CHAPTER 380: 211 NO LONGER AFRAID

She left after taking a phone call. Whose call was it?

Atlas Hallow returned to his office and first took a shower in the break room to wash off the sticky sweet liquid on his body.

Charlotte Miller still behaves the same, always adding double milk and sugar to her coffee, which made these stains on him quite uncomfortable.

After a refreshing shower and changing into a clean set of clothes, he walked out to find that Daniel Parker had already made coffee and placed it on his desk.

It was his usual black coffee, but this time, he asked Daniel to make it again with double sugar and milk.

Tasting that sweet, rich flavor took him back to the call he just received—he didn’t need to think hard to figure out who it was from.

It must have been from Oliver Baird.

He hadn’t crossed paths with Oliver before, but he heard that Oliver was efficient and decisive, though he couldn’t escape being ruthless.

Was he going to come back himself?

Initially, this step was taken out of fury sparked by Charlotte’s actions, especially since Ethan Baird intended to take Charlotte back to the United States, which unsettled him greatly.

He blocked the news, planning to bring Charlotte back himself as soon as possible, but he hadn’t expected Oliver to find out so quickly.

But now that it was out, it has to be dealt with together.

No one can take Charlotte from his side.

Sipping the rich and sweet coffee, his thick eyelashes slowly lowered, concealing the emotions in his eyes.

Even if he had to resort to force, he wouldn’t let her leave even a step.

Charlotte returned to the hotel, pacing back and forth on the carpet, nearly rubbing sparks out of it. Knowing about Ethan’s situation, she immediately asked a lawyer to visit the police station upon her return to inquire about the details.

Now she couldn’t act rashly, but at least she needed to understand what was going on.

Moreover, she didn’t know exactly when Oliver would arrive, as he didn’t mention coming back immediately during the call—it seemed he had something else to attend to.

When Ethan returned, he said something had happened in the family, and originally, he could hardly extricate himself, let alone his elder brother, who had encountered a lunatic.

She really hoped Oliver would hurry back, the longer this dragged on, the more troublesome it became.

More than half a day later, the lawyer called her to report what he had found at the police station: "President Miller, this is a bit problematic. There are no fingerprints of President Baird on the drugs, only others’, but due to the large quantity, he must remain in custody until the police find new leads, so we can’t bail him out yet."

Charlotte kept thinking, how did those things end up in Ethan’s car?

Someone must have slipped them in secretly. It wasn’t likely in the hotel’s parking lot due to the busy comings and goings of cars.

It must have been in the Hallow Clan’s underground parking where they were placed. Charlotte bit her lip, feeling a chill—could Atlas Hallow have done something like this?

Thinking about it, was there anything he couldn’t do?

Charlotte stood on the hotel’s top floor; today’s weather was so clear she could faintly see Atlas Hallow’s office building. He must be in his office at this moment, plotting something malicious.

She decided to keep her distance from him; Oliver was right, nothing needed to be discussed or agreed upon, as every compromise led to Atlas taking more advantage.

Ethan said the hotel was safer because Atlas wouldn’t dare bring people in to openly snatch her, so she just needed to avoid going out.

At this time, she should probably eat something; she thought it would be good to have a casual meal at the Western restaurant here.

The Western restaurant was quiet; Charlotte ordered cheese lobster with roasted garlic bread and creamy potato soup. She had been worried and unable to eat since morning when Ethan didn’t return; now, hearing Oliver say to wait for him, she finally felt relieved.

She slowly finished her meal and then took out a bank card to settle the bill.

That day at the airport, she hadn’t expected to leave Atlas so decisively, so she only brought along a small bag with some change and one bank card, although she had the forethought to carry her passport and ID.

"Ma’am, your total is one thousand two hundred eighty yuan, here’s your bill..." The waiter handed the bill to Charlotte with a slight bow—it was a bit pricey, with a fifteen percent service charge. If not for safety concerns, dining outside would be much cheaper.

Charlotte reached into her small bag and handed her bank card to the waiter.

"This card isn’t going through, could you use another one?" The waiter returned to Charlotte’s table, politely handing back the card.

"How is that possible?" Charlotte was taken aback; how could the card not work when it had enough money on it?

"It indeed seems to be the case," whispered the waiter, mindful that the restaurant was quite full and hoping to avoid any embarrassment for the guest.

"Just a moment." Charlotte took out her wallet, uncertain if her cash would cover the bill.

Off in the distance, a pair of dark, menacing eyes observed the scene.

Why was Charlotte here? Wasn’t she supposed to be inseparable with Atlas, yet she was dining alone in a restaurant?

This was the city’s finest hotel, where both Charlotte and Ava Walker happened to be staying.

Ava watched secretly, her hatred almost setting her afire—since Charlotte married into the Hallow Family, everything had gone haywire. It was Charlotte who got her kicked out of the family, all because of this woman.

These thoughts gnawed wildly at her soul...

Charlotte emptied her cash to settle the bill before breathing easy, though only twenty yuan was left in her wallet.

Was her card truly unusable?

Charlotte gritted her teeth and hurried to an ATM not far from the hotel, inserting her card to see if she could withdraw any cash.

She hadn’t expected this—to see that her account had money yet was told that her withdrawable amount was zero.

How could this be?

She stood stunned before the ATM for quite some time, until a person behind her peeked over and kindly reminded, "Miss, could it be you’ve gotten into legal trouble, and that’s why your money is frozen by the court, visible in the balance but unavailable for withdrawal?"

Charlotte withdrew her card and then turned to head back to the hotel.

Could it be like that? He had targeted Ethan, failed to control her, and then directly came after her?

Was it amusing?

It wasn’t amusing in the slightest, but now she faced a real problem: she only had twenty yuan in her pocket. Her bank card couldn’t be used, and she and Ethan were supposed to check out of the hotel today because they had already booked tickets to fly back to the United States—if not for all this, they might already have gone back by now.

She should be eagerly planning her return to her mom, looking forward to a delicious meal of chive dumplings, right?

Charlotte slowly took the elevator back to her room; she could only stay in this room tonight, but she needed to leave by noon tomorrow.

But what reason did Atlas have to freeze her bank card?

"How could you freeze my card? Do you really want to become my enemy?" Charlotte asked, holding her phone with a hint of tears in her eyes. Did he really not care about the past at all?

In truth, it was laughable of her; if he cared about the past at all, he wouldn’t do such things.

But she was just that type of person—she wanted to ask him why he was allowed to do such things.

"Become your enemy, huh? That might actually be interesting. Charlotte, do you think just because Oliver is coming you’ll get away?" the voice on the other end was as cold and malevolent as a demon.

But Charlotte found herself no longer afraid.

"I want to know on what grounds the court froze my card?" She wanted to understand how Atlas Hallow could do this; perhaps knowing more about his tactics and methods would give her a greater edge if they ever became adversaries.

"You were planning breaching a contract and running away. The court found out your whereabouts, so freezing your cards is quite normal." When Atlas Hallow’s voice echoed in the air, it was accompanied by a few sinister chuckles...