Chapter 233
Chapter 233
"Mr. Johnson, long time no see."
Charlie's sinister half-face slowly emerged from behind Olivia.
His eyes narrowed slightly, smiling wickedly: "Bet you didn't expect to see me here."
"Charlie." Michael's expression turned cold. "Let her go."
"I've heard for a while that Mr. Johnson has found someone he likes."
Charlie leaned his nose close to Olivia, twitching it obscenely a few times: "Seeing her today, she really is a beautiful woman with extraordinary courage. No wonder Mr. Johnson likes her so much."
Michael's eyes narrowed, and a sharp killing intent suddenly rose from all around: "Charlie, if you hurt her, I'll kill you."
Charlie laughed wildly: "Mr. Johnson, don't joke with me. Even if I don't hurt her, wouldn't you still want me dead?"
"Back then you already had plenty of complaints about me. Now even Liam has been sent in by you. Would you really spare my life?"
Back when he was still with Liam, his ruthless and underhanded methods had angered Michael multiple times, even landing him in jail several times.
So when Charlie left Liam, some people speculated it was because Liam didn't want to offend Michael on his account and found an excuse to send him away.
Just as Charlie finished speaking, Byron suddenly moved closer.
Charlie immediately raised his arm, the sharp scissor tip pressing right against Olivia's throat.
He turned his head, staring at Byron with a meaningful, fierce smile: "Byron, don't move, or my hand might slip."
Olivia's skin was pierced, blood dripping down the scissors.
Michael's heart jolted at the sight, and he stopped Byron: "Don't move."
He stared intently at Charlie, lowering his voice to ask: "What do you want?"
Charlie yanked off Olivia's bag, pulled out a blue USB drive from inside, and threw it in front of Michael: "The video inside—use your computer to send it out."
Michael nodded at Byron, signaling him to take the USB drive out and plug it into the laptop they kept in the car.
There was only one video inside.
It was surveillance footage of Aaron imprisoned in a basement, doing designs.
From the surveillance video, Aaron's location had only a bed and a desk. Besides eaten takeout boxes on the desk, there were over a dozen hand-drawn drafts, and the floor was littered with crumpled papers of various sizes.
This video was enough to prove that Aaron had been imprisoned all these years, doing designs under extremely poor living conditions.
Michael's eyes darkened slightly: "Charlie, Uncle Liam imprisoned Aaron and forced him to do designs. The court already issued a verdict, and everyone outside knows about it."
"Even if you make this video public, it won't change the situation."
Charlie sneered: "Mr. Johnson is so smart, you can't really think I'm releasing this video to prove something for Liam, right?"
"I just need this video sent out from your computer. I want everyone to know that the reason Liam imprisoned Aaron was all because of you."
"The dignified president of the Johnson Group, in order to fight for family assets, didn't hesitate to manipulate his own second uncle into imprisoning his father's illegitimate son."
"News like this is attention-grabbing enough, and enough for the Johnson Group's shareholders to kick you out. What do you say, Mr. Johnson?"
"Michael, don't believe him, he's Aaron's man." Olivia shouted.
Her sudden outburst startled Charlie, making his wrist shake. The scissors pierced along her wound. He tightened his grip on her arm, and Olivia's wound immediately gushed blood. Seeing this made Michael's heart tighten, and he instinctively took two steps forward: "Charlie, I'll send it, just don't hurt her."
Olivia wanted to say more, but Charlie gripped her neck tightly. She was forced to tilt her head back, her throat strained, unable to say a word.
"Send it now!" Charlie roared.
Michael looked at Byron and nodded slightly.
"Mr. Johnson." Byron was uneasy. "We can't send this."
Before he could finish, Charlie immediately raised his hand, as if to stab down with the scissors.
Michael immediately shouted in a deep, angry voice: "Send it!"
Byron didn't dare hesitate anymore. With a click of his finger, the video was sent from Michael's personal account.
He took the computer and showed it to Charlie: "Now can you let her go?"
Seeing "sent successfully," Charlie finally smiled with satisfaction, chuckling: "Really didn't expect that one day Mr. Johnson would be so obedient for a woman."
"Now, can you let her go?"
Charlie's goal had been achieved. He pressed against Olivia's shoulder and pushed forward.
Olivia stumbled several steps. Just as she was about to fall, Michael caught her waist, steadying her.
She turned around—Charlie had already turned and run in the opposite direction.
Almost simultaneously, a dozen blinding lights lit up all around.
Olivia instinctively raised the back of her hand to shield her eyes. Through the gaps between her fingers, she saw the lights flashing blue and white.
Then she heard someone shout: "Charlie, you're under arrest."
Olivia realized what was happening and suddenly turned her head.
Michael was looking down, his finger pressed on her wound, his expression grave: "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"What's going on?" Olivia grabbed his wrist and pulled it away, twisting her head to glance behind her. "Were you acting just now?"
Behind them came Charlie's painful wails.
His hands had already been cuffed behind his back, his arms twisted, held firmly in place, unable to move.
On the other side, Byron handed gauze and powder to Michael.
While bandaging Olivia, he questioned: "Why didn't you leave with Nora and the others?"
"Michael, you still haven't answered my question."
Michael finished applying the gauze, looked up at Charlie, and said in a deep voice: "Last time when you competed with Anna, a mysterious account posted through a switch about being held captive and helping Anna with designs."
"At first we all thought it was Aaron, but later I carefully investigated Aaron's computer and found it wasn't connected to that switch at all."
"It's clear the switch was just a misleading clue he left for us, to make us find him through the switch."
"The person who actually posted those things was someone else."
Byron added from the side: "This Charlie not only helped Aaron post those things, but he's been making a living all these years by selling people's online account privacy. The police have been watching him for a long time."
"Now that he's caught, Emerald City's internet security will be much better protected."
As he finished speaking, the police officer leading the team came over to thank Michael: "Mr. Johnson's cooperation in catching Charlie is a good thing for us and for Emerald City's internet users. We'll announce your actions across the internet. As for Charlie and Aaron's false accusations against you, we'll also speak up online to clear your name."
"You don't need to be so polite, this is what I should do." Michael nodded with a light smile.
Charlie was escorted onto the police car and taken away.
At that moment, Michael's phone rang.
From the corner of her eye, Olivia saw it was a video call, with a profile picture showing the person's photo—it was the woman who had bid against Michael for the pink diamond at the auction!