If the other party did not reply, Zakir could only continue to stay in the Treasure Pavilion. He could only leave when he received the “Amen” reply from the other party.Now that they had given him a clear reply, Zakir had no intentions of delaying things any further. He looked at the crowd in the hall holding their heads down and squatting, and he said coldly, “They have prepared the car I asked for, so it’s time for me to leave. Thank you all for your cooperation. You’ll be free when I leave.”The hundred or so people breathed a sigh of relief as soon as they heard this. Reassured smiles appeared on everyone’s faces.Oskia’s safety was so good that most people would never encounter such a thing in their lifetime. Even if they did, it would be the ultimate good luck for them to come out of it unscathed.Hence, at this moment, everyone completely relaxed and waited anxiously for the ferocious criminal to leave. Then, they would be able to get out of this crisis safely.At this mom
The moment Zakir announced the fate of Helen and Sophie, everyone else finally let out a sigh of relief.They were completely safe now!However, Sophie slumped into a state of extreme desperation. She did not understand why Zakir would choose her mother and herself from more than a hundred people here.But on second thought, she couldn’t help but think, ‘I’m not trying to brag, but if he considers all the people here in terms of appearance and beauty, Mom and I are indeed the more outstanding ones among them all…’‘This Zakir not only looks tough, but he is also a little lecherous. It is reasonable for him to pick Mom and me among so many people…’‘However, I don’t know if he has any other malicious intentions besides wanting us to be his hostages…’At this point, she looked somewhat nervously at her mother.Meeting her daughter’s gaze, Helen gently patted her hand and whispered comfortingly, “Sophie, don’t worry, I’ll be there with you. I’ll protect you no matter what happens.”
With a loud bang, a finger-like bloody hole appeared on the woman’s forehead.Immediately afterward, she fell backward with her eyes wide open.A large pool of blood soon flowed on the ground, and the whole hall was filled with the rusty smell of fresh blood.Everyone in the hall was scared out of their wits, and loud screams immediately echoed and shook the hall. No one expected that Zakir would be so vicious.The woman had merely said something, and he had literally put a bullet in her head!In truth, Zakir had killed the woman not because she was irritating him, but because he wanted to scare Helen and Sophie into submission.He had to beat the dog before the lion to make them obedient to him wholeheartedly. Only then could he go with the plan and take them both away.Hence, he looked at the pale Helen and asked with an intrigued tone, “How about it, sweetie? Do you still want to bargain with me?”Helen immediately shook her head in fright.She knew that the vicious man in
Charlie was not surprised at all when he saw Helen and Sophie walk out of the Treasure Pavilion.He had long felt that this matter was not as simple as it seemed. Now, the fact that Helen and Sophie would walk out under Zakir’s coercion reinforced his view on this matter.However, he hadn’t quite figured out who would go to such great lengths and make such a big detour just to harm the ladies.At this moment, Helen and Sophie had completely walked out of the Treasure Pavilion while Zakir followed them closely with a gun in one hand and the detonator in the other.He looked up to the surrounding tall buildings, sneered, and said to the police officers, “I know you must have positioned around many snipers who are ready to shoot me down at any moment, but I suggest you reconsider your actions carefully because I have the detonator here in my hand. Even if it is in the hands of a one-year-old, the slightest slip of a finger will detonate the bomb instantly! If you’re happy to die tog
There was a slight hesitation in Charlie’s expression. A few seconds later, he gently shook his head and said, “Forget it. The Schulz family is my nemesis, but I have repeatedly saved their family members several times before I could even avenge my vengeance. Jaime, Sophie, and Rosalie. I’ve rescued these three Schulz family members once each. If I make a move again today, the Schulz family would owe me five lives already!”When he heard this, Isaac couldn’t help but agree and said, “Yes, you’re right. You’ve been saving their lives before you could even avenge them. God is indeed making fun of you.”Charlie couldn’t help but sigh. “Anyway, if something truly happens to Helen Dunn, my father’s residence will be re-auctioned, right?”Isaac answered, “I’m not sure if Mrs. Dunn has settled the payment and gone through the purchasing procedures. If she has, the residence will become her inheritance. If she hasn’t, I think it will be on the judicial auction again after a while.”Charlie
Hearing Charlie’s speculation, Isaac exclaimed, “Mr. Wade, in your opinion, who could be behind this?”Charlie gave it some thought and said, “I think it is highly likely that the Schulz family is the mastermind behind this.”“The Schulz family?!” Isaac yelped, dumbfounded. “Why would the Schulz family take action against the ladies?! It doesn’t make any sense…”Charlie said with a serious expression, “If you want to make sense out of it, I can think of a few. Helen Dunn resolutely wanted to divorce Sheldon Schulz. This motive in itself is enough to tarnish the family’s reputation. Sheldon must hold some resentment in his heart, and so would his old man.”Isaac nodded and said, “For any dignified family, a wife or daughter-in-law who openly wants a divorce will definitely cause damage to the family’s reputation, but they don’t have to do it till this extent, right?”Charlie said, “They are a big and prominent family, after all. Sometimes, reputation is above everything. Not to men
Although the Rolls Royce was not equipped with the remote summoning function, other remote functions were all in place, including the location tracking function. The car’s location could be obtained in real-time from its internal software.Soon, Isaac’s men had sent the trajectory of the car’s movement to him.After viewing it, he said, “Young Master, Zakir Luiz is heading toward the mountains.”“The mountains?” Charlie frowned. “Where is his exact location?”Isaac hurriedly replied, “It’s in the direction of the Champs Elys Resort.”“Okay!” Charlie immediately ordered, “Let’s head to your hotel now and take the helicopter to intercept his car in advance!”Isaac blurted, “Young Master, Zakir is strapped with explosives. Are you sure you can subdue him?”Charlie sneered and said disdainfully, “If I wanted to, I could make Zakir unable to blink, let alone press the detonation switch!”“Excellent!” Isaac sighed in relief and hurriedly drove to the hotel.At the same time, he pull
As he got closer and closer to the scheduled tunnel, Zakir could not help but feel even more nervous at this time.This was because to Zakir, this was the decisive moment that would determine whether everything would end up as a victory or defeat for him.So, he kept praying in his heart, ‘God, I, Zakir Luiz, have never begged anyone for anything in my life. Now, I am begging you to keep me safe and bless me so that everything will go smoothly for me today!’‘God, if everything goes well, You will only need to give me an hour to escape after I deal and get rid of that pair of mother and daughter!’‘One hour will be more than enough for the Schulz family to arrange for my escape!’‘At this time tomorrow, I will already be able to start a new life abroad under a new identity!’As he thought about this, Zakir could not help but felt extremely excited.At the same time, Helen and Sophie who were sitting in the back of the Rolls-Royce could not help but felt a little nervous deep dow
Pausing, Charlie then said, "I'll call Steve to drop by later too. I'm sure folks in Aurous Hill won't know him, but your potential troublemaker might.""I-Is that really fine?" Yolden blurted."What's not fine about it?" Charlie chuckled. "He has been treated like a tool ever since he came to Aurous Hill, and now that he has a chance to strut about, he wouldn't ask for more."Yolden appeared slightly relieved at that, and Charlie asked, "By the way, where's Paul, Matilda, and Autumn?""Getting their makeup done," Yolden replied. "Paul's my best man while Autumn's the maid of honor.""Good," Charlie nodded with a grin. "Don't worry—the wedding's going to be a success."As they spoke, Matilda stepped out of the dressing room in a stark-white wedding dress, flanked by Autumn and Paul.Seeing Charlie, Autumn nodded politely, "Good morning, Mr. Wade."As Charlie nodded in turn, Paul started, "G-Good morning… Mr. Wade…"Seeing that he was nervous and tentative, Charlie knew that he
As Yolden and Matilda were remarrying after living abroad for years, the wedding ceremony was much simpler, skipping Oskian customs and having a simple wedding reception for their guests at the hotel hall.There weren't that many guests either—aside from their children and close friends, only a handful of Yolden's colleagues at Aurous Hill University were invited.As the celebrant, Charlie didn't have much to do and was mainly the emcee.He brought along his jacket as he headed out to Shangri-La, not wearing it immediately so that Claire wouldn't guess that he was attending Matilda's wedding.Arriving at the Hanging Gardens before the guests were supposed to arrive, he found Yolden working with the staff to finalize the preparations.Seeing Charlie, Yolden approached him and said, "Thanks for coming this early, Charlie."Noticing that he was a little tired, Charlie asked in concern, "Had a bad night?"Yolden nodded, sighing, "Paul's uncle caused a huge mess. Both Matilda and I a
Tarlon nodded. "How do you suggest we find them?"Fleur scowled. "There's no rush. There are things which I'm still confused about, so just keep a close eye on the Ackers and the Wades for the time being. Report to me right away if anything important comes up—don't afford our enemies any opportunities to exploit.""Yes, milady!" -The next day, more news outlets were covering the joint project between the Ackers and the Wades as word continued to spread.However, neither family revealed too many details, be it the name of the company, who was the CEO, or the scale of their business.While the public was dying with curiosity, nothing else was known.Still, Aurous Hill's officials were especially interested, with the town hall visiting the Ackers the next day and showing utmost sincerity by leasing a whopping 2-million-square-meter land along the southern highway. Still, the condition was for the Ackers to come true on their promise to propel the city's economy to 15 billion US d
Fleur had repeatedly mentioned the conspiracy theory of Ashley using a body double over the last twenty years.Tarlon had investigated from many different angles, but everything from the gender, age, dental records, to body figure pointed to the fact that the deceased was Ashley Acker.And yet, Fleur had never bought it, insisting that Curtis was prepared for them just because Curtis' son had gone missing soon after.There was no way Curtis would save his son but not his wife, and the disfigured corpse only added fuel to Fleur's suspicion.Thus, over the last twenty years, Fleur had kept a close eye on the Ackers, arranging for two 'scholars' to be embedded amongst their ranks as sleeper agents. She went that far all to determine if Ashley was dead or had faked her death.However, the scholars had since been killed in action, and they had no spies within the Ackers left.As for Tarlon, he still doubted Fleur's theory even now, but he remained respectful as he spoke, "Milady, I mu
Meanwhile, on the edge of the South Pole, Tarlon Griffin rushed outside of Fleur Griffin's room, knocking the door gingerly as he announced, "I have news, my lady!"Fleur didn't respond, but the thick wooden door between them slowly opened as if pushed by an invisible force.Tarlon entered to find Fleur seated on the floor with her legs crossed at the ankles. Her eyes remained closed as she molded her Reiki, asking, "What is it?"Tarlon quickly answered, "News from Oskia. The Ackers are partnering with the Wades on a joint venture into electric-powered vehicles."Fleur slowly opened her eyes, asking quietly, "And you're telling me because?"Tarlon quickly explained, "It just came out of the blue, so I thought I should report it to you right away."Fleur sighed. "After I tried and failed to wipe out the Ackers so many times, they wouldn't dare set foot stateside. If anything, they must have decided to seek asylum in Oskia by offering a substantial investment, and it's a base whe
Silent for a while, Matilda then asked Yolden, "Do you think I can do it?""Yes!" Yolden nodded without hesitation. "You definitely won't have any problems!"Matilda sighed, shaking her head. "We traveled far abroad to study while we were young, but we didn't return to Oskia to help the country's development. It's been thirty years since, and now that we have returned to the country at the same time, I definitely wouldn't turn down such an opportunity to help."Pausing, she then said, "That said, major corporations make it a point to not hire family members. Forget spouses—employees aren't allowed to date, and one of the two will be asked to resign if necessary."Don't you think it's inappropriate since we are legally married, having gotten our certificate and all? And if we set these precedents, we would have trouble asking other employees to follow that policy. You are going to be a CEO, so you need a very clear answer on this issue."Yolden shrugged. "In the first place, that p
Yolden nodded slightly. "He does.""My gosh…" Matilda murmured. "That's too much… Ashley's son? A member of the Acker family and the Wades?!"Pausing, she then asked in confusion, "Wait, if Charlie has so much power and influence, why would he permanently reside in Aurous Hill… No, why would he be content as Jacob Wilson's son-in-law? Does Jacob know who he really is?""Definitely not," Yolden shook his head. "There were some compelling circumstances, and his identity is a sensitive one. That's why I'm asking you to tell no one except Paul—and even then, you should only tell him if he can keep the secret."Matilda was sharp enough to pick up on the reasoning, too. "Charlie's hiding because of his parents' accident, isn't he?""Yes," Yolden sighed. "He has his plans, but I didn't pry since I can only do that much, let alone help him on that.""Got it," Matilda nodded repeatedly. "Don't worry. My lips are sealed… And you just said you're resigning? Are you going to help with this e
"That would be Ashley Layna Acker," Matilda replied without hesitation. "She was our age, as well as a major investor in Silicon Valley, while we were only starting to get our first clients. It's no exaggeration to say that she's the shining example in many case studies when it comes to business."Pausing, she then continued, "And she used to be your classmate, right? I remember you mentioning that in our conversations before.""Yes," Yolden sighed emotionally. "She was a classmate and the star of our generation."Matilda nodded but soon shook her head, "Wait, weren't we talking about Charlie's car company? What does that have to do with Ashley Acker?" "Here's where I let you in on a secret," Yolden said. "But first, you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone except Paul."Matilda nodded without hesitation. "Don't worry—if it's a secret, I won't tell Paul either."Yolden scratched his head. "Actually, Paul should know. We are going to marry soon, and he's my stepson, lega
In fact, the legal department of major enterprises covered many responsibilities, the chief of which concerned intellectual property, which was why veterans were needed to lead.Additionally, Charlie trusted Matilda's accomplishments in the legal field, especially since she had worked in the United States for years.With Curtis Autos' intended expansion worldwide, that meant the legal department should also know the laws of countries abroad, ready to file or respond to lawsuits at any time. After all, competitors may use the law to impede their growth, along with the government applying unfair policies to impede their development and impact on local businesses.Moreover, Charlie considered Paul young and therefore lacking in experience, not to mention that it was not likely he would abandon his family's law firm. As such, the ideal solution was to poach Matilda for now.As for Matilda, she was still in the dark and had no idea what she was in for, asking Charlie in confusion, "Lega