Chapter 692: Kidnapping and Failure to Negotiate

"A very sumptuous dinner!" Mrs. Charles said while touching up her makeup in the mirror while sitting in the car.

Today is the second day of the New Year, and the lively upper-class social scene has begun; because Mr. Charles is not here, Mrs. Charles needs to carry out more "lady socializing" to maintain their family's popularity in the upper class.

Actually, being a powerful and influential person also has many troubles, for example:

If you or your family do not appear in front of people during key holidays, they will suspect whether your family has encountered any trouble, so much so that you didn't appear when you needed to.

But if you appear too often and too diligently, they will suspect whether you are plotting some conspiracy, thus becoming suspicious.

Today, Mrs. Charles has been socializing outside all day; in the morning, she attended a relatively high-end fashion salon.

Some noble ladies who play well in the upper-class circle of New Jincheng gathered together, and some managers and art directors of fashion brands were also at the scene, bringing the new product catalogs for this spring and promoting this year's fashion trend to them.

They also took the opportunity to invite them to attend this year's spring launch, saying that maybe someone would get hot-headed and order a set of flashy but useless fashion.

Their main work was to compliment each other, then appreciate those new product catalogs, and finally end.

The entire fashion salon took two hours, and then she immediately returned home to change into a set of clothing and accessories, followed by attending the "New Year Lunch" held, which was also a lady social circle.

Other noble ladies with good relationships or the same status gathered together to dine in a sunroom, surrounded by blooming flowers, and the rich fragrance made her feel a bit nauseous.

But fortunately, the dishes were not so greasy, and the red wine was not bad; everyone ate and chatted, talking about meaningless and nutritious topics, which lasted until 1:30 PM.

Then she rushed home to change into another set of clothes and matching accessories, attending the afternoon tea party.

It was also lady socializing, taking into account another batch—these circles have overlapping places, but also non-overlapping places; it is possible that just a change of a few people evolved into several circles.

Women are always very complicated, especially on the question of "are you my person"!

Fortunately, the "Flower Appointment" in the sunroom at noon made her have no appetite; she ate a little pastry at the tea party, which was sickeningly sweet, but the coffee was good, slightly neutralizing it.

The tea party started with things that were more serious, international forms, then domestic forms, but as they talked, the topic shifted to how long that thing needs to be to make an elegant lady feel satisfied.

Mrs. Charles also provided some of her own views; she believes that it is not just a question of length, but also hardness and heat, which are all very important.

Of course, a young shell and a handsome appearance are also one of the important factors.

These women with chaotic private lives talked with great energy; some ladies were swallowing saliva because of hunger, and one can imagine that they definitely need to release well after the tea party ends.

Mrs. Charles was also a bit hungry, but she didn't have time to solve the problem of hunger, because she had to return home as soon as possible, change clothes, accessories, and even hairstyles, and then go to attend a dinner party with her son.

She wanted to scold people, but she was tireless, because this is something every noble lady needs to experience, and will experience again.

The dinner party was very sumptuous, with dozens of dishes; this time it was not just a dinner party for ladies, but also for those gentlemen.

Mrs. Charles was not very convenient to attend such an occasion alone, so she was with her son, Little Charles.

After being busy all day, she was finally able to relax for a while; she put away her makeup mirror, took off her high heels, rubbed her ankles, and was exhausted.

Little Charles, sitting opposite her, was just nodding very boredly; he was still in the "playboy" stage of life.

Mr. Charles' wealth and power made him stand at the finish line of others from birth; even if he did nothing and squandered as much as he wanted, that money would only increase.

He just needed to enjoy himself to his heart's content.

Obviously, these dinner parties held by his father's generation were not a good place for enjoyment; everywhere there were annoying rules and etiquette, and he was fed up with these things, as well as those faces and their names that he would never remember.

He answered very perfunctorily, "It's okay!"

Mrs. Charles squinted at her son. "I heard that you have been with the little girl from... family's family often recently."

Her expression was very calm, and she didn't have the desire to be curious and explore her son's new girlfriend. "You can play with her, but you can't marry her; I don't want to repeat this matter, and I don't want to stage that incident again, understand?"

This sentence made Little Charles even more dissatisfied!

He glared at his mother, then turned to look out the window and lit a cigarette.

He had once been passionately in love with a girl, and he very much wanted to marry that girl, but Mr. Charles warned him that someone like him who was not excellent enough had only one end, and that was to give birth to more descendants for the Charles family.

Born in such a family, as long as you are not excellent enough, you can only become a reproductive machine, whether male or female.

But even as a reproductive machine, it's not okay to just find anyone; he must obey the family's interest choice, marry someone he hasn't seen, or someone he doesn't like, and then frantically create people.

The combination of interests can make the family continue to grow.

A few years ago, he was still very young, and he always felt that he could defeat Mr. Charles and pursue his true love; he made that girl pregnant.

He originally wanted to wait until the child was born before telling Mr. Charles, and then make this matter a reality.

But he underestimated his father's "protection" of him; soon this matter was known by Mr. Charles, and when he went to find his girlfriend as usual one day, he saw the girl lying in a pool of blood.

Her stomach was stabbed with a knife, and then her neck was cut; at that moment, he had no anger, only endless fear!

He began to tremble, and then vomited!

He was brought home, and he, with a pale face, was thrown in front of Mr. Charles; Mr. Charles sat on the chair very calmly, crossing his legs, looking down at him, this biological son.

"I asked her to abort the child in her stomach, and she said that even if she died, she wouldn't do it."

"I satisfied her wish."

He looked at Little Charles. "You are not excellent enough in your studies and managing the family; you can't bear the responsibility in this aspect, so you have to bear the responsibility in another aspect."

"Before you get married and have two or three children, I don't hope to hear about any more illegitimate children, understand?"

From that day on, Little Charles became even more... indulgent.

Anyway, his life had already been decided.

He didn't want to talk, while Mrs. Charles continued to say, "You don't blame your father; I, your father, we all came over like this."

"Later, when you grow up a bit, you will understand this truth."

"You are our child, we won't harm you!"

Little Charles didn't say anything, just continued to look at the scenery outside the window.

Just as he was about to pass an intersection, suddenly he narrowed his eyes; the dazzling light made him unable to open his eyes, and he subconsciously raised his arm to block the direction of the light source, and then narrowed his eyes to look over.

Just as he saw clearly what was happening, his brain was blank!

A truck directly hit this car, and the huge inertia pushed the car directly toward the side of the road.

The incident happened too fast, so fast that the bodyguards in the bodyguard car didn't react, followed by several cars inserting into the intersection where the accident occurred at a very fast speed; the people who poked their heads out of the car windows held submachine guns and quickly solved the bodyguards in the front and rear bodyguard cars.

The whole process took less than thirty seconds, and then two people came to the side of this car and pulled the door hard, but it didn't open.

One of them raised the weapon in his hand and pulled the trigger at the car window, but the bullet just caused cracks in the car window and didn't penetrate the car window.

Mrs. Charles, who had just reacted, suddenly screamed, while Little Charles looked at the cracked glass window with his head supported, with new bullet holes appearing constantly.

The driver was still able to remain calm at this time; he turned to Little Charles and said, "There is a box under your feet; you can pull it out, and there is a gun inside."

Little Charles immediately pulled out the box under the seat and, in a flustered manner, took out a pistol, aiming at the outside of the car window with both hands trembling.

Then he pulled the trigger.

The driver cursed "Fuck" loudly and lowered his body while hugging his head; accompanied by a "piu" sound, followed by some sparks lighting up, Little Charles suddenly hugged his thigh and screamed with a flushed face.

In such a narrow space, shooting at bulletproof glass with an arc, you are really a genius!

Mrs. Charles became calm instead because of her son's injury; she turned to look at the driver. "He was shot, you have to help him!"

The people outside were still trying to find a way to break the window, while the driver climbed from the front to the back; he tore open Little Charles' pants and looked at the wound on it, his face looking not very good. "The wound is very deep, and the amount of bleeding is a bit wrong; I can't be sure if any blood vessels were torn; we have to go to the hospital immediately."

"Otherwise he might die!"

Mrs. Charles looked at the driver in a daze, and after a while, she looked at her son who was trying to wake up her maternal love by saying "Save me, Mom."

Her eyes stared blankly for a while, and finally she gritted her teeth and nodded. "Open the door."

Only by opening the door can they go to the hospital.

But as long as the door is opened, the people outside can come in.

The driver breathed a sigh of relief; he pressed a button on the car door, and a built-in vent opened, allowing his voice to be transmitted out. "Don't shoot, I'll open the door right away."

The people outside the door really stopped shooting; he waited for a few seconds and then slowly opened the door.

It is worthy of being a luxurious bulletproof car customized for more than 100,000; even after being hit by a truck, the door did not have any deformation that could not be opened.

After kicking a few times, it was easily kicked open.

!

The driver was the first to go out; he raised his hands high and climbed out of the car. "Little Mr. Charles was shot; he needs a doctor."

The two people outside the car door looked at each other, full of confusion; they didn't penetrate the glass?!

The driver explained a bit awkwardly, "He fired a shot inside and hit himself."

Everyone around couldn't help but laugh out loud, but they still respected Little Mr. Charles a little.

He and his mother were dragged out of the car, then stuffed into their own car, and quickly disappeared on the street.

The police car that had arrived at the scene long ago only sounded the siren and entered the crime scene at this time; they had come long ago.

If the interception by the Lanse family failed, they would take the initiative to intercept these people.

Reason?

That's too simple, speeding!

As for kidnapping?

Sorry, didn't see it!

Soon the vehicles and corpses at the scene were transported away; the residents of New Jincheng have become much smarter now; they are smart enough to understand a truth.

If this kind of almost undisguised exchange of fire occurs in the city now, it must be the Lanse family doing things!

The news that Mrs. Charles and Little Charles were kidnapped quickly reached the Charles Manor, and Mr. Charles' butler immediately dialed this phone.

The Speaker of the House conveyed this matter on his behalf.

After he finished speaking, Mr. Charles closed his eyes tightly; he took a deep breath, rubbed his face hard with both hands, and exhaled slowly.

Everyone's attention was on him.

After about four or five seconds, his hands covering his face suddenly clenched into fists and smashed hard on the tabletop, glaring fiercely at Mayor Williams, and then looking at Lanse.

Everyone knows that this must have been done by Mayor Williams and Lanse; only in this way could they destroy this "forcing the palace."

"I... need to leave temporarily," he said, supporting himself to stand up with his hands on the tabletop.

Very troublesome, this matter.

Once his son dies, he will most likely not have any more heirs, and his brothers and sisters will not let go of this opportunity.

In this way, his assets will have no successors and can be divided by them.

The more it is a big family, the more it is a big family with interests as the hub, the more indifferent and thin they are to family affection; their eyes only have interests.

What is the purpose of struggling for so many years?

Just to be happy for yourself?

If it was just to be happy for himself, he could have stopped long ago; the status and wealth he obtained were enough to make him happy for a lifetime.

In the final analysis, isn't it to pass it on generation after generation, so that people always know that in the Charles family, there is such an "outstanding talent" as him.

The Speaker of the House couldn't stop him in this matter, so he could only nod; he picked up his coat and walked outside while putting it on; after he went out, he could still hear his cursing outside.

The Speaker of the House couldn't help but glance at Lanse and Mayor Williams; both of them had an expression of "it has nothing to do with me."

In the absence of evidence, the Speaker of the House couldn't say anything; what if it was really a coincidence?

Once Mr. Charles left, mediation was difficult to proceed, and he also realized that he was most likely unable to handle these people.

He tidied up the things on the tabletop and shook his head. "It seems that we can't talk about these things tonight; let's talk after Mr. Charles' matter is handled, which just gives us some buffer and time to consider."

"Then..." He stood up with the documents, and Lanse and Mayor Williams, as well as some other gentlemen sitting opposite, also stood up.

The Speaker of the House looked around at the two groups of people and put the documents into his briefcase. "Let's do this first, I will give you news later!"

After he finished speaking, he nodded and left with his briefcase under the guidance of his secretary.

Mayor Williams also had a shallow smile on his face; he showed a regretful expression and walked outside with Lanse.

Just as they entered the elevator and prepared to return to their rooms, Mr. Charles ran over from somewhere, preparing to rush into the elevator, but was stopped.

He stood outside the elevator, looking at the bodyguards who put their hands behind their clothes on their chests, his face looking exceptionally ugly.

Through these people, he looked at Mayor Williams. "Is this your plan?"

Mayor Williams shook his head. "I don't know what you are talking about, what mine, what yours?"

Mr. Charles took a deep breath. "You crossed the line, Williams."

Mayor Williams hummed lightly. "When you kidnapped Arthur, why didn't you say this to yourself?"

He didn't give Mr. Charles any chance to continue communicating. "Okay, it's getting late, I'm going to rest."

"If you have time to say these meaningless words here, why don't you think about how to find your family back, or give birth to another one?"

A sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he asked someone to close the elevator.

The elevator rose slowly, and Mayor Williams faced the elevator door. "Do you think he will go back?"

Lanse curled his lips. "Can he not go back?"

Mayor Williams finally showed a happy smile on his face. "This is the best news I've heard so far this year!"

As the elevator door dinged, the two walked out of the elevator, then said a few simple words and returned to their rooms respectively.

On the other side, after the Speaker of the House returned to his house, he made a call to Congress, reported the matter here truthfully, and added his own point of view.

"I think both sides refuse to mediate; continuing to force them to sit down has no meaning."

"My idea is... just let them do it; as long as the situation doesn't expand, someone will win."

"And even if they give up the contradiction now, they might break out again in the future; if problems arise by then, the destructiveness will be much greater than solving it now."

"We have to consider the situation during the war."

The Senator who answered the phone thought for a while and didn't answer him immediately. "We will discuss it; your mediation work will stop for the time being; I will notify you when there is news."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 693 =====