Chapter 1194 Lobbying
“Max, I thought you didn’t come back with us at all. I never expected him to secretly let you stay on the coast. Do you know what happened afterwards?!” Leon said anxiously.
Max wanted to catch up with Leon, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he closed it again and looked wistfully at Kyle.
How did they get Leon’s phone number and manage to contact him?
Max became alert.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
Kyle immediately understood what Max meant and said to his phone,
“Leon, time is running out. You can catch up later. Let’s get down to business first.”
So Leon didn’t care whether Max was listening or not, and he told him everything that happened in Athegate from beginning to end. Max’s expression became more and more gloomy as he listened to Leon say,
“Do you know now? Jacob has always just been using us. He never had any intention of taking us to the top. Sage and I are the true reflection of that.”
But Max had already become suspicious at this point. He gave Kyle a cold stare and asked,
“Leon, how much did they pay you to help them spread this lie?!” Max couldn’t believe that Jacob, who he thought would have his back, could be so heartless.
“I swear to God!” Leon was furious upon hearing this. “You’ve been with me since we were kids. When have I ever lied to you? I’m at the police station right now, ready to be a witness and expose the dirty secrets. Who’s lying to you?! Jacob just took a stab for you, and now you’re blindly standing by him? Do you believe that once you help Jacob escape, the first thing he’ll do is get rid of you once he’s safe?”
Leon’s angry reprimand echoed through the deck, even drowning out the sound of the waves, and Max appeared hesitant.
“Don’t believe me?!” Seeing Max remain silent, Leon shouted, “Turn on the video!”
After the call was abruptly ended, a video message came through shortly after. Kyle answered it, and on the screen appeared Sage and Leon, both furious. Leon’s face was filled with anger as he shouted, “Do you see it now?! This is what Jacob did to me!” He held up handcuffs and continued, “And I took money to lie? Now I’m counting the money in jail for what?!”
In Max’s eyes, besides shock, there was also hesitation.
Sage knew that Leon was impulsive, so she patted him to signal him to calm down before speaking to Max,
“Max, both Leon and I have come to our senses. Instead of living aimlessly like this, we’d rather make amends for our past mistakes and live an honest life from now on. So, we willingly surrender ourselves. I hope you can see the truth and understand that helping Jacob do wrong will lead to no good outcome.”
Sage had just finished speaking when another voice appeared on the video. It turned out that videos were not allowed in that particular environment, so the video abruptly ended.
Kyle saw that everything had been said and didn’t push it any further. He put away his phone and said to Max,
“You think you’re loyal to Jacob, but is your heart as true as Leon’s? Even he can see through Jacob’s lies. Why hold onto your obsession? Today, whether you speak or not, Jacob cannot escape. He must pay for his sins. But if you confess early, we can treat you like Sage and Leon – as a witness with lighter punishment.”
Max glanced at Kyle before looking over at Nick and the others standing nearby. He knew there was no turning back now. No matter what he said or didn’t say, Jacob couldn’t find another way out… and besides, Leon was his big brother who had been with him since childhood. His words carried weight.
Finally, Max spoke up.
It was 11 o’clock in the afternoon when the scorching sun hung high in the sky casting its rays down on everything below it. Many tourists who were originally excited about walking barefoot on the beach quickly retreated after only a few steps due to their feet burning from the hot sand.
In front of a hotel under palm trees’ shade stood an army of fully armed men. They lined up neatly together listening to Arthur’s final instructions while a bodyguard supported Max who was covered in injuries beside them.
Arthur stood at the forefront of this group with a solemn expression saying,
“We are going to capture Jacob soon; we know he has five well-trained bodyguards around him all carrying weapons so I don’t want anyone getting hurt unnecessarily but Lucia must be rescued safely! Therefore our actions must be swift and decisive. Our priority is rescuing Lucia even if it means letting Jacob escape! I want Lucia back safe!”
Victor immediately responded upon hearing this,
“We’ll save Lucia without fail! And there will be no escaping for Jacob either!”
Arthur nodded then began deploying everyone,
“Kane and Kyle will follow Nick and Gene taking care of guards around small buildings. They’re just temporary recruits hired by Jacob so take them down quickly! Dan, Jack, Victor and I will rescue Lucia while everyone else follows orders without acting recklessly!”
“Yes sir!” Everyone shouted loudly ready for action.
“Let’s go!” Arthur gave orders then led everyone into their cars heading towards a small building where Max gave them directions earlier on how to get there quickly.
At this moment, Jacob was completely unaware of the impending ambush. He lay leisurely on a beach chair in the front yard of a suburban building that Max had scouted out for him when he returned to the country. There was a glass of red wine on the small table next to him, but what was strange was that his beach chair faced the front door of the building.
Picking up his glass, Jacob smiled and raised it towards the front. As he looked over, there was a chair inside the main entrance of the building with Lucia sitting on it. Her hands and feet were tied to its armrests and her face showed nothing but indifference.
Ironically, Lucia wore a rather sexy beach dress that Jacob had forced her to wear as if she were on vacation.
“I have to admit that Arthur is quite capable,” said Jacob triumphantly as he spoke to Lucia. “He found my yacht ready for me to leave abroad and even got hold of Max first. But unfortunately…”
Jacob paused before continuing, “Even though Arthur is smart, he couldn’t have guessed that Max had already passed me information through our secret code word or that I owned this property within ten miles where there’s no one around who could find us.”
“So you know you can’t escape?” sneered Lucia mockingly.
But instead of getting angry at her words, Jacob laughed even more happily, “Not being able to escape is only temporary! Can Arthur block off all access along this coastal line? I’ll take you here for some carefree days until he loses patience or gets bored with us – then we can still fly away together.”