The inmates would have given Charlie the cold shoulder had this happened a few hours ago. However, after experiencing and witnessing Charlie's wrath and ruthlessness, the inmates did not think that Charlie's request was excessive. Therefore, they nodded vigorously, fearing that Charlie would be upset if they didn't respond quickly enough. Seeing them nodding in agreement, Charlie smiled and commanded, "Since you have no objections, we will start right away. The cell is so dirty and smelly, so you should clean it first. It must be spotless, or you will all be punished." Without hesitation, the inmates immediately began to clean the cell. In order to fulfill Charlie's request, those who could move immediately joined in the spring cleaning. Some were in charge of removing all the bedding that had not been cleaned and bringing them to the bathroom, some washing the bedding, while the rest started to clean the cell. They were fully aware of the consequences if Charlie was not sa
Charlie asked, "What about Area 2?" Dean responded, "The boss of Area 2 is Moses Norris, the boss of the New York mafia ten years ago. Back then, he was infamous in New York and had many members under him. The Italians from Sicily didn't even dare to fart in New York when he was still out there, but ever since he was imprisoned, the Italians rose and took over the streets." Charlie nodded and asked, "How long until dinner?" Dean looked at the digital clock and replied, "Forty minutes." "Okay." Charlie nodded and instructed, "Introduce Leandro to me when we get to the dining area.""Sure!" Dean agreed respectfully. Charlie smiled slightly and suddenly reproached, "By the way, you won't try to snitch on me during mealtime, will you?" "No, I won't, sir!" Dean waved his hand hastily and promised, "Don't worry, my lips are sealed. I won't tell the guards anything. There's an unwritten rule in the prison that we solve our problems ourselves and shall never seek the guards' help.
In order to fulfill Charlie's demand, the fifteen inmates started cleaning up the cell immediately. They threw all the bedding that had not been changed in a long time into the bathroom. Some inmates were in charge of washing the bedding while the rest started cleaning all corners of the cell. As for the injured, they tried their best to participate by all means. Those with broken legs sat on the floor and wiped the lower part of the wall, and those with broken arms stepped on the towel and wiped the floor. Because of the large number of people and the small space, it didn't take long for the inmates to make the cell spotless. None of the fifteen inmates would have thought that their cell would one day be cleaner than a five-star hotel room. They knew that they would be beaten if Charlie was not happy with the result, and he would not be merciful when punishing them. The floor that used to be sticky and dirty was now as shiny as new, and it was so slippery they had to be care
Jonah shuddered in fear when he heard the word "Father" and snapped, "No! Don't call me Father! I'm no longer a priest!" In the past, Jonah enjoyed being addressed as ‘Father’. Many prisoners had religious beliefs although they had committed countless crimes. They would respect a priest when they saw one in prison even though they knew that the priest might have done something wrong to be convicted and imprisoned. However, Jonah knew that Charlie was upset with him because of his past identity as a priest. He could see his bleak future when he thought of the punishment of 100 slaps per day. Therefore, he gathered his courage, went to the guard, and whispered, "Can you do me a favor and transfer me to another cell? I don't like this one..." Except for Charlie, all the prisoners gasped and glanced at Jonah in shock as soon as Jonah spoke. The rule of Brooklyn Prison was that internal affairs would be handled internally. Whoever went to the guards for help was breaking the rul
Charlie asked, "Do you have a boss here?" Dean shook his head and replied, "The boss of Area 1 is Gustavo. He looks down on hooligans like us and won't let us get too close to the other bosses here, so we don't dare to disobey his orders. Otherwise, I would go to Moses because he is from New York and is our senior." Charlie asked curiously, "Since Gustavo looks down on you, why doesn't he let you off to the other bosses?" Dean sighed and lamented, "Gustavo has too many enemies. Rumor has it that he killed at least thousands of people when he was making his way up in Mexico, and many of them were government officials. Countless people in Mexico want to take revenge on him, so he is very concerned about his safety. Anyone who forms a gang in Area 1 is a certain threat to him. If he finds someone in Area 1 forming a gang, especially with people from Area 2, he will issue a death warning. He has his own army in Mexico and will send a team to kill the whole family. It's too much of a
Seeing Dean drooling at Gustavo's dinner, Charlie asked curiously, "Has Gustavo always been so lofty here?" "Yes," Dean responded and hissed in pain as his own saliva came into contact with the wound in his mouth. Then, he cleared his throat, frowned a little because of the pain, and continued, "He has been this high-profile since the day he was imprisoned. He brought the chef over from Mexico. I heard they have a specific corner in the kitchen where his chef makes three meals for him daily." Speaking of this, Dean whined in envy, "Brooklyn Prison is a federal prison, and it doesn't permit conjugal visits, but Gustavo has privileges. He has three three-hour conjugal visits a week. I even heard that his underlings arrange women for his entertainment from time to time..." Charlie frowned skeptically as he noted Dean's envious expression. "Why are you jealous? Aren't you gay?" "I-I..." Dean spluttered with a miserable wince. "I'm not... I wouldn't have touched those guys if I had
Charlie was somewhat shocked to hear that the Rothschild family would work with a drug lord like Gustavo. In his opinion, the Rothschild family was the most powerful in the world with hundreds of years of history that had become a great family that valued its reputation and dignity. He couldn't imagine the Rothschild family associating themselves with criminal groups and outlaws, let alone putting Gustavo in the prison that was controlled by them. It sounded a bit unreasonable. Noticing Charlie's skeptical expression, Leandro lowered his voice and explained, "The U.S. government has been trying to extradite Gustavo for trial. Gustavo has also been resisting with the Mexican government, hoping not to be extradited. He and his sons had been preparing to fight back and make a huge mess if the Mexican government decided to extradite them.” “In the end, the Rothschild family mediated. Eventually, Gustavo agreed to be extradited to the U.S. for trial on the condition that there woul
Several burly men surrounded a muscular man with gray hair. He looked about forty years old, but he was rather muscular because he exercised frequently. Leandro leaned over to Charlie and whispered, "That guy with gray hair is Moses Norris, Area 2's boss." Charlie asked, "Is he working with the Rothschild family too?" "No." Leandro shook his head. "He was imprisoned for many years and had already dominated the prison before the Rothschild family took control of it. After the family took over this place, they turned the prison into two areas, made Gustavo the boss of Area 1, and placed Moses in Area 2." He then tilted his head slightly and continued, "As far as I can tell, the Rothschild family wants to use Moses to control Gustavo. It would be difficult for the family to control Gustavo if they let him go berserk. He would be as free as a bird here. By keeping Moses here, Gustavo will stay manageable. Gustavo may be powerful and rich, but most of his influence is in Mexico. Mos
As it turned out, the bean counters of the Moore Group had been suggesting that Jasmine axe Deluxe Vintage and other antique-related businesses.After all, Aurous Hill was hardly the heart of the nation's antique business—not even a hub, and Vintage Deluxe wouldn't grow on such soil.Moreover, their revenue wasn't optimistic.While the business wasn't exactly falling off after Mick took charge, the lack of experience amongst the management team meant they were struggling to break even.And for the bean counters, keeping Vintage Deluxe meant no profits—even net losses in the immediate future. Right now, they might still be able to package it nicely and sell it off, and selling a fixed asset coupled with brand value would more or less turn a profit. But once Vintage Deluxe started incurring losses and the brand value diminished in turn, it would be reduced to zero completely.In other words, the value of Vintage Deluxe was on a springboard—sell it anytime now, and the value would be
The Mr. Crane from the other end of the call was Mick Crane—the current manager of Vintage Deluxe, and a man whom all of Antique Street fawned over.Mick was the assistant manager to Raymond back then, and his skill in the antique trade was at best moderate. However, thanks to his friendly personality, he had managed to secure himself many decent connections down Antique Street.As such, once Jasmine had fired Raymond, Mick had taken over his position as caretaker manager. She was also aware that Mick didn't have the skills to do well as a manager, and her plan had always been to keep him as a caretaker before she found someone better.As her ties with Charlie had strengthened and he had started helping her, her position in her family had skyrocketed. However, that also meant she couldn't watch over most of Vintage Deluxe's operations.Now that she was the head of the Moore family and the leader of a dynasty worth billions, a small business like Vintage Deluxe was even less signifi
Moreover, Raymond's old identity had various occupations connected to antiques. So, his plan now was to head over to Antique Street, find a place to rest his legs, and then get a shop of moderate scale and cheap rent to start a business in Aurous Hill.He headed to the precinct at Antique Street to register his face and other details into the database, reinforcing his legal certification. The precinct then issued him a visa so that he would have clearance to stay at a hotel for a while.Most of Antique Street's stalls were closing shop by the time he left the precinct, but he picked up his backpack and went for a stroll.It was not that different from before, though he thought he would never come back at the time…Still, he hadn't been there for long when a vendor recognized him and exclaimed in surprise, "Hey! Aren't you Mr. Cole? From Vintage Deluxe? When did you come back?"As things hadn't changed down the street for the businesses or the environment, Vintage Deluxe was stil
Jacob shrugged. "If Hannah's debt is cleared, then she's fine now, no?""Yeah," Elaine replied. "I heard from an old friend not two days ago, saying that the document of her non-arrest… non-prosecution or whatever was sent in. Once it's approved, she's free to go home.""Most likely non-prosecution," Charlie replied."Right, I think that's it!" Elaine nodded repeatedly and sighed unhappily. "She's really been let off easy. She should be arrested and jailed for at least ten years."Jacob couldn't help sighing. "Come on, dear—Mom and Chris were out of line, but things are terrible for them now as it is. There's no reason to hope for the worst for them since Harold and Chris are still too hurt to work. It's thanks to Wendy's income that they have a living, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to survive."Then, worried that Elaine would get upset that he might be siding with his brother and mother too much, he quickly added, "I'm not taking their side or trying to get their case reinvest
Charlie actually had to change his opinion of Elaine after seeing her ready to kill Jacob earlier but getting all clingy now.Despite her many flaws, Elaine was the one half of their marriage who was earnestly in love.As for Jacob, he didn't seem to have any genuine feelings for Elaine at all.The mere mention of his past with Elaine always left him grumbling and complaining, but now, it was clear that Elaine was his best choice. With his attitude and the way he did things, he and Matilda would have split up by now even if they had gone to the States together.In the end, Jacob simply had too many of the flaws common amongst men his age, but while others would have no more than five out of twenty of those flaws, he had eighteen.As such, from another perspective entirely, the only woman who could tolerate Jacob now was Elaine and only Elaine. Coincidentally, her straightforward personality and tendency to get violent was the perfect counter against all of Jacob's flaws, reducing
Elaine nodded, emotional as well. "Well, Claire's finally home after being in the States for so long. Let's stop being clowns already—let's go home!"Jacob nodded, utterly relieved and teary-eyed. "Yes! Let's go home!"Meanwhile, Claire was left dumbfounded even as she watched while Charlie was left wiping the sweat off his brow—they had really just snatched victory from the jaws of defeat there!And it looked like they had truly succeeded in clearing any suspicion Elaine had of Matilda, and she most likely would do her best to avoid running into Matilda as well.That way, all the nonsense he had said wouldn't be exposed.Still, as Claire came to her senses, she told Charlie, "Darling, that was amazing! You somehow managed to talk your way out of that!"Charlie chuckled in embarrassment. "I had no choice but to sacrifice my pride for the peace in the family."Claire hugged his arm and giggled happily, "There's no victory without sacrifice. You're the best, dear!"-Meanwhile,
Though Jacob had nothing going for him, he had always had a huge ego, and he had never once admitted that he would lose to anyone in the presence of his wife and daughter.That was why both Elaine and Claire were shocked when he suddenly openly admitted that he was a piece of shit in front of them. They had never heard such a thing from him in the decades they had lived with him!In fact, Jacob himself was reluctant to insult himself like that.However, Charlie told him repeatedly that he absolutely must say it before he came here—because Charlie was dead sure that this line was the key to getting over this impasse, and it truly did put this crisis to rest.Even as Jacob finished, his heart was bleeding as he felt like he had just put his pride on the floor and trampled all over it until it was crushed to oblivion. Even though it was to clear any suspicion Elaine held toward him, to call himself a piece of shit—to say it himself that his beloved woman would think him beneath her,
Before Elaine knew it, she was reading the website she had just read again, and she did indeed find Yolden's name on it.With that, everything Charlie had said snapped together into a perfect chain of logic.Seeing the troubled look on her face, Charlie quickly added, "I'm not going to lie—Dad told me right away when he was told Matilda was getting married. We even discussed if we should tell you, and now you know why." "Matilda is doing so well for herself and got such an amazing husband, and they've picked Shangri-La's Sky Garden—something an average Joe could never hope to reach. And since she invited our whole family and not just us, Dad had to really think about it.""Eventually, he told me to hide it from you or it'd leave you devastated, so none of us said anything. We just didn't think you'd find that invitation and then end up having a big fight about it."Sighing, Charlie then continued, "But if you really want to go, we can go together for their wedding to put your min
Bitterness swelled in Elaine's heart as she really didn't think that Matilda was doing so well for herself.The fact that Matilda was worth millions alone made her far superior.At the same time, she was also rejoicing that she had never actually met Matilda. If Matilda asked how she was doing directly, how would she respond?In the end, Matilda was no Hannah Queen.Elaine would actually feel accomplished if she compared herself to Hannah.On the other hand, Matilda eclipsed Elaine in every way—she was more beautiful, kind, smart, and knowledgeable. Even her figure left Elaine dead in the water!It was as pointless as comparing a hen to a peacock!Whenever she thought of her, she could comfort herself that she had stolen her man even if she couldn't measure up in any way.But now, Jacob was completely insignificant to Matilda while Elaine still treated Jacob like a trophy.Even as a sense of inferiority seized her, Charlie sighed. "Come on, you should understand where Jacob is