Chapter 1478
Chapter 1478
After Toby finished settling matters at the company, it was already three in the afternoon. In the past few hours, he had hosted a press conference to announce to the public that Fuller Group was accountable for this issue and that they would take full responsibility by compensating the deceased staff's family. As for the amount of compensation, it needed to be discussed and wasn't disclosed to the public as it needed to be prepared according to the law.
Although the mass public was unhappy with Fuller Group for allowing such a mistake to happen, they naturally chose to forgive them on account that they were good at admitting their mistakes and didn't avoid taking responsibility. Hence, the criticism on the internet quickly stopped and peace resumed. Of course, there were still a small number of people who continued to bring up discourse in order to milk the remaining amount of traction from this issue.
Toby only announced publicly that it was Fuller Group's responsibility and only mentioned that it was an accident instead of saying that it was Connor's doing. After all, there were times when some truths needed to be hidden.
"President Fuller." Tom knocked on the door before walking in. He looked at the exhausted man on the chair and placed the documents down before saying, "The deceased's family have already gone back."
"Okay." Toby nodded in understanding. "Tell the legal department to take care of this urgently and compensate the deceased's family as soon as possible to put them at ease."
"I know, sir. I've already informed them," Tom said.
Toby nodded. "That's good."
"Besides, the publicity department is also starting to clean up the negative rumors online. In addition to that, the police are currently closing the case."
Truth be told, the police were aware that this matter was a result of Connor's schemes, but they couldn't announce that to the public, so they could only say that it was an accident as well and close the case as soon as possible. Of course, that didn't mean that things would end here; Connor would have to bear all the burden once they captured him.
However, in general, this matter was temporarily over. Still, there was one thing Toby couldn't figure out. Why would Connor pull this trick all of a sudden and what was his goal?
Unable to come up with an answer after racking his brains, Toby decided not to think about it for the time being and asked Tom, "What's the time?"
Tom looked at his wristwatch before saying, "It's 3.30PM."
Toby stood up. "I'll leave things to you for now. I'm going back to the old manor."
"Yes, sir." Tom nodded before handing him his phone.
After Toby's phone ran out of battery when he was busy working, he handed it to Tom to charge it. Tom's phone was also low in battery due to the number of calls he was making, and it was currently charging as well. This was also why they didn't answer any calls, regardless of who was making them.
After taking his phone and turning it on, Toby was met with a long list of missed calls, all of which were from the old manor. His lips curled up slightly, and he assumed that they wanted to know if he was
finished with work and when he would go back. So, he happily returned Rose's calls.
However, once the call went through, Toby immediately sensed that something was amiss.
"Toby, have you resolved the issue with the company?" Rose asked somberly, her tone extremely grave.
Toby's sense of foreboding increased. "Yes, Grandma. Did something happen?"
Knowing that she couldn't hide anything from Toby, Rose nodded. "Yes. Sonny was captured by Connor."
"What?!" Toby instantly rose from his chair, shocked. "Did you say that Little Leaf was captured by Connor?"
Opposite the office table, Tom was dumbfounded upon hearing this. What kind of joke was this? Sonia was taken away by Connor?
"Yes." Rose let out a sigh. "Connor was lying in wait with a large number of his men on the way to the old manor and even set up road spikes to force their car to stop. The bodyguards weren't able to beat them, Mary and the driver were also knocked unconscious and Sonny is now gone. She was taken away by them."
Crash!
In a burst of fury, Toby kicked his chair, sending it flying. It was no wonder that he had a bad premonition; that sense of dread was right and his wife had been taken away by Connor.
"Where did they take her to?" Toby pressed, his eyes turning red.
Rose shook her head. "I don't know. I've already sent my men to look for her, and the police are tracking her down too. We haven't received any news yet, but we can confirm that they're still in Seafield."
"I understand." Toby squeezed his eyes shut and only suppressed the murderous intent within him after a long pause. He then said in a voice that was as cold as ice, "I'll head back immediately."
"All right," Rose responded.
After the call ended, Tom looked at the livid Toby and hurriedly asked, "President Fuller, what exactly happened?"
"Sonia was captured by Connor, and her current whereabouts are unknown."
"How could that happen?" Tom asked, dumbfounded. "President Fuller, didn't you send eight bodyguards with Mrs. Fuller? Why would she be captured?"
"Connor blocked them on the way to the old manor with a large group of people. Eight bodyguards were not enough at all." Upon saying that, Toby pounded on his office table with a fist, his heart filled with self-reproach.
It was he who had underestimated his opponent. He assumed that eight bodyguards were more than enough, and nothing would happen to Sonia. However, he didn't expect Connor to make a move all of a sudden and show up with even more men to take his wife away.
"Where did Connor get all these men?" Tom couldn't make sense of the situation at all. "We have been monitoring him along with the police, and he wasn't making any moves at all."
"This can only prove that he planned this before he was being monitored, which is why we never noticed." Toby narrowed his eyes.
"Then, he really could hold back if he only made his move now." Tom said angrily, "He might've even planned today's incident a long time ago."
"He's creating a diversion," Toby replied, his expression dark and murderous. "He knows that I would never leave Little Leaf's side unless something big happened, and she won't step foot out of the hospital either, so he could only plan all of this. He didn't make a move so that he could pick an appropriate date, which is Grandma's birthday. As her family, we have to return to the old manor to celebrate her birthday, and this journey is enough for him to do what he wants."
"I understand now. So that's why Connor caused all this trouble in the company to lead you away from Mrs. Fuller—because this was the only way he could take her away. If the two of you were together, there was no guarantee that he could take both of you away, so to be on the safe side, Connor only captured Mrs. Fuller so that he could use her to threaten you," Tom mused aloud.
Connor didn't have any direct grudges against Sonia—only Toby did. Hence, Connor only made his move to tackle Toby, but if he fought with Toby face-to-face, his chances of winning weren't large. Therefore, he chose to use Sonia to restrain Toby, and it was only in this way that he had a bigger chance of winning.
He really was a cowardly villain. Because he wasn't able to face Toby head-on, he captured Sonia
instead to use her as leverage. A person like this could only be called nothing but cowardly.
"Let's go back to the old manor." Toby fished the car keys from his pocket and tossed them to Tom before striding toward the door.
Tom hurriedly trailed behind him. As for the company's issues, it wouldn't be a huge problem if the two of them were absent for the time being. Tom drove as quickly as he could, and they soon arrived at the old manor in less than an hour.
Mary stood before Toby and apologized with a guilty expression, but he didn't blame her. After all, it was fortunate that Mary was able to survive in that kind of situation. In fact, Mary was an elderly woman herself, so what could she do? She wouldn't be able to protect Sonia at all. He wasn't the type of person who would take his anger out on others.
If he had to blame anyone, it could only be himself. Why didn't he go back with Sonia? Why didn't he allocate more bodyguards to her and assumed that only eight would be enough? At the end of the day, he, as a husband, hadn't been able to properly protect his wife.