"This..." Barry hesitated for a moment before finally speaking frankly, "I traded Miss Crowe for Miss Carter according to your father's order..."
"What?" Joshua grabbed him by the collar, his inky eyes full of killing intent.
"Joshua…" Madeline rushed at Joshua with tears on her face. "I'm really scared. I was caught by Simon King yesterday. He asked his men to torture me for a whole night…"
"Get lost!" Joshua gave a loud shout coldly.
Before she could even touch Joshua, Madeline was so scared by his cold shout that she stood still.
Joshua coldly let go of Barry. His heart was filled with uncontrollable anger now.
It was his fault as he didn't take Ted seriously before. He didn't expect Ted to send Hazel away in this way directly.
Joshua's heart was suddenly full of worry. Hazel was sent away as a hostage. Would she misunderstand him? No, he had to meet her.
If it had been yesterday, Joshua might not have had the courage. Because he had thought that Hazel loved Simon before, but last night he suddenly realized that maybe things were not as what he had imagined.
While m.a.k.i.n.g. .l.o.v.e, he and Hazel didn't seem like strangers at all. Hence, he must meet with Hazel to figure things out.
"How's the investigation going?" Joshua asked in a deep voice.
"..." Barry was in a daze. He knew Joshua was asking him for Hazel's information, but he had destroyed the related doc.u.ments as Ted had ordered.
He stammered. "I, I haven't..."
Joshua narrowed his eyes. Barry felt as if there was a mountain of pressure pressing down on him. Joshua seemed to see through his little thoughts.
"You go back to Country M," Joshua said in a deep tone. "Barry, you're more suitable for following Mr. King."
"Master Joshua, I..." Barry looked at him with astonishment. Although he did not follow Joshua for a long time, he admired and worshipped Joshua. Besides, he had been mentally ready to follow Joshua for the rest of his life. However, he was driven away by Joshua now?
"Enough," Joshua said, indifferent, "I don't need disloyal people around me."
Barry looked very disappointed and was about to say something when an alarm sounded.
"What, what's the matter?" Madeline was taken aback.
"Go out to have a look." Joshua frowned and turned around to walk out of the villa.
Barry hurried to follow him. Madeline hesitated, but she had no choice but to follow them as the alarm sounded very terrifying.
"Why is Master Simon here?" Barry's face turned pale.
Joshua's eyes fell on Madeline as he said coldly, "You should ask the woman you brought back!"
"What, what do you mean?" Madeline panicked. "Do you think I lead them here? How could I do that!"
Barry's face became paler as he instantly understood what Joshua meant. He quickly apologized. "Sorry, Master Joshua, I was too careless and did not search for her, so Master Simon found our villa."
"Hey, what's the matter with you? Do you also think I brought these men here?" Madeline swore angrily at Barry. She didn't dare to swear at Joshua, but she was not afraid of a little underling.
"Miss Carter," Barry explained, "I think it's because Master Simon secretly put a locator or something on you..."
"Then, then it's not my fault!" Madeline hurried to shirk responsibility. "Why didn't you make a body search!"
"Shut up!" Joshua gave her a cold look, as if he were looking at an idiot.
Madeline was so shocked that she didn't dare to open her mouth anymore.
Simon wore a silver mask on his face, so Joshua could not see clearly what his face looked like. However, just looking at the contours of Simon's face, Joshua could find the similarities between them.
The two men looked at each other. For a moment, sparks flew.
"Are you Simon King?" Joshua asked lightly.
Simon froze. Joshua's question made him a little confused.
"Your father asked you to go back to the manor in Country M," Joshua said quietly. "He wants to clear up the previous misunderstanding with you."
"What do you mean?" Simon frowned.
"Literally." Joshua looked at him with somewhat disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. Were his words so hard to understand?
"I have nothing to talk about with him," Simon replied in a fret. "Besides, we won't talk about him today."
"Oh?" Joshua looked at him lightly. "What do you want to do with so many people surrounding here?"
"It's not done by me," Simon said, shaking his head without hesitation. "It's done by her."
Just then, the car door opened, and Hazel stepped out of the car. She came to the gate, her face covered with frost.
Finally, she saw Joshua... He was as handsome and imposing as she remembered.
Hazel had dreamed about this scene and woken up crying many times before. But she had never expected that they would meet like this. His inexplicable behaviors had diluted the joy of being reunited with him.
"Hazel..." Joshua called her name gently, with a complicated softness in his voice. He had never expected her to come to him of her own accord.
Her face was so pale. It was clear that she had misunderstood something.
"I came here to ask you for a person," Hazel said coldly.
"No! I'm not leaving with you!" Madeline panicked instantly. She didn't expect Hazel would come directly to the villa to catch her after she called to make Hazel angry! If she fell into Hazel's hands, how could Hazel let her go? This woman was too efficient!
Madeline looked at Joshua and begged, "Joshua, when you were seriously injured, I was the one who stayed by your side every day, taking care of you all the time! Now you get better. Even if I don't have any meritorious deeds, I've done lots of hard work for you! You promised Uncle King you would take care of me. Please, don't hand me over to her..."
Joshua and Hazel's faces turned a little pale as Madeline tried to say these ambiguous words on purpose.
"Shut up. Where are you, a drama queen, from? You're such an actor!" Hazel interrupted her in a deep tone.