicholas said as he stood up to show that he was alright. But to his surprise, he felt the world around him spinning when he got to his feet. He couldn’t move his injured shoulder at all as it was completely numb. Cole hurried forward to steady Nicholas when he saw Nicholas stumbling backward. “What is it?” Cole asked worriedly.
“Whatever they attacked me with seemed to have had some tranquilizer. My head’s spinning, and I can’t feel my shoulder.” Nicholas was honest about his condition. Cole was shocked to hear this, and he hurriedly ordered someone to send Nicholas to the hospital. While they were on the way there, Nicholas could no longer fight against the potent chemicals in his bloodstream, eventually passing out.
He was frustrated about how he couldn’t travel overseas just moments before he lost all consciousness. Unfortunately, it seems like I won’t be able to catch the last flight there!
…
The actual show day came in the blink of an eye. However, Tessa didn’t receive any news from Nicholas, and she had a bad feeling about his sudden disappearance. Timothy noticed how uneasy his sister seemed, so he gave her a suggestion. “Why don’t you just call Nicholas and ask him where he is, Tessa?”
Gregory added to this. “Yeah. Call Daddy and ask him what’s taking him so long,” the small boy uttered. Tessa pulled her phone out to contact Nicholas after h that. But his phone rang for a long while without anyone picking it up. Tessa frowned as she ended the call and met gazes with Gregory and Timothy. “No one is picking up,” she said while shaking her head.
Timothy frowned as a puzzled look surfaced in his eyes. Even Gregory rested his chin on his hands before he pressed his cheeks together and muttered to himself. “What’s Daddy doing? Why isn’t he picking his phone up?”
It wasn’t Nicholas’ fault—he was in a coma and couldn’t do anything. Meanwhile, Kaiden told Janet about Nicholas’ injuries, and she hurried over from Southend to visit him. “How’s Nicholas, Cole? Are his injuries really severe?” Janet barely took a breath after rushing to the ward—she immediately asked about Nicholas’ condition.
Cole didn’t bother to hide anything, so he told her what he knew about Nicholas’ condition. “His wounds have been treated, and it’s nothing serious, so he should be able to wake up once the medication wears off.” After that, he changed his tone of voice. “It’s great that you’re here, Janet. You can take care of Nicholas for a bit. I have to handle some issues and can only come back later.”
“You can go ahead, Cole. I’ll take care of him.” Janet wouldn’t mind if Cole didn’t return—that way, she could spend more alone time with Nicholas.
Cole wasn’t aware of all this, of course. He hurried out of the room after hearing Janet’s response. On the other hand, Janet moved a chair closer to the bed so she could sit down and admire Nicholas’ flawless face. A sly grin formed on her lips as she gazed at him. Great. Now, he can’t abandon me to go and meet that b*tch, Tessa.
The room was eerily quiet until a ringing phone broke the silence. When Janet saw that it was a call from Tessa, her initial thought had been to ignore it. However, the phone continued ringing. Janet narrowed her eyes as she seemed to realize something. There was a mysterious look on her face as she picked the call up. “Where are you, Nicholas? When are you coming?” Tessa’s gentle voice came from the phone. Janet scoffed. “You shouldn’t wait for him, Miss Reinhart. It’s impossible for him to go there now, and he has more important things to handle other than music.” She ended the call immediately after that.
Tessa clutched her phone as she sat on the hotel bed. Her expression seemed rather gloomy, and Timothy and Gregory immediately caught on. “What did Nicholas say? Did he make you angry?”
Always Been Yours Chapter 660
Calm Down
“Did Daddy make you mad, Miss Tessa?” Gregory asked. Tessa shook her head as she gazed at the two boys, who looked really worried about her. “Nicholas wasn’t the one who picked up the call. It was Janet.” Tessa knew of Janet because Nicholas had previously told her about Janet’s identity. However, Timothy had never heard of that name. “Who is Janet?” he asked curiously.
“She’s one of Daddy’s old colleagues, but both Daddy and I don’t like her.” Before Tessa could respond, Gregory provided all the necessary information regarding Janet. Timothy frowned upon hearing this. “If they’re just regular colleagues, why would Nicholas’ phone be with her?”
That was the exact question that Tessa wanted an answer to. She turned to look at Edward since Edward was one of Nicholas’ most capable assistants. He certainly knew something about the situation. Both Gregory and Timothy fixed their eyes on Edward as well. The assistant felt pressured by the three pairs of eyes glaring at him, so he hastily spoke up for his boss. “It’s not like President Sawyer for him to allow someone else to touch his phone, especially his personal phone. I bet Janet secretly took his phone when he wasn’t around,” Edward muttered.
This reasoning made sense to Tessa, so she managed to calm down for a moment. However, other worries soon flooded her mind. “Could something have happened to Nicholas? Why else would someone be holding his personal phone?” Tessa wondered.
Edward contemplated her words for a moment before responding. “I’ll call a few of President Sawyer’s bodyguards to see if they know anything about this.” Right after that, he pulled his phone out to give the guards a call. “The boss took part in a rescue mission, and we weren’t allowed to follow him as the location was supposed to be a secret. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to protect him, and he’s currently in a coma. We’ll update you guys once he’s awake.” The bodyguard told Edward the truth, and Edward’s expression turned extremely grim after hearing the whole story.
Tessa felt her heart sinking when she saw Edward’s face. Before he even ended the call, she hurried over to question him. “Did something happen to Nicholas?”
“President Sawyer took part in a rescue mission and got injured. He’s lying unconscious in the hospital now.” Edward didn’t bother to hide anything—he was candid about the situation. Tessa felt a mixture of shock and fear hitting her all at once, and she felt like she couldn’t think straight.
“How did he get injured? No way. I have to go back to see him.” She stood up after finishing her words—all she could think of then was to return to the country to stay by his side. Timothy stepped forward to stop her when he noticed what she was doing. “Calm down, Tessa. What would the orchestra do if you left now? What about the performance?” he asked.
“Nicholas is unconscious now. I can’t care about that much. Step aside, Timothy; I want to go back now.” Tessa used all her strength to push him away.
Although she felt terrible about disappointing Hathaway and the rest of the orchestra members, she was more worried about Nicholas. But Timothy didn’t let Tessa leave—he knew that this performance was her first major step toward her larger goals, and he didn’t want her to give up on that. Furthermore, Edward mentioned that Nicholas’ injuries weren’t that severe. Therefore, both siblings tugged on one another to prove their points.
Gregory stood around, uncertain of who to help. He was worried about Daddy but didn’t want Tessa to miss out on such an opportunity to perform. While the two siblings continued to argue with each other, Edward finally offered his opinion. “I think you should calm down, Miss Tessa. Tonight’s one of the most important nights that would bring you closer to your dreams, and President Sawyer had always hoped that you would do well. If you give up on this opportunity because of him, I’m sure he will be displeased. He wouldn’t want you to do that,” he said.
Tessa was momentarily speechless as she was taken aback by his words. When Edward noticed her silence, he continued. “Furthermore, President Sawyer isn’t sick. He’s just injured. Why don’t I return to the country while you stay and focus on your performance? How about that?”
Tessa was still hesitant at the start, but Timothy continued convincing her until she finally gave in.
…
Meanwhile, Janet returned to the side of his bed in the hospital where Nicholas was after ending Tessa’s call. She hoped that she would be the first thing Nicholas saw when he woke up.