The Breeding Deal: Brother-in-law's Forbidden Offer - Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Arrest

Christine only learned about her brother’s arrest on the third day after it happened.

That morning, after getting up, she first went to a private clinic for a gynecological check-up, then headed straight to the hospital to visit Ethan.

On her way there, she had prepared excuses to explain to Rebecca why she hadn’t visited Ethan yesterday. But before she could say anything, Rebecca patted her shoulder and said reassuringly, “Don’t worry, Adrian will definitely help. He won’t just leave things be.”

Christine nodded vaguely in response, not quite understanding what Rebecca meant.

Rebecca looked at Ethan’s sleeping face in the hospital room while complaining to Christine, “You know, they’re both my sons, but how can their personalities be so different? I just can’t understand why Adrian would beat up Marcus and Wesley so badly this time.”

When Rebecca first heard about Adrian’s fight, she immediately called him, but he hung up on her. She then went to his company, only to have his secretary tell her that Adrian was in an important meeting and couldn’t be disturbed.

Left with no choice, she had her driver take her to the hospital where Marcus and Wesley were staying, to meet with their father Victor. She bowed and smiled apologetically, trying to humbly inquire about what had caused the fight between the three boys. But Victor wouldn’t reveal the reason, just leaning on his cane and sighing vaguely about how his two sons had brought this on themselves.

Rebecca was still worried sick about how to compensate their family. If she were to offer money, how much should it be? And would it be appropriate for her to pay, considering Adrian was the one responsible?

He hadn’t even shown his face yet, and knowing how particular Victor was about these things, how could he possibly forgive them so easily?

“He’s been like this since he was little – barely speaks, stubborn as a mule, always doing things his own way without asking for advice! This time, he’s really caused me so much trouble! He’s not acting like an older brother at all!”

Rebecca frowned deeply, looking both worried and angry, clearly disappointed in her son. “If you ask me, he’s still holding onto that childhood fight from over twenty years ago, keeping that grudge all this time and now taking revenge!”

Christine wanted to explain that Adrian had acted because of her – that night, when Marcus had almost gotten his hands on her, Adrian had rushed to her rescue.

But she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Firstly, she feared Rebecca would discover her relationship with Adrian. There were too many suspicious details – how did Adrian know where she was? Why would he fight someone for her? These questions would be hard to explain.

Secondly, she had noticed that Rebecca never praised her eldest son. Christine suspected her mother-in-law didn’t like hearing others speak well of Adrian or defend his actions.

Maybe she was overthinking it, but after careful consideration, Christine changed the subject instead.

“I remember Ethan mentioning that Adrian doesn’t get along with Marcus and Wesley. What happened when they were kids?”

She wasn’t actually interested, but just wanted to stop Rebecca from asking about that night.

“Oh, they were just kids being kids, you know!” Rebecca said, thinking back.

The memories were fuzzy after so many years, but Rebecca remembered that afternoon. She had been waiting at home for Adrian and Ethan to return from school – usually, the butler would pick them up from the school bus. But that day, five-year-old Ethan had burst into the house with blood streaming from his nose.

He was too young to explain clearly, just stammering over and over: “Brother… help brother!”

Rebecca had been terrified, thinking something terrible had happened to Adrian. She quickly grabbed some cotton swabs to stop Ethan’s nosebleed, then rushed out with the rest of the household.

At the playground, they found her eldest son standing in the middle of a crowd, breathing heavily with blood on his hands, having beaten up seven or eight younger kids.

Victor’s wife ran over and pulled her sons up from the ground, demanding to know what had caused the fight. Through all the crying and chaos, they finally figured out it had started over a toy.

Just because of a toy, Adrian had fought with younger children – when their grandfather heard about this, he was furious and deeply disappointed. He felt Adrian had failed to live up to his expectations and upbringing by doing something so childish, crude, and unrefined.

He immediately sent the other children home, then called Adrian into the living room. In front of everyone, he struck Adrian’s palms several times with a wooden ruler.

The scene had been chaotic, with Ethan crying non-stop for his brother, terrified by their grandfather’s anger. Only after taking Ethan back to his room did Rebecca learn the truth – Adrian had rushed in alone to save Ethan from Wesley’s bullying, and in his anger, had beaten up all the kids who’d hurt his brother.

So Adrian had actually been punished for protecting his brother.

But their grandfather had already declared his punishment in front of everyone – Adrian would be confined for a month under his personal supervision.

Rebecca hadn’t dared to challenge him. Since marrying into the Blackwood family, she’d been counting on the old man to groom her son as his successor. She couldn’t risk offending him.

She sighed as she remembered, “Poor thing. He was just over ten years old, and I didn’t see him for over a month. They said he spent every day either standing as punishment or reading books. He probably didn’t eat well, and no one dared to talk to him.”

“Just ten years old?” Christine exclaimed in surprise. For a ten-year-old child to be treated like that for a month – it was heartbreaking.

She felt a wave of sympathy for Adrian.

He had only tried to protect his brother, done nothing wrong, yet had to bear all the blame, criticism, and verbal abuse alone.

The psychological trauma must have been far worse than the physical punishment.

Meanwhile, Rebecca’s attitude and tone made Christine uncomfortable.

Looking at her mother-in-law casually reminiscing about the past, Christine thought of her own mother: always protective, loving, willing to sacrifice everything for her. Shouldn’t a mother be the one to stand up and protect her child? Why hadn’t she… done anything?

No wonder Adrian had grown up the way he did.

After chatting for a while, Rebecca sighed, seeming unwilling to discuss Adrian further. She advised Christine, “Maybe you should visit your parents today. They must be worried sick right now.”

“…What?”

Christine froze, not understanding what Rebecca meant. Just like before, it seemed something had happened that only she didn’t know about.

“What, you don’t know yet?”

Rebecca’s eyes widened in surprise as she dropped the bombshell: “Your brother was arrested for drug possession two days ago. He’s still at the narcotics bureau. Your parents have been trying to pull strings to get him out.”

Oliver. Drug possession. Narcotics bureau.

These three pieces of information together made Christine’s mind go blank. How could this be possible?

She found an empty room and, with trembling hands, made a video call home.

On the screen, her parents looked like they’d aged ten years overnight. Their worried faces made Christine’s heart clench. As soon as she asked what happened, her mother Patricia broke down crying, explaining that two nights ago, while they were asleep, they’d received a call from N City Police Station saying Oliver was in custody. They were asked to come in and advised to contact a family lawyer quickly.

Panicked about what their usually well-behaved son could have done, they rushed to the police station. There they learned Oliver had been arrested at a yacht party, allegedly in possession of drugs – over 120 grams of heroin.

They couldn’t even see their son as family members at first. After the lawyer spent two hours with Oliver, he reported back: Oliver insisted the heroin wasn’t his, but he had no idea who had planted it in his bag, or when.

That night, the yacht had been full of rich kids and privileged guests. Oliver had just gone to network and look for business opportunities. How could this have happened?

The narcotics bureau claimed to have both witness testimony and physical evidence. Her parents were now trying to get to the truth quickly so Oliver could be released on bail from detention. The longer it took, the more unclear the evidence from that night would become, which would only benefit whoever had framed him.

At this rate, in a few days, their son would be transferred to the downtown detention center to await trial.

Patricia and her husband had contacted everyone they could think of. They were willing to mortgage their house for money, but no one would help. They’d kept it from Christine, fearing the shock might harm her pregnancy.

“Chrissy, sweetie, you know your brother would never have drugs!”

Patricia said through her tears, looking exhausted. “He’s always been such an honest boy, he’d never get involved in anything illegal. He must have been framed. But… but what can I do now? I can’t even see him.”

Then she mentioned that Adrian had been supposed to attend that yacht party too, but had cancelled last minute due to something urgent. If he’d been there, she said, Oliver would never have been framed.

Christine’s heart tightened.

That night… when Marcus had trapped her in the car, Adrian had rushed to save her.

Which meant if it hadn’t been for her situation, Oliver might not be in trouble now.

She steadied her voice, told her parents not to worry, that she’d figure something out, then hung up.

Christine’s social circle consisted mainly of college friends. She sat in her bedroom, calling them one by one, asking if anyone had connections in the police system. Then she started contacting Ethan’s friends, begging for their help.

She kept calling until almost ten at night, with little success.

All she got were vague, noncommittal answers. Most people couldn’t help and expressed their regrets. Even Ethan’s close friends could only promise to ask around.

Deep down, she knew there was one person she should call to save Oliver –

But she couldn’t.

That day in the car, she had bitten him, and his deep frown showed how angry he must have been.

At this point, she’d already decided to avoid any further involvement with that man – whether physical or personal.