Even Elspeth and Callum were equally shocked. Isn’t this the old man who was selling us the herbs earlier?
And it turned out that he was the owner of the black market. This was too far-fetched!
Also, when did I become his goddaughter? Elspeth couldn’t help but wonder.
However, Irving didn’t allow her to react as he glared, his temperament rising high. “What? Is it weird that I have a goddaughter?”
Arthur chuckled apologetically. “Of course not.”
Influential and powerful, Irving also had many men working for him, so Arthur could only soften his attitude and speak to him peacefully instead of colliding head-on with him.
In this situation, any normal person would stop before things got out of hand and leave while they still could.
“So, tell me. What does my goddaughter owe you? It seems to me that you’re about to rob them, Mr. Winthrop. The black market has always operated normally. Don’t you think that you’ve gone too far?”
The entire black market had to show Irving some respect, but who did Arthur think he was for him to have the nerve to act as he pleased on Irving’s turf?
Knowing that he was at the losing end this time, Arthur gritted his teeth and apologized to Elspeth, “I’m sorry, Miss Lynwood. I was rude earlier, and I ask for your forgiveness.” Then, he was about to leave with his men, but Irving’s men stopped them.
“Don’t be in a rush to go. Make things clear. If it’s my goddaughter who’s at fault, I’ll apologize to you on her behalf.”
Obviously, Irving wasn’t ready to let Arthur off easy, and he turned to Elspeth with a smile. “Tell me what happened.”
Seeing how Irving was ready to be her backbone, Elspeth immediately understood the situation—he wanted to help her vent her frustrations.
“During the auction earlier, he was the one who gave up bidding. But now, he wanted to rob us. Perhaps he doesn’t have so much money, so he has no other choice but to rob my ginkgo,” she answered honestly without embellishments.
Opposite her, Arthur was livid from the anger. When Irving came over earlier, a lot of people started gathering around, and after Elspeth’s statement, everyone now knew that he was here to rob them because he didn’t have the money.
Irving snickered at his lie. “Mr. Winthrop, is Elspeth telling the truth?”
Stumped for words, Arthur couldn’t come up with any explanation now that things had come to this stage. Never did he imagine that Elspeth had such strong backing. Goddammit!
However, all he could do now was explain in a soft tone to set up an innocent and gentle persona. “Well… I really need this ginkgo, so I wanted to discuss with Miss Lynwood to purchase hers because I don’t have that much money…”
Despite knowing that his explanation was very crappy, he had to find himself an excuse, somehow.
Then, his gaze fell on Callum and lit up expectantly. “Besides, he’s my brother. Why would I fight with him? I swear I only wanted to negotiate with Miss Lynwood, not rob her.”
At the sudden mention of his name, Callum ignored his plea for help and retorted nonchalantly, “You’ve already broken all ties with the Winthrop Family. Why are you still using this family name when you’re outside?”
Arthur’s face went stiff. He didn’t expect that a person as aloof as Callum would shoot him down so directly.
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