Chapter 124: Stupid Prey
Vienna, Austria
This ancient city, renowned as the "World Capital of Music," exuded centuries of accumulated luxury and classical elegance at every turn.
Baroque architecture, cobblestone streets, the aroma of coffee drifting from corner cafés...
A black Maybach glided slowly into Kärntner Straße, the most bustling thoroughfare in Vienna's city center.
Leo sat in the back seat, holding a satellite-encrypted phone.
"Hey, Chloe."
"Leo!"
Chloe's voice came through immediately—delighted yet tearful. "You finally called! I... I've been worried sick..."
"Don't cry." Leo's voice softened. "I told you I'd come back safe."
"But the news said there was a massive explosion in the Alps, and Europe's underworld has been chaotic lately... I... I was scared..."
Chloe's voice grew smaller and smaller, clearly on the verge of tears.
Leo chuckled softly. "Those explosions were connected to me, but it was the enemy who got blown up, not me. I'm fine. Olivia and the others are protecting me."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Leo gazed out at the Vienna streetscape. "In a few more days—a week at most—I'll be back in New York. Then we'll take that trip."
"A trip..."
Chloe's voice instantly shifted from tears to delight. "You mean it?"
"When have I ever lied to you?"
"Then... then I'll start planning right now!" Chloe perked up immediately.
Listening to Chloe chatter excitedly about their wedding plans, Leo's lips curved into a rare, tender smile.
"Alright, that's enough for now. I've still got business to handle."
"Be careful! You have to come back safe!"
After hanging up, Leo looked up at Olivia in the front seat.
"Are we there?"
"Boss, just ahead is Vienna's top haute couture boutique."
Olivia pulled the car to a smooth stop in front of an elegant three-story classical building.
This was a private haute couture shop with an exceptional reputation among European high society.
Only the wealthy and powerful could commission garments here.
---
Inside the boutique.
Leo sat on a leather sofa in the VIP lounge, legs crossed, sipping premium champagne personally served by the shop manager.
The dressing room curtain drew back.
Ivy, Serafina, and Charlotte—three stunning beauties whose reputations spread throughout the underworld—emerged wearing the boutique's finest custom evening gowns.
Ivy wore a wine-red velvet gown with a plunging V-neck and exposed back. The skirt had a high slit, and with each step, her long, shapely legs appeared and disappeared like flickering flames—bold and lethal.
Serafina had chosen a black semi-sheer lace mermaid dress. The tight fabric hugged her exaggerated curves so snugly it seemed ready to burst at any moment, blending nobility with heart-pounding allure.
Charlotte wore an emerald-green silk haute couture piece. Her exquisitely refined, mixed-heritage features combined with her cool, regal bearing made her look like a queen stepped out of a medieval oil painting.
Standing together, the three women eclipsed even the opulent, gilded boutique itself.
Just as the three gathered around Leo, laughing sweetly as they asked which dress looked best—
The boutique's heavy glass door was shoved open from outside.
A young white man in a gaudy white designer suit, his hair slicked back, swaggered in, flanked by four black-suited bodyguards.
This man was Wilmer Finley, son of the Finley family, one of Vienna's old aristocratic houses.
The moment Wilmer entered, he was ready to arrogantly order the manager to clear the store.
But when his gaze swept over the VIP lounge, he froze in place.
He prided himself on his experience with women. He'd bedded plenty of socialites and heiresses from Vienna's upper crust.
But top-tier beauties like these three? He'd never seen anything like them!
And three of them together, no less!
Compared to them, the so-called noble ladies he'd been with were nothing but mediocre trash.
"Good God..."
The bodyguards behind Wilmer also stared, slack-jawed, practically drooling.
Wilmer immediately straightened his suit, putting on what he imagined was a refined, aristocratic air, and strode over with his guards. "Three enchanting ladies, your beauty makes even Vienna's sunlight pale in comparison."
"Such premium haute couture is only worthy when paid for by true nobility. I'm Wilmer Finley, and every bill in this shop today is on me. Might I have the honor of inviting you three to dinner?"
However.
The three women didn't even glance his way.
"This red one's a bit too flashy. What do you think of the black one?" Ivy leaned against Leo's side sweetly, acting coquettish.
"The emerald one flatters your skin tone better." Serafina simply sat on the armrest of Leo's sofa, leaning down deliberately to press her ample cleavage into Leo's line of sight.
Wilmer was treated like air. The smile on his face froze instantly, and a surge of humiliated fury and jealousy rushed through him.
He stared fixedly at Leo, who sat there without even glancing his way.
An American, by the looks of it?
Dressed well enough, but in Vienna—a city crawling with old money—what the hell was he?
"Let's go."
Leo set down his champagne flute and casually gestured at the dresses the three women wore. "Wrap them all up."
"Of course, darling~" The three responded obediently, linking arms with Leo as they headed for the exit.
This complete and utter disregard ignited Wilmer's pitiful ego.
"Stop right there!"
Wilmer roared, waving his hand sharply.
Four burly black-suited bodyguards immediately rushed forward, blocking Leo and his companions like a wall.
"Buddy, I'm talking to you. Are you fucking deaf?"
Wilmer dropped his pretense, strutting up to Leo with a sneer. "In Vienna, nobody dares ignore me! Do you know who I am? Do you know what the Finley family represents?!"
Leo stopped, hands in his pockets, his deep gaze coldly observing this posturing fool.
Seeing Leo's silence, Wilmer assumed he'd been intimidated and grew even more brazen.
He lifted his chin smugly, boasting loudly, "Listen up, hick! The Finley family is one of the Rothschild family's most core subordinate houses in Austria! On this land, I am God!"
"In three days, the Rothschild family is hosting a century auction at Hofburg Palace—a gala only those at the pinnacle of European power can attend! And I not only have a VIP invitation, but I'm also one of the coordinators for perimeter security!"
Wilmer grew more arrogant with every word, pointing at Leo's nose with a cold laugh. "An upstart like you might have some dirty money, but you couldn't even touch the threshold of Hofburg Palace! If you're smart, get lost now and leave these three women behind. Otherwise, I guarantee you won't see tomorrow's sunrise!"
Hearing this arrogant self-exposure.
Leo's cold gaze paused briefly, a hint of intrigued surprise flickering in the depths of his eyes.
He'd been wondering how to use Warren's fake invitation to slip smoothly into the Rothschild family's inner venue without alerting the true core elite prematurely.
And now, just when he needed it, someone had delivered the perfect pillow.
A spectacularly stupid pillow, at that.
Seeing the shift in Leo's expression, Wilmer became even more convinced he'd thoroughly intimidated him with the "Rothschild family" name.
"Hahaha! Scared now? If you're scared, scurry out of my sight like a dog!" Wilmer laughed wildly.
Just as Leo considered whether to simply snap this idiot's neck—
Ivy, standing beside Leo, keenly caught that subtle, calculating glint in his eyes.
As a top-tier assassin, Ivy's mind worked lightning-fast. She instantly grasped Leo's intent.
Ivy suddenly gasped, abandoning her cool demeanor. She stepped forward deliberately, her azure eyes shining with admiration and curiosity as she stared at Wilmer.
"You... you're serious? You really have a VIP invitation to the Rothschild family's century auction in three days?"
"My boss is rich, but he's never been able to get tickets to that auction. The three of us have been dying to experience it..."
Charlotte and Serafina, equally sharp, immediately played along, their expressions shifting to "wow, you're so impressive" adoration.
Being stared at with such worshipful gazes by three top-tier beauties, Wilmer's meager brain was instantly overwhelmed by vanity and lust.
His bones practically melted.
"Of course it's true! When have I ever lied to a woman?"
Wilmer puffed out his chest, carried away as he made grand promises. "That kind of elite event? Following this useless upstart, you'd never get in! Tonight I'll personally drive you in my Rolls-Royce straight into Hofburg Palace's VIP inner venue!"
Hearing this reckless boast, Leo's lips curled into a chilling smile.
A perfect sacrificial pawn.
"Then it's settled, Mr. Finley."
Leo stopped Ivy's performance, his gaze deep as an abyss as he looked at Wilmer. "Tonight, outside Hofburg Palace. I hope you won't disappoint me."
With that, Leo led the three women out of the haute couture boutique, leaving Wilmer's arrogant laughter echoing behind them.
Watching the women's graceful figures retreat, Wilmer greedily wiped the drool from his mouth, sneering wickedly. "The Rothschild family's auction, huh? Once you're on my turf, I'll fuck all three of you to death right in front of that pathetic loser!"