Chapter 144

Chapter 144

David waved his hand and smiled. "No need for that. Take my shoes home, put them on your dining table, and clean them yourself. Once they're dry, bring them back to me."

Josiah was stunned. In all her years, she had never washed anyone else's shoes — she didn't even wash her own. When her shoes got dirty, she just threw them away.

"Mr. Jones, are you serious? You're not joking with me?"

David nodded. "Why would I joke about this? Do what I asked, and I'll let you serve as police chief for a while. Of course, you'll need to do the job well and stay honest. If you mess up or abuse your power, I'll remove you just as easily."

Pax, one of Seabrook's three great earls, was completely thrown off by David's words. David seemed perfectly sane, so why did everything he say sound so out of touch with reality?

"Kid, do you have any idea what it means to be Seabrook's deputy mayor? This isn't some neighborhood committee position where you can just swap people in and out. Even replacing a community leader takes a whole process."

Lucien hadn't taken David seriously at all. Seeing Pax still arguing with the guy, he cut in bluntly. "Honestly, people like us wasting our breath on this kid — it's beneath us."

He said it casually, then turned to Josiah with a hint of impatience. "Josiah, what are you standing around for? Tell the officers to move in."

Josiah was about to give the order when Cruz suddenly shot to his feet and glared at her. "Josiah, don't be stupid! If you lay a hand on Mr. Jones today, your life is over."

Josiah licked her dry lips, visibly uneasy. "I... I..."

Lucien was starting to regret choosing Josiah over Cruz. Women — always so wishy-washy. If she was going to be this hesitant, making her police chief would be more trouble than it was worth.

"Josiah, do you even want this position or not? I believed in you, put you above Cruz, and this is how you repay me? All you have to do is arrest a few people — look how long you've been dragging this out. Don't forget, my time and Mr. Warren's time are both valuable. Wasting time is wasting life."

Mia's forehead was covered in a fine layer of sweat. She was the lowest-ranking person in the room. Before Lucien arrived, she barely got a word in. Now, with Deputy Mayor Lucien and Earl Pax both standing right there, she had even less standing to speak. Still, hoping to keep things from spiraling further out of control, she turned to David and lowered her voice. "Mr. Jones, please stop joking around. Just listen to me — if you need to apologize, then apologize, and..."

Just then, Lucien's phone rang, cutting Mia off mid-sentence.

The ringtone filled the private room, and everyone fell silent, all eyes turning to Lucien.

Lucien remained seated, slowly pulling out his phone. But when he saw that the caller was Laurel, his chest tightened. He stood up to take the call and said to the room, word by word, "Keep it down, everyone. Mayor Wright is calling me personally."

Pax's heart lurched. The name "Laurel" hit him like a hammer, and a wave of dread washed over him instantly.

Filled with unease, Pax quickly moved to Lucien's side.

Lucien answered the call. Before he could even say hello, Laurel's furious voice came through. "Mr. Larson, what do you think you're doing? You get back to Seabrook and instead of reporting to me first, you run off with the Warren family causing trouble? Listen carefully — after discussion among the Wright Castle leadership, your position as deputy mayor has been temporarily revoked."

The smile on Lucien's face slowly faded, replaced by confusion and panic. He licked his dry lips and choked out, "Mr. Wright, can you tell me what I did wrong? God, I only got back to Seabrook this morning. I was planning to come report to you this afternoon. Please, Mr. Wright, give me one more chance. I..."

Laurel cut him off without mercy. "What good does it do to beg me now? You should've watched where you were stepping."

Lucien struggled to keep his composure. He already had a feeling he knew why. His eyes drifted to Cruz, and to test his suspicion, he asked carefully, "Mr. Wright, may I ask — now that you've removed me, who will take my place?"

At this point, there was no reason for Laurel to hide it. "Who else? Don't pretend you don't know. In Seabrook, besides Cruz, who else is fit to be deputy mayor?"

Laurel paused, then continued. "And Lucien, don't say I didn't warn you. There were things I was going to tell you when you came to report in. But you clearly don't know your place. You come back from your trip and instead of coming straight to the Wright Castle, you go hang around with the Warren family. Don't think I don't know what you're up to."

After saying that bluntly, Laurel took a deep breath, reined in his frustration, and after a brief pause added, "By now, you should know where you went wrong. If you keep going down this path, losing the deputy mayor position will be the least of your problems."

With that, Laurel hung up without giving Lucien a chance to say another word.

The line went dead. Lucien's face turned ashen, and his legs began to shake uncontrollably.

His phone slipped from his hand and fell to the floor.