Let Me Go, Mr. Howard Chapter 265

"Do you know what you're saying?"

Marco's voice dropped to a deeper register, barely restraining what seemed like tremendous anger.

Scarlett knew that tone all too well. In that instant, she realized Marco truly was Sebastian's uncle—the two were practically carbon copies when angry.

"Of course I do." Scarlett lowered her gaze, briefly avoiding Marco's eyes, but quickly lifted them again to meet his stare head-on. "Don't tell me Mr. Russo thinks sitting around waiting to be picked off is a better option?"

Marco let out a derisive laugh. "Sitting around waiting to be picked off?" He arched an eyebrow, as if he didn't quite understand her phrase. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Do you know who's behind all this?" Instead of answering, Scarlett tossed out a question of her own. Before Marco could respond, she continued, "As long as I don't show myself, whoever's pulling the strings won't slip up."

"And if I'm not mistaken, you still have zero leads on that Lumarian man who gave me those photos, right? And that weird janitor—I'm guessing you haven't found any trace of him either?"

Her tone was calm, yet tinged with a hint of cunning.

Marco looked at those bright, gleaming eyes of hers, and his irritation gradually faded without him realizing it, replaced by an inexplicable sense of admiration.

"So that's what you call sitting around waiting to be picked off?" He leaned forward slightly, his voice carrying a note of interest.

Scarlett nodded, her tone casual. "Isn't it?"

"The investigation is moving slowly, I'll grant you that, but you need to understand—given what we're dealing with, we're actually moving pretty damn fast." Marco raised his hand, tapping his index finger lightly against his jaw, his gaze dropping to look down at her from above. "We haven't exposed you to any danger."

The posture revealed his displeasure—clearly, he didn't appreciate Scarlett's characterization.

But Scarlett didn't back down, sticking to her original assessment. "It is waiting to be picked off. Based on those photos that Lumarian man had, and the fact that he knew my name, they've obviously had intel on me for a while."

Her logic was sound. Marco couldn't argue with that. He nodded slightly, acknowledging her point.

"Even if they didn't know when we first moved into this villa, they're probably already positioning themselves in the shadows. If they can kill people in Lumaria without anyone noticing, doing the same in a foreign country probably isn't much of a stretch for them, right?"

Marco's expression turned serious at those words.

But Scarlett didn't give him a chance to interject. "That's why you've got me locked up in this villa. But have you considered that this situation only creates one scenario—they're in the dark, and you're out in the open."

By this point, Marco understood perfectly.

He raised his eyebrows knowingly, his eyes glinting with amusement as he looked at Scarlett. "You want to draw them out. But you're worried you're not enough bait on your own, so you want to team up with Benjamin?"

"Pretty much." Scarlett nodded, then fell silent, quietly waiting for Marco's response.

Marco clicked his tongue. "I've got to hand it to you—you've got guts. But unfortunately, I can't agree to this."

"Why not?"

Faced with Scarlett's question, Marco remained perfectly calm. "Because it's not safe, obviously."

Scarlett frowned, about to say something, when Marco cut her off.

He leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees, his tone dead serious, his face devoid of any extraneous expression.

"Benjamin himself isn't the problem. It's that friend of his who's way too sketchy."

Scarlett thought of the person she'd seen that day on the path behind the villa. Her heart skipped a beat at Marco's words. She pushed down the panic rising in her chest and spoke calmly, "You mean Kevin?"

Marco smiled. "Looks like you and Benjamin are getting along pretty well."

"We're okay. We talk sometimes." Scarlett didn't hide it. After all, Marco was essentially her ally now, and concealing things would only create a trust issue between them.

Scarlett's candid answer made Marco's eyes light up. He chuckled softly before continuing, "I've looked into both of them. Benjamin didn't have it easy before he turned twenty-eight."

"The family company had people keeping it afloat, but for various reasons, he could only draw living expenses from a trust fund each year. And thanks to those people sabotaging him, when he was twenty-seven, his girlfriend and child died in a car accident."

Scarlett showed no surprise at this, which caught Marco off guard. "You knew about this?"

"I have the right to investigate too, don't I?" Scarlett smiled, not denying it.

"Then you must know Kevin's not normal, right?" Marco immediately pressed.

But Scarlett shook her head. "I only looked into Benjamin. As for Kevin, I didn't dig into him. I only know he's the Vice President of the International Transport Association, and apparently, he owns some private properties that aren't public knowledge."

"If you know all that, how can you think there's nothing fishy about him?"

Marco's words weren't exactly a wake-up call—Scarlett had already had those same suspicions.

But those suspicions alone weren't enough to justify going after Kevin.

After all, who could really know what people were hiding? Rashly investigating might trigger a countermove, and in that case, staying put might be the smartest play.

Even if Kevin had substantial power, he couldn't be stretched that thin.

The same went for Sebastian—he couldn't either.

Scarlett didn't defend Kevin. Instead, after a brief pause to think, she suggested an alternative solution.

"Since Mr. Russo suspects Kevin, why don't we meet him face to face?"

Marco shrugged, frowning, and made that classic gesture. "Go see Kevin?"

"Invite him." Scarlett corrected Marco's phrasing. "Mr. Russo, if you want to understand someone, you have to get close to them. If he slips up, isn't that the best evidence?"

At this point, Marco genuinely admired Scarlett.

Before this conversation, he'd always seen Scarlett as someone who needed protecting, but that was all based on the first impression Sebastian had given him.

Just a kid who liked to throw tantrums.

Right up until he'd entered this study, Marco's attitude toward Scarlett hadn't changed.

But now he realized he'd been dead wrong. Even Sebastian had been wrong.

This Scarlett didn't need the level of protection she was getting. Sebastian had completely treated her like a child.

"Dio mio... Letty." He took a deep breath, his shock making him slip into his native tongue before he remembered to switch to English. "I agree with your plan."

Hearing this, Scarlett's face broke into a smile. But almost immediately, Marco spoke again. "However, we have to tell Jacob, and those people he sent over—Teddy and Libbie."

At those words, Scarlett's face fell instantly. "Don't tell me Mr. Russo doesn't understand why I came to see you alone?"