When Charlie heard this, he knew it must be Angus's doing. Angus's parents were illegal immigrants who had abandoned him when he was young. Later in life, he had worked under Janus and witnessed with his own eyes the humble and miserable lives of ordinary merchants in Oskiatown. Now that he had become the boss of the Oskian gang, it was wise of him to make some changes for his compatriots in Oskiatown. Charlie was impressed by Angus a little more. After all, standing up for the weak had always been Charlie's principle. If a gang wanted to improve and develop, they had to look up and far instead of down. If all they thought about was profiteering from small-time merchants in Oskiatown, the gang would not be able to grow big and prosper. Now that Angus had decisively given up the income from the grassroots people, it showed that he had decided to take a different approach to make money for the Oskian gang. The determination to move forward was a good start. Witnessing the livel
At night. It was dark around the Cole family mansion. In the villa next door, the windows were blacked out by the Rothschild family's staff, so it looked like no one lived there. At night, they restricted the entry and exit of vehicles, and all the vehicles were parked idly inside. Unbeknownst to everyone, more than 40 people gathered inside the quiet villa. In addition to Julien and Royce, there were about 30 people who were responsible for monitoring the Cole family mansion at all times, and the remaining 10 people were fully responsible for the security of the villa. The Rothschild family attached great importance to their own safety, not to mention that the eldest son and grandson of the current patriarch were coming to the scene. Therefore, even though the staff had set up traps all around Biden's house, they did not take the safety of the core members of the Rothschild family lightly. Julien was also concerned about his safety and well-being at the frontline, so he we
Charlie noticed two black Cadillac SUVs parked in front of the motel across the street while drinking coffee. Although both cars were turned off and the windows were covered with a thick tinted film, there were people inside, four people in each car. Charlie presumed that these people were the Rothschild family's men who were on standby at this location. All eight of them could respond immediately whenever there was any urgent matter. Moreover, the SUVs had superb functionality and were heavy, which was the best for interception. They could easily stop ordinary-sized cars or even collide head-on. Charlie felt a little impressed. They had placed their men a mile away from Raymond's house. He couldn't comprehend how many people would be secretly watching in the dark as he moved closer to the house. It seemed that it was not easy for him to take the Four-Sided Treasure Tower away without exposing himself. At this moment, several men in civilian attire entered the cafe. Charlie d
"For real?" The two men were astonished. One of them hastily asked, "Core members of the Rothschilds are here too? But why?" The man answered, "I don't know, but from the series of actions the Rothschilds have taken, I can tell that the Cole family is very important to them. Yesterday, the director went to a meeting, and I heard him talking to the deputy director, saying that almost the entire Rothschild family has been mobilized and that all of New York and the area within a 200-mile radius is under lockdown!" "Lockdown?" One of them queried, "Why haven't I heard anything about this?" The man explained, "It is not publicized and is being handled by the police, who have blocked all land routes. They inspect all vehicles leaving the designated area. The reason they are giving is drug enforcement, claiming that based on a tip-off, a large amount of drugs have entered New York." "Besides, all passengers on all outgoing flights must undergo two security checks, and the goods that h
Late at night. Charlie parked his car in a roadside parking lot and disappeared at the end of the alley. The Cole family mansion was located at the bend of a U-shaped stream. The mansion was right at the inner end of the U-shaped stream, so the mansion was not only at the end of the road but also surrounded by a stream on three sides. Not long ago, Charlie had remotely ordered Porter to kill Mr. Jothurn in Cyprus using a high-tech weapon combined with close-in defense artillery, so he knew very well that he must lay low and be extremely discreet tonight. Instead of rushing straight to the mansion, he decided to approach the mansion from the riverbank on the other side of the river. While hiding in the dark and moving silently, Charlie utilized his Reiki to constantly explore the surrounding situation. When he was about one mile from the mansion, he stopped and released more Reiki to explore the area within a radius of several hundred miles near the mansion. Soon, he discovere
Julien muttered in concern, "Everyone else is guarding the main access by land, water, and air, and we're the only ones sitting here waiting for a miracle. What if the miracle doesn't come? Our efforts would be in vain." He then pursed his lips and added, "This is not an ordinary mission. It's related to family inheritance. It will be all over if someone else gets the upper hand." "What do you have in mind?" asked Royce hastily. Julien was silent for a moment and attested, "I think the two of us should divide the work. I'll stay here to monitor the mansion, and you should go back. One is to find other ways, and another task is to monitor the others' progress. We'll see how far ahead or behind we are to others on getting to the treasure tower." "Alright!" Royce nodded decisively. "I'll get the chopper ready now." "I'll arrange it, and tell Hank about it by the way," said Julien. As he said that, he grabbed his phone and called Hank over. After a moment, Hank knocked on the
Skepticism immediately flashed across Julien's, Royce's, and Hank's eyes as they stood in the pitch-black room. Just as Hank was in a daze in the darkness, a loud commotion came from the walkie-talkie. A man said, "What's with the blackout?! All our monitoring equipment is down!" Another man echoed, "All the detection devices are also down! We can't see anything in the control room. The IFF has been disabled!" "What the heck is going on?!" another man shouted in confusion. "The villa has two power lines, doesn't it?!" Someone snapped, "So what?! There is no power now! Who is in charge of logistic support? Why didn't he prepare a backup power supply?!" Someone cursed, "No one said to prepare one! Even if the FBI goes out on a mission, they will not bring a backup power supply unless they go to the Middle East or Afghanistan! With so much equipment and power, what kind of backup power supply can meet the needs? A Cummins diesel generator? Should I get a power truck for you?"
Alas, Brody was too arrogant and had no sense of crisis. Charlie was different. He realized the importance of being prepared for anything, so he always had a wise method to counter the challenges. At this moment, in the dark room, Hank listened to the commotion in the walkie-talkie and barked, "Shut up! All of you! Go and repair the line right now! Everyone else should be alert and keep a close eye on the Cole family mansion! The rat may return to its nest! This time, we will catch it in the act!" Julien jumped in excitement and beamed, "Hank is right! Biden or his family must have come back to take the treasure tower! I told you that Biden was lying all this while. He said that the swapping was all his doing and had nothing to do with his family. From what I see, his family is in this together! It must be one of his family members who came back!" With that, he warned, "Hank, you must hold back! Wait until they get the treasure tower and catch them all in one fell swoop! Reme
"Exactly!"Charlie agreed, striking the metal while it was hot. "To be honest, the years Matilda spent in the States would be wasted if she was actually still interested!" "She's a Wall Street veteran who'd definitely have met so many successful men! Why would she be interested in a loser like Jacbo Wilson? It's not like she returned from the States after thirty years to help the poor, don't you agree?"Charlie then finished with a sigh. "The way I see it? You're the only one who'd be interested in him."Jacob heard that from behind the wall and was left absolutely fuming and humiliated.He was the only one who knew that Matilda had come back for him—even if she was worth millions now.However, he just didn't have the spine to divorce Elaine and get together with Matilda.He presumed that it was no rush and that he could just give Elaine the silent treatment—who knew, she might just give in and ask for a divorce herself, and then, he would have no issues getting together with M
"Her real lover?!" Elaine exclaimed in shock. "What are you talking about?"Charlie put on a serious face as she said, "Matilda came back to Oskia for her one true love, who is now her fiance. His name is Yolden Hart, a top economist who's now a lecturer at Aurous Hill University, who was invited all the way from the States. He's a professional manager and used to work in Wall Street, so he'd be qualified to be a CEO in any Fortune 500 company…""Professional manager?" Elaine pouted. "That still means he's a wage slave!"Charlie laughed. "Don't underestimate professional managers now. Just look at Apple Inc.'s CEO—the man earns around a hundred million USD per year, and that's over seven hundred million in Oskian dollars!"Elaine was left gaping, unable to imagine how a wage slave could earn so much.At the same time, Charlie continued, "To be fair, Professor Hart wouldn't earn that much, but 50 million per year is still no sweat for him. Do you get the amount of money we're talki
Elaine appeared taken aback, and she promptly demanded, "You've met Matilda too?!"It was only then that Claire realized she had let the cat out of the bag, and she suddenly didn't know what to say. "Oh… Uh… Mom… I, uh… didn't?"Nonetheless, Elaine was suddenly pressing her menacingly, "If you've never met her, how would you know she's a serious person?!"As Claire stayed silent, Elaine broke down in tears. "No… You're lying to me too! Aren't you?!"While Claire was left at a loss of how she should salvage this mess, Charlie suddenly entered and said, "Claire didn't—but I did.""What?!" Elaine was left staring at Charlie, stunned.Still, she soon demanded, "Y-You've met Matilda?! Did Jacob take you with him to see her?""Yes," Charlie admitted, nodding.Elaine snapped right then, and she bellowed, "Then why didn't you tell me?! To think that I've always done right by you, treating you like my own son, but you wouldn't tell me that Jacob is cheating on me! Y-You disappoint me!"
Jacob certainly left Charlie speechless—the man might get kicked out of the house, but he was more worried about his car.Sighing in exasperation, he told Jacob, "Look, if it fails, I won't be able to get you a nice place, let alone leave the Cullinan with you."Jacob blurted out, "But why—""Don't forget—I'm still living in this house even if you're gone!" Charlie explained, his expression dead serious. "If I let you have a nice place and the Cullinan, God knows how terrible a grudge your wife would hold against me. I need to have a sense of self-preservation too!""If I got you a rundown apartment, I could at least defend myself even if she gets upset about that. I mean, I can't let you sleep in the streets, can I? Claire and I would be guilty of abandoning our elders."Seeing the serious look on Charlie's face, Jacob breathed a long sigh as he clapped him on the shoulder, groaning mournfully, "Oh, I get it. I wouldn't want to upset Elaine if I were in your shoes too…"Charlie
Charlie sighed. "I told you it'd blow up, Dad, but you had to doubt me.""I wasn't doubting you," Jacob promptly defended himself. "I thought I might catch a lucky break—"Charlie cut him short, "Fair enough. Then, how are you going to handle this? I can try to stop Mom from going to that wedding and prevent her from getting in the hall even if she went, but what's going to happen to the both of you? Do you want a divorce or do you want to stay with her?"The light in Jacob's faded as he shrugged and sighed. "If I could divorce her, I would've—and I would be living happily with Matilda now. What company would I have if I did it now? Do you think Elaine would let me stay in Thompson First, with that attitude of hers?""In the end, I'd be chased out without a place to stay, and I can't suffer the humiliation of moving back with my mom and brother, can I? Hell, they might not even take me back!""So, that's a no?" Charlie pressed.Jacob smiled wryly. "At my age, even if I could, I w
Hearing that Elaine was threatening suicide, Claire exclaimed urgently, "Take me to her now!"The traffic police officer quickly nodded. "Come on!"As the traffic police officer quickly led Claire to Elaine, Charlie arrived just then and gave chase after leaving the luggage by the entrance.Stopping them, he asked, "Excuse me, officer—where's the gentleman who came with Madam Parker? May I see him?""And who are you?" The traffic police officer asked."I'm his son-in-law," Charlier replied. "I was thinking that while my wife talks to her mom, I can talk to my father-in-law, make peace, and take them both home.""Oh, that'd be great!"The traffic police officer exclaimed and quickly beckoned at a colleague, "Come over. Take this gentleman to Jacob Wilson!""Okay!" The other traffic police officer was also quite enthusiastic.Charlie entered the room where Jacob was first, immediately seeing a disfigured Jacob taking deep puffs of his cigarette.Another traffic police officer w
Charlie frowned in thought for a while, before saying, "Well, there is a plan, but I can't vouch for the chances. I also need you to cooperate with me and not let anything slip, or everything will go to waste. Can you do that?""I can!" Claire nodded, determined, before quickly asking, "So? What's the plan?""Well, it's not specific," Charlie replied. "We just have to improvise as we go along. Let's just head in for now!"-They left the airport and took a cab to the traffic police's headquarters. Just as she entered, they saw their Cullinan parked outside.Charlie sent Claire in first while he carried her luggage before following.Meanwhile, Elaine was wailing in her room, "I've been married to him for years! Suffering so much pain and humiliation, only for him to hook up with an old flame behind my back! Is it wrong if I struck out?"The traffic police officer was on the verge of a breakdown, but he still said patiently, "Ma'am, I've told you many times—what he did was wrong
Claire wasn't all that experienced in love and hence didn't know how a person caught in a love triangle would think or why they would experience such terrible mood swings.Still, Charlie's explanation gave her a general idea, and she sighed, "Actually, Dad looked really bad when Matilda came back. He was so obsessed with her that he didn't care if Mom was alive—even bringing her home for dinner. I'd be seething if I was Mom."Charlie sighed in exasperation. "Well, let's not loiter about. Let's go to the traffic police station.""Yeah!" Claire nodded, before holding his arm, "If they're there, that means they're safe, and they won't be fighting with those officers around. So, let's not head over so quickly."Charlie raised a brow. "What are you getting at?"Claire sighed, clearly troubled. "We have to think—how are we going to alleviate this crisis? If it's really as you say and Mom has mostly guessed it right, this fight might just be the start. At best, that fight on the highway
The traffic police officer smiled in exasperation. "Is there no getting through to you? You could even afford to drive a nice car, and you'd most likely survive an accident. But what if you were left bedridden for a long time? Yell at each other in the same hospital room?"Elaine waved him off. "I don't care—all I know is that I will always get my revenge, and on the spot if possible. If there were superheroes, I would be Wonder Woman!""Urgh…" The traffic police officer was utterly speechless. "How about this? We will call your daughter and have her come over to bail you. She will mediate your fight!"With those words, he returned Elaine's phone to her, and it happened to ring just then.It was a call from Claire.Seeing that the contact name said [Daughter], the traffic police officer quickly said, "Go on, answer it!"Elaine took it and answered the call, and Claire asked urgently before she could say a word, "Mom? Where are you? Where's Dad? Are you both alright?"Elaine sulk