Julien hastily replied, "The Four-Sided Treasure Tower originally belonged to Oskia. It would be best if it could return to Oskia..." "But your father dreams of getting it back." Charlie asked, "Why don't you share the same thought?" Julien assumed Charlie was testing him, trying to see where he stood, so he immediately responded with an air of righteous indignation, "To be honest with you, my father is still full of imperialist thinking. He believes that anything he seizes is his, but it doesn't work that way now. We're living in a civilized society! The treasure tower was obtained dishonestly back then, so it's only right to return it to its rightful owner. I've been educated with modern legal principles, so I do have a sense of justice!" With a satisfactory nod, Charlie asked, "So, even though you are the first heir of the family and even though your father, the patriarch of the family, desperately hopes that the treasure tower can return to your family, you are still willing
A roar of the helicopter came from far away. Charlie's eyes lit up as he said, "Your son is back." Julien involuntarily muttered, "I hope they're not in trouble." A few minutes later, Hank and Royce walked into Charlie's room. As soon as they entered the room, Julien asked anxiously, "How was it? Did anyone stop you?" "Yes!" Royce blurted angrily. "The National Security Agency's radar blocked the airspace in the blockade area. As soon as our helicopter arrived near the edge of the blockade area, they radioed to warn us that all non-government helicopters were currently banned from taking off in the airspace for national security reasons. They also asked us to land in the designated area for inspection. I told them my identity, and after they verified it, they did not force us to land for inspection, but told us to stay away from the boundary of the blockade area." Hank, standing nearby, added, "This level of strict control hasn't been seen since 9/11." Hearing this, Charlie
Moreover, simply leaving the blockade zone wouldn't be enough. It was possible that the Rothschild family had secretly instructed these agencies to expand the blockade. The best course of action would be to find an opportunity to leave the United States altogether. Thinking of this, Charlie asked Julien, "Your family should have many assets and businesses around the world. It should be common and usual for you guys to go abroad. If you or any family member wants to go abroad at this moment, can you avoid inspection?" "Well—" Julien muttered, "My father intends to mobilize the entire family's resources and go all out to search the Four-Sided Treasure Tower. Everything else can be put on hold for now. Given this situation, he probably won't let us leave the country. Not only that, but many key family members overseas have also started returning to the U.S. After all, the matter of the family head's successor is at stake, and no one wants to leave at a time like this." Charlie smack
Julien was a little confused by Charlie's remarks. He took a deep breath and began in a solemn tone, "Helena is the Nordic Queen. Her visit to Canada is a relatively serious political event, and such matters are usually planned well in advance. Her scheduled visit to Canada is set for next Friday, which is nine days from now. How could it be moved forward just like that?" "Don't worry about it," Charlie reassured. "Just answer my question." Julien thought for a while and began, "My father is hoping that Royce will keep in touch with Helena. It was an idea some time ago. A few days ago, he expressed his wish that Royce could represent our family to meet Helena in Canada. They can get to know each other first and then see if there is a chance of marriage. If Helena visits Canada according to the plan, he should send Royce over, but because of the special situation, I'm not sure if he will change his mind." "I don't think he will change his mind," Charlie replied. "For one, Helena
"C-Curtis?" Julien exclaimed. "Do you mean the Curtis Wade who turned my family upside down 20 years ago?! So... You're Ashley's son?!" "Yes." Charlie nodded. "That's right." Julien took a deep breath to compose himself and sighed. "No wonder! No wonder the short video platform that your family owned refused to remove and ban the freaking videos. So, you’re Curtis's son..." After that, he muttered, "You are Curtis's son, and you're here for the Four-Sided Treasure Tower, so... Bruce's exposure of Brooklyn Prison and Biden as well as the video of Malcolm's affair with Bruce's wife... Those were all your doings?" "Yes." Charlie admitted frankly, "They were all my ideas." "Tsk..." Julien inhaled fearfully. "You're incredible. Just a few smart moves have left us in disarray. You truly carry the same demeanor as your father back in the day." Charlie responded in a monotonous tone, "You can stop your flattery now." As he said this, he took out his phone from his pocket, casuall
It seemed inevitable. Still, Julien was no fool. He quickly figured out the interests involved. If he didn't work with Charlie, Charlie might order Hank to kill him and Royce now. Hank had unbelievably become Charlie's subordinate. Charlie would not bear any responsibility for Hank killing them, and no one might even know about it. On the other hand, he would be in a safer place if he decided to work with Charlie. At the very least, he would still be alive, right? In addition, if he could help Charlie bring the Four-Sided Treasure Tower out of the United States, he could retain his position as heir. If he could keep his position as heir and outlive Harrison, he would be the patriarch of the Rothschild family. With so many advantages, Charlie's leverage over him would not be such a big deal. Moreover, the leverage wasn't always useful. The best time to use the leverage against Julien was when Harrison was still alive. As the first heir, Julien had to walk on thin
Julien had his own plans. For him, the Wade family was nothing but one of the inferior families that tried to act tough. If he could smoothly transition to the position of the head of the family, he would never take them seriously. Although he was now in Charlie's hands, once he got through the ordeal and became the head of the family, he would be someone so prominent that Charlie couldn't possibly reach. The Wade family would certainly not be a threat to him. Of course, at this moment, he only dared to keep this thought to himself. On the surface, he feigned a polite smile and promised, "Of course! We will become each other's most important partners in the future!" Charlie knew that Julien was acting. He was likewise acting too. His phone was still recording their conversation. The more pious Julien was, the greater the deterrent power of this video would be for him in the future. Charlie sighed and asked, "I heard that your father is over 80 this year, am I right?" "Y
Charlie then ended the video recording and called Helena. There was a time difference of six hours between Northern Europe and New York. Northern Europe, which was further east, was six hours ahead of New York. It was dark in New York, but it was already morning in Northern Europe. At this moment, Helena was discussing her schedule for the next few days with the royal housekeeper. The sudden call from Charlie delighted her. She swiftly sent the housekeeper away and answered Charlie's call, her voice full of youthful excitement, "Hello, Mr. Wade!" Charlie felt a ripple in his heart when Helena's cheerful voice echoed from the other end of the line. He asked with a smile, "Helena, how are you?" "Pretty good," Helena answered. "Everything is fine, except for the family's never-ending nagging, but these are all small things." Charlie asked curiously, "You're the queen. Who would dare to nag you?" "Oh, you have no idea." Helena sighed and murmured dejectedly, "Yes, I'm the q
"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