Chapter 561 - Finding His Mother-in-Law
"The bodyguard is dead, and Preston is missing?" Frederick was stunned for a moment before immediately flying into a rage. "Find him! Find Preston at all costs, even if you have to deploy all your subordinates!
"Also, find out how exactly that bodyguard died and who he saw before dying!"
At this moment, anger was surging in his heart.
The bodyguard who had testified against Lucas and alleged that Lucas was the person who had killed Scott was already dead. In that case, someone must have killed him to silence him.
Furthermore, the fact that Preston suddenly disappeared at this juncture meant that he was a likely suspect!
He had initially wanted to question his son to find out if there had been a misunderstanding or if someone else in the Taylor family was deliberately stirring up trouble.
But now that Preston had escaped, it almost immediately clarified something.
Once Preston was pinpointed as a suspect, many of the suspicious points regarding the previous matters surfaced too.
For example, when they received news of Scott"s death, Preston had been the first to suggest asking the Peerless Martial a.s.sociation for help in getting rid of Lucas.
At the time, Frederick had thought that it was because Preston cherished his brother and was somehow terrified of Lucas"s power.
But now, he understood that Preston had wanted to invite an expert of the Peerless Martial a.s.sociation to come over and kill Lucas directly so that he wouldn"t be exposed for framing Lucas.
As for why he had wanted to kill Scott and frame Lucas for it, it was probably related to the fact that he had lost the Ocean Bathhouse.
He had lost the important venue of the Taylor family and didn"t dare to mention it to the rest of the family, but he couldn"t get it back with his own abilities. Without a valid reason, he couldn"t get Frederick to agree to ask an expert of the Peerless Martial a.s.sociation to help them. Thus, he had decided to take the risk and scheme against Lucas to frame him for killing Scott.
Besides, Preston probably didn"t really care much about Scott as a brother. But rather, he had just seen Scott as a stumbling block in his pursuit for the position of the future head of the family. This was probably why he had chosen to be so ruthless!
But they would have never known that the reason Frederick turned a blind eye to his sons" power struggle was that he wanted them to all feel a sense of crisis so as to hone their abilities and become even more outstanding!
The thought of it made Frederick"s eyes turn slightly red. We"re all family. Why must we do this?!
He blinked and suppressed the bitter emotions within him before saying to Lucas, "Mr. Gray, please wait a moment. Just a moment ago, I saw Scott standing outside the door. He may have escaped now, but he couldn"t have gone too far yet. I"ve sent all the Taylors to look for him, and I believe we will have results soon!"
His att.i.tude toward Lucas was much more respectful now. First of all, he knew that Lucas wasn"t the murderer of his son but instead a victim who had come to seek justice. And second, he was afraid of Lucas"s formidable and horrifying abilities. If he accidentally angered Lucas, the family"s fate probably wouldn"t be any better than that of Jude, who had just been dragged out.
Lucas glanced at Frederick and said coldly, "I hope you act fast. I don"t have much time to waste with you here. If you can"t find Preston within half an hour, I"ll hold all of you accountable!"
It wasn"t that Lucas wanted to intimidate him intentionally. After all, Scott was Frederick"s son, and in case Frederick had tender feelings for him and decided to hide him somewhere secretive, Lucas couldn"t just sit back and wait.
Frederick hurriedly nodded. "Yes! Within half an hour, I will give you an answer no matter what!"
Time pa.s.sed, but there was still no news of Preston.
Frederick secretly glanced at Lucas"s face and began to panic. Then he shouted at the Taylors and instructed them to bring Preston back as soon as possible no matter what.
The deadline of half an hour was about to arrive soon.
Frederick"s face was covered in cold sweat, and he was extremely anxious.
As for Gaston, who had been staying at his side with half his head battered with bruises and his hand on his dreadfully painful stomach from the kick he had suffered, he didn"t even dare to look for a doctor to have his wounds treated without Lucas"s permission.
At this moment, a bodyguard finally ran in and said hurriedly, "Mr. Talyor, we just received news that Preston has been found! But he refuses to come back and demands that you and Mr. Gray go meet him! He"s holding the woman Karen Turner hostage, so we didn"t dare to do anything to him and came back to report to you first!"
"How dare he?!" Frederick sprung up and slammed his hand against the table. "Preston is really audacious! How dare he demand that Mr. Gray and I rush to see him and threaten us with a hostage? Outrageous!
"Where the h.e.l.l is that beast now?"
The bodyguard hurriedly said, "He"s in a villa two streets away from here. It"s a property he secretly bought!"
Lucas stood up and said, "Since he"s asked to meet me, let"s head there now. Lead the way!"
Frederick didn"t dare to disobey. He frantically yelled at the bodyguard, "Quickly take us there!"
The group soon arrived at a villa located two streets away.
When they walked into the entry hall of the villa, they saw Preston, who had disappeared for some time, standing in the middle of the hall openly with a sharp dagger in his hand. The blade of the dagger was pressed against a woman"s neck.
The woman"s face was bruised and swollen, and her facial features were mostly distorted. Her body was also marked with purplish bruises and welts, seemingly having been abused.
Under the threat of the dagger, she s.h.i.+vered incessantly. But as soon as she saw Lucas enter, her eyes lit up, and she called out loudly to him for help. "Lucas! Lucas, quickly save me!"
Lucas immediately heaved a sigh of relief.
Although he absolutely abhorred Karen, he had to admit that he was sincerely relieved to see that she was still alive.
Cheyenne and Charlotte wouldn"t have to be that devastated.
He wouldn"t have any emotional burden because of it either.
Seeing this scene, Frederick almost erupted with fury.
Although he had already made some mental preparations, he didn"t expect things to turn out the same way as Lucas had mentioned—Preston had abducted Karen and was holding her captive in such an obvious manner!
It was so obvious that it was impossible for him to even find a reason to justify the foolish acts of his idiotic son.
"Scoundrel, what exactly are you doing? Hurry up and let go of her!" Frederick hollered at Preston in fury.
Preston subconsciously shuddered. But he soon got rid of the instinctive fear he had toward his father and suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.
He seemed to be delirious, and all of a sudden, everyone was confused about his motive.