Old Sid’s face went white with fright. He hurriedly ran over and tugged Old Cam’s arm as he said anxiously, “Even if you don’t show me respect, you have to understand the situation first, right? In my opinion, it’s your son who is at fault. It’s just a small matter. There’s no need to make a big deal out of it, is there?”
“The one who doesn’t understand the situation is you!” Old Cam swatted Old Sid’s hand and pointed at Levi Seymour, saying, “No matter who is right or wrong, it’s wrong to hit someone, let alone slap someone. Sid, if I slapped your son and then gave you a simple apology, would you be able to stand it? If you can’t, then get out of my way! I don’t expect you to speak for me, but you’d better mind your own business!”
“Old Cam, since you brought it up, I’ll tell you the truth. If my son was in your son’s position today, I would teach him a lesson even if no one hit him!”
“Hiss… Sid, you even threw away your dignity for the sake of f*cking money?”
Old Cam looked at Old Sid as if he was seeing him in a new light.
Old Sid had never thought that the Old Cam he knew for so many years would be this muddle-headed and it left him speechless.
Alex sighed again and said to Old Sid, “I’m grateful that you’re willing to be fair, but I’ll handle this matter myself. You can watch the show from the sidelines.”
Old Sid sighed. “I’m sorry, Mr. Cohen. I wanted to invite you to have a good drink today, but this just had to happen which completely ruined my mood. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t called my son, Ethan Cage wouldn’t have come, and Old Cam wouldn’t be here either.”
“You’re not at fault, so don’t blame yourself.” Alex patted Old Sid’s shoulder and said to Old Cam, “You wanted an explanation, didn’t you? I’ll give you one. Your son smoked in a strictly smoke-free area and didn’t listen to the staff’s advice. As a friend of the boss, I definitely have to step in when I see something like this. When I took away your son’s cigarette, he spoke rudely to me and even got physical. Big Ken reminded him not to swear, but he became more aggressive, so my brother had no choice but to slap your son. We did not expect your son to turn around after that and grabbed a tableware set, which he tried to hit Big Ken with! If Big Ken hadn’t taken away the tableware, your son would have been arrested for assault or intentional homicide!”
Old Cam asked with a tight frown, “What I want is you admitting your mistakes. Why are you telling me all this?”
“I just want you to know what happened so you don’t think that we were bullying your son. That was what happened. I’ve made myself clear and won’t go into the details. Facts speak louder than words, and the eyes of the masses are sharp. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong, so it’s impossible for me to give you an apology, much less any compensation. If you’re dissatisfied and you want to continue causing trouble, I’ll follow you to the end!”
“Take it easy. Careful you don’t burn yourself with all the hot air you’re blowing! I did some research on my way here. This hotel belongs to Ryker Gardens, and the owner is a famous entrepreneur, Randall Ryker who is more than sixty years old this year. How would he have a friend like you? Who the f*ck do you think you are? Cohen, let me tell you…”
As Old Cam spoke, he suddenly heard the sound of many footsteps coming from outside. Thinking that it was the workers he had called, he quickly ran to the door but found that they were all employees. It was a group of four to five waiters and five to six security guards who were running over under the leadership of a young man.
The young man who had rushed over after receiving the staff’s report was Finn Ryker.
Old Cam stood at the door. After learning Finn’s identity, he pointed at Alex inside the room and said to Finn, “That person claims to be your father’s friend and used your father’s name to run amok in your store. He even beat my son up. You can deal with this! My son was beaten in your store, so you’re partly responsible too. You better give me a satisfactory explanation!”
All Finn did was glance at Old Cam without saying a word. Instead, he stepped into the private room, looked around, walked straight to Alex, and gave him a wry smile. “Mr. Cohen, it’s a pleasure to have you dine in our restaurant. We should have treated you well, but you ended up being troubled instead. This was our mistake. I apologize to you!”
“What’s going on?”
Old Cam stood frozen on the spot, looking back and forth between Alex and Finn in astonishment.
Most of the other people present also showed incredulous expressions, especially Old Sid who was standing to the side with Old Luke, thinking about how to smooth things over. They both knew that Alex was a boss, but they did not think that he was such a big shot that even the magnificent heir to Ryker Gardens would be so polite to him.
Judging by Finn’s tone, how was Alex just Randall Ryker’s friend?
He was beyond a VIP!
Old Sid only felt surprised at this new knowledge of Alex. As for Old Luke, he had originally thought that if he had to take sides, he would choose to stand with Old Cam. However, he now changed his mind because Alex’s connections were not people whom two small contractors would deal with.
Although they each had a group of workers under them and have done millions of projects, not to mention that they were doing quite well, compared to Alex Cohen, they could not even hold a candle to him. With their strength, fighting Alex would be like throwing an egg at a stone.
To sum it up in two words, it was courting death!
When Old Luke saw the situation, he pretended to take a phone call and said goodbye to Old Cam before hurriedly leaving.
Things were looking awkward for Old Cam now.
Old Cam’s confidence in fighting Alex had almost completely disappeared, and the only helper he could count on was gone. Even if he called his workers, they would not be able to get past the staff, so how would they reach Alex? There was just no chance.
However, it was hard for Old Cam to back down now. He froze for a moment.
Once Alex had finished exchanging pleasantries with Finn, he cut to the chase. “I was the one who took the initiative to get involved in the matter. Old Cam is asking me for an explanation and your corporation has nothing to do with it. I can handle it myself, so you can leave it. If your reputation were to be affected because you helped me, I’d be committing a grave sin.”
“What are you saying, Mr. Cohen?” Finn waved his hand. “You intervened to help us. Besides, even if it’s personal, we have no reason to just sit back and do nothing when this is happening within our grounds. If even the most distinguished black-gold members can’t dine in peace, that’ll have a huge negative impact on our corporation’s reputation.”
“Alright. Young Master Finn, how are you planning to handle this?”
“After understanding the situation, I have called the police on my way here and they should be arriving soon. According to the usual practice, the police should help to mediate small matters like these first. If that fails, we’ll do things according to business procedures. Just leave it to me and you can dine in peace.”
Big Ken waited for Finn to finish so that he could add, “Young Master, the one who hit Ethan Cage was me. If the police need us to cooperate with the investigation, I will go myself.”
“Well…” Alex rubbed his chin and thought for a moment before nodding. “In that case, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Of course, Mr. Cohen!”
Waving his hand, Finn looked back at Old Cam and Ethan Cage and said coldly, “The private room is a space that is exclusive for guests. Outsiders should leave quickly! If you don’t leave, I have the right to call security and chase you out. Everything else will be handed over to the police and we’ll handle this according to the proper procedures!”
As soon as he spoke, two burly security guards came forward, one left and one right, and watched Old Cam intently.
The lobby manager stepped up to Old Cam too and pointed, “Would you like to walk by yourself or be escorted by the security guards?”
Old Cam gnashed his teeth. He knew he had lost to Alex today, but he was unable to swallow this injustice. Hence before he left, he said maliciously, “Cohen, this isn’t over. Just you wait! Sooner or later, I’ll pay you back for this a hundred times over!”
With a shrug, Alex said casually, “Old Cam, I told you, if you want to make a scene, I don’t mind going along with you. But for now, please hurry up and get lost. I want to eat…”
