Isla blushed, too embarrassed to discuss this topic.
It was clear that she could not wait to accept Alex’s confession, but she could not speak out what was in her heart.
She had to admit that falling in love with a straight man was a rather torturous affair.
Alex was in no hurry to confess his love to Isla and did not want to take that step casually. The Internet said that life needed a sense of ritual. When it came to love, a confession was only second in importance to marriage, and one should strive to make that event perfect. He must not be hasty.
He had to wait for the conditions to be ripe and find a suitable opportunity to do it…
The next day, Alex did not have any other plans and went to Golden Stone Corporation with Isla.
Now that the company was running very well, it was enough to have Isla presiding over it.
Alex knew that he did not have to worry about Golden Stone. Instead, he had not been to Hudson Designs and met Felix Moore for a long time. Since there was nothing else to do today, he said goodbye to Isla and went to Hudson Designs with Big Ken.
Along the way, Jane Simpson called. “Mr. Cohen, are you free now? My Uncle wants to talk to you.”
Alex paused. “Captain Simpson should be recuperating from his injury now, \why do I feel that he’s even busier now than before he was injured? I’m free anytime, but he shouldn’t overwork himself. Jane, ask him if it’s urgent. If it isn’t, we’ll wait until he recovers from his injury.”
“Uncle said that it’s urgent. He needs to talk to you as soon as possible.”
“Okay… I’ll go over now.”
Alex knew that Harvey Simpson was a workaholic, so he did not say much and told Big Ken to change the route, rushing to Military Hospital.
When Harvey saw Alex, he immediately told Jane to raise the hospital bed. He signaled the medical staff to leave and asked Jane to shut the door, making it seem very secretive.
Alex’s curiosity was aroused, but Harvey’s cautious actions also made him nervous. He quickly pulled a chair and sat down beside the hospital bed, asking impatiently, “Captain Simpson, did something happen?”
“Yes!”
Captain Simpson nodded solemnly and said slowly, “Mr. Cohen, do you already know Leo’s identity?”
“You mean the person who was working with Chase Lucas?”
“That’s him.”
“I heard that he’s the henchmen of the big drug lord, Keon Wells?”
“If you know Leo’s identity, then it’ll be easier to understand what I’m about to say next. He has been arrested by our joint efforts and will be sentenced soon. I was originally in charge of this case, but after I was injured, the case was handed over to the vice captain. This morning, the vice captain called me and said that he got a tip-off that Keon Wells took Leo’s arrest very seriously and will put aside the matter of earning money…”
“So? Keon Wells wouldn’t try to organize a jailbreak, right?”
“It’ll be a good thing for our narcotics division if he really only wanted to cause a jailbreak. Since we’ve already done enough preparations, if he dares to come, then we’ll ensure that he’ll never return. The problem is that Keon Wells is a shrewd person and will most likely not do something that stupid. In that case, what can he do if he can’t save Leo?”
“Take revenge for Leo?”
“Exactly! According to the tip, Keon Wells sent a lot of people, all of whom are ruthless. I don’t know where those people went, and I don’t know what specific orders Keon Wells gave, but I can guess that they definitely want to avenge Leo. This way, the people who contributed to Leo’s capture are in danger, and you are bound to become the number one target of those people!”
“I knew that something more would happen to that incident…”
“Mr. Cohen, I called you here today just to remind you that you must be doubly careful. You should have known for a long time that Keon Well’s men are much more formidable than street thugs. It’s no exaggeration to say that they’re all vicious people who would die for money. No matter how arrogant street gangsters are they’ll only dare to use blunt weapons, but almost every single one of those drug dealers has a gun!”
“Thank you for the warning, Captain Simpson. I’ll be more careful.”
“Well… The police will also be vigilant all the time.”
Captain Simpson thought about it but did not speak out the suggestion of arranging police officers to protect Alex.
Even if he did, Alex would most likely refuse, and it would also be an insult to Big Ken.
After all, protecting Alex Cohen was Big Ken’s main job.
However, just because Captain Simpson did not say it did not mean that he abandoned the idea. If it was inconvenient to say it out loud, he would just arrange for it secretly…
Alex knew long ago that Keon Wells was not someone to be trifled with. After listening to Harvey Simpson’s warning, his level of precaution against Keon Wells raised a level. After saying goodbye to Harvey and getting into the car, he called Francis Cohen and Aaron Lindstrom and reminded them to be more careful. He told them to be on guard like they were when being wary of Chase Lucas.
Alex originally thought of letting Francis Cohen live in the city as soon as possible after settling things.
However, there was potential danger now and the situation had changed, so it was better to let Francis stay in the countryside for a while longer.
Immediately afterwards, Alex arranged another task for Symore to send more people to guard Mallow Village and take security precautions. They must also be prepared to move Francis Cohen and Aaron Lindstrom, and prevent them from being taken hostage. Otherwise, Alex would be forced into a defensive position.
If Keon Wells’s men caught this lifeline, the consequences would be unthinkable!
Big Ken waited for Alex to finish his call before saying in a serious manner, “Young Master, ordinary people will only be cannon fodder against Keon Wells’s men. In order to better protect you and the people you care about, I think we should ask the Master to send some help, people who are at the level of Hunter Yates and me and have gun permits, and carry guns with them.
In the past, in order to prove himself, Alex would not have taken the initiative to ask the family for help except as a last resort.
However, after a little consideration now, he nodded and agreed. “Big Ken, I’ll leave this matter to you…”
Big Ken nodded and immediately sent a message to Wayne Larson explaining the situation, and continued to ask, “Young Master, are we still heading to Hudson Designs?”
“Hm… Forget it. We’ll go back to Golden Stone.”
Alex used to want to expand his connections as much as possible and was happy to walk around, but as Big Ken said, in order to better protect the people who he cared about now, it was best to minimize walking around until the danger from Keon Wells was eliminated. That was because there was a possibility of the people close to him being captured as hostages by Keon Wells.
Thus, Alex gave up on meeting Felix Moore and simply called him up for a chat.
Back at Golden Stone, Alex truthfully relayed the information that Harvey Simpson said to Isla. There were many people he cared about now, but if he had to rank them, there were two who he cared about the most. One was Francis Cohen, and the other was Isla Sullivan.
After finishing the talk, Alex leaned on Isla and said sincerely, “I’m sorry, Isla. I caused a lot of trouble and put the people around me in a dangerous situation, especially you. You could have lived an easy and comfortable life…”
Isla curled her lips and said, “Alex, I really don’t like you fighting and killing, but I also understand. You said something that was very reasonable once. If you don’t look for trouble from others, others will look for trouble from you. You have a special status and can enjoy a lot of preferential treatment. This wasn’t your choice but was determined by your identity. However, the heavens are fair and won’t give everything good to one person. As the saying goes, money comes from danger. It’s often impossible to have both wealth and comfort.”
“Is that what you really think?”
“Of course! Alex, don’t apologize to me for this anymore. As long as you follow my advice and protect yourself, I won’t blame you.”
“Isla, my heart feels much better after listening to what you said.”
Alex could feel that Isla’s nature had changed greatly. She was getting closer and closer to becoming a ‘virtuous wife’.
What Isla just said not only made his heart feel more comfortable, it also made him more determined to pursue her. The reason why he felt that the time was not ripe to confess to Isla was because he was worried that she would not be able to accept constantly having to live in fear…
As Alex analyzed, Isla did make certain compromises in order to be together with him.
To accept him was to accept his state of life.
As the two talked, Isla’s phone rang. It was from Victor Sullivan.
Isla answered the call and said to Alex, “My dad asked us to have dinner together in the evening.”
“Hm?” Alex was surprised. “Did something happen?”
“My dad didn’t say, but… He must have something he wants to say. We’ll see if you have time. If you’re not free, I’ll just go by myself.”
Isla finished speaking and stared intently at Alex.
Although she said that Alex could refuse to go, her heart still desperately hoped that he would agree.
That was because she knew what her dad wanted to see Alex for.
Alex did not see what Isla was thinking but still nodded without hesitation. “It’s quite embarrassing to say, but it seems I haven’t met your father since he was discharged from the hospital. Since he took the initiative to invite me, I definitely have to go… I can’t go empty-handed either.”
Isla said joyfully, “You’re not an outsider. Are you going to bring a gift?”
“I should prepare one…”
Alex was determined to pursue Isla, so Victor Sullivan would be his future father-in-law.
Although they were old acquaintances, everyone knew that when visiting the father-in-law as a prospective son-in-law, one must never go empty-handed.
In the afternoon, Alex went out and bought several tens of thousands of dollars in gifts.
As soon as he got off work, he took Isla back to the place where they had lived for more than three months.
Isla deliberately hired a housekeeper for the family. When they arrived home, the housekeeper had already prepared a sumptuous dinner.
After seeing Alex’s strength, Victor Sullivan’s attitude towards him was not as bad as before.
Furthermore, Alex had later become his benefactor, so he was very polite to Alex now.
However, Xena Sanders still continued to put on airs and act humbler. She felt a little awkward facing Alex now and hardly spoke to him during the meal.
After dinner, Victor sent Isla to wash the dishes and then said to Alex, “Could you play chess with me?”
“Of course…” Alex agreed without thinking. “Mr. Sullivan, I didn’t know you had this hobby.”
“I’ve liked it since I was a child, but I used to be so busy at work that I didn’t have time to play. After I was discharged from the hospital, I took out the dusty chess set…”
Victor talked while bringing Alex to the study.
Xena Sanders also entered and even closed the door.
Alex saw this situation and knew at a glance that Victor and Xena had something to say to him alone.
Victor spoke casually while setting up the chess board, “Alex, how have you been getting along with Lala lately?”
Alex nodded. “Pretty well.”
“Ah… I heard that you guys got your divorce done?”
“Yeah. It was originally a contract marriage, so we should have divorced.”
“Then, how do you plan on getting along in the future?”
Victor inviting Alex to play chess was just a pretext. Now that they started to talk about business, Victor stopped arranging the board and stared straight at Alex.
Alex guessed what Victor wanted to say. He hesitated for a moment before gritting his teeth and saying, “Mr. Sullivan, to be honest, I… I want to woo Lala. Although we had a contract marriage, once had a lot of conflicts, and did not seem like we could end up at this point together, the world is unpredictable, and a spark lit up between us. Although we haven’t expressed our feelings for each other yet, I can feel that our hearts have come together.”
“I saw that coming a long time ago…”
Victor’s smile became brilliant.
He had indeed long seen the extraordinary relationship between Alex and Isla. When Isla came to get the marriage certificate, he had also asked. At that time, Isla did not hide anything and said everything truthfully. Today, he called Alex not to ask about his intentions, but to test him…
