On the way back, Harrison drove the car.
Simon Forrester was thinking about the witness in the bed-and-breakfast case and didn’t speak the entire way.
Coincidentally, it was rush hour, and the car got stuck halfway. Harrison, probably bored, asked, "Who were you seeing at the High Court?"
"An uncle," Simon Forrester said.
The Forrester Family had quite a few connections in politics, and Simon himself had a deep friendship with Tobias Blackwood. Harrison thought Simon might have gone to the High Court for Sienna Thornton’s matter and didn’t ask much more.
The car moved forward a bit and then stopped again.
Simon Forrester took out the note from his trench coat pocket, looking at the address of a small town over a thousand kiloters from Brimfield, and asked Harrison, "How’s the search for the witness in the bed-and-breakfast case going?"
"Still looking."
"Over a year and still no luck?"
Hearing Simon Forrester’s unfriendly tone, Harrison got nervous, "That woman seed to have vanished without a trace, not using a bank card, ID, old phone number, nor traveling by plane or train. It’s indeed hard to find her."
"Stop looking! Disband the team!"
"Oh."
The car was stuck for a while longer; as it got darker outside, Simon was anxious to get ho for dinner. He raised his wrist to check his watch, upset, "What ti is it? Why is the road so crowded?"
"It’s Monday." Harrison glanced at the rearview mirror at his boss’s increasingly dark face, "Weren’t you going ho?"
The implication being — it’s just ho, why rush?
Simon Forrester reached into his pocket to grab his phone, "Dinner’s already ready, wouldn’t it be cold if I get back too late?"
Harrison chuckled, "Lawyer Thornton cooked dinner for you? Boss, you are lucky. Finding Lawyer Thornton, not only is she successful, but she also cooks for you. Nowadays, young ladies hardly cook, let alone a law firm partner like Lawyer Thornton who earns millions annually..."
Harrison praised Sienna Thornton a lot, centering on envy for Simon Forrester.
Simon liked hearing others express envy over his relationship with Sienna. Harrison’s complints washed away the frustration he had suffered with Quentin Thorne earlier. His mood improved; even looking at the congested traffic outside didn’t bother him anymore, and a smile appeared involuntarily at the corner of his mouth.
Suddenly, his phone vibrated. Seeing it was Sienna calling, he picked it up imdiately and said, "I’m a bit stuck in traffic here, almost ho. If you’re hungry, eat first..."
After a mont, he said softly, "Oh, alright, I’ll order takeout. Don’t forget to eat while you work overti."
Harrison: "..."
.
After ending the call with Sienna, Simon dialed another number, and Harrison heard him say to the person on the other end, "Alright, I’ll be there in an hour."
Hanging up, Simon said, "To Northgate Vineyard." He wanted Tobias Blackwood’s help regarding the bed-and-breakfast case witness.
The car turned around at a traffic light, heading towards the outskirts. Upon reaching the countryside and passing through a grove of locust trees, the car stopped outside a manor with a touch of The South of France style.
Tobias, Jack Hawthorne, and Gage Grant were in the villa’s living room, tasting red wine flown in from Britione for a daughter’s first-year birthday party. Seeing Simon Forrester co in, they imdiately stood up to greet him, "Jules, you’re here? We were just talking about you."
"Really?" Simon walked over and sat opposite Gage Grant on a single sofa, "Gage, when did you get here?"
"Fifteen minutes before you." Gage laughed, pouring a glass of wine and handing it to him, "I heard from the old man at ho that you are planning a wedding?"
Simon gave a soft "Mm," took the wine glass, and smiled, "Next year."
Everyone raised their glasses to him, "Congratulations!"
Simon took a sip of the wine; just as he wanted to ntion the bed-and-breakfast case to Tobias, Jack suddenly put down his wine glass and ran behind him to massage his shoulders, "How’s your health lately?"
Simon replied lightly, "I’m not dead."
Jack laughed awkwardly, "That’s good, that’s good. If sothing happened to you, I couldn’t afford it."
Opposite them, Tobias swirled the dark red liquid in his clear wine glass, "Who’s the bride? The one who got caught by the village chief last ti? Or have you changed?"
Before Simon could respond, Jack eagerly said, "The bride is a lawyer! The sa Lawyer Thornton whose bed-and-breakfast was closed in less than two months..."
After speaking, he turned to Simon, "I heard from little Rowe that you invested a lot of money in that BnB?"
Simon didn’t respond, just held his wine glass and drank.
Sitting nearby, with his legs elegantly crossed and sipping wine, Gage laughed and said, "I know that Lawyer Thornton; I t her at Jules’ birthday party last year. She seed beautiful and pure, but I heard, when it cos to litigation... what’s the phrase? Oh, yes! Gentle but deadly!"
"Sienna Thornton?" Tobias asked.
Simon raised an eyebrow and glanced over.
Jack, still massaging his shoulders, looked at Tobias and asked, "How do you know our buddy’s girlfriend, Leo?"
Tobias put down his wine glass and smiled, "I also studied law; in Brimfield’s legal circles, there’s only one ’gentle but deadly’ lawyer, right?"
Then he turned to Simon, "Jules, you’ve got good taste. I’ve heard the Treaty and Law Departnt always wanted Lawyer Thornton to help, but she eventually opened her own practice?"
Simon replied, "She owed the bank so money from her previous bed-and-breakfast business and sold the house, so she wanted to earn so money first. She might consider the Treaty and Law Departnt in the future."
"You two are financially independent?" Jack leaned over to look at Simon, "So, what does she see in you?"
Simon self-deprecatingly said, "She probably likes that I’m older and know how to care for people."
The laughter of Jack and Gage burst forth imdiately.
Simon ignored the playful Jack and Gage, putting down his wine glass just as Tobias passed a cigar to him, which he declined with a smile, "I’ve quit smoking."
As he spoke, Jack reached from behind him, snatching the cigar and putting it in his own mouth.
Tobias tossed over a lighter; Simon caught it deftly and lifted his hand to light Jack’s cigar, "Smoke away."
Jack, holding his cigar, went to sit beside Gage.
Simon took out his phone and photographed the note given to him by Quentin Thorne earlier that afternoon, sending it to Tobias, "The witness in the bed-and-breakfast case retracted her statent, falsely accusing the defense lawyer of suborning perjury, then went into hiding. We recently found her, and I want to know who instructed her to do this."
With just a few words, Tobias understood, putting away his phone and saying lightly, "I’ll get back to you within a week."
After so more wine, the four moved to the dining room for dinner.
During the al, Jack seized the chance with Simon present to complain to Tobias about Sienna threatening to sue Hawthorne Group because of an injury Simon sustained on-site. In the spirit of not creating conflict among friends and maintaining unity, Tobias played the diator role, and Simon reluctantly agreed to drop the matter against Hawthorne Group.
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