Ashley knew Arthur’s situation well—he must have saved up for a long time to gather this money. This was probably all his savings. How could she let him waste it on buying her clothes? Ashley wasn’t a materialistic person. She had grown up in luxury, but she wasn’t someone who couldn’t endure hardship either. Arthur sighed. He knew that if he didn’t explain, Ashley would never accept the clothes. He could only tell her the truth. “I recently invested in some stocks and made quite a bit of money. Buying you these clothes isn’t an issue. Don’t worry.” “Stocks?” Ashley’s expression turned serious the moment she heard the word. She quickly said, “Arthur, you’re still so young! You shouldn’t be investing in stocks! So many people have lost everything doing that—even their lives! You absolutely can’t take that risk!” Ashley was genuinely anxious, earnestly trying to talk him out of it. Arthur listened patiently without interrupting. Once Ashley had finished, he met her eyes and said seriously, “Ashley, trust me. I know what I’m doing. Please believe in me.” Ashley stared into his steady gaze. Strangely, the anxiety and worry in her heart suddenly vanished. She didn’t know why, but she found herself nodding without hesitation. “Now, will you finally accept the clothes?” Arthur guided her gently. Ashley nodded blankly. Seeing her finally agree, Arthur felt relieved. “Do you want to find a place to try them on?” One of the outfits was particularly form-fitting. To be honest, Arthur was really looking forward to seeing how it would look on her. Ashley didn’t think too much about it. She nodded. Arthur had bought such expensive clothes for her—it was only reasonable for her to try them on. If anything didn’t fit properly, she could exchange it right away. “I know a friend who has an estate nearby. Let’s go there, and we can have a meal too.” “Sure.”Arthur knew that Ashley had always been a lone wolf. She didn’t seem to like making friends easily. The fact that she was taking him to meet her friend—it meant she had acknowledged him. At least, in Ashley’s mind, he now counted as a friend. At the Gray residence, John had spent the past few days digging through every possible clue. He reviewed all the surveillance footage and questioned every witness. But no matter how much he investigated, all the evidence pointed to one undeniable fact—Arthur had been the one who saved his three daughters that day. John even used his special connections to pull up Arthur and Zac’s old hospitalization records. The doctors had diagnosed Arthur with extreme exhaustion—he had passed out due to complete physical depletion. Meanwhile, Zac’s medical examination showed no signs of severe physical exertion. John suddenly recalled how, back then, Arthur had insisted that he had pulled his three sisters to shore. He had even said that, just before losing consciousness, he saw Zac running toward them. But at the time, since Zac had woken up first and told his own version of the story, everyone had taken his word as truth. And Zac had claimed that Arthur was only lying out of fear of being punished. Back then, no one had doubted Zac’s words. John sat on the sofa, stunned. He couldn’t understand why would Zac lie? Was he afraid they wouldn’t love him anymore? But Zac was his beloved son, the child of that woman. How could he ever not love him? Raelynn walked over with a gentle smile, carefully placing a cup of tea on the table. “John, is something wrong?” Before she could finish speaking, John, lost in his thoughts, was startled by her sudden voice. He snapped, “What are you doing?!” Raelynn flinched in shock. She glanced at the cup in her hands, hesitated for a moment, and said in a soft voice, “I… I just brought you some tea.” John looked at the cup with impatience and waved her off. “Just put it down.” “…Okay.” Raelynn placed the tea on the table awkwardly, unsure what she had done to upset him. After a long silence, she hesitantly asked, “John… have you been looking into what happened when our three daughters nearly drowned? Did you find anything?” At her question, John’s gaze flickered instinctively. Without thinking, he immediately replied, “What else could there be? Arthur has always been a liar. Zac saved them, just like we always believed.” Hearing this, Raelynn’s expression darkened with disappointment. “That boy… still hasn’t changed.” She had thought Arthur had grown different these past few days. But it turned out, he was still lying. Even Julie had been fooled. Julie had gone to ask Zac’s childhood swimming coach for verification. It seemed Arthur had even bribed that coach.