Chapter 245: Make Your Deductions.

Chapter 245: Make Your Deductions.

Meanwhile...

"Yah! Yah! Hah!" Chacha beat the makeshift dummy mercilessly until its neck was almost falling and its body riddled with tears.

"Yah! Hah!" The situation for Second’s dummy was the same.

The two children unleashed their anger and frustrations in the clearing. Baby stood on the sidelines with a few of his colleagues, shaking their heads at the little master and miss. Their eyes veered to the pictures taped on the dummy’s head.

It was Atlas’s face.

"I will not forgive Daddy for hurting my mommy!" Chacha huffed sharply. "I will teach him a lesson."

"Chacha, practice more!" Second punched the dummy, then looked back at his sister. "We will challenge him later!"

"Mhm!"

And with that, the children continued their practice, dismembering the poor dummies.

"It’s been a while since I saw the little treasures of the Zorken family throw a tantrum," one of the men watching them murmured.

"I don’t think that’s what you call a tantrum," another replied. "That’s violence. Real violence."

They shook their heads, but weren’t worried that Atlas would see his pictures on the dummies.

"Who’s going to tell them he probably didn’t beat her the way they think?" One of the men wondered. "And that they might be expecting soon."

After all, the twins had been livid early this morning when they woke up. They rushed to their parents’ room, only to see Lola sleeping motionless like a log. From what they overheard, when they snuck under the bed and saw some "bruises" on her, they were startled.

Atlas’s remarks didn’t help, since he had told them it was his fault.

So the twins, with their wild imaginations, believed their father had let their mother get hurt—or perhaps that he was the cause.

Well, it was his doing, the men thought. But I’m sure she also had fun... maybe.

"Wow..." one of the men muttered. "We might actually welcome the madam on the island."

"The Zorken Family having a woman at the helm with him... I hope it changes things."

"He’ll kill us if he grows old alone, for sure."

Because Atlas had always worked them all to the bone. Unlike them, he had been single. He never understood that men with wives and families needed to persuade, to love, and to spend time with them.

"I never really interacted with her, but Baby, what do you think of her?" one of them asked, making the others turn to Baby.

Baby didn’t answer immediately, his eyes fixed on the twins. When he finally peeled his gaze away and looked at them, he said,

"Not sure."

"Huh?" They furrowed their brows. "Didn’t you like her?"

Baby sighed shallowly. "I do. But I don’t know if she will accept that this relationship... is not like any other relationship."

Cringy as it might sound, Atlas was a king. Maybe not royalty in the way the world defined it, but he held the power of one.

"No one will dare stop the boss from taking a woman in, no matter where she came from," Baby continued. "But if this relationship doesn’t work, it won’t just end in a breakup. She’ll end up dead."

Because if Lola became exposed to the environment of the secret society, she couldn’t just walk away. That’s how it had always been. And even though Atlas had never stopped fighting these old ways, he knew that unless he lived for two more centuries—or wiped out the entire secret society—nothing would change.

That was their reality.

"Man... how complicated." One of the men threw his hands behind his head. "He should’ve just agreed when it was proposed to take Scarlet as his wife. We wouldn’t have to worry about a disaster of a breakup—if it even happens."

A collective sigh escaped all of them as their eyes went back to the twins. They tried to push thoughts of this complicated relationship to the back of their minds... but it was something that would always linger.

*

*

*

At the same time,

"I already had a guess," she scoffed, running her tongue along her inner cheek. "I just didn’t think she would actually do something like this—or that she’d have this kind of power in LL Construction. But I guess Lawrence Young truly trusts his daughter."

Thanks to Atlas, Lola had finally confirmed what miracle Melissa had been pulling off to fund such a lavish lifestyle. And thanks to Atlas digging deeper, she now had a clearer angle: Melissa had secret funds.

Where had she gotten them?

"These substandard materials are one thing, but these kickbacks on all these projects where these funds came from is a different criminal offense," Atlas said, leaning back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other. "But since Lawrence Young signed off on all these documents, he’ll be the one to take the fall."

Lola laughed dryly, gazing at him. She wanted to say something, but was rendered speechless.

"All these years, he only treated her as his only daughter." She scratched her temple. "Yet she’s been stealing from him and putting him in huge trouble once this comes out."

This was a massive scandal, and once it surfaced, LL Construction would definitely declare bankruptcy.

"There’s another page in there." Atlas jerked his chin at the papers in her hand. "Check the next one."

Without hesitation, Lola flipped to the next page. It was a local news article about a collapsed building that killed several people about four years ago. The case was already closed because someone had been convicted and was serving time in prison.

The construction company behind the building was LL Construction. But the article cleared their names because someone else had already taken the fall.

"Wait a second..." Lola trailed off, checking the ledger. The account number showed where the money had gone. Aside from Hudson, Melissa had been funneling money into another account consistently.

"There are extra details on the page after that article," Atlas said calmly. "She’s not only funding this man from where it all started, but also a few others. One of the accounts belongs to a family member of the man in prison."

Lola’s mouth parted as she listened, scanning the other files. When she reached the last page, she slowly looked up at Atlas.

"I didn’t think she was that smart to pull all this off." She scoffed. "Is Melissa actually this sly?"

"Not her." Atlas tilted his head, propping his knuckles on his jaw. "I don’t know this Melili you’re talking about, but she sounds like an idiot. Someone else was doing it under her name. And Meliodas is probably aware of it too."

Lola’s face twitched. "It’s Melissa."

"In the Young family... who has better access to all the family business and Lawrence Young’s affairs?" He ignored her correction and continued, giving her a knowing look. "Make your deductions."

Realization dawned on her as a name and a face instantly came to mind.

"Jasmine... Young."