Chapter 7

The middle-aged man looked fierce, and his expression was grim. There was an air of authority about him.

"Uncle Tucker." Deidre seemed to deflate when faced with this man.

"What's going on, Deidre?" Tucker's voice was deep and rough. Even a simple inquiry from him was enough to stress Deidre out.

This man was her father's third brother, Tucker Nolan. He was third-in-command of the Nolans. Deidre was a junior to him, and she did not dare to be disrespectful.

Deidre explained, "Uncle Tucker, Dr. Keen has been treating these people for days without any improvement. I had to do something. I'm doing this for the Nolans."

"Miss Nolan, I understand you can't trust me as I've had no success in treating the patients." Reuben pointed at Evan with hate. "But getting an unknown to replace me and insult me is too much to bear! No one has ever dared talk to me that way in my life!"

"You've crossed the line, Deidre!" Tucker berated her angrily, "Who allowed you to act so disrespectfully toward Dr. Keen?"

"Uncle Tucker, I'm not being disrespectful to him. I just want to save their lives," Deidre said.

Tucker grunted coldly. "Don't you know who Dr. Keen is? Who else in Harken Bay can save the patients if even he can't do anything about it?"

Reuben lifted his head higher arrogantly.

"It's one thing to show Dr. Keen disrespect, it's another that you found an inexperienced young man to replace him. Do you have any idea what this will do to Dr. Keen's reputation if word gets out?"

Tucker continued lecturing, "You're a stubborn girl, Deidre!"

"You shouldn't blame Miss Nolan for this, Mr. Nolan."

Reuben cast a disgruntled look at Evan as he spoke, "She was just tricked by this conman."

Tucker slowly turned to look at Evan. There was a cold look in his eyes. "Young man, are you the one who insulted Dr. Keen and arrogantly declared that you can save the patients?"

Evan looked up. "I didn't insult him. I was just stating the facts."

"You…"

Reuben was about to lose his temper but quickly held himself back. He grunted coldly. "Are you accusing me of being a bad doctor? Let me ask you this, can you cure these patients?"

"No, I can't," Evan replied curtly.

"You can't?" Reuben laughed condescendingly. "I thought you were some miracle doctor when you acted so arrogantly. I realize now that you were just bragging. If I'm correct about this, you're just a conman with a glib tongue!

"How do people like you call yourselves doctors? You're insulting the profession! I need to report you to the police and get you arrested and thrown in prison. You shouldn't be out here harming others."

Reuben was finally able to counter-attack when Evan said he could not cure the patients. He wanted Evan thrown in prison to vent his anger.

"Mr. Carlton—"

"Go ahead!"

Deidre wanted to help Evan explain, but Evan interrupted her.

She did not understand why he did it. Evan had managed to treat the patients. He could have thrown this information at Reuben's face. Why did he choose to do the opposite?

"How dare you challenge me, young man? You'll regret this! I'll make sure you get thrown into prison today."

Reuben got even more infuriated when he saw the haughty look on Evan's face. He took out his phone to make the call.

Deidre's face fell. "That's enough, Dr. Keen."

"Are you still helping him, Miss Nolan?" Reuben said unhappily. "Are you going to regret this only after you realize you've been conned?"

"What did he con me out of?"

"I…"

Reuben had no answer to that.

"You've been claiming that Mr. Carlton is a conman, but I've not paid him a cent nor has he ever requested any payment from me," Deidre said with conviction. "As for you, you were paid ten million, but none of the patients have been cured. How do you explain that?"

"You…"

Reuben was not able to outtalk Deidre and could only turn to Tucker. "Mr. Nolan, Miss Nolan is showing me utmost disrespect. If you don't do anything about this, I'll never help out the Nolans again no matter how much you pay me!"

"Be quiet, Deidre Nolan! You're actually trusting a shameless man like that! He can't stay any longer!"

Tucker roared with a cold look on his face, "Guards!"

Five henchmen walked in right away.

"Get that man!"

All five of them surrounded Evan at the order.

"Stop!" Deidre quickly stepped in front of Evan. "No one can touch Mr. Carlton."

Tucker's expression turned dark at this. "Deidre, are you disobeying me for this man?"

"You need to be reasonable about this, Uncle Tucker!" Deidre replied coldly. "Evan Carlton did nothing wrong. You can't do anything to him."

Tucker berated sharply, "I suspect that he has bad intentions toward the Nolans. This alone is enough for me to detain him and torture an answer out of him! Your father would agree to this too."

Deidre smiled coldly. "Would you act this way if my father were here?"

Tucker frowned. "What do you mean, Deidre? Are you trying to use your father to order me around?"

Deidre said slowly, "Listen up, Uncle Tucker. Evan Carlton is my fiancé!"