Free Web NovelChapter 241: Chapter 244: Illegal Means
"Host, what are you planning to do?" The System’s voice was suddenly a bit tight.
Renee Sinclair lifted her head and puffed out her chest, a carefree and flamboyant smile on her face. "Nothing much. Just asking."
"System, I took five favorability points from you on credit, but now I’ve earned you back ten. This is such a profitable deal, so what do you say? Should we keep this up?"
The mechanical female voice replied, "If the Host can guarantee a profit every time, then of course I am willing to continue."
"Good." Renee Sinclair raised an eyebrow, her smile deepening. "Then let’s continue."
"Preston, what are you going to do now?"
Evan Yates watched Renee Sinclair’s confident, departing figure, frowning as he asked in a low voice.
He had heard most of Felix Preston and Renee Sinclair’s recent conversation from inside the room, so there was no need for Felix Preston to repeat it for him.
Felix Preston wiped the tears from Sandy’s face and, in the gentlest tone, spoke the most chilling words.
"Tell those underworld contacts of yours to grab that man for me. I’m going to personally pry his mouth open and make him tell me where Willow Quincy’s villa is."
"...You’re going to do it yourself?" Evan Yates was a little surprised. "Preston, you’re not planning to tell the police about this?"
Felix Preston said, "What’s the use in telling them? The police have no evidence that Willow Quincy broke the law. Even if we give them this information, they have no legitimate way to investigate openly."
"Besides, Willow Quincy is too cunning. If the police find Renee Sinclair’s blind date, Willow Quincy will be tipped off. When that happens, he’ll most likely move Charlotte to another location."
"...That’s true." Evan Yates thought about it carefully and instantly understood Felix Preston’s concerns. "Right now, we don’t have any concrete evidence that Willow Quincy kidnapped her. Even if we tell the police, they can only bring him in for questioning. Whether they’d get anything out of him is one problem, and the fact that it would definitely tip him off is another."
"To make Renee Sinclair’s blind date confess who the owner of the estate is and where the villa is located, all without letting him leak the news... it really seems like we have to resort to some unconventional methods."
"After all, the police have to follow the rules and abide by the law, but ’delinquent youths’ like us don’t have to."
Sandy had cried for a while and was now asleep again.
Felix Preston looked up at Evan Yates and asked in a hushed voice, "Evan, you’re good on your end, right?"
Evan Yates nodded. "My guys made their fortune doing this kind of stuff. I guarantee there won’t be a problem."
"But before we make a move, we need to contact Jasper Linden first."
"Contact him for what?" Felix Preston frowned, confused.
Evan Yates explained, "Jasper Linden’s cousin has a side gig as a private investigator. If we’re going to kidnap Renee Sinclair’s blind date, we need to have some leverage on him—a fatal weakness. That’s the only way he won’t dare to call the police."
"Alright," Felix Preston agreed. "You contact Jasper Linden. I’ll contact Mina Jennings and Julia Dawson. It’s about time. We can start spreading the news about Charlotte’s disappearance."
"What about the evidence on Yvette Fuller?" Evan Yates asked. "Should we release that now, too?"
Felix Preston hugged Sandy tighter. "Not yet. Wait for Ethan Lockwood to call and demand an explanation. We’ll release it then."
Evan Yates froze for a second, then realized what Felix Preston meant by that.
"Alright." A smirk touched his lips. "We’ll put a pin in that for now. I’ll go contact Jasper Linden first."
"Mm-hmm," Felix Preston said.
Sandy was fast asleep, so Felix Preston carried him back to the room and gently placed him in his little bed.
He had cried so hard that he was still hiccuping in his sleep.
Felix Preston caressed his little face, then called the nanny up to watch him before returning alone to the room he shared with Charlotte Shaw.
Traces of Charlotte Shaw were everywhere in the room. He couldn’t bear to stay long, so he just grabbed his phone and power bank and rushed out of the house.
On the way to the police station, he called Mina Jennings and Julia Dawson separately, outlining the plan to spread the news.
After hearing him out, the two of them immediately knew what to do.
And so, ten minutes later, on Julia Dawson’s TikTok, Felix Preston saw the missing person video she had posted for Charlotte Shaw.
Mina Jennings, Hannah Sutton, Lynn Preston, and the official Shaw Technologies account all immediately reposted the video and issued a network-wide missing person notice.
The hashtag #CharlotteShawKidnapped# exploded on the trending charts a second later.
Julia Dawson and Hannah Sutton had paid plenty of marketing accounts and a water army to spread the news. In less than half an hour, the trending topic was being furiously discussed everywhere. Furthermore, in the comment sections of related videos, people were already starting to point the finger of suspicion at Willow Quincy.
[I didn’t really react when I saw the name Charlotte Shaw, but you’re telling me Charlotte Shaw is Bloom Preston?! The jewelry designer, Bloom Preston?]
[Holy crap, what kind of world are we living in where people still dare to kidnap someone? And a mega-influencer, at that! These kidnappers have some serious nerve!]
[Bloom Preston! Which son of a bitch kidnapped my Bloom Preston! Give her back to me right now!]
[It’s been a whole day and night and she still hasn’t been found? Are the kidnappers after her, or after money?]
[Insider info, Felix Preston and the Shaw Family still haven’t received any ransom calls. So I’m guessing the kidnapper was after the person.]
[Another bit of insider info: Bloom Preston’s former brother seems to have... different kinds of feelings for her. And coincidentally, right before she disappeared, Bloom Preston received a call from this former brother, but she didn’t answer and just hung up.]
This kind of comment was too eye-catching. Less than ten minutes after it was posted, netizens jumping on the bandwagon had already reposted it in the comment sections of other videos.
Then, more and more similar comments began to pop up, pushed by "interested parties."
[I saw Bloom Preston and her brother at Galaxy Plaza once. Bloom Preston was pregnant at the time, and her brother was right there in the plaza, grabbing her hand and ordering her to get an abortion and a divorce. I didn’t think much of it at the time, just gawking at the drama, but I never expected there was such a shady story behind it all.]
[Bloom Preston’s true parentage was exposed five years ago. So, has her brother been in love with her for five years, or even longer?]
[Definitely longer than five years! They grew up together as brother and sister. How could the brother just immediately fall in love with his sister right after her identity was revealed? This Willow Quincy was definitely in love with Bloom long before that.]
[Holy crap, so he’s into incest?]
As public opinion grew more and more heated, the official accounts of the Quincy Group and Cecilia Quincy’s studio were already being overrun by netizens.
"Hmph..." Felix Preston gave a satisfied smile, then put away his phone, opened the car door, and got out.
"Felix." Kevin Collins had just gotten back from handling some business and ran right into Felix Preston as he got out of his car.
Felix Preston smiled and greeted him, "Uncle Collins."
Kevin Collins strode over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Perfect timing. We found something new on the surveillance video from the alley."
