Cooper remained calm.
He was the one who killed Clive!
He didnât think his actions were unjust.
He wouldnât cover up if he wanted to kill someone, but he was not willing to be arrested so easily!
Neither he nor Linus said a word. They were not afraid of being under everyoneâs gaze, but they chose not to speak and left all the talking to their lawyer.
All of a sudden, Sophia rushed out from the crowd.
âDad! Linus!â
Her tearful voice crushed Cooperâs heart.
A sobbing Sophia ran over and held onto him with worry and fear all over her face because he had been handcuffed. He quickly consoled, âDonât cry, darling. Donât be scared. I will be fine. Itâs just a small problem, but it will be resolved soon.â
âDadâ¦â She felt the icy handcuffs on his wrist; it was so cold that it pierced through her bones.
Cooper was taken into the police car, but he was still smiling at her. âItâs okay, darling. Iâll be back before you know it.â
Beside him, Linus was even more composed. He reassured, âItâs okay. Dad and I will be back soon.â
However, Sophia only continued to sob.
There was nothing she could do except watch Cooper and Linus get taken away in front of her.
She knew that Cooperâs sudden arrest was not solely because of the recent incident and that many other things were also at play. Lucy had once reminded her.
It looked like Jordanâs plan had been long premeditated. Even if it wasnât for the incident this time, he would have found something else to frame Cooper for.
Furthermore, he had found and teamed up with a number of forces to oppose Cooper. It was not that simple this time around.
A person had silently gone up to stand beside Sophia and was watching her cry.
She looked so helpless and weak.
It reminded him of himself in the past; he was once that helpless too. During that cold night on Salvador Island, both of them held onto each other for warmth.
He longed to hold her just like he did back then, but it was no longer possible now.
At that moment, a car stopped at the entrance and Michael rushed out of it. When Sophia saw him, she let out a wail and buried herself in his arms.
âItâs okay. It wonât be for long. Dad and Linus will come home soon. The lawyers are already there.â
Michael looked at Quinton who was standing not too far behind Sophia.
While he was working overtime at the filming site last night, no one told him about what had happened.
Sophia must have figured that it was a small matter and that it was not worth bothering him with.
Quinton is quite skilled, but I donât blame him for this. Even if this incident had not happened, Jordan would have thought of other ways to bring Cooper and Linus down. Not to mention, that fella deserved to die.
Nonetheless, things were not looking up for them. The other party was being very aggressive. Michael also knew that this was not going to be that simple.
âWe have the best lawyer. Dad and Linus will be out soon.â
As he was comforting Sophia, he also made a call on his phone.
As if Jordan wanted to prove his determination to crush Cooper, bad news continued to pour in in the following days.
Firstly, problems kept coming one after the other at the Michel Group. In Africa, the Michel Industriesâ
headquarters were ambushed repeatedly and several people in charge were killed. Some projects were left without a leader, causing chaos within the company. Additionally, several of their business partners canceled their partnerships all of a sudden which only complicated things further.
At the Michel Familyâs home in Europe, an urgent eldersâ council was convened to find various reasons to dismiss Cooper from his post in the family and in the business. The family sent someone to take charge of the business in Africa. It seemed like they wanted to take this chance to remove the father and son duo from the company for good.
In Cethos, both Dragon Technology Corporation and JNS Group fell into the midst of a tax turmoil.
Someone had reported them for tax evasion, putting the audit department under investigation.
Furthermore, Asco International was also reported.
The other party wanted to eradicate Cooper and the forces working behind him as well!
Because predicaments in Africa, Europe, and Cethos were all happening at the same time, it was undoubtedly driving Sophia insane.
After attacking them from the economical and legal side of things, the other party began to attack them with public opinion.
The Bishops participated in various interviews as the victimâs family. Filled with tears in front of the camera, they lamented over their sonâs tragic death, how cruel Cooper was, the injustice of their sonâs death, and the darkness of this world.
It almost seemed as though the media received the same press release at the same time and began attacking Cooper and Linus all over their websites. They described him as a âwar criminalâ and a âwarlord with fresh blood on his handsâ.
They even went as far as to put him next to truly infamous war criminals in history with the intention of writing him down in history so that future generations would also be aware of his wrongdoings.
The public exploded with rage. Everywhere they looked, be it on their phones or in the newspaper, people were only talking bad about Cooper.
Indeed, Cooper did commit a number of improper acts in the past. For example, he took part in supporting upheavals and took the chance to sell munitions during wartime. In places that were plagued with epidemics, he deliberately sold special drugs at a higher cost.
But, among arms dealers, there was not a person who had truly clean hands as they would have gotten some blood on their hands at some point.
In just a short time, everyone was talking about Cooper. Whenever they did, it also seemed like they wanted to lash out at the sinful and violent arms boss.
Sophia was collapsing under all the work she had to do. Every day, she had to deal with all sorts of inspections. Cooper and Linus had been in there for two days now, and it felt like the whole world was turned upside down.
But, even if they were in there for an hour, the other party would also cause a multitude of disruptions within that hour.
Michael was also buried deep in work that his shadow was nowhere in sight. The sudden turn of events left the both of them at a loss for what to do. They were working around the clock every day.
On the third day since Cooper and Linus were arrested, Sophia hurried over to Maddieâs unit.
Using public opinion to attack Cooper was simply a way for the other party to use the pressure from peopleâs opinions as leverage, but Sophia could not just sit by and let that happen.
She also had an idea for dealing with the media, but she had to have a discussion about it with Maddie first.
To her surprise, when she arrived at the entrance of Maddieâs unit and got out of the car, she saw several familiar faces walk out of the place.
The two parties happened to run into each other.
Her haggard complexion suddenly turned cold.
But, she quickly flaunted a smile and greeted him politely.
âItâs such a coincidence to see you here, Mr. Edwards.â
Jordan had seemingly just noticed her and also had the same surprised look on his face. âOh, look; itâs Cooperâs daughter. What a coincidence. What brings you here?â
Sophia pushed her glasses up. âIâm here to see a friend.â
âOh! I heard your dad and brother are in a bit of a bind lately. How is that going? Do you need my help?â
Shaking her head, she let out a modest and respectful smile. âItâs a minor problem. I donât want to bother you with it, Mr. Edwards.â
He nodded and said, âOkay, thatâs good. I still have somewhere to be, so I will get going now.â
After the two rows of people brushed past her, the smile on her face immediately disappeared.
Jordan, donât think you can run away unscathed this time!