Chapter 149: Ashes of an Empire

Sean hadn't told his parents anything. He bore the pressure alone. But what am I supposed to do?

Bernard waited in her car downstairs for a long time. No ambulance arrived, and Sean didn't reappear. He eventually drove away from the neighborhood, even circling once, just in case he was being followed.

Chase asked, "How did it go?"

"Looks like intimidation," Bernard said. "Sean didn't come back down, so his parents are fine. My guess is the other side sent some kind of photo to scare him. Honestly, this tactic works. He'll make sure he doesn't mess up next time."

This time, the target patient was a procurement officer on the verge of retirement. He was in for an appendectomy—a simple, high-success-rate surgery. No matter what medications were used, as long as the patient wasn't allergic, the risk of death was low. It was a tough ask for Sean.

"Is this related to Harrison Group?" Chase guessed.

"Yeah. From what I can tell, the patient works as a procurement contact for one of Harrison Group's large shopping centers. I checked his finances; he's definitely skimmed a lot off the top."

Since Henry had returned to Moses Group, the matter had to be handled within the Harrison family. The person behind the scenes clearly wouldn't let someone from Harrison Group walk away with that much money. They wanted him to return it before he officially retired. But the method...was revolting.

"What now? Should we just talk to Sean directly?" Bernard asked.

Chase entered the study, still holding half a glass of juice. He pulled out a chair and sat down. After a moment's thought, he shook his head. "No, Sean's on edge right now. He's paranoid about everything. His mental state must be a mess. If we approach him too suddenly, it could backfire. He's not like Madeline; he can't just walk away from everything, and he's not someone we can easily negotiate with."

Bernard wondered, "You think he knows about Madeline?"

He definitely did. If Madeline could trace things back to Sean and find out he signed off on the drugs, how could the attending doctor not know? The hospital's pharmacy records were even easier to trace. And now that they had Sean's signature, who was actually dispensing the medications? Could it be that even with Madeline gone, there was someone else?

"Forget it. I'll head to the hospital tomorrow and check it out myself. How did the Typhoon Corp. interview go today?" Chase asked.

Bernard sighed. "Don't even mention it. Next time something like this comes up, can you not send me? They asked the same question in, like, five different ways. They wanted to know how I balance my work and private life. Like, what am I supposed to say? I just follow the duty roster!"

Chase couldn't help but laugh. Clearly, these people didn't understand how doctors worked. Their interviews barely scratched the surface.

After hanging up, Chase finished his juice in the study, then opened his laptop and started digging for more information on 'Alfred.' Previously, there were no photos of Alfred available online. It was only after the recent international interview that a picture of Henry finally surfaced.

Just like that, Henry had transformed from the Harrison family's discarded son to the president of Moses Group. The person who probably found this hardest to swallow was Larry. Sure enough, within a few days, over half of Larry's assets were seized on charges of tax fraud, reported by someone from the inside. No need to guess; it was definitely Henry's doing. Ruthless revenge. That was the real Henry. The way he played the obedient good boy in front of Wendy made people forget how ruthless he could be.

Mario said, "Larry didn't have much left to begin with. Losing over half of it basically means he's done for. Even if Henry is back now, he'll definitely draw a clear line between himself and the Harrison family. He won't use Moses Group's resources to plug the holes in their sinking ship."

He continued, "My father left behind plenty of valuable businesses. The ones under Larry were mostly leftovers. My brother and sister-in-law...well, they were never going to hand over the good stuff to someone else's kid. He's just a nephew, not one of their own."

The way Mario referred to Henry's parents as 'brother' and 'sister-in-law' struck Caesar as odd. They were technically family, but the age gap was huge. And with everything those people had done, they really didn't deserve to be called elders.

"I don't hear you refer to Fabien like that very often," Caesar said.

Mario shrugged, still holding his coffee. Denying it wouldn't change the truth. Fabien, Henry's father, was his half-brother—same father, different mothers.

Mario said, "We're not the same kind of people. If I were the one who stayed behind in the Harrison family, I wouldn't have let an outsider take control of our family business, even if it cost me my life. Even if I burned every last asset to the ground, I wouldn't give anyone else the chance to point fingers at me."

And besides, who even knew what that outsider was really after? He didn't believe someone would go to all this trouble just to help another person. Getting close to Fabien, manipulating Henry, doing all this...there had to be a bigger motive behind it all.