CHAPTER 403

Leigh chuckled and called out to Caitlin airily. "Katy?"

"Hm?" Caitlin replied instinctively.

Although it was a short humming sound, it was enough for someone like Lucian, who missed Caitlin like crazy, to recognize her voice.

"Katy?" he cried out excitedly.

Caitlin didn't answer.

"You'll see Katy soon enough, but she doesn't want to talk to you right now," Leigh said. "Let's set a time to meet. You don't need to worry about being tricked. Katy will come with us. You don't need to pay up if you don't see her."

"I'm free now!" Lucian declared. "Where are we meeting at?"

"The visitor's lounge on the first floor at Oasis Law Firm," Leigh replied. "Call this number when you're here."

After ending the call, Leigh held up an OK sign to Madeline and Caitlin as she said, "All settled!"

Lucian came almost immediately. Content is property © .

It took him less than ten minutes.

Madeline, Leigh, and Caitlin all came down to the visitor's lounge on the first floor.

Lucian was beside himself when he saw Caitlin. "Katy!"

He rushed over and saw Caitlin's forehead. "How's your injury? Are you okay?"

"Katy's fine, but you're about to not be fine." Leigh held her arm out to keep Lucian and Caitlin apart. She pointed at a seat nearby. "Sit down, Mr. Wheeler. Let's talk business."

"150,000, right?" Lucian came prepared. He took out a check and signed it before handing it to Leigh. "You can fill it in yourself!"

Leigh took the check and wrote it out for 150,000. She tossed the pen aside and flicked the check with her finger. "See? 150,000! We're a proper business, you know. We won't hike our prices up arbitrarily and we don't do charity. Also, don't misunderstand what's going on here. This money is our payment for the information we're about to provide. It has nothing to do with Katy. She's not getting anything."

"Whatever," Lucian said. "You can take it as my token of gratitude for taking care of Katy."

"Nope!" Leigh sat down at the table. "We're selling you information that's guaranteed to be worth way more than the price you paid!"

Madeline gestured for Lucian to sit. "Please take a seat, Mr. Wheeler. I'm Madeline Taylor and I'm in charge here at Oasis Law Firm. We're the ones who have accepted payment from you. It has nothing to do with Katy. Now that we've received your check, you are officially our client, so please take your seat and we'll carry on with our deal."

"Can you please leave for a moment? I want to talk to Katy in private." Lucian didn't want to talk to the other women at all. He only wanted to talk to Caitlin.

"Don't worry, Mr. Wheeler. Katy will be here during our discussion," Madeline said calmly. "She'll step in to clarify if we leave anything out."

"What on earth do you want to talk about?" Lucian snapped. "Sorry. I'm in a bad mood right now. I just want to talk to Katy."

"We would like to talk to you about your mother and her relationship with Josiah Langley." Madeline got straight to the point. "Mr. Wheeler, do you know that your mother and Josiah Langley married over a decade ago and that they have a son as well?"

"Yes," Lucian replied testily. "That's just a family matter. What does it have to do with you?"

"It had nothing to do with us in the past, but now that we've accepted your check, you're our client, Mr. Wheeler, so it does have something to do with us," Madeline said. "Since you're our client, we are responsible for ensuring that you are fully aware of the truth, Mr. Wheeler, by filling in the gaps in your knowledge."

Lucian couldn't care about anything else other than Caitlin right now. He wouldn't have bothered to say a single word to Madeline, had he not known who she was and how unwise it would be for him to offend her.

However, even though he tried his best to suppress his emotions, his tone was still rather scathing. "What's this truth that you claim to know? I just told you that I know my mother got married to my

stepfather over a decade ago, and I also know that I have a half-brother. This is my private business and it has nothing to do with you, so what on earth are you trying to say?"

"In that case, Mr. Wheeler, do you know how your father fell down the slope when he, along with Raphael Owen, Josiah Langley, and Howard Gigantes, all went on a mountain hiking trip together?" Madeline asked.

Lucian glanced at Caitlin. He was a little pale as he retorted, "It's all in the past. I don't want to talk about it."

"Mr. Wheeler, we got in touch with Mr. Gigantes. I think you should listen to a recording of the exchange Katy had with him." Madeline played the recording.

Caitlin and Howard had spoken on the phone for slightly over ten minutes, and Caitlin recorded the whole conversation.

By the time the recording finished playing, Lucian was as white as a sheet.

He shook his head repeatedly as he stammered, "No… How's that possible? He's lying. He must be lying…"

"Lucian Wheeler! What do you mean by that?!" Caitlin snarled and slammed the table with her hand. "When your uncle abused you, it was my father who took pity on you and brought you home with him. He raised you for over a decade, but you chose to believe Josiah Langley instead of him! Now, I went through all that effort to find the fourth person who was there that day, and you don't believe him either! You call him a liar! Are you telling me that my father doesn't deserve any of your trust? He raised you for over a decade, treated you like his own son, and did his best to care for you, but in your eyes, is he

nothing more than a vicious murderer?!"

"I don't think he doubts what Mr. Gigantes said. I think he just can't bring himself to believe it," Leigh smirked and piped up coolly. "If he believes that Mr. Gigantes is telling the truth, wouldn't it mean that everything he did in the past was a mistake? He trusted his enemy's words and betrayed the adopted father who raised him—"

"That's enough! Stop talking!" Lucian slammed his hand on the table and stood up. His expression was twisted and his eyes were bloodshot. "He must've remembered it wrongly! Yes! That must be it! It's been so many years. He must've remembered things wrongly…"

"Lucian Wheeler, you b*stard!" Caitlin couldn't hold it back anymore. She stormed over and slapped him on the face. "The only mistake my father made was to take pity on you and take you in! It's just like the fable about the farmer and the snake, and he was the farmer who saved you out of the kindness of his heart, only to be bitten by you! I don't care if you believe it or not, Lucian. I've found the witness now that can prove my father's innocence. I will announce the truth to the public and clear my father's name! As for you, you can think whatever you want. You're the reason why my father died, and I'll never forgive you! Never!"

"No… no…" Lucian kept shaking his head as his legs grew weak. He stumbled backward and could scarcely keep himself standing. "I heard him on the phone with someone else. He said it was all his fault and that he felt remorseful toward my father… If he didn't cause my father's death, why would he tell someone else that it was his fault and that he was remorseful?"