Empire of Shadows

The negotiation was very smooth.

Of course, this refers to the negotiation between Lance and the people that Owen had brought. They did not object to taking out a portion of their shares to establish a fund that had nothing to do with them.

The profits from this foundation would be used for the Lance and Williams families. Currently, only Lance and Mayor Williams had signing authority, and the amount they could call upon was fifty-fifty.

After the negotiations were over, Lance had someone see off these gentlemen who had returned to the world of the living from hell. He chatted with Owen for a few sentences at the door and then returned to the room.

“I thought you would support some people yourself!” Mayor Williams said, holding a wine glass and looking at Lance. “For example, those people from the Imperial Chamber of Commerce.”

He meant that if a portion of the capitalists in the Bay Area were cleared out, Lance would fill this portion with his own people. Of course, Mayor Williams would also arrange for a portion of people to fill in.

What he hadn’t expected was that Lance had directly invited “external forces.”

Lance sat down on the sofa opposite him. He looked at the wine glasses on the coffee table and for a moment didn’t know which one was his. He had Elvin bring another wine glass and poured himself some wine. “I have a good relationship with them. If I were to appoint them, sometimes some problems would be messed up by them.”

Mayor Williams understood a little, just a little!

He pursed his lips, which was considered an acknowledgment of his statement. He associated it with the matter of some incompetent people in a family business occupying high positions and causing destruction.But in fact, the problem that Lance was most worried about was that these fools in the Imperial Chamber of Commerce were simply not competent for these new “positions.” They would be played around by the remaining wealthy people in the Bay Area and the people on Mayor Williams’s side.

He never believed in any “guarantees” and their “conscience.” Guarantees and conscience were just a bottom line that could be broken at any time in order to reflect a sufficiently large interest.

When the interests were large enough, or the threat was not so great, Roger and those people would be easily played around.

Rather than this, it was better to directly introduce a third party. This way, it would not cause a misunderstanding between him and the Williams family, and he could also stably obtain a fortune.

Lance’s importance to Mayor Williams was much greater than the other way around, so he did not refuse Lance’s proposal and gladly accepted it.

In the afternoon, at the busiest time, at the busiest intersection in the city center of Golden Port City, a large number of pedestrians were already standing on the side of the sidewalk waiting for the traffic lights to change.

And at this very moment, a van with no license plate suddenly drove into the very center of the intersection. The door was opened, and a guy with a hood over his head was thrown out of the car.

Then this van quickly left this place.

The people were so frightened by what had happened here that they were at a loss. Someone called the police, and someone also walked to the side of the person who had been thrown down and was constantly shouting “help me.”

A kind-hearted person untied the hood and saw the person under the hood. Some of the people who had read this morning’s news couldn’t help but cry out in surprise—

“Mrs. Charles?”

The police soon arrived at the scene. They took Mrs. Charles back to the police station and asked her about everything that had happened from the time she was kidnapped until now.

She had bruises and open wounds on her body, which should have been from being beaten. Her whole body exuded a smell of urine. She had peed on herself.

The butler had already gone back to get her clothes, but before she could say anything, she was not allowed to leave the police station.

Sitting in the interrogation room, she held a coffee cup with both hands, her body trembling slightly.

Deputy Chief Duke sat leisurely behind his desk. “Mrs. Charles, you’d better be able to recall what happened after you were kidnapped until you were thrown down.”

Mrs. Charles was not the kind of pure housewife who was busy with housework. She also had social connections and relationships. She knew very well that the police station was Lance’s legal thug, and it was impossible for this Deputy Chief Duke in front of her not to know what had happened.

They were just going through the motions, just playing with her, and her husband!

Half of her trembling body was because of fear. These people were too lawless. They even dared to kidnap her. They had no law in their eyes at all!

The other part was because of her anger at Duke, at the police station’s attitude!

They clearly knew everything, but they pretended not to know anything, which was disgusting!

So she didn’t want to talk, just sat there.

Deputy Chief Duke didn’t say that he had to ask anything. He was also just acting on orders. It wasn’t until her legal team arrived that he relaxed a little.

The lawyers, holding various legal rules and regulations, demanded that Deputy Chief Duke release her. Deputy Chief Duke did not stand firm against these big lawyers, because it was meaningless and not worth it.

After having Mrs. Charles sign a few documents, Deputy Chief Duke finally let her leave.

After returning home, Mrs. Charles immediately made a phone call to Mr. Charles. “When are you coming back?”

When he received this call, Mr. Charles was full of pleasant surprise. “You’re back?”

“Or did they ask you to call me?”

“How is our son now? Did they give you any trouble?”

Mrs. Charles took a deep breath. “His condition is not good. He fired a shot in the car. The bullet ricocheted and hit his thigh. He underwent surgery in a simple room. The doctor said it’s still a bit dangerous.”

“They didn’t say anything about a ransom or the like. I’m very worried about him. And…” she hesitated for a moment, “…we shouldn’t fight with them. We can’t win against them!”

“There’s another thing. There might be a problem within the company. They’ve been calling me all the time, asking about your situation.”

“I also hear that someone is secretly buying up shares…”

Mr. Charles’s face turned a little dark. He walked back and forth a few steps. “I see. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

He asked a few more questions related to the kidnapping and then hung up the phone. From his wife’s description of the kidnapping process, he could conclude that it was Lance who had done it.

After considering for a long time, he had someone go and ask if Lance had time. He wanted to go and have a private chat with Lance.

But soon he received a not-so-good piece of news. Lance had already boarded the train back to Golden Port City and had already gone back.

Mayor Williams was still in Manteno, but had already left the hotel and was nowhere to be found.

At this point, he also knew that the mediation had failed. Now staying here was of no significance. He had to get back to Golden Port City as soon as possible.

On the one hand, it was the problem of his wife and child. On the other hand, and the most important aspect, was still the company problem.

Although his shares in the group company were the most among individuals, this did not mean that his shares were also the most among the overall shares. He only accounted for a very small part, 7%.

And this 7% was still held by him on behalf of the Charles family. It was not entirely up to him.

If some changes occurred within the group company because of the things he was encountering now, and he lost his position as president, or some changes that he didn’t know about happened, that would be something he couldn’t bear!

He immediately booked a special locomotive to pull his luxury carriage back to Golden Port City. For the rich, a fee of a few thousand dollars was nothing to be taken seriously.

Because it was a private train, it would not stop in the middle except to add coal and water. The speed was much faster than an ordinary train.

It was only just past noon on the second day when he arrived in Golden Port City. He got out of the Golden Port City train station with a grim face and got into a car that had already been prepared on the side of the road. Just as he was about to leave here and return to the company, someone suddenly came to the side of his car.

Just three days ago, the matter of Mrs. Charles and Little Charles being kidnapped had happened. Now the people in Golden Port City were all very afraid of death, including Mr. Charles.

Before he had even arrived at the station, there were more than twenty armed bodyguards waiting for him on the platform.

From the time he got off the train to the time he was now sitting in this bulletproof car, he was surrounded by bodyguards.

The person who wanted to get close to this car was stopped by a bodyguard. Charles turned his head to look at the two people and signaled for the bodyguard to get out of the way.

“Mr. Charles, we are prosecutors from the Golden Port City Prosecutor’s Office. We need your cooperation in an investigation.”

Mr. Charles frowned with some impatience. “What do you need me for?”

“Don’t you know that my son has been kidnapped by kidnappers and is still missing?”

“You’d better use your energy on these things, instead of thinking of finding trouble with me, a taxpayer who pays a lot of taxes every year!”

The two prosecutors just smiled formally. Then one of them took out a document from his pocket and showed it to him. “You are under arrest, Mr. Charles, on charges of soliciting prostitutes.”

Mr. Charles was stunned for a moment, and then he was so angry he laughed!

“Are you fucking not clear about the current situation?”

“My wife…”

Before he could finish, the prosecutor who had shown the document interrupted him. “You have two choices now, Mr. Charles.”

“First, you resist arrest. According to the power granted to us by the Federal Constitution and laws, we have the right to control you, and if necessary, to use lethal force.”

“Second, you get out of that car now. We will put handcuffs on you. You will come back with me and my colleague. You will explain the matter clearly, and then we will prosecute you according to the procedure.”

“Of course, in this process, you enjoy the rights and obligations of the relevant laws. You can hire a defense lawyer, or you can remain silent.”

“But no matter how you choose, you must make the initial choice.”

“Resist arrest, or come with us!”

Mr. Charles looked at these two prosecutors. They were very young, probably not even thirty. He had never seen them before.

He lit a cigarette and sat in the car, with no intention of leaving or getting out. “I haven’t seen you before. Are you new?”

The person who had shown the document shook his head. “That has nothing to do with you, Mr. Charles.”

“You just need to choose.”

Mr. Charles, seeing that he seemed unable to persuade them, could only frown. “I will wait for my lawyer to come before I go with you!”

(End of a Chapter)