chapter93

Lydia blinked. "Three?"

Kylie nodded. "Yep. Your Grandpa Samuel said Connor's doing fine now, so he's coming with us. When are you done? He pecifically asked if you'd be around.

Lydia felt a headache brewing.

Connor was a handful. He'd been blowing up her phone all day. If he ever found out she was Chief Lydia, he'd never leave her alone.

"I might... need a bit more time."

"Oh? Alright then, Lydia. I won't bother you. Don't work too hard, okay?"

"Okay."

At the same time, in a car headed for Capital Hospital, Grandpa Samuel was giving his three grandsons a stern talk.

"When we get to the hospital, you boys better behave, especially in front of Lydia. Got it?"

Connor leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, pretending not to hear. He was too busy plotting how to get Chief Lydia to meet him.

Mikey was sitting next to him, glasses on, focused on his laptop. His assistant had just sent over a document that apparently involved the Jefferson family. He clicked it open and saw a formal complaint from the ambassador of Country D. It accused a member of the Jefferson family of publicly humiliating a Country D citizen and demanded a proper explanation.

The person being accused? Chris Jefferson himself. The document painted the Jefferson family as outrageously powerful and claimed Chris was a spoiled troublemaker who bullied foreign nationals. It demanded a public apology from Chris. Otherwise, they'd accuse him of intentionally stirring up trouble between the two countries.

"Look at this." Mikey turned the laptop to face Chris, his expression serious. "If the Country D ambassador hadn't emailed me, I wouldn't even know you were mixed up in this."

Mikey was always slammed with work. He hadn't even glanced at today's trending scandal online, but now that Chris was involved, he had to get to the bottom of it.

Chris had expected Neil to make trouble, but he hadn't thought he'd stoop so low. Twisting the facts, demanding an apology, and now accusing him of trying to start an international mess?

Neil wanted him to apologize? Seriously?

Chris snorted.

Mikey was known for being strict and detail-oriented. Catching Chris' unimpressed look, he pressed on. "What's with that face? Is this true or not?"

Grandpa Samuel chimed in. "It's after work. Save business talk for tomorrow." He shot Mikey a look. "You're such a workaholic, can't you let people relax after hours?" He paused, then frowned. "Wait. Mikey, what's your work got to do with this little troublemaker?"

"Grandpa, this actually is about me," Chris said, sounding genuinely indignant. Mikey raised an eyebrow. "So it's true?"

"It happened, but they're twisting everything. They're the ones who started it," Chris huffed.

"So what actually happened?" Mikey asked.

Chris shifted in his seat, ready to explain. "That ambassador's son, Neil, is into motorcycles too, but he sucks. He always loses to me and can't handle it. So he starts playing dirty. During a race, he purposely crashed into my teammate. Then he said we lost and demanded that we get on our knees and call him Grandpa."

What? Unbelievable. Did you actually kneel?"

Before Mikey could even respond, Grandpa Samuel exploded.