The Retired CEO's Guide To Being Spoiled-Chapter 300: The Interrogation and the Riverside Villa

Chapter 300: Chapter 300: The Interrogation and the Riverside Villa

In the morning, Ethan Caldwell went to meet Harrison Thornton. On the surface, the Thornton family was at a disadvantage, and today’s meeting was primarily for Helena Thornton to apologize to Ethan Caldwell. She did apologize, indeed, but after apologizing, Helena was escorted away by Harrison’s men.

Everyone else in the room was sent out, leaving the meeting room completely sealed off. On Harrison Thornton’s side, apart from the father and daughter, only one trusted subordinate remained. As for Ethan Caldwell, he only kept Helen Lloyd and Colin Grant by his side.

Colin Grant had handled things quite well this time around, and he was contemplating promoting Colin.

Only at this moment did Gemma Thornton finally get to face Ethan Caldwell, Thea Lockwood was still exhausted and thus did not accompany her. She looked at Ethan and nodded: "I must thank you for what happened this time."

"In truth, this incident mostly originated from our side. To put it bluntly, Thea Lockwood was implicated, dragging everyone else into it. I am already glad that Harrison and you, Gemma, do not blame us."

"We cannot say that it was entirely aimed at you." Harrison Thornton leaned back into his chair, his demeanor today quite unlike his appearance yesterday.

Yesterday, Harrison had put on the airs of someone trying to imitate the business elite, high society, projecting a suave and sophisticated elegance. But today, he was nothing of the sort. He wore no suit jacket, only a black shirt with the sleeves carelessly rolled up a few times. The top two buttons were undone, revealing a massive, solid gold pendant.

It seemed that this kind of jewelry was the signature style for people like them.

If an outsider wore it, it might appear somewhat tacky, but his aura exuded the heavy essence of the streets, of an underworld boss, which invisibly stripped away any tackiness.

But then again, Harrison suited this look much better.

Ethan Caldwell did not judge his appearance too much. Whether it was suave and sophisticated or street-level and vulgar, was there any type of person that he had not interacted with?

"Have you managed to investigate anything, Harrison?"

Harrison waved his hand, the subordinate standing behind him immediately stepped forward to hand a file folder to Ethan Caldwell’s people. He took it, flipping through the pages while listening to Gemma Thornton explain.

"The other day, right after you informed us about the matter regarding the meeting in the VIP room, we managed to investigate a few individuals whose hands were not quite clean."

At the last few words, her voice dropped heavily. Although Gemma was a woman, with a delicate and ladylike appearance, her personality was not at all as soft as her exterior suggested. Gemma was Harrison’s only child, since childhood, she had followed Harrison navigating through the underworld. Perhaps the number of times she had seen fresh blood was even more than the number of meals she had eaten.

Living in such an environment, she had long since adapted to a place like that.

Later on, when Harrison needed a clean front, a "prestigious career" to serve as a backdrop, she was the one who took the initiative to shoulder this aspect. Harrison owned a company, not exactly a massive conglomerate, but the cash flow was by no means small.

The main issue was how to operate it legally.

Operating a company was inherently not an easy task, let alone having to legitimize a colossal flow of money. And yet, Gemma handled everything immaculately.

She was not simple, given a little more time, she would surpass even her father.

But precisely because she had stood in such a high position for so long, she could not accept being betrayed. Not only were they set up, but those bastards even dared to target her lover. Gemma was not easily provoked, and Thea Lockwood was her restraining leash. Yet, those foolish people actually dared to dance on this dangerous borderline.

"When your men were handling the situation yesterday, they managed to catch two guys from that group. Since you were not present yesterday, I took the liberty of taking them back for preliminary interrogation. I hope you do not mind."

Ethan Caldwell had also finished reviewing the file, he placed it down on the table and asked in return: "Then, after you finish your interrogation, can you hand those people over to us?"

"I am afraid that is impossible." Gemma smiled. Whenever she smiled, her eyes would curve slightly, revealing dimples that made her look incredibly adorable. But this person could never be associated with the word ’adorable’, because for some reason, even though her smile was beautiful, both Helen Lloyd and Colin Grant present felt a cold chill run down their spines. She did not care much, slightly bowing her head to twist the ring on her ring finger: "I cannot return the people to you, but whatever they confessed, I will have my subordinates send the details over to you. As for those two? Wait another twenty years, maybe they will be reincarnated in time for you to interrogate them again."

Having said the last sentence, she let out a scoff.

It was all too clear, those two were definitely no longer alive.

After all, they had messed with the boss of the underworld, they had brought this entirely upon themselves.

She was about to say something more when her phone rang again. Gemma glanced at the caller ID, apologized to Ethan Caldwell, and then answered the call. It was unknown what the person on the other end said, but her expression changed visibly. She only replied with a curt "Understood" before hanging up.

Afterwards, she looked at her father and muttered something to Harrison. Harrison’s face also darkened. He looked towards Ethan with an apologetic demeanor. "I am truly sorry, but something has come up on our end. Let us pause our conversation here for now, my daughter and I will properly apologize to you another day, alright?"

"There is no need for such heavy words. If you two have urgent business, please go ahead, I also have some matters to attend to on my side. Let us meet again when we are all free."

"It will probably be soon." Harrison chuckled: "Next time, bring your partner along. I like him. He is smart."

"I will have to ask for his opinion first."

Harrison raised his eyebrows but did not say anything further, he simply nodded and then left. His footsteps were quite hurried, and so were Gemma’s.

Once their people had all departed, only Ethan Caldwell and his two assistants remained in the room. Helen Lloyd watched Harrison’s group rush off together, her brows knitting slightly. She did not know what had happened over there or if it had anything to do with them. Feeling a bit anxious, she called out softly: "Boss..."

"It is fine. It might not even be related to us. And even if it is, so what? Are we supposed to be afraid of them?"

Ethan curled his lips into a smile, a rather disdainful smirk. He picked up his phone, swiping through the messages displayed on the screen. His smile shifted from a tone of sarcastic mockery to genuine delight: "Let us head back. Oh, right, I sent you a list. Go buy these things for me and bring them back to the riverside villa in this city. Colin Grant, ask Helen Lloyd about my villa, then have someone go over and clean the place up properly."

Having said that, Ethan walked away first. Colin, utterly bewildered, turned to look at Helen: "The boss has a house here?"

"There is a property located near the suburbs, along the river that flows around Kensington City. You should head over there first to check the situation. Usually, there are people cleaning it, but I do not know if it is clean enough right now. Ah, right, later on, drop by the airport to pick up Dr. Talbot and bring him straight there. The villa has many rooms, aside from the master bedroom, just arrange any random room for Dr. Talbot to stay in temporarily."

Colin nodded, still puzzled: "Why does the boss have a private residence but chose to stay in a hotel when arriving here, giving people an opportunity to set a trap?"

Helen broke into a smile, for right from the very beginning, this trip was fundamentally a scheme to trap someone else. It was just unexpected that, in this back-and-forth battle, the opponent would employ such vicious tactics. Fortunately, Julian Sterling was quick-witted, otherwise, they would have capsized their boat in a shallow ditch.

However, Helen did not explain this matter to Colin, she simply patted his head: "Do you know how many people are in our business trip entourage? Are you suggesting the whole group should stay at the boss’s house?"

Colin pondered over it and found it to be true. What right did they have to stay at the boss’s house? Besides, Ethan was not the kind of person who had a habit of putting on airs in front of his subordinates. There was no way he would stay in a luxury villa by himself while forcing his subordinates to stay in a hotel.

Even though this hotel was also a high-end luxury hotel.

"Alright, just listen to my instructions. I am going to buy the things for the boss first." Helen scrolled through the list that Ethan had sent over. Her footsteps suddenly faltered for a beat before she instructed Colin once more: "Arrange Dr. Talbot’s room a bit far away from the master bedroom."

"Ah, right, understood."

But why did he have to be placed so far away? Was Dr. Talbot not coming to examine the boss? Would it not be more convenient to be placed closer?