Half an hour later, the convoy drove into the Northern Europe palace.The Northern European royal family had three palaces in Northern Europe, and this palace in the capital was the largest as well as the most luxurious of all three.The entire palace was, in fact, more like a large combination of an ancient fortress and manor. The overall area was hundreds of hectares, and the place was so large that there was even a golf course and an equestrian field inside.It was said that the value of the building and land of this palace alone was worth more than three billion euros. However, because it was a royal patrimony and a symbol of the royal family, the laws of the country prohibited the royal family from selling it to the public. Since it could not be sold, this meant that the royal family actually only had the right to use it.The convoy passed through a large green area before it stopped in front of an old castle with a history of at least a hundred years old. The guards f
Still, wouldn’t it be too boring for him to act directly now? Besides, he had not seen through Olivia and Walliot’s conspiracy yet.How could he dive right in and get straight to the point? Shouldn’t he be giving people some time for foreplay and adaptation?So, Charlie smiled and said, “You sisters should have a chat. I will not get involved.”After he was done speaking, Charlie then gave Helena a reassuring look. When Helena saw this, she nodded and said, “Alright, then. Olivia and I will go and see Grandma first. Let’s meet at dinner.”Charlie nodded. “Okay.” Charlie was brought to a guest room on the third floor of the ancient castle under the guards’ guidance.Meanwhile, Olivia led Helena directly to the top floor of the ancient castle, which was the sixth floor. This level was basically a dedicated area for the entire royal family to live in,The Queen, who had basically been sentenced to death, was now in a luxurious suite on the top floor at this time.Half of this
Helena really did not expect that Olivia would turn out to be the reason why her grandmother was seriously ill and unconscious now!This made her feel extremely angry in her heart, but at the same time, she could not help but feel chills down her back…In the past, she had actually never realized that this cousin sister of hers was actually such a sinister and vicious woman in her heart!Olivia had not only schemed against her, but she had also not spared her grandmother, who was the reigning queen! Helena, who was furious, pointed at Olivia and rebuked her angrily, “Olivia, do you know that it is a felony and treason to harm and kill the queen?! You would have been sent to the gallows if this was in the past!” Olivia smacked her lips, and she had a look of disdain as she said, “Send me to the gallows? To tell you the truth, the old woman’s fate is in my hands! If I want her to die today, she will not be able to live until tomorrow! If I want her to die tomorrow, she will not be
Helena soon came down with Olivia.Helena’s mood was still a little apprehensive and uneasy because Olivia had threatened her.As soon as Helena arrived at the banquet hall, she immediately began looking around for Charlie. This was because she would only be able to be at ease after seeing Charlie.However, Charlie did not appear in the banquet hall. When Olivia’s father Richard saw Helena, he immediately smiled and said, “Helena, you’re back!”Helena looked at Richard, but since she did not know whether her uncle was involved in the matter where Olivia had put her grandmother into a deep coma, she was still wary of this person in her heart. She then spoke up, “Uncle Richard, how have you been lately?”Richard sighed slightly and said, “Aside from being really concerned about your grandmother’s health, everything else is pretty good.” As he was talking, Aman also came over. He looked at Helena a few times with some fascination first before stepping in front of Richard and sayi
When Richard saw Charlie, who was yellow-skinned and had black eyes, he immediately guessed that Charlie was from the Wade family even though he had never seen him before. So, he smiled and said, “I believe that this gentleman is from the Wade family?”“Yes.” Charlie nodded slightly and smiled as he asked, “I’ve heard a general idea of what was going on when I came in just now. Did you want to talk to me about something?”Olivia, who was aside, immediately said, “Charlie, this is my father, Prince Richard of the Northern Europe royal family!”Charlie nodded and smiled as he said, “Prince Richard, I wonder what advice you have for me?”Richard adjusted the knot of his tie, and he had an arrogant look on his face as he said, “When we decided on the marriage contract with the Wade family, we did not know that the Wade family was involved with a mercenary organization such as Ten Thousand Armies! The Northern European royal family has always been very clean and self-conscious, and we h
After all, Porter had just taught the Wade family a huge lesson, but at this time, Charlie was actually using Porter’s name to scare others now. This was indeed very untrustworthy.Aman, who was sitting next to Helena, had a smile on his face as he said, “Mr. Wade, the marriage contract is, in itself, just a contract. You can choose to perform, and of course, you can also choose not to perform. If both parties had set a clause for a breach of contract, the non-performing party will pay for the compensation in accordance with the clause, then. If there is no clause specified for a breach of contract, the parties can decide freely! We are all civilized people, so there is no need to make such personal threats, right?” Charlie frowned and said, “Did I ask you? Who do you think you are? Do you have the right to speak here?”Aman did not expect that Charlie, who was just a young man, would actually dare to publicly humiliate him on this occasion!Charlie looked like he was in his twent
The reason why Charlie had hit Aman was, in fact, because he wanted to set an example for the Northern European royal family so that they would not be so pretentious anymore in front of him. Moreover, Charlie was not afraid to reveal his identity. After all, there were only ten to twenty people here today. As long as he wanted to, he would be able to press all these people down on the ground hard, save the dying queen, and then put Helena on the throne.Immediately after that, he could get Helena to sentence them to any kind of crime and have all of them arrested, one after the other. Otherwise, Charlie could also give each of these key figures a psychological hint so that they would behave erratically in the future, and no one would be able to find out the problem.However, Charlie would never have thought that Richard would be so good at brainstorming and that he would be able to think of the fact that Charlie had Ten Thousand Armies to back him up. It was just that the specu
The stronger Charlie was, the more determined and firm he was in his judgment that Charlie had Ten Thousand Armies to back him up, and that was the reason why Charlie dared to be so arrogant. The more it was so, the more he was afraid that Charlie would really get angry. Otherwise, if Charlie were to really ask Ten Thousand Armies to deal with him, he would not be able to stand up to it at all.So, he hurriedly said, “Mr. Wade, it was my attitude that was problematic just now. I apologize to you. I also hope that you will be magnanimous and that you will not hold it against me…”Olivia did not expect that her father would give in to Charlie, and she blurted out, “Dad! How could you apologize to him?!”Richard reprimanded her nonchalantly, “Shut up!”Olivia did not expect her father’s attitude to change so quickly. She was just about to ask what was going on when Aman, who was next to Richard, had already begun slapping himself on his left and right cheeks. Charlie really scared
As Zachary agreed to do a favor for Vintage Deluxe's Mick Crane in passing, he and Jacob agreed to meet up at 7pm at the car park by Antique Street.He first took Jacob back to the Calligraphy and Painting Association and called Billy, one of his boys whom he thought was smarter than the rest, giving him the gist of the plan and telling him to familiarize himself with the script.Then, he took the sculpture back to Heaven Springs and met up with Billy in office, telling Billy what to do in finer detail and making sure he committed everything to memory.Zachary's strength as a judge of character certainly proved itself—Billy had never done anything like this before, but he took to the plan like fish to water. He committed the script to memory soon enough, and he was flawless.Once he made sure that Billy was fine, Zachary called Mick.As soon as Mick answered, he immediately asked, "Hello, Mr. Evans. How is that thing we talked about going?"Zachary chuckled. All the arrangements
Zachary continued, "Why do you think casinos are always making a profit? It's exactly because no matter how unassuming a guest is the first time, they would be allowed to win a couple of hands, making a little profit.""And suddenly, they would think that they are the chosen one, destined to win against all odds and always come out triumphant! Once such radical, blind confidence hits them, every last bit of his money would be lost to the casino!""At that point, you can get anything from them—their house, their wife, their children… hell, they'd be willing to die if you'd just let them gamble again!"Turning toward Jacob with a grin, Zachary then asked, "So, with all the points I made and that sculpture you're holding… Do you still think Raymond wouldn't fall for it?"Jacob laughed out loud. "Oh, talk about a plan within a plan! No one would ever see it coming! Raymond Cole is so screwed!"Zachary smiled and nodded. "That's why there's no reason to rush—I'll arrange a man to get r
As soon as they drove out of the village, Jacob asked Zachary eagerly, "So, when do you think we should make our move? I can't wait!"Zachary didn't hesitate, "Let's do it today. It's better than waiting! I'll get someone reliable to bring this to Treasure Measure and get him interested. I'm sure that since he has just returned to Antique Street, he'll need a hot deal to generate hype and make himself known. That's why I'm sure he'll take this sculpture."Jacob nodded repeatedly as he chuckled. "I think so too. Today is definitely best since I'll be going to Dubai soon and probably leaving once I'm done with this. Once you get this settled by the end of today, I'll get tickets for the flight tomorrow!"Zachary grinned. "Don't worry, chief. We will definitely get it settled today…"He trailed off for a moment before continuing, "Still, you should be a little patient. We should do this in the evening—at the second just before Raymond Cole closes shop.""But why?" Jacob asked in curi
Jacob was naturally gleeful that he could get the late medieval bronze sculpture along with its base. Right after he wired the agreed upon ninety-eight grand to Mr. Cardensky, he was already imagining how Raymond would buy it from him for several hundred grand.On the other hand, once Mr. Cardensky received the transfer, he saw the name on the account: Jacob Wilson.He was left perplexed—wasn't that man's last name Montague? Who was this Jacob Wilson?Still, he didn't worry about it too much since most antique hustlers preferred to work with anonymity and therefore, using a different name was perfectly normal.He then carefully wrapped up the bronze sculpture before passing it Jacob, asking politely, "Would you happen to have any other requests, Mr. Montague? I have plenty of other items here if you'd permit me to give an introduction."Jacob shook his head, "Just this sculpture will do. I'm not fully confident in your work either since this is our first deal, so I'm just trying i
Jacob asked, "Then, what would this sculpture be worth if it was genuine?"Mr. Cardensky thought about it. "Well, there are standards when it comes to Renaissance relics, but with something this exquisite, it'd definitely be auctionable for one or two million—and that's the conservative estimate.""How much would you sell it to me for?" Jacob then asked."Thirty percent of the market price," Mr. Cardensky quickly replied. "As I've said, the conservative estimate for this one is around one to two million, so we will set the price with the median estimate value at 1.5 million. And thirty percent means 450 grand."Jacob shook his head right away. "No, no, no… that's too expensive. What if I end up unable to sell it, on top of that?"In his mind, while he could barely accept that pricing, he still needed Raymond to be able to afford it if he wanted to swindle Raymond for twice the money.Mr. Cardensky quickly chuckled, "Oh, Mr. Montague—now you're being too serious. In this business,
"Okay!"Mr. Cardensky smiled and pointed at a nearby farmyard. "There's our workshop—the good stuff is all in there. Allow me to take you there!"The farmyard seemed uninteresting at first glance, but Mr. Cardensky soon led them to the stables and brushed off the straws covering the floor, revealing a plank laid flat on the ground.Mr. Cardensky then lifted it, revealing a passage below—they had dug a cellar into the ground beneath, with the stables as an entry point.As Jacob followed Mr. Cardensky down the cellar, he exclaimed in awe, "Your operation is definitely big, digging such a huge cellar!"Mr. Cardensky smiled humbly. "Anyone working in the business would have sustained their losses before. In the end, we're all folk of humble origins, starting out with raiding tombs or excavating artifacts. Just digging a cellar is really nothing."As they conversed, they cleared the stairs and arrived at the main hall.It was certainly a hall as it was around a hundred square meters,
Zachary nodded repeatedly. "Mr. Montague? Very well!""Yes!" Jacob grinned smugly. "Longer last names are simply better—it just sounds so authoritative."With that agreed upon, both men alighted, where the master was waiting nearby.Seeing them get off, he hurried over to them, smiling, "Please, follow me."Zachary looked around and huffed, "Honestly, Mr. Cardensky, isn't this way too far from the highway? The road is narrow and terrible, and I have to park my car all the way out here. Just coming here is taxing."Mr. Cardensky smiled in turn. "My friend, that's exactly why we picked this place. Do you remember seeing a couple of cars parked by the road, occupying half of it?""We arranged for them to be there. Anyone coming by car would have to slow down that way, buying time for us to see who they truly are. If it's cops, our watchers would quietly text us while we clean the house and bail."Zachary exclaimed in realization, "You boys really run a tight ship!""For sure," Mr.
After working in Antique Street for years, Zachary's connections and influence were naturally special. And yet, though he was acquainted with some of the more impressive individuals, he was not that close with them either.For example, the forgery masters who worked specifically to deceive experts only accepted jobs from major clients, usually antique traders high in social status and wealth.In contrast, they wouldn't ever be interested in frivolous people like Zachary. Even if he could reach them, they might not look at him twice.If one would describe them as the cartel boss, then Zachary would be a low-level enforcer, managing night joints or goofing off.But now, Zachary had turned over a new leaf—he worked under Don Albert, so one of those masters was pleasantly surprised when he called one of them, inviting him to his own workshop for a visit and further discussion.As such, Zachary picked up Jacob and went over to the master's hideout where the latter worked on his count
Zachary was naturally shrewd enough to read Jacob's intention.In reality, he wasn't offering to pay just because he wanted the profit. He merely wanted to get in Jacob's good graces. After all, wouldn't Jacob be even more grateful that he wasn't just helping his revenge but also helping him make money?As such, he didn't hesitate to tell Jacob, "Well, chief—since you'll be paying, I will make sure that you will get every cent of profit that you deserve."Jacob was grinning ear-to-ear, but he said, "Oh, you don't have to! If we really are making a profit, there's no way I would let your good work go unrewarded!"Spreading his arms, he continued generously, "How about this? I will pay the full cost while you get twenty percent of the net profit!"Zachary laughed. "Now, that can wait, chief. We need to pay as soon as we decide on the item we want, and there's no time for buyer's regret. But if Raymond doesn't take the bait, all that money will go down the drain, and whether we can s