Michael had done his research beforehand—Tanya remarried to the head of the Clark Family and assumed the identity of an expat who had just returned to the country. Quinton had been 16 years old when that happened.
The Clarks didn’t know about the relationship between the two of them, and Hope changed his name to Quinton, turning himself into a son of the Clark Family after Tanya married the family head. Until today, the Clarks were still unaware of Tanya and Quinton’s actual identities. When the two of them disappeared together, the Clarks assumed that they had been kidnapped by Phantom Wolf. Yet, they received only a single urn of ashes when two people had gone missing.
Quinton’s funeral was hosted on a warm, sunny day in the middle of spring. A good number of students and lecturers from Bayside University attended the funeral. In their eyes, Quinton was nothing more than a typical man and an outstanding teacher; he was a noble soldier who had sacrificed himself for the sake of his own students. The last status he had posted on his social media was: ‘The world is huge; I just want to step out and take a look.’ He wanted to travel the world, yet he decided to settle as a supporting teacher in the mountains.
He once said, “Humans are the highest form of animals; we often seek for greater pleasures once our stomachs are full. Some of us crave for physical pleasures while others seek for spiritual awakenings; to each its own dream.” For the sake of saving his own student, Quinton volunteered to be held hostage and eventually sacrificed his own life. Naturally, Jackson mourned the death of his stepson whom he had treated like his own child.
Standing in the middle of a weeping crowd, Sophia was oddly calm as she found herself zoning out while glancing at a photo of Quinton. When the funeral had ended and everyone was leaving, she came back to her senses and realized that her entire face was soaked with tears. Perhaps this man, the one who insisted on having his funeral on a sunny day, was the actual Quinton Clark. Perhaps there was a hint of beauty hidden within his dark, evil spirit.
He wasn’t born with much of a choice but to taint his soul with darkness for the sake of keeping himself alive, but deep down, there seemed to be a part of him who hadn’t given up on the tiny ray of light that he had tried his best to protect. After the funeral ended, only Quinton’s clothes were buried at the tombstone. His young face, as seen on the tombstone at the newly dug grave in the cemetery, carried a mix of desolation and helplessness. Jackson gave it a long, thoughtful stare before he left quietly.
Right then, Sophia turned around to see Linus. Standing by a nearby tree, he was dressed in a full black suit. She hadn’t seen him ever since the incident. He stood there for a long time, looking as though he had been waiting for her intentionally. Sophia subconsciously threw a glance toward a car that was parked nearby to see Michael seated inside.
He had been at the funeral the whole time; he just didn’t get out of the car. It was hard to see the expression on Michael’s face as the sunglasses he wore were big enough to cover half of his face, but since he didn’t seem to show any objections to it, Sophia began walking toward Linus.
As the two of them took a walk in the chilly, spring breeze, several cars tagged along some distance behind them. ‘I’m leaving’ was the first thing that Linus said. Sophia didn’t seem too surprised by this and merely grunted. She hadn’t expected Linus to stay in the country for long after all that had happened.
Although he had a large team of lawyers and other connections that could help him sever all ties with Phantom Wolf, it didn’t change the fact that he had been someone who colluded with them. The Fletcher Family was kind enough not to launch an attack against him, but he simply couldn’t stay in Bayside City for much longer.
“I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done.” Linus didn’t try to defend himself. Sophia understood that each individual had their own struggles, but regardless of what his reason was, it was a known fact that he had been an accomplice to Phantom Wolf’s deeds and had nearly caused a huge tragedy. It was tough for an adopted son like Linus to survive in a family as powerful, cruel and preoccupied by the importance of blood relations as the Michel Family; he needed something more than just Fass’s support and his own hard work.
He needed to use more bloody and vicious methods in order to maintain his own position in the Michel Family, to make sure that he had a stable base in the family, and to improve his own quality of life. It made sense that he’d pay a group of lunatics to risk their lives for him. After all, to live was to suffer; everyone understood their own sufferings more than anyone else.
Sophia finally decided to say something. “You should come back for a holiday someday,” she suggested.
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