By the time Charlie returned to New York, the plane Janus was on was flying over the ocean. At this moment, Julien was still under Hank's surveillance. The Rothschild family's men had searched the Cole family mansion from midnight until noon but still found nothing. Harrison was desperate now. Previously, he did not want to be too blatant in his actions against the Cole family, but sensing that the Four-Sided Treasure Tower had most likely been taken away, it might be too late if he didn't hurry up to pursue them. Hence, he decided to go all out. He ordered Hank to intensify the search while sending another survey team with large geological exploration equipment to the Cole family mansion. Several huge trucks arrived at the scene, and the agents set up various equipment to survey the entire underground area of the estate. This detection equipment was so advanced that it could even clearly scan an underground ant nest. If there really was a hidden passage large enough for people
"Then go and kidnap him!" Harrison roared furiously. "Find the best interrogator to interrogate him! If he refuses to come forth with the whereabouts of the Four-Sided Treasure Tower, kill him!" Hank was slightly dazed by the bellow. He composed himself and replied, "Okay, sir. I'll have my men ready to kidnap Biden from the hospital." "Wait..." Harrison hesitated for a moment and then lamented, "Argh, forget it..." Harrison, who had calmed down, knew very well that he had made a grave mistake by sending people to the Cole family mansion to inspect and search in broad daylight. His reputation would be completely ruined if he really sent Hank and his men to kidnap Biden at the hospital. After all, it was equivalent to terrorism if he wanted to kidnap a man directly from the police and the FBI, and it would certainly lead to a fight. It was totally unwise to commit such a terrible crime. After pondering his options, Harrison hissed in frustration and began, "Go to the hospital
At this moment, Tarlon, who was in the Qing Eliminating Society headquarters in the South Region, also heard about the Rothschild family's news, which confused him. He quickly headed to Fleur's retreat room, hesitated for a while, made up his mind, and knocked on the door. Since her last escape from Oskia, Fleur had rarely come out of the room. She had never felt so insecure in over three centuries as she did now. The sudden defeat had had a devastating effect on her, making her feel depressed. Knowing that it was Tarlon at the door, she refused to see him, but on second thought, she figured that Tarlon, who was always composed and mature, wouldn't come to her at such a critical moment unless there was an important and urgent matter to report to her. Hence, she waved her hand, and the heavy stone door opened. Tarlon walked in respectfully, looked at Fleur sitting cross-legged on the floor behind the curtain, and said in a low voice, "Lord, I have something to tell you..."
Ever since the Acker family had bumped into Mr. Chardon in Oskia and Mr. Chardon had ended up dead, they had never returned to New York. However, Charlie and Lulu's family realized that there must be something fishy about Zekeiah due to a previous phone call between Lulu and him. Still, since Zekeiah was in New York, which was far away from them, everyone simply minded their own business and left Zekeiah alone. At this moment, Zekeiah was still known as Keith's son-in-law. Moreover, he portrayed himself as the representative of the Acker family in the United States since he was the only member currently in the country for the time being. He enjoyed fame and popularity because of this. Nonetheless, Zekeiah was well aware that the Acker family was currently in the process of shifting their business from the United States to Oskia. Even if they did not have a complete fallout, in three years, they would likely pull the rug out from under him. What frustrated him and Fleur the
"Well..." Zekeiah shook his head and answered honestly, "To be honest with you, Mr. Griffin, I haven't paid much attention to this, and I don't know the specific reasons." Tarlon ordered, "Go and find out! Mobilize your connections and find out as many clues as you can." "Okay!" Zekeiah respectfully replied, "Please rest assured, Mr. Griffin. I'll investigate it thoroughly." Tarlon said coldly, "Mr. Zorro has already flown to New York and will arrive in two hours. Go to the airport to meet him and wait for further instructions." Zekeiah couldn't help but feel nervous upon hearing that Mr. Zorro was coming. He mumbled under his breath, "Three of the Four Great Earls were killed, and Mr. Zorro is the only one left. There's a chance someone might want to kill him too. If he comes to New York, could it end up affecting me?" He was thinking about whether he would be killed as collateral damage. Zekeiah couldn't shake the feeling that the Four Great Earls seemed to be rather unlu
Not only Zekeiah, but Tarlon also did not know about the Four-Sided Treasure Tower. Vera, who had lived for nearly four hundred years, had only heard her father mention it once. Over the past three centuries, she had only read non-authoritative records of the treasure tower in some unofficial history. The records back then were all written records, and the people who wrote these records all went by hearsay. Those who wrote and read the books didn't know if the treasure tower truly existed. Even if it was real, they didn't know what it looked like, let alone Tarlon. However, Tarlon was the first to conclude that the tower was definitely extraordinary. Therefore, he didn't take the information lightly. He printed the image out as soon as possible and brought it to Fleur. He presented the printed color photo to Fleur and said respectfully, "Lord, I got this from Zekeiah. The tower in the photo is the antique that the Rothschild family was looking for in New York." Fleur jolted
Fleur wanted to obtain a lot of things in this life. Before today, the things she wanted most were Vera's ring and Marcius's secret to longevity. But today, the thing she desired the most was the Four-Sided Treasure Tower. The ring and the secret to longevity were Marcius's, but the Four-Sided Treasure Tower was a treasure that even Marcius longed for. Therefore, the value of the tower was many times greater than the previous two. The secret to longevity was enough to compel Fleur to personally travel to Oskia and return to the vast Mount Tason. So, when it came to the Four-Sided Treasure Tower, she had to go herself to ensure that nothing went wrong. Hence, Fleur set off for Buenos Aires as fast as she could. On the plane, she was on the edge of her seat, her emotions constantly running high. Even after living for four hundred years, she rarely felt such an overwhelming sense of restlessness and impatience. She even hoped that the plane could go faster. Yet, the only
Hank was also placed on this floor. Originally, he had wanted to choose a ward as close to 1701 as possible, but the FBI had already informed the hospital regarding their arrangement. Although they requisitioned the four rooms from 1701 to 1704, patients starting in 1705 were moved to other wards in the opposite direction of 1701. Based on the FBI's requirements, the wards at the front must be fully occupied before they could be assigned in order, and skipping numbers was not allowed. This meant that the current patients were arranged from rooms 1730 to 1709. If Hank was admitted, he had to stay in room 1708. If more patients were admitted, they would be arranged in room 1707 and so on. When Hank arrived at the hospital, the doctor examined his injuries. Rib fractures were not serious in most cases, especially since Hank's broken ribs were on the right side. Since the ribs in this position were away from the heart, there would be no major complications. The doctor did some simple
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