Chapter 422 - 425: Thunderous Fury and the Bankruptcy of the Bennett Family

Claire Bennett left the Flynn family’s hundred-day celebration and sank into her car, physically and mentally exhausted, her brow tightly furrowed.

The police hadn’t charged her and had let her go on the spot, but she had still suffered a profound humiliation today.

In front of all those people, Claire Sterling and Mrs. Flynn had restrained her and inspected her fingers, making her the laughingstock of Aston’s entire high society.

Claire Bennett gritted her teeth. She couldn’t swallow this insult.

Sitting beside her, Mrs. Bennett was worried sick, consumed by anxiety.

"What are we going to do? I’m afraid the Lancaster family won’t just let this go."

Claire Bennett, however, wasn’t particularly flustered. She took a deep breath, leaned back in her seat, and turned to look out the window.

"So what if they won’t? The police let me go. I cooperated with all the necessary tests, and the results came back with no drug residue. Without the key evidence, no one can convict me on suspicion alone."

Mrs. Bennett wasn’t as optimistic. "That may be true, but I still have a bad feeling about this."

"If you have a bad feeling, then leave Aston. Go lay low for a while and come back later," Claire Bennett said dismissively.

Mrs. Bennett sighed heavily, not wanting to say any more.

The car passed two intersections and pulled over to the side of the road.

Claire Bennett got out of the car, her expression blank. "I’m not going back to the Bennett residence. Contact me if you need anything."

Then, she hailed a taxi and returned to the apartment where she lived alone.

Inside, Claire Bennett didn’t turn on the lights. She lit a scented candle in the living room, sank lazily onto the sofa, and swirled a glass of red wine.

A moment later, she tilted her head back and downed the wine in one gulp.

’Wren Sutton, I went soft on you today. I showed you mercy and didn’t use the aphrodisiac powder. You should be thanking me.’

’Because of you, I was utterly humiliated today. Next time, I won’t show you any mercy. I’m going to completely destroy your reputation so you won’t have the face to be Adrian Lancaster’s wife anymore.’

After muttering to herself, Claire Bennett tossed the wine glass aside and opened her phone.

Her finger slid across the screen, and she opened WeChat. In her pinned "Private High-Society Gossip" group chat, messages were flying by.

She eagerly tapped on it. The screen was filled with messages, all buzzing about Adrian Lancaster settling scores and getting revenge on Wren Sutton’s behalf.

[President Lancaster personally went to The Zenith Hotel to take Mrs. Lancaster home. He princess-carried her all the way to the car. They’re such a gorgeous couple, I’m dying!]

[That’s nothing. To get justice for Mrs. Lancaster, President Lancaster brutally dealt with the people who humiliated and mocked her in the banquet hall. It was epic!]

[How did he do it?]

[I heard it from a server at the Flynn’s. She was passing by the lounge and overheard everything.]

[Spill! Spill! I can’t wait.]

[President Lancaster made those socialites and their daughters apologize to Mrs. Lancaster on the spot. They had to do a ninety-degree bow and hold it for three minutes.]

[Then, he ordered each of them to handwrite an apology to be published in a weekly magazine.]

[And here’s the kicker: the Lancaster family immediately cut off all business cooperation with their families.]

[Holy crap! President Lancaster is so ruthless and protective. Who in Aston would ever dare to mess with Mrs. Lancaster now?]

[That’s not a punishment, that’s driving them to ruin. He didn’t leave them any way out.]

[Well, he has the power to do it. Who in all of Aston can stand against the Lancaster family? Adrian Lancaster shows absolutely no mercy when it comes to protecting Wren Sutton.]

[If you ask me, those women are idiots. You have to know who the master is before you beat the dog. They knew she was Mrs. Lancaster, a woman of high status. Instead of sucking up to her, they ganged up to kick her while she was down. With all the evidence against them, of course they were going to get what they deserved.]

[Ahhh, another day spent being jealous of Mrs. Lancaster.]

As the jarring messages flooded her vision, Claire Bennett’s grip on her phone tightened, her knuckles turning white. Jealousy surged through her.

’Those women only said a few unpleasant truths, and Adrian Lancaster wants to utterly destroy them without a shred of mercy.’

Claire Bennett knew Adrian Lancaster’s personality. He was ruthless, decisive, and swift to act, but he was also fiercely protective of his own.

’He used to protect me just as well. With him backing me up, no one ever dared to mess with me.’

’Now, that incredible privilege, which once belonged to me alone, has been stolen by Wren Sutton.’

’How could she not be filled with hatred!’

Claire Bennett was no stranger to Adrian Lancaster’s cruelty.

But seeing that cruelty used to protect Wren Sutton was like a dull knife sawing away at her heart, slice by slice.

She was consumed by jealousy, her emotions spiraling out of control. She wished she could just poison Wren Sutton to death next time.

...

「Late that night」

A piercing ringtone shattered the silence in the apartment. Annoyed, Claire Bennett answered the phone.

"Claire, something’s happened. The Lancaster family made a move against the Bennett family after all."

"Overnight, every company that works with the Bennett family announced they were terminating their contracts."

"The banks are calling in their loans, our company’s cash flow is completely severed, the three core projects we were working on have all collapsed, and our books show we’re already insolvent."

"If this keeps up, the Bennett family won’t last five days before we have to declare bankruptcy."

Claire Bennett was instantly wide awake. She shot up in bed.

’I calculated Adrian Lancaster’s methods. I calculated that he couldn’t convict me without evidence.’

’But I miscalculated one thing: Adrian Lancaster never needed evidence to act.’

’Dealing with those socialites and their daughters was just making an example of them to warn others. The real Thunderous Fury was directed entirely at me, at Claire Bennett, at the entire Bennett family.’

’No warning, no testing the waters. He didn’t play games with me, didn’t confront me, and didn’t care about rules or evidence. He went straight for the foundation, pushing the Bennett family into a desperate corner, to the brink of bankruptcy.’

Claire Bennett slowly clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms as a storm of complex, violent emotions churned in her eyes.

"Claire, what do we do now? Is it too late to go to the Lancaster family and apologize?"

"I know that for you, apologizing to Wren Sutton would be worse than death, but the Bennett family is about to go bankrupt! Once we do, you won’t be able to maintain your new identity in Aston."

"If I go to the Lancaster family to apologize, that’s admitting I was the one who used the powder," Claire Bennett cut in, agitated. "I’m not that stupid."

"No matter how the Lancaster family retaliates against the Bennett family, every single one of you will stick to the same story: I, Claire Bennett, am innocent. I did not drug Wren Sutton’s drink."

The person on the other end of the line was in a bind, speaking cautiously. "But, Claire, the company is about to go bankrupt. If we don’t apologize and don’t compromise, we really can’t hold on any longer. Why don’t we just humble ourselves, admit we were wrong to Wren Sutton, and beg President Lancaster to show us mercy..."

"Shut up!" Claire Bennett’s voice was sharp and cold, her anger uncontrollable.

"I’ll say it one last time: no apologies and no confessions. If the Bennett family goes bankrupt, so be it. I never cared about those assets anyway. The Marshall Family will compensate you for every single loss."

"However, if you betray me to save your own skins, if you run your mouths and ruin my plans, then everyone in the Bennett family can expect a fate far worse than bankruptcy."

Claire Bennett’s threat was blunt and vicious, completely extinguishing any thought the Bennett family had of compromising or begging for mercy.

The person on the other end of the line was trembling with fear. They repeatedly agreed, promising that the entire family would remain tight-lipped and not make a single misstep.

Furious, Claire Bennett slammed the phone down.

After mulling it over for ten minutes, she opened her nightstand drawer, took out a small safe, and retrieved a barely-used phone from inside.

After a great deal of hesitation, she dialed an international number.

The phone rang three times before someone picked up.

A deep, familiar male voice sounded in her ear. "Maya."

"Dad," Claire Bennett cried, her voice choked with sobs.

"Don’t call this number unless it’s an absolute last resort. Tell me, what happened?"

Claire Bennett was concise. "Adrian Lancaster is going to bankrupt the Bennett family."

The man on the other end was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his tone was tinged with both blame and worry.

"I made it very clear in my letter: don’t do anything for now. Don’t be so impatient. But you just had to ignore me. Now you’ve alerted Adrian Lancaster, and you know how ruthless that boy’s methods are. What if the Lancaster family intercepts this call? Your identity will be exposed, do you realize that?!"

"I’m not afraid," Claire Bennett said through gritted teeth, her eyes filled with grim determination.

"If I’m exposed, I’m exposed. At worst, we’ll just fight the Lancaster family to the bitter end."

"I had plastic surgery, changed my name, and endured endless suffering to come back to Aston for one reason: to drag Wren Sutton to hell and take back everything that belongs to me. I will never stop, and I will show no mercy."

"Dad, I’m leaving it to you to handle the Bennett family. I can’t deal with them. My only focus right now is figuring out how to kill Wren Sutton."