Chapter 318 The Stranger I Used to Know Well 5
I smiled, “I am not a chef in your favorite Michelin restaurants! So, go easy on me with your critiques!”
Uncle Link frowned, “Come on, kiddo. You are my god-daughter, I will love your cooking for sure.”
I smiled and brought Uncle Link home.
I had asked Nathan to pick up Clarie Bear for me in advance, so when Link and I arrived at the yard, they were already there.
Clarie Bear looked at Link Kennedy as if she knew something – She looked up at him and said, “Sir, I remembered seeing you from Mommy’s phone.”
I was stunned for a moment, and so was Link. He asks with confusion, “Oh, sweetie. So you know me?”
Clarie nodded, “Yes, you are here to catch the bad guys.”
I realized suddenly – Clarie must have seen the news and remembered! Sometimes when I watched the evening news, I would pay attention to the events going on in City P, and from time to time there would be news reports about Link Kennedy.
Clarie Bear had a great memory, so it was normal for her to recognize Link at first sight.
Pulling Clarie, I said, “Sweetie, don’t be rude. This is your grandpa.”
She raised her head to look at Link, and said lively, “Will grandpa help me catch the bad guys?”
Link bent down slightly, looked at her, and said warmly, “Who would you like Grandpa to catch for you, sweetheart?”
After thinking for a second, Clarie said, “The mean lady working at Uncle Nathan’s hotel. She always says mean things to mommy, and she calls me a wild kid.”
The child was pure-hearted. A while before I had brought Clarie with me when I was on cleaning duties at the hotel because I would worry sick about her if I had left her home all by herself. And occasionally, we would run into Antonia Gilbert. The woman was not kind and always spoke ill of me and Clarie Bear in our face.
I thought Clarie would have forgotten about this, and that she had spoken out today was surprising.
I grabbed her and said with a light smile, “Sweetie, grandpa came to join us for dinner today. Can we talk about catching the bad buys later? Mommy is giving you an easy task now – Can you and Joey take grandpa to the backyard? Ask grandpa what he would like to eat for tonight and pick some fresh ingredients for him, okay?”
Clarie nodded, “Sure, mama!”
After a pause, it seemed like she had remembered something, she grabbed Uncle Link’s hand and said, “Grandpa, let’s go! The grapes that mommy planted near the fence are ripe now, let’s go pick some!”
The little guy’s emotions came and went quickly. She was pulling Link to the backyard.
Nathan looked at me with a strange expression, “Are you Link Kennedy’s daughter?”
How should I explain this to him properly?
I pondered for a second, and I said, “Four years ago, he recognized me as his goddaughter, so technically he’s my godfather.”
Nathan went silent and stopped asking further.
Curiosity kills the cat. Sometimes the best state of the relationship between people was to respect the privacy and secrets of one another. We didn’t have to spy on each other.
Halfway through dinner, there appeared a sudden knocking at the door.
Clarie Bear was curious and she ran out immediately after she had heard the sounds outside the door. So I had to get up and follow behind her.NôvelDrama.Org content rights.
Before I could realize who was at the door, I heard Clarie’s voice, “Mommy, the mean lady is here!”
I was startled and rushed out to check it out. Antonia Gilbert came in with a haggard face, her eyes were red and swollen from crying.
Seeing me, Antonia walked towards me quickly, grabbed me, and knelt down before I could react.
She pulled me, crying, “Clara, it’s all my fault. I should never mess with you. It has nothing to do with my father. You can torture me all you want. But please leave my father out of this, he’s innocent.”
Hearing her words, I figured out what had happened. Link Kennedy had always been quick and accurate with his work, and his style of doing things was in a high position of power that had never been predictable.
I had thought that at least he would wait until tomorrow to take action after he had arrived in the HL Area – I didn’t expect it to be so soon.
It had only been a couple of hours, but Antonia had already come to our door to intercede.
I pursed my lips, pushed her hands away, took two steps back, and distanced myself from her, “Ms. Antonia, you came to the wrong person. I can’t save you or your father from any of your wrongdoings.”
Probably hearing the movement, Link and Nathan, who were eating in the house, came out to check on me.
Seeing it was Antonia, they were all stunned – They couldn’t help frowning.
Antonia barely watched the news, so it was rare for her to recognize Link. She immediately stepped forward when she had seen him out, and she said crying, “Mr. Kennedy, please cut my father some slacks. He is just an ordinary man. He has been honest and responsible for his work all these years. I was the one who messed up. I shouldn’t have been so arrogant and have caused so much trouble.”
She cried hysterically, “It was all my fault. Come at me if you want revenge. Don’t mess with my father, please. Mr. Kennedy, you are the man of power and are not afraid of anyone. But we are different, my father has always been a decent man. He has never done anything harmful or illegal. He’s just a small official struggling to make a living. He won’t survive fighting against you all.”
Every single word that came out of her mouth was an accusation of us being bullies, that we couldn’t tell right from wrong, and that Link was abusing his power.
Link Kennedy had been an honest and clean official all his life. Hearing what Antonia had said, he sank his face and didn’t respond to her.
Instead, Link looked at me. Obviously, he was signaling a question – Who the heck was the weird woman in front of us.
I pursed my lips and said, “She’s the only daughter of Derek Gilbert.”
Link’s eyes sank slightly, and he didn’t speak.
I looked at Nathan and said calmly, “You and Uncle Link take the kids back to finish dinner. I will handle this.”
Nathan looked at me and didn’t say much. He just looked at Link and said something to him in a low voice, and then they went in with the two children.
Link Kennedy was at the top of power, and there were certain things he couldn’t say – He just took a look at me and then went in.
So there were only me and Antonia now. I didn’t rush to speak, instead, I seated myself down and looked at her calmly.
Perhaps she had realized she was not taken seriously even after making such a big fuss about it. She was a bit frustrated, and her face became even worse.
Antonia looked at me. She seemed to calm down, “Clara Kennedy, what do you want from me?”
I smiled lightly, not even being aggressive. I just looked at her and said, “If I didn’t have the strong background you haven’t known of, perhaps I would have been the one who was begging for mercy now, right?”
The reason why Antonia had found two strong men was to make my life a living hell. I would be lucky if I could survive.
The worst scenario would be me being thrown into the wild, dead.
It was undeniable that sometimes your personal connections were life-saving, they could even become your weapon to avenge your revenge.
Antonia looked at me, suppressing her anger, “What do you want to do?”
I smiled lightly, “I am not going to do anything!” Looking at her, I pursed my lips, “I have already done all I need to do. Your father’s job and reputation are now all dependent on himself. If he’s honestly innocent, no one would be able to harm him. But if he isn’t, both you and your father would be in trouble. You just now accused that Mr. Kennedy was abusing his power of the high position to frame your father to get an act of personal revenge, it was already a slander in law. I have recorded every single word you just said, I hope it won’t be too embarrassing for you when we meet in court.”
“You…” Antonia was furious, and her chest heaved with anger, “Clara Kennedy, you are despicable.”
I really wasn’t in the mood to continue the argument with Antonia in my beautiful yard full of flowers. It would just be a waste of time and it was ruining my quality of life. So I smiled and said to her, “Ms. Antonia, go home. There’s nothing you can possibly do to help your father here. If anything, you would just make it worse and send him right into prison.”