Chapter 145: Chapter 145

Leon and a few colleagues had stayed behind the one-way glass screen to ’supervise’ the women’s visit, mainly because of the small incident and how James had gotten agitated when Rocky had visited.

Of course, Shelby was aware that they were there as the policemen would never dream of eavesdropping in such a situation.

They had all seen how Clara had seemingly done a turnaround after that very short warning from Ian. Leon still had goosebumps from even hearing Ian’s words even though they were not directed at him.

Leon was baffled, ’Why does it look like James Wendover wanted to dig his own grave? Why would he treat his wife like that?’

"Isn’t it because of the drugs in his system? He’s gone a long time without taking a sniff. With the amount in his system, that should take a drastic toll on him," One police officer stated, startling Leon out of his contemplations. He had not realized that he had spoken his thoughts out.

Leon nodded pensively.

"Let’s let the prosecutors deal with this shit then!"

"I would be glad to do that anytime."

The car sped down the road and arrived at the most prominent school on the Island, the Islanders’ Academy. The welcoming school building had bright open spaces that were to make students feel at ease, but for Samantha, it was the opposite for her. Her face scrunched up in a set line as the building loomed closer and the car came to a stop.

She had initially considered herself the luckiest to be able to attend the school that was only reserved for the best of the best on the Island. In fact, an outsider might think of the school as a large luxury chateau of a sort instead of a school ground.

The property consists of multiple wings and floors that sprawl over a vast expanse of land. However, this did not mean that there were a large number of students as very few fit the criteria for admission. Islanders’ Academy just had more space to make students comfortable and also trained them holistically in sports, current and past knowledge, technology, winery, science and many others.

The only peculiarity for Samantha on this day was that the school headmaster and a few prominent administrators bowed deeply as soon as their car came to a stop.

A few students hovered in the back, and some paused as they stepped out of their lavish, catchy cars.

It was rare for them to see their headmaster, but for him to greet anyone like that was an even rarer sight.

"I can handle this, Chairman; you don’t have to do this yourself..." Currey started, but Ian was already out of the car.

With no care of the world, the giant man reached out and helped Gabriel out of the car. A few gasps rolled out from the students watching on. Ian’s presence explained a lot to them. Ian was at the pinnacle of their whole society, so children and adults alike could recognize him anywhere.

The fact that he was not in an ’official suit and tie’ like their parents wore when they visited their school, did nothing to diminish his commanding presence. In fact, that made him stand out more in his joggers, turtleneck and long overcoat, coupled with white sneakers.

Gabriel’s eyes shone brightly as he grabbed onto Ian’s pinky and held on.

Samantha’s reaction did not go unnoticed by Ian, but he did not give her the time of the day. She stepped out of the car’s passenger seat and marched all the way around the car. Samantha did not even look over where her school authorities were and hurried into the school building, clutching her purse.

Ian’s eyes lingered on the retreating back, taking in her appearance and mannerisms as she entered the building.

Samantha lowered her eyes slightly and walked briskly to her changing room. Each student had a ceiling-to-floor locker that was encased in a small room. They ended up calling those rooms, ’the changing rooms’. That was where all their belongings, including books and other specific attires provided by the school, were kept.

Samantha leaned against the door on the inside and sighed.

"So, it was true that her dad was Chairman Thornston!"

"What do you mean by that? Does she look anything like him? She is just a leech attaching herself to the Thornstons!"

"Yh, that’s true! Isn’t her mother already dead or something?"

"Did she even have a mother to start with? She was an orphan! A charity case!"

The girls who were speaking had intentionally stepped close to Samantha’s changing room so that she would hear all those words.

"A charity case who still wants to overreach and go for the most popular guy in school!"

"I still think that we need to be careful. Chairman Thornston dropped her off himself. What if-"

"Why do you always have to spoil the conversation? Leave, if that is all you can think of to say!"

The demeaning conversation continued for some time, and Samantha stayed there till the girls were satisfied and left.

However, she bumped into a small, sturdy chest when she stepped out of the room. Samantha looked up sharply and then blushed a deep shade of red.

Outside and in front of the school, "Are you going to remain in there?" Ian asked after waiting quite a few minutes without the second child stepping out of the car.

With a bit of hesitation, Ingrid also slipped out of the car after hearing that. Her head remained bowed, and she kept a lot of distance from him. Without Shelby around, her wariness had skyrocketed once again.

"Welcome Chairman Thornston! It’s so good to have you visit our humble premises. But you didn’t have to. You could have just called for us to visit you instead. Why waste your precious time by coming all the way here?"

"Waste my time? On my children?"

The headmaster froze, "Eh? No! I mean... I didn’t mean that...."

He coughed, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"You can get to your class by yourself, right?"

Ingrid nodded and then bowed to the staff around. She shot forward, pushing her glasses up with her dark shoulder-length hair bounding around her as she hurried off.

A nostalgic feeling clouded Ian, distracting him for a moment until Gabriel tagged on his hand. Ingrid was too similar in appearance to her mother, which he struggled to get used to.

However, the reality check for him was how Ingrid handled herself, like her very big sweater that almost swallowed her up. Aliya was confident in herself, but Ingrid was the very opposite of that scale. Before leaving the estate, Ian had already checked and confirmed the children’s school status that morning.

"Chairman Ian, please, this way."

Ian briefly looked down at Gabriel’s upturned face and then followed the man, who only reached up to his chest. The others followed suit, too.

"Chairman, the projects you contributed to a couple of years ago have already been completed. Would you like to see them? Oh, silly me, congratulations on your marriage Chairman -"

The headmaster kept blabbering on until Ian interrupted.

"Tell me about their progress!"

Ian remembered the last conversation he had had with Shelby. Shelby had been right. If he did not care about the children he had adopted, who would? Ian owed them that in the least.

The headmaster already had the files of the two children on his table at that moment.

"Samantha is struggling to fit in, but her academics are just okay. We’ve had a few issues with her, but nothing too alarming."

Ian nodded, saying nothing to that. The headmaster continued, "Ingrid is too timid to partake in anything, but she excels in music, so I think we can watch her a few years and place her in our music program to nurture her-"

"Why wait a few years? Enrol her into that!"

"Eh.... Ok, it will be done today."

Then Ian nodded at Gabriel, "Enrol him as well..."

"Chairman, eh...." The man moistened his throat.

"From his file, he is not of school-going age yet. He has to be six year-"

"Then hire a teacher for him because today will be his first day in school!"

Currey closed his eyes as he stood in the back. He wanted to say that, ’Chairman Ian. It does not work like that!’ However, he could not bring himself to say anything.

Gabriel sat on a seat next to Ian, dangling his legs, his excitement was overflowing at this prospect.

The headmaster smiled tightly, "Of- co-urse Chairman! Eh, Miss-"

He could not bring himself to refute or counter anything that Ian had suggested. The man who was usually imposing found himself cowering with his back full of sweat in Ian’s presence.

The headmaster called out to one of the people who had come out to welcome Ian, "Take the young master to your office for now and let’s get one of the substitute teachers in today to work with him."

The woman was surprised but acted immediately.

"Have a good day, Daddy!" Gabriel shouted and followed the woman out of the headmaster’s office.

"Make sure that at the end of the day, he has had enough activities to exhaust him into sleeping immediately!"

Ian stood up and was gone, leaving the headmaster baffled about the last request. However, Currey understood it. He laughed so hard in his head that it threatened to spill out, but he did not dare!

They returned to the car, and Currey drove away.

Just then Ian, phone rang, picking it up, he listened and then said, "I know!"

It didn’t take long before another call came in from the same number.

"Put your phone on loudspeaker," He instructed patiently.

Ian listened intently for a few seconds before saying, "Touch one hair off of her, and you will live to regret it." He again hung up as abruptly as the first time. Currey was wise enough not to interrupt as he noticed that Ian’s mood had dipped. Ian picked up a tablet and pressed a few soft buttons, watching something intently for a while. Currey could feel Ian’s mood drop even colder, and he wondered what was up.

Just as they pulled up to their destination, Ian stated, "Cancel the wire transfer that was made to James Wendover!

"Erm, Chairman, but doesn’t that count as a breach of the second contract?"

Ian looked straight at Currey through the driving mirror, his grey eyes so cold that even Currey shivered.

"I’ll do so right away!"

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