“What’s the situation?”
Alex Cohen was startled and bounced up from the sofa. All the nerves in his body were tense.
It was already an eventful time for Alex, so he was most afraid of hearing more bad news.
Zeke Martin on the other end of the call was also very anxious and spoke with urgency.
“Last night, Symore attended one of his acquaintances’ birthday party and still hasn’t returned. I just called the guy, but they said Symore left before midnight. Now his phone can’t be reached, and we can’t find him. Maybe…sigh, I just hope nothing has happened to him.”
“Send me your detailed location. I’ll come right over!”
Alex hung up the phone and said to the Beare brothers, “Sorry, I have some urgent matters I must deal with immediately. You guys can just rest here. I’ll come back immediately after I settle this matter. You guys can go and catch up with Hunter too.”
Ivan Beare shook his head and said, “Young Master, we’re not tired and don’t need rest. Both of us are willing to follow you and help where we can. We’ve just arrived, so please give us a chance to prove ourselves.”
“In that case…alright, then you can accompany me and Big Ken on our trip.”
Alex did not hesitate and immediately took the Beare brothers to the Lamborghini, where Big Ken drove.
On the way, Alex explained the problems he encountered to Big Ken and the Beare brothers.
Big Ken was clear about Alex’s current situation, so after he heard this, he immediately had the same thoughts as Alex. If Symore was really in trouble, it was most likely Keon Wells’ doing. Symore was now the newest street boss of Quill City, so he had a lot of people under him and even had the support of Alex and Gunner Young. Symore was in his prime, so the average person absolutely would not dare to provoke him.
Moreover, taking hostages to blackmail Alex was his opponent’s favorite trick.
Alex had a doubt though.
If Symore was really captured by Keon Wells’ men, then he should have contacted Alex last night.
Ivan and Ivar Beare were not aware of Alex’s situation, but were prepared to help Alex with his problems. In addition to this, the two brothers also had another problem, which was the way Alex addressed them. They were merely Wayne Larson’s subordinates, and in terms of status, they were lower than both Big Ken and Hunter, so they did not dare to be brothers with Alex.
This small hiccup was finally solved with a word from Big Ken.
“Young Master, why don’t you just call them Big Beare and Small Beare like us?”
Alex could not help but laugh and said, “That’s an interesting nickname…I’ll only use it if you guys are fine with it.”
The Beare brothers nodded their heads and the matter was settled.
Soon, Alex and the group arrived at a bar that Symore had connections with. They met up with Zeke Martin in a conference room on the third floor. Symore’s sidekick, Seth, was also present. After everyone was seated, Seth was just about to brief Alex on the details when Alex suddenly received a call from an unknown number.
Alex immediately became alert and made a gesture of silence before picking up the phone and asking tentatively, “Who is it?”
In the next second, he heard the voice of an old acquaintance over the phone, “Cohen, I heard you’ve been having a hard time lately?”
“Charles Lucas?”
“That’s right, it’s me.”
Alex did not expect that Charles would call him at this time and subconsciously accused him.
“Don’t tell me that you’ve captured Symore!”
Charles’ tone on the other end of the call changed instantly as he said, “What? Symore was captured? It seems that your recent situation’s more difficult than I thought it’d be. You must be anxious, right? But why do I feel so great? What’s going on here?”
“Don’t try to be shady! You’re just a clown and aren’t qualified to gloat in front of me. Charles Lucas, you better not have captured Symore. Otherwise, when I find out the truth, I’ll come for you. If you have something to say, say it quickly! What do you want from me?”
“Tomorrow’s the deadline for the IOU and I want to talk to you before the court deals with it. If it can be handled privately, there’s no need to go through the legal process…”
“We have nothing to talk about. You can either pay up the debt for Chase Lucas or wait for the court to offset the debt with the properties under his name. To me, there’s really no room for negotiation on this matter. Don’t try your luck. If you have anything to say, just talk to the judge.”
After he said that, Alex hung up the call.
Isla’s situation was still pressed in his heart and Symore was in trouble again.
Alex was already in a mess and did not have the energy nor the time to talk to Charles Lucas. He tucked the phone away, then looked at Zeke and Seth as he asked, “What exactly is the situation?”
Zeke looked at Seth and said, “You know better than I do, so you can brief them.”
Seth nodded and took over the conversation.
“Alright then. Mr. Cohen, it’s like this. Last night, the owner of a nightclub with which Symore partnered with had a birthday party and invited him over. I accompanied him there, but I didn’t go in with him and was just waiting outside in the car. At around 11:30 pm, Symore called, saying that he was getting lucky at night and won’t be going back, asking me to leave first.
Since it’s our partner’s place, I thought nothing would happen, so I obliged. As soon as I woke up this morning, I called Symore but he didn’t pick up. Later, he sent me a message saying that he was too tired from all the action last night and even wanted to go another round later since it’s a rare opportunity. Then he told me not to disturb him…”
Zeke nodded and continued, “That’s when I called Symore, but still couldn’t get through to him. So I called Seth and got to know about this. Is it possible that he’s exhausted from all the action and was still resting? Or maybe he forgot to charge his phone?”
Alex shook his head and said, “I don’t think it’s so simple. Based on my understanding of Symore, he doesn’t seem like a person who would overindulge. Seth, has this ever happened before?”
“No!”
Seth frowned and shook his head, as he added, “Mr. Cohen, you just reminded me of something! As you said, Symore has good self-control and rarely hooks up with women. He’s not a womanizer who loses control around beautiful women. If that’s the case, this might be a serious problem.
Symore didn’t answer my call and replied to WhatsApp with text rather than a voice message. This means that the person who replied to my messages might not even be Symore!”
“Let’s go! Take me to where Symore last appeared.”
Everyone immediately got up and drove off, with Seth leading the way. According to Seth’s description, Symore had first gone to dinner, then to the birthday boss’ bar for the after-party. It was in the bar that Symore called Seth, and that was also the last place Symore was last seen.
Seth found the boss, then introduced Alex and the others.
Alex did not have beat around the bush and went straight to the point.
“Boss, last night at about 11:30 pm, were you there when Symore called Seth?”
“No…”
The boss already knew about Symore’s disappearance. He looked very nervous and continued, “At that time, Symore was hooking up with a chick, so I didn’t bother him. Mr. Cohen, at first I didn’t care much, but now it seems that it’s quite suspicious. Last night, Symore didn’t take the initiative to approach that chick.”
“What do you mean?”
“That chick was the one who approached Symore. Perhaps Symore has become too popular lately and offended someone, so this was his rival’s seduction trick and he fell for it? I’d actually arranged rooms for all the guests last night, just upstairs in the hotel my brother owns. Symore initially agreed to head upstairs to get some rest, but when it was almost midnight, he suddenly said that he’ll spend the night elsewhere. Perhaps it was the chick who asked to spend the night somewhere else.”
“The surveillance camera should be able to see it, right?”
“Yeah! I figured you guys might come looking for clues, so I put together the relevant surveillance footage before you came.”
The boss immediately brought Alex and the others to the office, then clicked open a cropped surveillance video on the computer. He pointed to a skimpily dressed slim woman that Symore was hugging on screen and said, “This woman was the one who approached Symore.”
“Urgh…”
Alex stared at the woman carefully and his pupils instantly dilated a few folds.
“It’s her?!”
