My Formidable Husband
Chapter 97

Chapter 97 Accusation

Shatter!

As Fabio slammed his large body against the glass, the painting on the wall that had been encased in a glass split in two.

Everyone in the room was stunned to their cores as they looked at the scene. Douglas' face had turned ashen. He was on the verge of bursting into tears.

The painting was an antique painting that cost a fortune. Back when Douglas booked the VIP room, the manager had told Douglas that the painting was the most expensive item in the room. Douglas had noticed that the painting was far from the table and was even encased, so he did not dwell much on that matter. Who would have known that things would turn out horrendously? When Fabio realized that he was in trouble, he turned around to look at the antique painting on the ground. The moment he saw its ruined state, he panicked.

"Dad, I-I-" Fabio stammered. He never imagined that this would happen. Not only did he not burn Christopher, but he even ruined the painting behind him. Furthermore, it was a loud commotion in the VIP room, so a server soon came over and asked anxiously, "What happened?"

Once the server laid eyes on the shattered glass on the ground, as well as the ruined painting, he paled.

He quickly lifted his walkie-talkie and said in a quavering voice, "S-Sir, something major happened in the VIP room. The antique painting that Boss loves the most has been ruined."

Even the manager was startled to learn that. He rushed over to the room, and after scanning his surroundings, he bellowed, "Who did this?"

That scared the bejesus out of Fabio as his entire body began trembling. Fabian immediately cried out, "It was him! When my son was filling his cup for him, he suddenly pushed my son. My son lost his balance, and that's why he crashed against the glass!"

Right as Fabian said that, Fabio quickly went along with his words and said to the manager loudly, "That's right, that's right! It was him! He pushed me!"

Christopher sneered, "Fabio tried to scald me with the hot water, but he freaked out and crashed against the glass when I realized what he was trying to do. I doubt I even touched him."

"Nonsense! Why would my brother try to scald you with hot water? This is all because of you, Christopher! Stop trying to shirk your responsibility!" Scarlett cried out.

The Murrays were pinning the blame onto Christopher, and Frank was furious. The precious painting had been ruined, and Frank had to suffer with the rest of them. At that thought, he shot Christopher a glare. To him, if Christopher did not suddenly stand up, the painting would not have been ruined.

"Fabian, you can't say that..." Still, Frank had to defend Christopher a little, but it was not because he was genuinely helping his son-in-law out.

If they were to admit that it was Christopher's fault, Frank would have to fork up a huge amount of compensation. How was Frank going to gather that large sum of money?

"Shut up! Your son-in-law pushed my son, but you still think that you're in the right?" Fabian bellowed and scowled.

"That's enough. This is no place for you to act uncivilized. What you should be doing now is thinking about how you should deal with this. This is our employer's favorite item. Moreover, this isn't an issue about compensation. You should know what would happen if you crossed our employer," the manager chided.

He had no idea that the painting would be ruined.

"Mr. Little, can you help us out? Please talk to Mr. Songsmith on behalf of us about this," Douglas said nervously to the manager after composing himself.

However, Owen Little did not give Douglas any chance at all as he said, "We've known each other for a while now. Even if we put aside the worth of this painting, there's still the issue of how this painting is our employer's favorite piece. I have to call him, so please just pray that everything turns out fine."

Quickly, Owen called his employer. In around five minutes, a middle-aged man in his forties stormed into the room with several towering men behind him.

That man was none other than the "Mr. Songsmith" Douglas was talking about-Merrick Songsmith. He was also the owner of Gold River Hotel.

"Mr. Songsmith!" Douglas hurriedly greeted.

Merrick did not even spare Douglas a glance. When he saw the ruined state of his favorite painting with his own two eyes, he was livid. "Douglas, you've come here for meals many times now. Don't you know how important this painting is to me? What's the matter? Are you upset with me?"

Douglas quaked in his boots. "No, Mr. Songsmith, that's not it. I-It was him! He was the one who shoved my girlfriend's brother, and that's why he crashed against the painting."

Douglas was swift to put the blame on Christopher. Hearing that, Scarlett rapidly chimed in, "That's right. He was the one who pushed my brother."

Chapter 98 A Talk With Merrick

"Nonsense! Fabio wanted to scald my husband, but he was shocked when my husband found out," Julianna refuted.

"I don't care who ruined it, but you have to come up with a way to deal with this in half an hour's time. If I'm discontented with your plan, I'm sure you know what I'll do.”

Merrick snorted and left the room. However, he left the six burly men outside of the room, clearly meaning to make sure that the people inside the room would not make a run for it. Douglas whispered, "Mr. Little, what do we do now?"

"How am I supposed to know? He's mad. The least you can do right now is to get enough money to compensate Mr. Songsmith. You can't possibly break his things and refuse to pay up, right?" Owen grumbled.

"Right, right. Mr. Little, how much does this cost?" Fabian asked tensely.

"He spent over three million to get this painting. It's been years since the purchase, so I guess it's around seven or eight million now," Owen replied nonchalantly.

"S-Seven or eight million?"

Owen's words frightened the Murrays. Even the colors had drained out of Douglas' face. He knew that the painting was expensive, but he never thought that it would be that costly.

"What? That darn painting costs millions?" Fabio was dumbfounded. Seven to eight million isn't a small amount at all!

Christopher sneered inwardly. Although Merrick's painting was not the best painting he had seen, he knew that it would still be worth around five to six million.

"Dad, what do we do now?" Fabio could only turn to Fabian.

Fabian gritted his teeth and whipped his head to the side to glare at Frank. "Your son-in-law was the one who pushed my son. If not for him, my son wouldn't have crashed into the painting. You should be the ones paying for this. If you don't have the money for this, you still have Dragon Valley. Weren't you planning to sell the plot of land to Centurion Corporation? Use that instead!"

"Oh, that's a good idea. Our boss might like that." Owen nodded in approval. He, too, knew about Centurion Corporation and Dragon Valley.

However, Frank was even more appalled. Dragon Valley was his chance to turn the tables. If he were to use that as compensation, he would be doomed for the rest of his life.

"Look, even Mr. Little has nodded in agreement. Uncle Frank, this is originally Christopher's fault. Besides, the land at Dragon Valley was initially a gift from our family. You won't be losing out by using that as compensation," Scarlett said.

Frank was desperate as he yelled, "No, no, no! No one's going to take this plot of land from me! I'm not the one who pushed your son, and I'm not the one who crashed against the glass. You can do whatever you like, but don't you dare lay a finger on my land."

Fabian stared at Christopher icily and uttered, "Fine. Then let Christopher pay up."

"Me? I didn't even touch Fabio. Besides, didn't you just collect one of Titian's early paintings, Uncle Fabian? I'm certain that Mr. Songsmith will be interested in that," Christopher said with a sneer. "Keep dreaming! You were the one who pushed my son. At most, we'll split the fee," Fabian uttered.

If they were to split the compensation fee, then each family would only have to come up with over two million. Fabian was fine with that. On the other hand, although Frank had a plot of land at Dragon Valley and a contract with Centurion Corporation, money was something he did not have. The one million from an earlier incident was already driving Frank and the others mad, let alone over two million. At that thought, Fabian smirked. He could use the opportunity to sneakily buy Frank's plot of land at a low price.

Meanwhile, Douglas' heart lurched when he heard that they were going to split the fee. If things were to go that way, he would have to fork up two million himself when the destruction of the painting had nothing to do with him at all.

Douglas did not want to lose two million just because of Scarlett. Two million was no small amount-he could have used two million to court a minor celebrity instead.

"Um, let me discuss this with Mr. Songsmith again. Let me replace out if there's another way around this," Douglas piped up.

"Yes, yes. Go on, Douglas," Scarlett urged, remembering that her boyfriend knew Merrick.

Hearing that, Douglas heaved a sigh of relief and dashed out of the room. Have a talk with Merrick? I'm no madman.

As there were many people around, it was inconvenient for Christopher to phone Diane. So he said, "I'm gonna head out too and see if I can get someone."