Chapter 243 An Unusual Relationship
Being harassed by Nash put Caroline in a terrible mood. She believed she had never given Nash any verbal or behavioral hints, and had even clearly rejected him when he showed interest.
But the fact that Nash dared to confront her today was definitely not an impulse; there must be a reason.
Caroline lay in the bathtub, soaking. Nash didn't seem like an impulsive person. Thinking back on what he said today, he had indeed revealed a lot of information.
Just as she was lost in thought, Leopold's video call came through. She grabbed a towel to dry her hands and accepted the request.
At this time, Seaside City had already fallen into the night, while Leopold's window still showed daylight.
Seeing the person in the video was bathing, Leopold leaned back in his chair with a lazy smile, "Taking a bath? How boring to bathe alone."
Caroline laughed, "But if two people bathed together, I'm afraid you'd panic."
"Nice sense of humor." Leopold's shoulders shook with laughter. Suddenly, he sat up straight, "Wait till I get home, I'll make you remember there's a price to pay for today's naughtiness."
Chatting with him improved her mood considerably. Caroline said, "I can't wait for you to come back."
"Miss me?"
She made a sound from her nose. Seeing this made Leopold's heart incredibly soft. "Honey, I really can't come back right now. Sorry to make you suffer."
"What suffering? I miss you when I see you, can't I even say so?"
"What do you mean?" Leopold raised an eyebrow. "You don't miss me during the day when you don't see me?"
Caroline laughed so hard she almost sat up in the bathtub and exposed herself, but just as Leopold was waiting to see, she lay back down.
Leopold shook his head helplessly. "So stingy."
Caroline could clearly understand what he meant: even if she couldn't touch it, she wasn't even allowed to take a look.
Caroline smiled, "Want to look? Well, wanting won't get you anywhere."
Leopold crossed his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair again, saying, "You've learned bad habits, learned them well. Wonder who you learned them from."
Caroline said, "Who else could it be? From you, of course."
Seeing Leopold's relaxed expression, she figured Dash wasn't involved in the drug trafficking case. "What's the situation with Dash?"
Leopold's smile faded, and his expression became serious. "A blessing in disguise, he wasn't involved in drug trafficking, he was tricked. But right now the evidence is against him. Mr. Thorne, the lawyer we hired, is gathering evidence. There's also the matter of providing rooms for people to film and photograph trafficked girls, all tricky stuff. That idiot, why is it always me cleaning up his messes? Did he save my life in a past life or something? Am I spending this whole life repaying debts to him?"
Caroline didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but thinking about it, that was pretty much the case.
"No matter what he's done before, if you can help him this time, he'll definitely thank you when he gets out."
Leopold smiled. "I'll skip the thanks, just don't cause me any more trouble in the future."
They chatted a while longer, then Leopold urged her to hurry up and finish bathing before the water got cold.
Even after they ended the video call, Caroline hadn't mentioned Nash's situation.
Meanwhile, in Eldoria.
Leopold reopened his web browser and continued reading local news. A report about prosecutor Federico Ferrero caught Leopold's attention.
He was a prosecutor with a strong sense of justice who wouldn't bow to criminal forces. To fight the local crime syndicate, he even chose not to go home to protect his family, and frequently changed his schedule. The reason for such caution was that over the past fifteen or sixteen years, assassination attempts by the crime syndicate targeting Federico had never stopped.
Leopold's mind opened up, maybe this was a solution.
He called Jack to his office and asked about Federico's situation. Jack's assessment was almost identical to what was described online.
Leopold wanted to communicate with Federico to secure a better chance for Dash.
But clearly, meeting Federico wouldn't be easy. Jack would have to ask a highly respected local senior for help.
After Jack left, Lily knocked on Leopold's office door.
Lily said, "You were right to be suspicious, Lawrence has been in contact with people from the crime syndicate. I took some photos and a video. The video was shot from pretty far away, so it's not very clear, but judging from the atmosphere of their conversation, they seem quite familiar with each other."
Leopold took the phone and looked. He found it incredible, someone like Dash, no matter how hard he racked his brain, would never be able to connect with that crowd. So how did he get involved with them overseas?
Therefore, without someone directing and setting a trap, Dash would never have gotten mixed up with the crime syndicate.
Now everything was clear. Before Dash arrived, Lawrence had been conducting illegal activities under the hotel's cover. When Dash parachuted in, Lawrence's operations were restricted. To drag Dash down with him, he had Mario set a trap for Dash.
Over the next two days, Leopold secretly found several service staff who had been on duty that day. With their testimony, there was sufficient witness and physical evidence regarding Dash's drug trafficking and provision of premises.
The meeting with Federico was also a sudden notice from the other party, asking Leopold to rush to a certain park immediately.
The reason for not turning the evidence over to the police was Leopold's concern that someone might interfere. Once Dash was sentenced to prison, he likely wouldn't come out alive, the crime syndicate wouldn't leave a scapegoat alive to tell tales.
Regarding the crime syndicate, their methods were cruel and their actions vile to a degree beyond our imagination.
After seeing the video of Lawrence communicating with people from the crime syndicate, Federico decided to investigate, starting with Lawrence. As a prosecutor, his greatest wish was to eliminate the local cancer that was the organized crime syndicate.
Leopold also learned that the reason Federico faced the crime syndicate regardless of personal danger was that when he was young, his family had all died at the hands of the crime syndicate.
But to draw out the mastermind, they couldn't release Dash yet, he needed to stay inside a while longer. Federico would send people to ensure his personal safety.
The two talked for less than half an hour before Federico hurriedly left.
Leopold returned to the hotel and left a message for Preston, explaining Dash's current situation and telling Dash's parents not to worry too much.
When Preston woke up and saw the message, he replied: [The news about Dash being arrested hasn't been made public, has it? You must suppress public opinion, absolutely cannot let this get out. If it does happen, headquarters will immediately issue a statement that Dash has been fired. As long as we distance the company from this, we won't be implicated and our company's stock price will remain stable.]
Looking at the cold lines of text on the screen, in his heart, money was always more important than people.
Leopold simply replied with one word: [OK.]
Ever since being offended by Nash last time, Caroline had handed over the task of liaising with VoltWave Cables to Dax the very next day.
She thought she could finally have some peace, but then received a call from a colleague. Caroline's expression grew darker and darker.
She hung up the phone, got up from her desk, and headed straight for the power law enforcement office.
Before she could even enter, she heard a young man's voice inside saying, "Fine me? My friend's uncle has quite a relationship with Ms. Tudor, you know."