Chloe returned to the top floor and stood in front of the penthouse door for at least fifteen minutes. She was trying to gather her courage because Vernon must've been waiting inside, probably with a sour face and his arms crossed, ready to yell at Chloe for being so stupid.
She really disliked fighting with Vernon in any way. Though he never hit her like Vincent, Vernon held a special place in her heart.
Just the idea of being yelled at could crush Chloe's heart.
"But I have to face her. I have no other choice," Chloe reminded herself. He took a deep breath and said, "Here goes nothing."
Click.
Chloe entered the penthouse, and her guess was right.
Vernon was standing menacingly in the middle of the foyer. He stood straight, with his arms crossed on his chest. He looked pissed, even more so when Chloe finally entered the penthouse.
Chloe swallowed her saliva with difficulty. She carefully approached the raging tiger and said, "Wait, before you say something, we should do this in your room. I don't know how loud we can be. I don't want to wake Mackie up and let her see this...."
Vernon had a quick thought about it before nodding, "Come to my room, we will solve this tonight."
Thus, Chloe walked towards Vernon's room, followed by the giant behind him. They entered the room, and Vernon locked the door behind him.
He leaned on the door while Chloe stood about three feet away. His eyes peered at him as he tried to maintain his intimidation in front of Chloe.
He felt that Chloe started to do whatever she liked without caring for her own safety.
"First of all...." Chloe said as she opened the conversation. "I should say thank you to you. I don't know what I will do if you won't allow the boys to come with us tonight...."
Vernon scoffed, "They'll be in foster home or under police's custody for a while, and they will be okay. You don't need to be Mother Teresa all the time, Chloe."
Chloe gulped.
She knew it was mostly her fault for bringing troubles into him, but she felt what she did was right, so she tried to argue back, "They are in danger, Vernon. You know how angry Vincent will get once he knows that Chelsea failed to kill all of them."
Vernon's lips thinned, "Tell me about the problem first. What truly happened between Chelsea and Vincent?"
Chloe paused for a moment before she began recalling the events told by the Officer and tried to come up with the most logical chain of events based on her experience dealing with Chelsea and Vincent.
"The viral video from today's event angered Vincent so much. He was ashamed because his public image has been smeared by Chelsea who claimed to be his future wife. So he met with Chelsea at night and used Chelsea's insanity and delusion to do his bidding."
"He offered Chelsea a hand-in marriage in exchange for her murdering her entire family, Judith and the four sons of hers. Of course she accepted because she was crazy in love with Vincent," Chloe explained. "Judith... my mother... She died after getting backstabbed three times. But the boys were smart enough to barricade themselves and hide inside their room. The Officer said Aaron, the oldest of them, called 911."
"Chelsea was arrested, and now the boys are here..." Chloe lowered her head, feeling guilty that she had to keep asking for Vernon's help. "You know Vincent, right? He is the type that will not tolerate any failure in his plan. He will definitely hunt for the boys and kill them one by one, or at least traumatize them enough that they will never remember about what happened to their mother and grandma...."
"So please, Vernon. I'm begging you, please let them stay here. They need protection. They have nobody but me and I can't just let them die in Vincent's hand!" Chloe begged. Her voice began to get shaky because she was holding her tears.
She kept imagining Vernon kicking the boys out because he didn't want any more trouble.
It was his right, honestly, and Chloe couldn't fight him if he wanted to do that. After all, they were still technically living on Vernon's property, so it was all Vernon's right to do whatever.
But she also had a firm belief that Vernon wasn't that coldhearted. He might have an imposing figure and an intimidating aura, but he could be gentle, just like how he treated Chloe and Mackie.
Vernon took a deep breath. He tried his best not to raise his voice in front of Chloe, knowing that it might trigger her trauma, "You're being very careless, Chloe. You allow your emotion clouding your judgment. Do you know what kind of danger you just put yourself in? You're going to be targeted by Vincent directly!"
"But I already told the Officer not to say my name if any of Vincent's men asked about the boys' whereabouts!" Chloe defended herself. "I told them to say that the boys are in foster care right now!"
"Do you really think those goons will trust that Officer? Oh, don't be so naive, Chloe," Vernon sneered. "Vincent will search for the boys, and I can do so much to protect you and everyone without exposing myself."
"And what would you do if the Child Protection Service tried to find them? They are government-owned, it'd be difficult for me to tamper with them!" Vernon began to raise his voice unknowingly. "I'm doing everything I could to protect you from that bastard, but you can't keep making things hard for me, Chloe!"
Chloe jolted when Vernon raised his voice. She tried to keep her calm as she didn't want to be seen as weak in front of him. But her face paled instantly, and Vernon noticed it.
He clenched his fist, trying not to rush to Chloe to hug her. There was an urge to just drop this whole thing and apologize to Chloe, but he couldn't let her keep being reckless!
Chloe tried to maintain her composure. Despite his protest, Chloe still believed that she was doing the right thing.
Thus she said, "I--I will find a way to solve this problem myself. P--Please let them stay for a while until I can find a way, okay?
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