The Retired CEO's Guide To Being Spoiled-Chapter 237: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

Initially, Julian Sterling truly did not consider the angle of internal family disputes. He inherently harbored prejudices and a high degree of vigilance towards the outside. He merely thought that Nadine Locke was a chess piece planted by Gabriel Cole to gather commercial intelligence. After all, there had previously been intense suspicions between the two sides regarding the matter of Gabriel Cole arranging his people in key positions at the Caldwell Empire. But now, hearing Ethan Caldwell pose the question so directly, Julian had to begin piecing everything together and rethinking the situation from the very beginning.

He guessed that, given the cautious nature of Ethan, the man would not bring up the sensitive topic of the Caldwell family members at this time without a good reason. Julian pondered for a moment, analyzing the possibilities before slowly replying to his husband: "At first, I simply thought she was Gabriel Cole’s subordinate. However, according to what you just implied, perhaps this matter is even more complicated, and it directly involves other people bearing the Caldwell surname? Could it be that she was brought in directly by a Caldwell family member under the guise of an acquaintance, but in reality, she is Gabriel Cole’s capable henchwoman? Or, even more terrifyingly, have they joined hands and cooperated with each other to overthrow you?"

"I do not know." The man gently carried Julian into the spacious dressing room, then tenderly set him down on the soft sofa in the middle of the room. Upon hearing the ambiguous answer from Ethan, Julian could not help but shoot Ethan a sulky sidelong glance because the CEO always loved to be evasive. Yet, Ethan did not show any annoyance or express any further opinions about that speculation immediately. He merely smiled with doting affection, reaching out to lightly pinch Julian’s nose in a teasing manner before turning to the wardrobe, selecting two high-quality silk shirts in elegant colors, and presenting them in front of Julian to distract him.

At this moment, when the atmosphere had become more tranquil, Ethan finally spoke up in a leisurely tone: "Specifically, I am still having people thoroughly investigate to see who exactly is the mastermind pulling her strings from behind. Back then, when she managed to enter the company, there was indeed interference and pushing from a few individuals within the Caldwell family. It is just that she has worked quite professionally over these past few years and can be considered competent, so I did not touch her. Furthermore, based on what I know of their capabilities, I think that those Caldwell family members do not possess the vision and ability to find someone who is both as intelligent and possesses such terrifying patience to plant right beside me. Behind this, there is undoubtedly a much larger hand manipulating everything."

Julian took the two shirts and measured them against his body, evaluating which one would look better while replying to the man: "Then it must be that Gabriel Cole deliberately pushed her toward that relative, and after that, Nadine Locke slipped smoothly into the Caldwell Empire?"

"But why do you think it is Gabriel Cole?"

"Could it be anyone else?" Julian kept the shirt he preferred, then handed the remaining one to Ethan.

"It is business, and the Caldwell Empire certainly does not lack competitors. Such little tricks are also not lacking in the business world."

Ethan put that shirt away in the closet, then selected from the wardrobe a dress shirt of a similar color and with a somewhat identical design to Julian’s. The young man glanced up and could not help but pout his lips: "So today you are even planning to wear couple outfits."

"Did you not say that if we are to put on an act, we must act convincingly?"

"Oh, so it turns out that taking me to the shopping mall is mainly because you want to put on an act."

Julian deliberately dragged out his voice, sounding as though he was acting spoiled. Ethan could not hold back from reaching out to pinch his partner’s cheek, "You know very well that is not the case."

Only then did Julian stop teasing the man, chuckling softly, "Alright, alright, it is my fault for constantly provoking you. Let us go; we shall change clothes and depart. As for the matter of who is behind Nadine Locke... I guess we will know the results very soon."

Regardless, in his heart, Julian still leaned heavily toward Gabriel Cole. Everything was far too coincidental, making him firmly believe that this gloomy man was the one pulling the strings from behind. How should one put it, Julian still did not understand why this man kept staring intently at him, seeking ways to approach and get close to him. Was there truly a need to spend so much time befriending one’s own enemy like that? 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

If he were Gabriel Cole, at this moment, he would dedicate more time to Aaron Sterling. After all, Aaron was the person that Gabriel truly loved.

Or so Julian guessed.

Speaking of which, life recently had been so leisurely and carefree, without seeing Aaron Sterling wandering back and forth in front of his eyes, that it made Julian almost forget about this person altogether. However, Julian did not care too much either. No matter how that person lived, it had nothing to do with him.

After the incident last time, the fact that Aaron could obediently refrain from coming to him to cause trouble was enough to make Julian happy. He also guessed that he could not do anything to Aaron, being the main character, how could Aaron die so easily? Fortunately, Ethan Caldwell had taken this opportunity to chip away quite a bit at the foundation of the Sterling family, and he wondered whether Aaron was still able to live happily in the Sterling family right now or not.

A highly anticipated son had suddenly turned into a great harbinger of disaster. Presumably, the Sterling family had been in a state of uproar for quite a long time already.