"Of course not, Father. You will always be the head of the family."
Trent smiled sheepishly.
"Fine. Since you said that, I'll give you my opinion." Andrew
surveyed the room. "Dustin has saved my life, as well as helped our
family multiple times. We are in his debt, so anyone who tries to take
him today will be going against me!"
"What?"
The group shared dismayed glances. They never expected Andrew to
stand up for Dustin during this crucial time.
"Father, this bastard killed one of the Grants' daughters! He will
only drag us deeper into this mess!" Trent rebutted.
"Trent is right! We're doing this for the greater good of the
family!" Jacob seconded.
"You bunch say such lofty things when you're just cowards!" Andrew
struck the floor with his cane forcefully. "The Grants have been stepping
all over us, and instead of standing up against them, you choose to
grovel and please them? What an embarrassment to our family!"
"Fath-"
"Silence!" Andrew cut off Trent's words. "Our family has gone through
all sorts of trials since its existence. How could we embarrass our
ancestors by losing our dignity because of something like this?"
The Harmons lowered their heads in shame, unable to deny that the
Grants had shaken them greatly.
"Listen carefully!" Andrew announced. "Our priority should be to save
Hector, and not be sitting ducks!"
He made Hector his successor because of how righteous and brave his
son was, but now that Hector was captured, the entire family was thrown
into chaos.
"Grandfather, we need to borrow the Grants' power if we want to save
Uncle Hector. Our best option is to hand Dustin over to them in exchange
for Uncle Trent." Kate coaxed.
"Nonsense!" Andrew glared at his granddaughter. "The Grants were the
ones who framed and imprisoned your uncle, yet you think they'll help us?
What a joke!"
"What? Mr. Hector was imprisoned by the Grants?"
The crowd was dismayed to hear this. After all, framing the head of
another family was not a small matter.
"Father, please refrain from making claims without evidence! There
are ears everywhere." Trent reminded seriously.
"Evidence, you say? Sure!" Andrew turned around and called out.
"Isfrid? Bring him in."
Immediately, the leader of the shadow guards dragged a man into the
room. The man wore a hood that made it difficult to identify his face and
was tightly bound from head to toe.
"See this man? He's the real murderer!" Andrew yanked off the man's
hood, exposing a familiar face.
It was Hector's face!
"Mr. Hector?"
Everyone was puzzled by the sight. Hadn't Hector been captured? What
was he doing here?
"Yeah, right. He's merely wearing a prosthetic mask!"
Andrew sank his fingers into the man's face and pulled, revealing
skin with a sickly pallor.
"I-it's fake?" The crowd exclaimed, stunned. They never imagined that
something like this existed in real life, and it was shockingly realistic
too! It was so well made that it nearly fooled
everyone.
"Do all of you understand now? Hector was framed, and the ones behind
this are the Grants! Are you still going to suck up to those treacherous
bastards?" Andrew seethed, rendering everyone else silent.