Chapter 397: Chapter 397: Warren Prescott Goes Missing
Before Noelle could figure out what to do, the red-haired sisters had already taken out their phones.
"If you want to call the police, call them. Do you think we’re afraid? I’m telling you, if you’ve really been stalking us, you’ll be eating prison food!"
After saying that, she was about to dial 911.
Only the "1" hadn’t even been pressed yet when her phone was taken by Noelle.
Noelle had already seen Ashley Shaw’s attitude earlier; it was clear that the two of them hadn’t stalked them.
It was just too coincidental, leading to a misunderstanding among all three of them.
But now that she knew neither side was stalking, she wasn’t bothered to argue with these "commoners" she would normally have no contact with.
"Noelle...?" The red-haired girl showed a puzzled expression.
At the Chanel counter, they were indeed in the wrong, and Noelle’s concession was understandable.
But why keep giving in now?
Obviously, she could see that Noelle really disliked these two bitches.
Noelle coldly said, "Don’t forget why we’re here. What if we’re late?"
With Noelle’s reminder, the red-haired girl finally remembered the "important matter".
She put away her phone, still acting haughty.
"Today you’re lucky, meeting us in a hurry! Otherwise, we’d never let you off!"
Ashley Shaw’s voice was icy.
"We should be the ones saying that to you."
"You—"
"Forget it! Don’t waste time on her, let’s go."
Noelle interrupted the red-haired girl’s outburst, carrying her Hermès bag as she left.
Seeing Noelle leaving, the two girls quickly followed, throwing glaring looks as they passed the pair.
Ariana Grant, not backing down, made a funny face in return, causing the two girls to freeze, perhaps frightened by Ariana’s face.
"Hurry up, why are you still standing there?"
Up ahead, Noelle urged them, and they eventually followed her closely, without any further incident.
Ashley Shaw and Ariana Grant then entered the elevator.
Ariana looked frustrated.
"Who else could we bump into, but them? Had I known, I’d have stayed in Actor Sinclair’s room, facing the camera."
Ashley Shaw said, "Do you want to go back now?"
"No—" Ariana quickly grabbed her, "Let’s wait in the lobby downstairs, seeing those cameras makes me nervous."
Ashley Shaw reminded her, "If you decide to be with Leon Zeller, you’ll have to face cameras sooner or later."
Ariana frustratingly tousled her hair and said in defeat, "That’s for later; let’s deal with it when the time comes."
Ashley Shaw didn’t want to put too much psychological pressure on Ariana, just slightly reminding her, so she’d be mentally prepared, and that was enough.
There were sofas in the lobby for waiting, and while Owen was dealing with business, Ariana boredly opened Leon Zeller’s livestream.
Since coming to Aethelgard, she hadn’t watched the livestreams as much as she’d done back in Westcroft.
Today, as she watched the livestream, she saw Leon didn’t need a crutch anymore; although when he walked fast, he still seemed to limp.
But judging by the reactions in the livestream comments, Ariana saw that the Stardust Team gained more fans after their "breakup and reunion," and Leon attracted more female fans.
Everyone thought Leon was a real man, which added to his charm, naturally drawing female fans to him.
Thinking of Ashley Shaw’s words, Ariana couldn’t help feeling "pressure mountain." [Note: "pressure mountain" is a literal translation of a Chinese slang meaning feeling overwhelmed.]
But she was growing this time, choosing not to retreat but becoming more determined to lose weight.
She wanted to become better, to deserve Leon.
Even though there’s no concept of deserving love, becoming a better self is positive growth in relationships.
At the same time, Ashley Shaw also turned on her phone.
To her surprise, besides the phone call in the car, Lars Prescott had called her thrice more, showing her phone had four missed calls.
Calling so many times... Something must have happened.
Ashley Shaw’s first thought was about Grandpa Prescott’s health, making her restless. She told Ariana she’d step out to make a call and headed to the hotel entrance with her phone.
Dialing Lars Prescott’s number, the call was almost instantly connected.
Ashley Shaw asked right away, "Is Grandpa Prescott okay?"
Perhaps taken aback by her question, Lars instinctively asked back, "Why are you suddenly asking this?"
Hearing this, Ashley felt relieved knowing Elder Prescott was fine, though still puzzled inside.
"No..." She paused slightly and asked, "Why did you call so many times?"
Lars’s tone was consistently calm.
"I just wanted to ask if Warren had contacted you?"
Ashley Shaw didn’t know what had happened in Westcroft, her face darkened.
"There’s no need to worry; I won’t have any more contact with him."
"That’s not what I meant..." Lars said awkwardly, "It’s just that I suddenly couldn’t reach Warren and called you to see if he contacted you, then I’d be relieved."
Ashley had a vague sense something was wrong.
"Did something happen to Warren?"
Lars hesitated for a moment on the other end but ultimately said, "We’ve been unable to reach him since yesterday."
Ashley remembered Lars calling her yesterday and couldn’t help but ask, "Why suddenly can’t you reach him?"
Since he spoke, Lars simply explained the situation.
"A person responsible for one of his projects fled in fear of being arrested; he chased him last night and hasn’t returned since."
Ashley Shaw instinctively tensed.
"Did you report this to the police? Where was he last contacted?"
"The dock. Assistant Lowell found out Morgan Schultz bought cruise tickets to The Cerulean Sea, so Warren chased after him. Right, Morgan is the one who fled."
"Where’s the cruise ship now?"
"It’s on the open sea already; the cruise ship is an overseas enterprise, with no partnership with Prescott Group, so we can’t stop the ship. We can’t contact the cruise now either."
Nowadays, communication technology isn’t that advanced, and being on open sea means isolation from the world.
Ashley Shaw’s mind rapidly recalled that period in her past life.
She was very sure there hadn’t been a case of Warren going missing back then, but the mentioned Morgan Schultz did leave an impression on her.
Because he later escaped to Senvira and was caught by international police a year later.
The Prescott Group’s reputation was greatly affected by Morgan Schultz at the time.
She vaguely remembered Morgan Schultz threatened the victims on the site, and they eventually resorted to the media, escalating the situation.
Until Morgan was captured and confessed that he threatened the victims himself, not under Prescott Group’s orders, did the Prescott Group’s reputation slowly recover.
These were things Elder Prescott mentioned to her in her previous life, and that’s how she knew.
But... how could she convey this to Lars?