Chapter 34 - Chapter 34. Kevin to Rescue

Kevin to the Rescue After Gwen Archer passed out, Kevin suggested that they move her to a table by the window, and then open it wide. Next he had them blow out all the centerpiece candles and take them into the kitchen. Adriana and the others still had their doubts, but they were hopeful that this would help. Otherwise, they would have to rush Gwen to the hospital.Some of them whispered rudely to each other because they thought Kevin had no idea what he was talking about. From what Jason Jones had said, Kevin was a complete failure in everything he tried.Drake overheard some of them who were standing nearby and he was less than pleased. He turned around and roared angrily, "Whoever makes the next snide remark about Mr. Williams is going to take a swim in the Chicago River."That certainly wiped the smirks off their faces.But Adriana still didn't understand, "Mr. Williams, could you please explain again why you had President Archer taken over to the window?"It's very simple," he explained. " President Archer had a reaction to one of the ingredients in the scented candles. I can smell an herb that can lower blood pressure. She's obviously more sensitive to it than anyone else here. I'm not sure exactly why, though. "Dr. Willow still wasn't convinced. There didn't seem to be any scientific basis to what he was saying."President Wright, in my medical opinion, you'll need to transport this woman to an emergency room immediately," Dr. Willow said with a serious expression.Just then, a group of guests walked into the room, led by a tall powerful-looking man. "Please step aside," Dominic Archer ordered the crowd.The guests respectfully made way for him."Who put my sister on this table?" he bellowed."Mr. Archer, please don't worry. I can explain this," Adriana said calmly. There wasn't a trace of fear in her voice."President Wright, I don't need an explanation. I just want to know why my sister isn't on her way to the hospital. What are you trying to pull here?" Dominic asked sternly.The onlookers started to throw Kevin straight under the bus, "It's his fault!" one of them blurted out. "He's that useless son-in-law who's been leeching off of the Jones family for years."Jones family? Which Jones family?" Dominic asked. Then his eyes lit up when he remembered what he'd heard about Kevin.He looked at him and snarled, "Are you responsible for this?"Dominic, I'm warning you. You need to show more respect to Mr. Williams," Drake said as he stepped between Dominic and Kevin.Dominic and Drake had always been rivals in Chicago's underworld. But the two of them had always kept their conflicts quiet. They'd never battled face to face. Not yet."Drake? Since when do you stand up for such a useless piece of crap?" Dominic asked him."Drake, please let me handle this. I can explain it to him," Kevin pleaded as he stepped forward to try to convince the large man that this was the best course of action."Please be careful what you say to him. He admires strength most of all. It may be useless to try to reason with him," Drake said to Kevin quietly.Drake and Dominic had been in competition for years and he was a good judge of the man's character. But, if Kevin was injured under Drake's protection, Cook would never forgive him."So, what do you have to say, you son of a bitch?" Dominic asked nastily as he looked at his sister Gwen lying on the banquet hall table.Drake started to reply, but he was interrupted by Kevin. "Your sister is fine. Her blood pressure dropped for a while, but I can guarantee that she'll be up and back on her feet in less than five minutes."If she's not, I promise I won't let you leave this hotel in one piece," Dominic threatened him.Then he glared at Adriana and added, "President Wright, you'll have some explaining to do, too!"Dominic, how dare you take on that rude tone of voice with my friends!" Drake said arrogantly.Nobody dared to step between the two of them to interfere.Just when it looked like the two of them were about to start swinging at each other, Gwen suddenly coughed.They were all amazed that Kevin had been right, especially the ones who had been swayed by Jason's gossip about him.Dominic grunted at Kevin and Drake. Then he quickly walked over to his sister and asked her, "Gwen, how do you feel? Are you okay?"Dominic, when did you get here?" Gwen shook her head slightly before continuing, "It felt like the room was spinning and then everything went dark."Her voice was still faint, but everyone could hear her clearly. Most of them still didn't believe Kevin was right.Dominic frowned a little and looked at Kevin."President Archer, think about this carefully. Did you see anything before you fainted?" Kevin asked her."Stop pretending to know what happened. My sister woke up all by herself. This has nothing to do with your nonsense," Dominic shouted indignantlyA lot of the guests who were watching this nodded their heads in agreement. They also thought that Gwen waking up right now was just a coincidence.Gwen thought for a moment and then slowly opened her mouth to reply, "Now that you mention it, just before I passed out I was starting to have a hard time breathing. There was a strange smell in the air and I just couldn't seem to breathe. I took the candle from the table and smelled it to see if that was where it was coming from." Suddenly, everyone felt extremely awkward.How could they all have been so wrong? But somehow a few of them still blamed Kevin and the Jones family."That makes sense," Kevin explained. "The candles were made with some ingredients that are used in herbal remedies to lower blood pressure. I asked one of the waiters to bring me one of the boxes from the kitchen." He pulled one of the candles out of the box and smelled it as he explained, "This has been made with a powerful combination of ingredients. Usually scented candles can be pretty safe, with enough air circulation. But these look like they're homemade." He handed one of the candles to Dr. Willow to examine.Dr. Willow took the candle and checked it out for herself. Then she nodded her head. Based on this slightly more scientific explanation, she was a little embarrassed for having been so rude to Kevin earlier. With Dominic's help, Gwen slowly got down from the table and walked over to Kevin. She was still confused and asked him, "There are so many people in this room. Why am I the only one who fainted?"Some of the guests were wondering the same thing. Lots of them had been in the room for at least an hour. A couple of them had even leaned down to inhale the fragrance of the candles.Kevin reflected for a moment, trying to recall what he had read. Then he looked at Gwen and speculated, "President Archer, I've learned that in high concentrations, for someone who's sensitive, the effect can be very serious."What the hell are you talking about?" Dominic interrupted.Kevin sighed. "President Archer, it's probably just a bit of a susceptibility you have."All right, that's enough!" Dominic couldn't hold it in any longer. He gestured for his bodyguards to come over. A second later, Kevin was surrounded.Drake stepped forward to put himself between Kevin and the men."All of you, stop!" Gwen snapped. "I think he's right about this. I've always been kind of sensitive about some things. Remember when we were kids?" She looked into her brother's eyes.The explanation seemed to make sense to Dominic, but he would never apologize to Kevin in front of everyone. It wasn't in his nature. Instead, he asked someone to put the gift that he'd brought for Adriana on the table in the corner. Then he helped his sister walk out of the hotel."Mr. Williams, that was very interesting. Have you been studying this subject for very long?" Adriana's eyes were full of admiration."I just happened to be studying new age medicine recently. I'm nowhere near an expert!" Kevin smiled and added, "Please go mingle with your guests. This is your evening!"Okay, Mr. Williams!" Adriana agreed. Then she leaned in and told him, "There's a private room upstairs for a small group of us. Cook should be up there in a little while. Why don't you make your way up there and I'll join you later."Okay, I'll head up there with Drake!" Kevin said enthusiastically.About fifteen or twenty minutes later, Cook arrived at the hotel and, after checking on things at the party, he went upstairs to join his friends.Gilbert Rhodes and Emo Squire showed up, too. They all spent a lot of time catching up. Finally, after the guests had left the banquet hall, Adriana joined her friends and they all chatted until early in the morning.That night, because Kevin was tired from such a long day, and because he had drunk a little too much to be safe on the road, he spent the rest of the night at the hotel.Early the next morning, right after he woke up, Kevin got a call from Lily. "Hi Lily. Are you doing okay?"Kevin, please come home quickly. I need a ride to grandma's place." Lily sounded very anxious."What's the matter?" Kevin immediately realized something bad had happened."My dad's friend disappeared right after he got all the money, so now…," her voice trailed off. Then she said, "You should take care of your business first. I'll take a taxi there myself." Then Lily hung up the phone in a hurry.Kevin was sure he knew what had happened. When Oliver told them all about the investment, he and Matilda had been against it. But the rest of the members of the Jones family were only thinking about how much money they could make in this get-rich-quick scheme. Nobody was willing to listen to reason.Just as Kevin was thinking about how pleasing it would be to see the Jones family suffer a little, he thought of another problem. Since this whole idea had been suggested by Oliver, Lily might suffer from the backlash.Kevin said to himself, "Lily, I'm only helping the Jones family because of you. This is definitely the first and last time!"Then he took out his phone and made a call to his old friend Tyler Dawn."Mr. Williams, it's wonderful to hear from you. I was beginning to think something had happened to you." Hearing his colleague's playful tone, Kevin couldn't help breaking into a grin."Don't be ridiculous," Kevin told him. "Tyler, I need your help with something."What? You need my help again?" his friend answered mischievously. "Seriously, what can I do for you, Kevin?""I want you to contact the Jones family in Chicago and discuss a partnership. But I want you to do it using the KWTD Corporation's name, not mine."Several years ago, Kevin invested a large sum of money with his friend Tyler and they formed a company called the KWTD Corporation. They were in a hurry, so they didn't have time to research a good corporate name. They just used their initials. At first, the company only did import and export business. But over the past six years, Tyler had built KWTD into one of the top companies in the country. And it was definitely the top import-export company.However, the real boss of KWTD had always been Kevin. Other than him and Tyler, no one else knew about it.It was important for Kevin to hold onto the company. So he was careful not to mention it to anyone when he was driven out of his family. That's how much he cared about Lily."Okay, Kevin I'll get on that right away. It just so happens that I've been working on a project in Chicago lately. So it'll be no problem for me to drop in on the Jones family personally." They discussed a few more details before hanging up.Kevin couldn't help wondering how the Jones family would react if they found out that he was behind all this.