Hitched & Hitched Again: A Comedy of Marital Mayhem novel Chapter 775

Elliot shot a look at his dad, lips pursing in disdain, "Kid stuff, pops. Stay out of it."

With that, he closed his eyes to sleep.

Tarquin was left speechless, sensing the disdain but clueless about the cause.

The night passed without incident.

The little rascals slept soundly through the night, not a peep from any of them.

Even Evan behaved himself.

Tarquin grew more puzzled and, once Elliot was awake, he couldn't help but ask, "Weren't you guys planning to settle the score with the Thornes? What happened to that?"

Elliot's response remained, "It's kid stuff, dad. Mind your own beeswax. Worry about your own issues."

Thinking of his rocky marriage, he was speechless.

But he couldn't spill the beans yet, not wanting to jeopardize their plan.

...

In the following days, the Bradfords were on the brink of insanity!

After finally tracking down Daphne and clearing over twenty million in debt, the family of three vanished into thin air that very night!

The Bradfords searched frantically but to no avail. Instead, they received debt collection calls and a video of the Thorne family, now hostages.

The captors claimed Blake owed them ten million, threatening harm if not paid.

Weighing their options, the Bradfords chose not to involve the police, grinding their teeth as they transferred ten million to the kidnappers.

"So, what now? Keep paying? A billion dollars! That’s a hefty sum from each family! Paying off the Thorne’s debt is infuriating just to think about!"

Amid the chaos in Gideon’s villa, where everyone's arguments gave Gideon a headache, he finally made a decision, "Enough! We’ll pay the billion. I'll cover five hundred million, the rest of you can split the remaining amount."

Given the stakes involved, the families were forced to pool their resources, each taking a significant hit.

Gideon was willing to cough up five hundred million because he still had his eyes on that 10% stake.

Compared to securing that stake, this amount seemed trivial.

But to negotiate with Tarquin about the shares, he first needed to solidify those kids' status as illegitimate offspring.

Only then would he have the leverage to talk business.