Chapter 1736

Chapter 1736 Joseph Had Taken Off

The man in the video’s thumbnail image was none other than Joseph, whom I had parted ways with a short time ago. However, he seemed to be in a bad way with his eyes sunken and dark eye bags below them, a world of difference from the strong man in my memories.

Trembling, I tapped on the first voice message, and the others played sequentially.

“Come over and help me figure out how to deal with this. I found him in the alley behind The Jade. There are no other wounds on him apart from a few prick marks. He has probably been injected with a high dosage of drugs, and the other party is determined to have him addicted at a single go. They’re really ruthless.”

And so it went.

A buzzing started in my mind. So, Ashton still didn’t protect him in the end?

I rushed over to The Jade, only to see Emery waiting anxiously at the door. From the looks of it, she had been waiting for quite some time.

While leading me in, she murmured, “This way. I have someone watching over him.”

“Are you sure it’s drugs?” I asked softly, harboring a final shred of hope within me. Like Ashton, Joseph was an outstanding man, so he shouldn’t be tainted with such a nasty substance.

“In all likelihood, it is.” Emery sighed regretfully, saying nothing further.

At the end of the corridor on the first floor, tall and burly bodyguards were keeping guard outside the room door on the right, one on either side. Their indifferent expressions made it so that no one dared to approach the room.

Emery stopped for a moment at the door and questioned one of them, “Did anything happen?”

“Everything has been normal,” the bodyguard replied.

In response, Emery nodded. “Okay. Open the door.”

“Understood,” the bodyguard answered respectfully. Then he took out a key and unfastened the safety lock hanging on the door before pushing the door open.

But when we walked in, the huge room was empty.

Emery and I exchanged a glance, reckoning that Joseph must have hidden away. “Perhaps he’s in the bathroom.”

As I said that, I pushed open the bathroom door but still saw no one there. However, the exhaust fan on the ceiling had been pried open, and the hole was just the perfect size for a grown man.

It was clear as day that he had already taken off.

At that turn of events, Emery grew morose. “Why did he hightail it out of here when I wasn’t going to hurt him?”

I gauged the distance between the exhaust fan and the floor. Although there was a chair to boost him up, it would’ve certainly taken quite some effort to climb up. Emery said he’s already doped up, so he’s likely weak and lethargic. Still, he climbed up with sheer willpower alone.

An unspeakable wave of sorrow flooded me as I recalled his restrained voice on the phone earlier. “He didn’t want someone he knows to see him in such a condition.”

He has always been immaculate before others, so how could he possibly tolerate showing others the most pathetic side of him? Even as a bystander, I feel as though it has never happened when I didn’t behold it with my own eyes, what’s more Joseph himself.

“No, that’s not right.” All of a sudden, something occurred to me. If he has been reduced to this, what about his wife and children?

Having thought of that, I quickly phoned the company secretary and asked for Joseph’s address. No matter what, I had to go and take a look at things personally before I could rest easy.

After making the call, I contacted Millie next. Learning that she was nearby, I arranged to meet her at the entrance.

Throughout it all, Emery stood at the side and watched silently without offering any opinion. Nevertheless, she appeared hesitant, seemingly having something to say.

Afraid that something had happened to her, yet she was reluctant to bother me, I inquired with feigned nonchalance as I put my phone away, “Is there anything else?”

Emery shook her head, jolting out of her contemplation. She looked me right in the eye. “No. Are you leaving right away?”

“Yeah.” I nodded firmly. Again, a rush of guilt assailed me. “It was afternoon when Joseph got the call, so it’s already late that I’m going now.”

Emery was stunned for a moment before she dipped her head a fraction in acknowledgment. Subsequently, she added, “I mean, Ashton is also coming over in a while. Are you not going to see him first before you leave?”

“Why is he coming?” I queried.

“I notified him. Joseph is his subordinate, so there’s no reason for him not to show up,” Emery explained.

No sooner had she finished saying that than even footsteps came from the door, followed by the bodyguards greeting, “Mr. Fuller.”