lody Sumrs nodded with a sense of resignation. She knew Sylvia Lancaster had just returned to the Hayes family, so it was unlikely she was involved in Hector Hayes’s business, but it was still a sha.
Once Roman Rhodes had the full story, he slapped his thighs and stood up. He said to lody Sumrs, "Alright, even though Hector Hayes’s gang has been arrested, smaller criminal groups are still cropping up everywhere, using the darkness to cause trouble. It’s still very dangerous outside. You shouldn’t go running around for the ti being. Just stay put at ho."
lody Sumrs nodded. "Don’t worry, I promise I won’t."
’It’s going to snow in a few days,’ lody Sumrs thought. ’When it does, the snowflakes will be mixed with volcanic ash, and the pollution will be just as bad as when the city was choked with ash before. Of course I’m not going to be running around.’
Just then, Winnie Sumrs ca down the stairs.
Seeing Roman Rhodes in the living room, Winnie Sumrs asked in surprise, "Officer Rhodes, what brings you here? Is sothing the matter?"
The mont Roman Rhodes saw Winnie Sumrs, his body tensed. ’Oh no,’ he thought, his heart sinking. ’I’ve been working around the clock these past two days with absolutely no ti to rest. I must look totally haggard, and I probably have dark circles under my eyes!’
’How am I supposed to make a good impression like this?’
At this thought, the mating instinct hardwired into his male DNA sent alarm bells ringing in his head.
He quickly smoothed down his hair and straightened his collar before speaking. "I ca by to ask Sumrs a few questions, and I’m all done now... Are you heading to work at the supply point?"
Winnie Sumrs smiled and nodded. "I am."
Seeing Winnie Sumrs’s smile, Roman Rhodes felt his heart pound in his chest. He quickly said, "Actually, I’m heading over to the ergency managent office. It’s on your way, let give you a ride!"
Winnie Sumrs said, a little bashfully, "Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do that. Don’t go out of your way. I can just walk over with my neighbors from the residents’ patrol team."
But Roman Rhodes insisted, "It’s really on my way. And it’s freezing out. Please, don’t say no."
Seeing his insistence, Winnie Sumrs felt she couldn’t refuse any longer and nodded. "Well, thank you then, Officer Rhodes."
Winnie Sumrs already had fair skin, and today she was wearing a dark overcoat that made her complexion seem to glow.
As Roman Rhodes watched her approach, his palms grew so sweaty with nerves that he wiped them on his pants, forcing himself to calm down.
lody Sumrs, completely oblivious to Roman Rhodes’s crush, cheerfully saw him and Winnie Sumrs out the door.
Standing at the front door, right in front of Winnie Sumrs, Roman Rhodes turned and patted lody Sumrs on the shoulder. "The lead you provided was a huge help to us this ti," he said formally. "Thank you for your cooperation. I’ll apply to have a comndation added to your permanent record. You’re a good kid. I have high hopes for you, so keep up the good work!"
lody Sumrs: "..."
lody Sumrs was completely baffled. She couldn’t understand why Roman Rhodes had changed his tune so quickly. A mont ago, he was scolding her for being too reckless, and now he was praising her?
’Not even a Sichuan opera face-change is this dramatic.’
Though she had no idea what Roman Rhodes was thinking, lody Sumrs still nodded hesitantly and replied, "...Okay."
Next door, Ronan Rhodes and Sophie Thorne stood on their second-floor balcony, silently watching the scene unfold at the Sumrs family’s front door.
Ronan Rhodes grabbed Sophie Thorne’s arm, pointed at lody Sumrs’s front door, and whisper-shouted, "See! See that? I told you! My uncle totally has a thing for lody Sumrs!"
Sophie Thorne pulled her hand free from his grasp with a hint of annoyance. "...This doesn’t prove anything," she said hesitantly. "This and everything else you’ve said... it’s all too far-fetched."
But Ronan Rhodes insisted, "How is it far-fetched? When has my uncle ever cared this much about anyone else?! And most importantly, he got that brooch from my grandpa! If he isn’t trying to woo a woman, why would he take the brooch? Is he going to wear it himself?"
Sophie Thorne thought for a mont, still unconvinced. "But lody never got the brooch. Besides, she gave the police a lead. Isn’t it perfectly normal for your uncle to co over and get more information? It’s not necessarily what you think."
Ronan Rhodes started to get agitated. "Honey, why won’t you believe ? You think I don’t know my own uncle? You haven’t seen how lancholic he’s been lately, like so love-struck fool suffering from his first crush... He wasn’t even this downcast when he was investigating that serial killer case!"
Hearing this, Sophie Thorne was swayed. Then she frowned. "If what you’re guessing is true... that’s completely inappropriate! Ronan, why are you so happy about this? Your uncle is old enough to be lody’s father! Don’t tell you want to play matchmaker for them?!"
Roman Rhodes was handso, powerful, and high-ranking, with a boundless future ahead of him, but he was, after all, in his forties.
It hadn’t even been two years since lody Sumrs graduated from college. They were a whole generation apart!
Ronan Rhodes froze. He carefully gauged Sophie Thorne’s expression and mumbled, "That’s true... but it’s rare for my uncle to like soone at his age..."
Sophie Thorne shook her head, her expression serious. "It doesn’t matter if it’s rare! lody is so young, and there’s more than a twenty-year age gap between her and your uncle!"
Ronan Rhodes muttered indignantly, "My uncle’s only in his forties. He’s in his pri. That’s not old..."
’In Ronan Rhodes’s eyes, plenty of twenty-year-old girls would be lining up to marry a man with his uncle’s status, position, and family background.’
’Besides, an older man with a younger wife was standard practice for the rich and powerful. There was that one Ming Dynasty Emperor who married a woman seventeen years his senior, and he was endlessly mocked by posterity for it. But when it’s the other way around, when a man marries a woman seventeen years younger, most people think it’s perfectly normal!’
’So, Ronan felt his uncle wasn’t the one who wasn’t good enough for lody Sumrs. If anyone was reaching, it was lody reaching for Roman Rhodes. After all, the disparity in their social standing and family background was plain to see! Was a small age gap like that really a problem?’
Sophie Thorne still shook her head. "When lody is forty and in her pri, your uncle will be in his sixties! When she’s sixty or seventy and her golden years are just beginning, your uncle will be in his nineties! How many people live to be ninety-sothing? Do you want lody to spend her old age all alone?"
At this, Sophie Thorne looked at Ronan disapprovingly and demanded, "Ronan, what exactly do you think marriage is?!"
Hearing that, Ronan Rhodes knew she was getting angry. He quickly threw his hands up in surrender and tried to placate her. "Hey, honey, don’t be mad. This is all my uncle’s idea! He’s the one with the fantasy about robbing the cradle, I’ve never thought that! If you’re not happy about it, I’ll stop ddling from now on!"
Just then, Ronan Rhodes’s phone suddenly rang.
Seeing the call was from the office, Ronan Rhodes answered. His ek deanor vanished, replaced by the mature, composed President Rhodes he was in front of his employees. "Yes, what is it?"
Ronan’s brow furrowed as he listened to the person on the other end. "...Alright, just handle it by the book. This is a critical ti for our cooperation with the governnt. Don’t let this blow up."
As Sophie Thorne watched him quizzically, Ronan hung up and said, looking utterly baffled, "Honey, you rember lody Sumrs’s biological brother, Simon Lancaster? He’s been reported for interfering in soone’s marriage and having an illicit affair!"
******
The manager at Rhodes Enterprises hung up the phone and turned to Simon Lancaster’s departnt head, who was waiting nearby. "Fire Simon Lancaster," he said. "Effective imdiately."
An hour earlier, Ethan Sutton’s mother had co to Rhodes Enterprises to report that one of their employees, Simon Lancaster, was having an affair with her daughter-in-law and had gotten her pregnant.
Simon Lancaster’s departnt head was stunned as he reviewed the docunts and evidence Ethan Sutton’s mother had brought with her.
’Simon Lancaster had gotten involved with his own sister, Sylvia Lancaster! And they’d had a child together!’
Once the initial shock wore off, the departnt head imdiately went to find Simon Lancaster to verify the claim. To his astonishnt, Simon Lancaster silently admitted to everything!
The departnt head found it all utterly unbelievable!
Normally, this kind of minor issue wouldn’t be escalated to Ronan Rhodes. But this departnt head was a savvy operator. He knew that Simon Lancaster’s previous demotion and transfer had been the result of a direct order from Ronan’s office. Now that this had happened, he was afraid he’d be dragged down with Simon if he mishandled it, so he imdiately reported the matter up the chain.
Now that he had his order, he nodded and said, "Understood. I’ll go inform him now."
The departnt head returned to his office to find Simon Lancaster waiting in front of his desk, a look of utter defeat on his face.
The departnt head paused for a mont, then walked over to Simon Lancaster and said in a disappointed tone, "Lancaster, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but how could you do sothing like this? You know the standards Rhodes Enterprises expects from its employees. After sothing like this, I can’t protect you. Go and take care of your termination paperwork."
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