Chapter 168
With just one look from Oscar, the bodyguard immediately came over to pull Gregory away. Oscar held my hand and escorted me past him.
I didn't hide the contempt on my face at all. Who would have thought that the once proud Gregory would one day be desperate enough to kneel on the ground begging for help?
Or perhaps, this wasn't even his most pathetic moment yet.
As he was being pulled away, he spotted a figure in the distance and lost control again, pointing frantically,"It's them, Uncle Oscar, it's them. They came after me. My parents are still in their hands. You have to save me, save me."
He shouted so desperately that we couldn't help but notice. Following where his finger pointed, we saw three strong-looking men in the distance, sneaking glances our way. Probably intimidated by our tall, imposing bodyguards, none of them dared approach.
Oscar just glanced once, then subtly signaled one of the bodyguards with his eyes. He looked at Gregory impatiently and said casually,"Find him somewhere to stay first. Clean him up and bring him to see me later."
Hearing Oscar's words, Gregory finally relaxed, his body almost collapsing to the ground. He carefully watched the figures in the distance, hiding behind the bodyguard, not daring to cry out loud anymore.
As we walked, Oscar said to me helplessly in a low voice, "I probably can't leave today. Need to see what's really going on, okay?"
I looked completely indifferent: "It's fine. But who are the people after him? Didn't you already talk to Shadow Covenant and tell them to just scare them? Looking at his injuries, it doesn't look like he was just scared."
Oscar shook his head slightly,"Who knows, maybe he's offended too many people on his own."
The situation was quickly investigated.
Oscar listened to the news the bodyguard brought back, his brow furrowing again.
The person trying to send them to Solstice was actually Alan.
Oscar looked at me in disbelief."I didn't expect it would be him."
Who could have seen that coming?
"Seems like their fate wasn't miserable enough to satisfy Alan's anger. So tell me, what kind of grudge does he have against them?" I was equally puzzled.
Oscar smiled bitterly and shook his head."So the story he told us before probably has another version. This Alan is not simple."
Gregory was quickly brought over.
He looked much cleaner now. After washing away the dirt on his face, what showed was a face beaten black and blue. The swollen side, fresh from the shower, looked like rising bread dough.
He still wore the same somewhat torn clothes. As soon as he walked in, he gave off a foul smell. Seeing us, his eyes immediately reddened and he moved forward to kneel.
Oscar looked at him impatiently,"Gregory, when did you become so weak?"
The kneeling motion was never completed. He awkwardly stood up again, looking at me and Oscar with grief."Uncle Oscar, Emma, please go save my parents. Those people are animals. Right in front of me and my dad, they actually... actually... several of them, my mom couldn't take it, almost died. They made us crawl on the ground like dogs, and they forced us to drink piss and shit..."
This was even more shocking.
Oscar frowned and asked,"Several of them? When did they catch you? Weren't you supposed to be hiding? How did you get caught?"
Gregory pressed his lips together, lowering his head somewhat shamefully, as if finding it hard to speak.
Oscar snorted coldly,"If you don't want to say it, fine. I can't help with this. We're about to leave. You're on your own."
Seeing Oscar say this, Gregory quickly said,"Uncle Oscar, I'll tell you. Originally we planned to take the money and go to the south for a while. We'd already found connections to start a small business there, slowly build up wealth, then rebuild The Novagen Group. But later... later I realized that to do business, two hundred thousand dollars wasn't nearly enough. So I thought... I wanted a way to make money fast."
"So? What did you do?" Oscar asked expressionlessly.
Gregory's face reddened."I went with my friend to the casino in Harmony City. I'd been there before. There, people can become millionaires overnight. When I was playing, my luck wasn't bad at first, and the luck was good too. I thought I'd already been so unlucky, people can't stay unlucky forever."
I was almost laughing at his logic. I'd never heard of anyone making easy money at a casino. Did he think the casino was a charity?
Oscar remained expressionless,"So how much did you end up owing the casino?"
His question got to the heart of it. People hoping to make money at casinos can't bear to watch their money disappear, like fish already on the hook, ready to be slaughtered.
Gregory lowered his head, his voice mumbling,"Thirty... thirty million dollars."
Oscar was also amused by his anger, nodding at him,"Very good, excellent. The Lopez family, truly morally bankrupt."
Gregory panicked instantly, apologizing incoherently,"I was a bastard, I was confused. Uncle Oscar, I just wanted to win more money so my parents wouldn't have to work so hard. They cheated, they definitely cheated. Otherwise there's no way I could lose every single hand. Yes, they must have set me up."
Oscar looked at him somewhat impatiently,"Get to the point."
You could tell that he no longer held any hatred for Gregory. The contempt in his eyes was disgust at sharing the same surname with them.
Gregory continued with his head down,"They wouldn't let me leave. I escaped by climbing over the wall when I went to the bathroom. Then I ran all the way back, but just as I got to the hotel, I was cornered. Then a group of people came in, and those three days and nights..."
His eyes were frighteningly red, as if he couldn't bear to recall it.
Taking a deep breath, he continued,"When they saw we really had nothing, they said they'd sell us all to Solstice. Uncle Oscar, if we get sold there, we'll definitely suffer a fate worse than death. We can't possibly come back alive. What's more, Dino is in Solstice. I owe him so much money, he must be going crazy looking for me. If I go to Solstice, wouldn't that be walking to my own death?"
Oscar looked at him quietly,"Gregory, have you ever thought that the reason you've become like this is all your own fault?"