Female Novel
Chapter 964
Brushing off the remnants of her coffee, Maja turned to face Maureen.
The older woman's gaze was filled with animosity, as every piece of information she had about Maja
was tinged with negativity.
In her eyes, it was Maja who had ruined Ian, causing him to abandon his duties, and bringing about the
downfall of the Raymond family. Maja was like a harbinger of doom that had befallen the Raymond
family.
Seeing her son sneaking out to meet Maja had driven Maureen to a state of rage that she had difficulty
soothing.
Maja had wanted to retort. Those parents who claimed to love their children were often the ones
causing them the most pain without even realizing it, using familial love as their shield.
She had a barrage of retorts at the ready, but in the end, only voiced one.
"Ms. Raymond, if you truly care about Ryan, you should see how upset he is right now."novelbin
Maureen stiffened, as if Maja's words had struck a nerve.
She didn’t dare to turn her head to see Ryan’s expression, only watching silently as Maja picked up her
bag, politely paid the $10 bill, and left.
Maja didn’t say anything else, but that single sentence weighed heavily on Maureen like a bombshell,
leaving her unable to react.
She could tell that Ryan was about to leave too. So, she hurriedly tried to say something, but Ryan's
retreating figure was resolute, and he wasn’t going to stop.
Left alone, Maureen sat on the nearby leather chair, her face growing pale.
Once in her car, Maja looked through the window to see Ryan following her.
He knocked on the car window.
The window rolled down.
"Penny, I'm sorry."
"Ryan, it's not your fault; you don’t have to apologize for that."
Ryan lowered his head, seemingly having matured overnight. He used to be impulsive and flamboyant,
but suddenly he seemed to be more reserved.
Maja thought that Ryan might be the one most affected by the turmoil within the Raymond family.
He had merely taken his girlfriend out of the country for a vacation, only to return and find out that
everything had changed.
Ryan was actually devastated. He had witnessed his favorite cousin, Ian, being taken away. If Ian
wasn’t rescued, he would never reappear in their lives.
At that point, the entire Raymond family was under Dennis' control, who held the most shares and
could do as he pleased.
"Penny." Ryan had wanted to say something else, but instead, he just managed to put on a bitter smile,
"Never mind, I just wanted to apologize. The Raymonds are in chaos right now, you shouldn't try to
contact anyone from the family. No one is willing to help Ian."
Maja nodded. Besides Steve, who was currently unreachable, everyone else probably wished Ian
would never reappear.
She drove back to her company but didn't go inside the building right away. Instead, she loosened her
grip on the steering wheel, leaned back in her seat, and took a moment to catch her breath.
Meanwhile.
Ian had been sitting down when someone brought him a glass of water.
He pushed the glass away, his voice indifferent, "I don't want it."
"Mr. Raymond, you should drink. We don't have much else here to provide you."
Ian scanned his surroundings.
It was a small room, outside of which were bustling police officers.
They didn't really know who Ian was, but the man before him did.
Ian earned many honors in the military as a teenager. His superiors had awarded him medals, but
because he didn’t want to reveal his identity, not many people knew about his military rank or that it
was equal to his father's.
Even though he had retired, his honors were still well recognized, and anyone who met him would
certainly show him respect, unless they were stubborn old-timers.
"Mr. Raymond, we're also investigating Holden's case, but we haven't found any leads. Has your team
found anything?"
Ian shook his head, remaining silent for a while before finally speaking.
"I want to know what kind of project my brother was involved in."
The man cautiously looked around the room, which had no surveillance cameras.
"The case your brother was involved in wasn't handled by us. Fitch should've told you this. Your brother
was sent overseas where a secret human experiment was taking place. They hoped he'd bring back
some data of that experiment. But on the day he was supposed to return, there was an explosion. His
body was never found after that."
"My brother is still alive!"
Ian leaned back in his chair as he continued, "So I need you to investigate what this human experiment
involved. My grandfather's disappearance is likely connected to my brother."
The man furrowed his eyebrows, his face filled with surprise. It took him a while before he finally said,
"Mr. Raymond, this won't be easy to investigate. Everything involving your brother is highly classified.
Only a few high-ranking officers know about his files."
Ian lowered his head, his fingertips tapping lightly on the sofa.
"What if he's still alive but has changed sides?"
The man jumped, "We can't just speculate about that."