The Heiress’ Return: Six Brothers at Her Beck and Call (Wynter Quinnell) novel Chapter 2012

"Interesting," Colten said with a wan smile. "All I do is for Havenia's sake, unlike some people, who only care about their immediate interests."

He stared directly at Reese as he said that.

Reese looked up to meet his gaze. "Are you implying I'm one of those people?"

Colten laughed coldly. "Who else? You've done no less than I have, yet nobody dares to look into you because you're the chief executive."

Reese lowered his voice and replied, "You're free to tell me everything I've supposedly done in front of everyone here today, Colten. As long as there's at least one thing I've done wrong, I'll resign of my own accord."

He admired Colten for his capabilities and ambition. His original plan had been to let the latter take over as chief executive once he retired, but Colten had simply rushed things too much.

Colten's eyes lit up. "Are you serious? A few years ago, I saw you having coffee with the Department of Justice's director while passing by a cafe. Just as your meeting was about to end, he stuffed a bank card into your hands, and you readily accepted it.

"Tell me—what sort of behavior was that?"

Reese nodded lightly. "That did happen, but you were too focused on how it appeared to you. I was the one who first lent him the money on that card. His mother was gravely ill and urgently needed money for surgery, so I lent him the money. I have receipts and bank statements with notations on them."

Colten narrowed his eyes slightly. "If that's really the case, then I have nothing else to say."

Reese sighed. "I know that you're capable enough to be the chief executive, Colten, but jumping the gun has caused you to lose out on things instead. Have you ever considered what would happen to Havenia's citizens if you really achieved your goal through unscrupulous means?"

He declared firmly, "Their lives would be miserable because of you. Is that what you want to see?"

Wynter arched an eyebrow and chimed in, "In the olden days, officials were like second parents to the citizens. They solved problems for the people instead of focusing solely on climbing up the ranks.

"Anyone can be an official, but not everyone can be a model human being. Every official has their own tasks, and the people need officials who actually get things done, not ones who are blinded by their own interests."

As soon as Wynter finished speaking, everyone present started voicing their support.

"Ms. Quinnell said it well! I've been resolving issues for the citizens from my post all these years, though I recently fell into a slump, wondering why I remained without promotion despite accomplishing so much. However, I instantly recovered after hearing Ms. Quinnell's speech."

"Ms. Quinnell put it perfectly! I fully agree with her!"

Wynter smiled, her clear gaze seeming to see through everything.

Colten said slowly, "I resign, Mr. Grier."

Wynter looked up at Reese. "Hold on. Could you leave Mr. Audley to me for a while, Mr. Grier? There are some questions I'd like to ask him."

Reese nodded. "Yes, you can take him."

He then looked at Colten and said, "As for your resignation, I'll consider it."

Wynter hummed in acknowledgement and led Colten away from the conference room.

She did indeed have some questions she needed clarified. Her intuition was telling her that there was still more to this whole situation.

Amery drove the car over to them. "Where do you need to take him, Ms. Quinnell?"

"Let's just go to the safehouse from last time," Wynter replied, glancing at Colten. "He's still a director, after all, so we have to give him special treatment."

"Understood."

Amery stepped on the accelerator and drove off in the safehouse's direction.

Colten turned sideways to look at Wynter. "What do you want to ask me?"

Wynter replied indifferently, "This isn't the time or place to tell you. I'll ask once we arrive at the safehouse."

Colten said in a low voice, "I've already told you that I was the one who arranged for people to carry out the smuggling operation."

At that, Wynter raised an eyebrow at him. "I know that you were responsible for this incident, but there are still some other questions I want answered."

While they were talking, the car came to a steady stop in front of the safehouse.

Wynter got out of the car first. "If you'd please, Mr. Audley."

Seeing this, Colten had no choice but to follow her out of the car and into the safehouse.

Once everything was ready, Wynter sat across from Colten and began, "Let's get down to business, Mr. Audley. Who else is involved in the relic-smuggling operation?"

Colten's fingers froze mid-motion. "It's just me."

Wynter stared intently at him. "Don't lie to my face. I can tell that someone taught you to say that."

Colten paused. "I… I don't know, either."

Wynter raised an eyebrow at him once more. "What do you mean? Are you saying you don't know the person who taught you to do everything?"

Colten lifted his gaze. "That's right. I've never met him. I once found a note on my table upon returning home. Despite searching the entire house, I didn't discover any signs of someone having come by.

"I later unfolded the note and read its contents, which requested that I participate in the smuggling of cultural relics. Transporting them out via the port was the fastest way, after all."

"I didn't agree to it, though. I simply tore up the note. But one day, as my driver was driving my car over to pick me up, the car suddenly exploded just as it was about to stop in front of me. The driver died on the spot.

"I was completely stunned. When I hurriedly reached into my pocket for my phone, I discovered another note inside. The note read, 'If you don't participate, you'll die.'"

Colten's gaze was unfocused. "I was very worried, so I could only agree to work with him."

Wynter tapped her fingers against the table. "Such threats shouldn't scare the Department of State's director of all people. There must be some other reason."

Colten lowered his gaze and said very quietly, "It's because I could make a lot of money from this. Nobody would complain about having too much money."

Wynter asked coolly, "So, you then let Carven, Aidan, and Ansel handle the operation?"

"That's right," Colten replied solemnly. "That way, I'd be able to make a lot of money without having to participate myself."

Wynter's gaze was subdued. "Ansel's death is related to you, isn't it?"

Colten frowned. "Him? He was very greedy. I originally planned to have him appraise the relics for us. I didn't expect him to demand a lion's share and later try to report us. So, I told Carven to kill him and make it look like an accident."

"Everything makes sense now. Do you know the person who transports the cultural relics from the mainland?" Wynter proceeded to ask.

Colten shook his head. "I don't. Every time cultural relics are transported over, I'll receive a call from a burner phone telling me to arrange for someone to pick up the goods."

He suddenly recalled something and added, "There's just one thing I found really suspicious. Every time we received the goods, they'd request that I deliver them to an uninhabited area first before picking them up again three days later.

"I thought they were surely pulling my leg back then, so I thought of getting Ansel to appraise their relics. I didn't expect them to be genuine."

Wynter raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you mean you'll send the cultural relics elsewhere for a few days every time? Where to?"

Colten frowned. "Muiwon. Although the relics remain authentic after we retrieve them every time, I always had the feeling that they came back missing something."

"One more thing—Do you know anything about sacred items?" Wynter's gaze remained aloof.

Colten paused. "Sacred items? Not even we would know about those. Only Reese does."

Wynter again arched an eyebrow at him. "Alright. I'll get Amery to take you back to Mr. Grier while I go to Muiwon."

As she spoke, she stood up and called Dalton. "Come to the safehouse."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify