Matthew pushed the door and went to the living room in broad strides, yelling, "Waylen Elrod!" That was Crayson's real name.
The living room was empty, but someone appeared when he called. Mateo gazed down from the corridor upstairs. "Matthew? What are you doing here?"
Ever since Matthew and Veronica were injured, they never returned to Mountainside Gardens. That was why Mateo was surprised, especially seeing Matthew in such an aggressive state. He guessed that something had happened to drive Matthew into interrogation mode.
"Where's Waylen?" Matthew raised his head.
"He hasn't come back since yesterday. Why?" Mateo's brows knitted.
Mateo was clueless about what happened at One Piece Restaurant. Not wanting to test whether the man was playing dumb, Matthew merely left. Only then did Lazlo catch up with Matthew at the lawn, all huffing and puffing. "Boss, is Miss Murphy here?"
The solemn man descended the hill without sparing Lazlo a glance. "Take Mateo away."
"Huh? Okay. On it." Lazlo nodded despite the pressure. Through a phone call, he told Dean to send a few men over.
At the same time, Matthew was on the phone. "Track Master Crayson down at all costs."
He drove back to One Piece Restaurant to rewind the surveillance footage. No matter how many times they checked on it, nothing was wrong with it. At long last, he realized that someone had rigged the footage. The monitor replayed the scenes from the first day, and they were unaware of it this whole time!
Matthew dialed Crayson's number, but no one picked it up from the other line. Half an hour later, Lazlo called, "Boss, we have Mateo. He's in the basement."
"Okay. I'm coming." Matthew went to the backroom. Complicated traps were installed along the way to the room, but he avoided them and entered the room like a breeze.
There stood Mateo with his hands fettered and his mouth taped. Noticing Matthew's entrance, he struggled and kept muttering something. However, his voice broke into a muffled speech. No one could hear what he was talking about.
Matthew appeared rather calm as he made a video call with Hayley. When the call went through, her face appeared on the screen while he directed the camera at Mateo. "Where's Veronica?" He dived straight into the topic without showing his face.
Even though she did not have his number, she recognized his voice effortlessly. Her brows creased at the question. "Isn't she with you? Why are you calling me? Why did you tie Mateo up? Just what are you doing, Matthew Kings?"
The man on the chair crossed his legs. "Tell Waylen I'll show him how his grandson dies if he doesn't give Veronica back!" His speech was spoken with tranquility, and not a tinge of anxiety seeped into his voice. Then, he motioned Dean to whip Mateo.
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