The Tycoon's Gutsy Wife

Chapter 22: Culprits

Darien was about to respond, but then he caught a movement from the corners of his eyes.

The flash was quick and before he could move out of the way, he’d been shot.

Adeline watched in shock, her jaw dropping when she saw Darien falling on the ground, blood dripping out of his shoulder.

It was too much. It only took a second for her to regain her senses and quickly call for help.

Darien was still conscious, his teeth gritted together when Adeline tried to help him up, but he was twice her weight, making the task more difficult than it was supposed to be.

The birthday party immediately turned into chaos, with many guests leaving the party after finding out that Darien Hawthorne had been shot. The ambulance was called and took Darien away while Adeline followed behind.

Theodore wasn’t glad that Adeline had followed Darien to the hospital.

’Why does she care so much for him?’ He couldn’t help but wonder, but he wasn’t going to get his answer here.

"Everyone should go home. I’ll make sure to find out who did this," Mr. Donovan’s heavy voice rang in the almost empty living room where people were already starting to leave. He faced his family. "You all should go to sleep. Get more security to guard the mansion."

With that, he turned to leave as well.

At the hospital,

Adeline received the confirmation from the doctor that Darien was alright and only needed more rest.

She couldn’t help but worry about the news that the reporters posted that day. Since the Donovan family was not on good terms with the Hawthorne family, they completely twisted the story to make it look like a member of the Hawthorne family had orchestrated the attack.

This wasn’t good. Adeline knew this wasn’t good but there was nothing she could do at the moment.

It was just another speculation that would die once the attacker was caught.

A brilliant idea suddenly popped into Adeline’s mind. If she were able to catch the killer, perhaps, Darien would change his mind about his ridiculous offer and sign the business deal already.

Adeline left the office while making a phone call to a friend.

Meanwhile, in a furnished room in a mansion, an old man’s hand was clenched together, trying to hold his anger.

"I told you that man would be useless," Eric said, his face ugly with rage. "It was a perfect kill and now, we missed our opportunity to get rid of that boy."

To Eric, Darien was still a boy, a boy who was pleased with riches, making him think he had it all. But he was just a boy who was going to die soon.

"I’ve been trying to contact him for the past hour. It seems he’s been caught," said Mr. Hawthorne, Darien’s uncle.

This had been a perfect chance for him to kill Darien. He’d been so close, yet so far. He’d called the hospital only to find out the patient had been shot in his shoulder. Getting shot there wasn’t going to make him meet his creator.

Eric rubbed his head in frustration.

"So what are we to do now? If Darien finds that man, he’s going to open his mouth and reveal it was us."

Mr. Hawthorne stared at his son with disappointment evident in his gaze.

"Did you think I would ask someone to do a job so risky without having a backup plan?" He questioned.

His son immediately clamped his lips together.

Mr. Hawthorne sighed. "I have his family held hostage in case he tries to reveal anything, and he promised to kill himself if he was ever caught so I don’t hurt his family," he explained.

Eric’s shoulders relaxed for a while. "But then Darien is still going to have us as suspects after that."

"Will you keep quiet and let me think?!" Mr. Hawthorne suddenly snapped, forcing his son to take a few steps back. "After kicking me out of the meeting room just so he could listen to whatever that woman had to give, I felt so insulted. After my father and brother died, I thought I would finally have some power, but that little rat had to steal everything from me!"

His face was red with rage now, and Eric couldn’t help but be worried.

He poured a glass of water for himself through the jar sitting by the table.

"You need to relax. You can’t be stressing yourself like this. Darien is just one person. One day or the other, he’s definitely going to slip up and then we will use it against him," he said, but his father didn’t think the same way he did.

Darien may be one person, but he was too smart. Smart enough to spot a sniper from across an estate and move out of the way right before the bullet could touch his heart.

"Get out of here," said Mr. Hawthorne.

Eric was stunned at this. He parted his lips to say something but immediately gave up on the idea.

He simply turned and left his father’s bedroom while silently gritting his teeth.

His father may have a small amount of shares from the company but Eric didn’t even have up to one percent shares, making him the poorest Hawthorne family member with nothing to his name.

Yet, instead of hustling for his own money, he was patiently waiting for when they would permanently get rid of Darien, so he could finally have something to his name.

Back inside the bedroom, Mr. Hawthorne’s fists were clenched together, still enraged at how Darien was able to escape death once again.

"I can’t let this happen," he said out loud, his veins popping by the side of his ears. "I’ve waited long enough for this and I’m not going to let it slip through my fingers so easily."

He reached for his phone and quickly placed a call. In just five seconds, the person picked up the call.