"Just being friendly with our half-sister. What does it look like?" Denison said, then he focused on Miss Anderson, giving her space to enter the mansion.
"Please come in," Denison said.
Miss Anderson groaned, then she looked at Benjamin.
"Come on, Benjamin," she said, then started walking into the mansion.
"Okay, ma'am", Benjamin replied hurriedly and followed behind her.
Benjamin could feel the daggers piercing into his back as he walked past Henry and Jessica, their glares burning into him.
"You must be special to Anderson, seeing as she brought you here. I don't know why you're in handcuffs, but please don't be shy and go in" Dennison said, smiling at Benjamin.
Staring skeptically at Denison as he walked past him toward the door, Benjamin let out a groan. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but something about Denison rubbed him the wrong way.
It was his smile. Yes, his smile—something about it was very… familiar.
It was the very same smile he had seen on Jerry's face ever since his mother introduced him as her boyfriend. The smile of someone hiding their true intentions. The question now was; what true intentions was Denison hiding?
Benjamin kept watching the light-brown-haired man as he walked through the door and, because he couldn't figure him out, he thought that maybe he was misjudging Denison.
Not everyone was like Jerry and maybe Jerry's betrayal was clouding his judgment— making him see every nice person as someone who couldn't be trusted.
Maybe, just maybe, he was projecting onto Denison, Benjamin thought and decided to let his suspicion go.
Just as Benjamin was about to take his eyes off Denison and face the mansion he was walking into, he saw something that alarmed him.
Denison's cheerful smile vanished, and his expression changed to disgust. However, it happened so fast that by the time Benjamin looked back at him, he was smiling again.
"Did I imagine that?" Benjamin asked himself, wondering if he had made a mistake.
Everything seemed fine, so Benjamin decided to ignore what he thought he saw and finally entered the mansion.
After taking a few steps into the mansion and being captivated by its breathtaking interior—straight out of a movie—Benjamin's immersion was abruptly cut short by a commotion outside.
"Know your place next time," Henry said in a threatening voice.
Wondering who he was talking to, Benjamin turned around and, before his head could even fully face the doorway, he heard a loud slap.
The sight that met him was Denison stumbling backward, losing his balance, and landing on his ass, while Henry and Jessica stood over him.
Looking closely at Denison, Benjamin noticed his left cheek was red with a visible handprint, and seeing Henry's right-hand open, he quickly realized that Henry must have slapped him.
The reason? Well, only one thing made sense.
Henry felt undermined and disrespected by Denison, who spoke over him and let Miss Anderson through, so he took out his anger on his younger brother, who couldn't fight back.
Benjamin frowned, disgusted that a sibling could do that to another.
What Benjamin failed to consider was that not every family was like his own. While he was willing to do anything for his sister, not all brothers felt the same way about their siblings. In fact, some families fostered competition among their children, and from the looks of it, this family was one of them.
To emphasize this fact, there was no pity in Jessica's eyes for her younger brother. In fact, she appeared to be on Henry's side, which made sense because he was the eldest son, and she likely didn't want to go against him.
Just then, from behind, Benjamin heard "What are you waiting for?"
He quickly turned around and saw Miss Anderson staring at him.
"We have work to do, so no stalling," she said and Benjamin grimaced.
He glanced at Denison, who was still on the floor being reprimanded by Henry, then shifted his gaze to Miss Anderson and noticed her indifference toward the situation.
It was like she didn't care about what was happening to her younger half-brother.
"Benjamin" Miss Anderson said, an impatient frown on her face.
"I'm coming", Benjamin sighed, then ignored his feelings and walked up to the woman. Then the two of them continued heading to wherever she was taking him.
Benjamin remained silent as always, and before he knew it, Miss Anderson said, "I know you're looking at me as some terrible person for not doing or saying anything about what happened."
Benjamin, who wanted to stay on the woman's good side, smiled nervously and said "No, I wasn't thinking that—"
However, she cut him off.
"Don't lie to me. You're as easy to read as a children's storybook, which is why I trusted you enough to bring you here. And truthfully, I don't blame you for thinking that about me. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about that stuff outside because we made a deal—I stay out of their business, and they don't stress me too much when I visit. So, even though what's happening is messed up, it is, at the end of the day, their business. So…" she said, and Benjamin interrupted, finishing what she was about to say.
"You can't intervene because it will be breaking the deal the four of you made, and you don't break deals," he said.
The beautiful raven-haired woman with alluring green eyes looked at him and said "I hope this puts your mind at ease."
Benjamin grimaced confusedly and asked, "Why would this put my mind at ease?"
"Because now you know that I'll keep to my end of the deal if you can do as you promised," she said and Benjamin halted for a moment.
He didn't think of it that way. If the woman was willing to keep to her end of the deal with her siblings even at the cost of her conscience, then she was definitely going to keep to their deal and help him with his arrest. All he had to do was help her father.
With that, Benjamin got a boost in morale, and he continued to follow the woman.
A couple of minutes later, they were standing in front of the patriarch's bedroom.
Miss Anderson knocked.
"Who's that?" Benjamin heard a soft feminine voice through the door and, without replying, Miss Anderson opened the door.
To Benjamin's surprise, he saw a doctor and a group of nurses standing, while a beautiful older woman with blonde hair and a stunning blue gown sat next to a man on the bed.
Beside the bed was life support equipment hooked up to the man.
"Is that your father—?" Benjamin asked Miss Anderson but was cut off by the older woman who quickly stood up from the bed, glaring at them.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" the older blonde woman asked.