Thousands of Brilliant Stars: You Deserve the Best!-Chapter 56: Lachlan Wyatt’s Past—What Did He Go Through?
On the deck, Mason Hawthorne, holding a glass of champagne, looked indifferently at them in the sea and said to James Chesterton, "Why provoke Lachlan Wyatt when there’s nothing better to do?"
James Chesterton spat out the seawater that had gotten into his mouth and, not one to admit defeat, said from his position in the little yellow duck float, "My attack power’s weakened in the ocean, come on land if you dare, and we’ll 1v1!"
Lachlan Wyatt, twisting out of the water with Iris Crawford in tow, laughed with a hint of menace, "Do you believe I won’t deflate your little yellow duck float the next second?"
James’ face turned pale with fear, and his two legs splashed out of the water, "Spare me!"
They carried on like this for the whole afternoon, and by the time they returned to shore, the orange sunset had already spread its evening light over the azure horizon. Iris Crawford walked down from the deck, still a bit damp, and Peach handed over a towel. She wrapped herself in it and went to stand behind Sarah Shaw. "What’s the plan for tonight?"
Sarah Shaw was threading meat onto skewers. "My brother has arranged an open-air barbecue for you all tonight on the deck, with locally brewed fresh beer too!"
The mention of good food naturally made everyone happy. Amidst the cheer, Sarah pointed at Iris and said, "But my brother said he needs to see you and Lachlan. You both should go over."
Iris was a bit taken aback. What could be important enough for him to call specifically for her?
Slowly, step by step, she walked over and found a tall, slender figure standing at the corner of the deck, facing the sea breeze. Hearing something, the figure turned and waved at them.
Recognizing the familiar white gloves, Iris immediately identified Elias Shaw. She approached and asked, "Is there something you want me for?"
"Why the bad attitude?" Elias Shaw frowned as soon as he heard her tone. The woman beside Lachlan was indeed quite capable, but she seemed to have a bit of a temper and didn’t respect anyone.
He had a file in his other hand and handed it to Iris. "Didn’t you say before there was something about the Jacobs Family? I’m giving these to you now."
Iris took the heavy-looking file, feeling puzzled, "You mean... you found information about the Jacobs Family from Peter Marshall?"
"Yes, the Jacobs Family didn’t have financial issues a few years back, but they have started recently." Elias Shaw handed a USB drive to Lachlan Wyatt, "This is what you wanted."
Lachlan took the USB and casually put it in his pocket without saying a word, leaving Iris curious, "You’re investigating the Jacobs Family too?"
"It’s none of your business." Lachlan flicked Iris on the forehead, "You should focus on your evidence; my affairs are not for you to worry about."
"..." Iris rolled her eyes. She wasn’t really interested in meddling; she was just asking.
As she read the words on the paper, Iris felt her hand start to tingle, "The Jacobs Family’s financial problems began after... I died?"
"To be precise, it started after Yvonne Jennings became a shareholder of the Jacobs Family." Elias adjusted his gloves, his handsome face devoid of any other expression. "In a family as prominent as the Jacobs, any financial disturbance would naturally draw our attention. However, we hadn’t found any evidence until the Peter Marshall incident."
"Money laundering? Or tax evasion?" Iris was a bit anxious. This was enough material to bring down Jordan Jacobs. How could he possibly be unaware of this?
"Further investigation is needed, but you can see that in the past two years, Yvonne Jennings, as a shareholder of the Jacobs Family, has been transferring money to an account starting with J."
Elias pointed to a series of account numbers, "So you can see their relationship is quite close, probably in constant contact. We have currently traced the owner of this account to be overseas, and..."
Lowering his voice, Elias glanced at Lachlan, "Is it okay for her to hear this?"
Lachlan sneered, and the inexplicable tone of it sent a chill down Iris’ spine.
She was a little stunned, "What can’t I hear?"
Lachlan clicked his tongue, "Go ahead."
"Oh." Elias took a deep breath and continued, "The owner of this account appears too normal, which makes it suspicious."
What kind of logic was this?
Iris still looked confused, "Does this have anything to do with Lachlan?"
Beside her, Lachlan’s eyes had a look as if he had met an arch-enemy. Who exactly was the owner of the opposite account, and why would Yvonne Jennings transfer money to him?
"I think the idea of your kidnapping came from this account holder." Elias, being in a high position, naturally understood everything, having heard some rumors, "You and Yvonne Jennings might have been kidnapped under this person’s orders, while Jordan Jacobs..."
Elias glanced at Lachlan’s expression and said, "Was nothing more than a scapegoat... used by someone."
Iris felt like she had heard some incredible news, "Even Jordan Jacobs could be used?" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
"Of course, his affair was a fact." Elias clapped his hands and said, "If he hadn’t had an affair, maybe this person wouldn’t have been able to kidnap you and Yvonne Jennings at the same time. It was precisely his affair that gave others the chance."
Thinking about it, indeed, her kidnapping was quite strange. She had been in the hospital at the time, which should have been well-guarded, yet she was drugged and taken away. This meant that the person doing all this must have been very professional and skilled. Yet, the kidnappers were impulsive and brutal at the time, unlike someone capable of such a meticulous operation.
"The one behind it and the kidnappers were two different groups." Iris frowned, "Does that mean getting rid of Jordan Jacobs and Yvonne Jennings can lead us to the mastermind?"
"Maybe."
Elias finished saying all this and looked at the endless sea horizon. He said, "Some are executors, some are strategists, and so far, we’ve only encountered the ones working for this person, not the mastermind."
Could it be that the mastermind behind the incident where Crystal Rhodes drugged was also this person... Was it that Yvonne Jennings wanted to harm her, Iris, and therefore used Dane Rivers as the scapegoat; at the same time, someone else wanted to harm Lachlan, so they got Crystal to drug him, leading to the chaos of two drugging attempts at the same time?
As a result, the wine intended for Lachlan was drunk by Iris, which caused both plans to unravel and halt. In the end, Crystal, who acted first, got caught, while Dane realized he had been used as a pawn and managed to escape responsibility.
Was Lachlan helping her in order to find this mastermind?
Iris looked at Lachlan with suspicion, "But why me?"
Using her hatred to get Iris Crawford to lend him a helping hand? Iris couldn’t understand, "What grudge do you have against him? Did you also lose something because of him?"
Lachlan Wyatt didn’t answer, his expression terrifyingly cold.
Iris didn’t press further, feeling that if she continued to question him, Lachlan might have an emotional outburst. He had never so openly displayed his emotions about anything before, which only indicated that Lachlan must have gone through intense heartache over something back then.
It’s just...
Iris looked blankly at Lachlan’s resistant profile, so menacing yet strikingly handsome. Lachlan... did you ever fall in love with someone?
After achieving significant progress with Elias Shaw, Iris honestly thanked him, which surprised Elias a bit. He had originally thought Iris would never bow her head, yet unexpectedly, she sincerely thanked everyone who helped her.
This woman isn’t heartless; her armor is just too tough. If you treat her even slightly well, she’ll include you in her protective circle.
Iris left first, and Elias watched her back and said to Lachlan, "The past is gone, holding on to grudges is futile."
Lachlan knew what Elias was referring to. The man smiled devilishly and replied, "It’s just some unsettled accounts."
"But don’t you have good people around you now?" Elias nodded in the direction Iris left, saying, "Iris is quite good."
Lachlan let out a derisive laugh. At that moment, his eyes were cold and piercing, devoid of any of the usual flirtatious banter with Iris. He averted his eyes and said mercilessly, "Completely not the same kind of people."
"Hiss." Elias crossed his gloved hands, shaking his head in amazement, "Seems like I overthought it."
Was it really overthinking? Lachlan? Elias didn’t voice this question.
Lachlan walked towards the direction where Iris and the others were barbecuing. Hector Sutton was feeding the grilled beef to Iris, but just as it was about to reach her, a head popped out and gobbled up the piece of meat.
Hector glared angrily, "Spit it out, James Chesterton!"
James chewed the beef, saying, "Overcooked, if you want to woo women, polish your skills first!"
Hector was so furious he wanted to skewer him, "I’ll grill you instead, believe it or not!"
Before he could finish, James’ phone rang.
Opening it, he found it was Patrick Pierce.
Rare indeed, Patrick initiated contact with them.
Once connected, the other side shouted, "Where’s Iris!"
James was stunned, then said, "Right beside me, we’re barbecuing. What, missing us?"
"Vera is holding a press conference! It’s about the previous conflict with Iris in the set." Patrick’s voice was urgent, "Tell Iris to come back quickly, I just got the news that a female star is about to be banned, named Gia. The news spread through the circle that she and her backer were caught, so Gia is about to announce her exit from the industry, and all her resources were seized by Vera!"
All resources snatched by Vera?
Listening on speaker, Iris heard it too and was startled, "Why?"
"Behind Vera is the Jacobs Family." Patrick told Iris over the phone, "Gia was quite popular, taking away quite a number of her fans. Now that Gia is being banned, Vera would undoubtedly shine, and as she bears grudges, she’ll definitely target you, so Iris, be prepared for Vera’s various tactics. Since your filming starts, you’ve already stepped one foot into this circle."
Iris laughed crisply, "What can she do to me, send someone to kill me?"
Patrick was silent for a long while, then said, "You still don’t understand how much damage cyberbullying can do..."
Iris was silent, after a moment Patrick urged her to come back soon, and then hung up the call.
"I’m not even in this circle." Iris gritted her teeth grilling skewers, "Can’t even have peace on vacation, it’s really annoying!"
Beside her, Lachlan said quietly, "It’s only normal, Gia was Peter Marshall’s person, connected with that behind-the-scenes manipulator, and so was the Jacobs Family. After Peter’s downfall, Gia’s resources would naturally be reclaimed by the Jacobs’ artists, so as not to incur loss."
Round and round, it still ended up in that mysterious person’s hands.
Perhaps Vera is no different from Gia. Appearing as a high-ranking star, but actually a pawn in someone else’s hands.
But... was it really that easy to snatch away Gia’s resources? Remembering Gia’s face of despair yet still forcing a smile, Iris felt a pang in her heart.
She seemed to see the vulnerable and powerless self.
How could she let Gia be torn apart by them?
Looking at the sizzling barbecue, Iris laughed out loud, "No matter how powerful he is, I will break through it all!"
Lachlan grunted, placing a freshly grilled skewer to Iris’ mouth, and she ate without looking closely.
Beside her, Hector was so furious his mouth was lopsided, "I just grilled that! Why did you take it!"
Lachlan laughed arrogantly, "You didn’t write your name on it."
Hector turned to scold James, "Why don’t you eat what he fed Iris?"
James, exasperated, said, "Can’t beat him..."
