Bankrupt Tycoon? No Problem – This Villainess Will Make Him Rich Again

Chapter 225: Chapter 228: Sowing Discord

Felix Preston was concise. "I turned one of Ethan Lockwood’s secretaries. He’s the one who told me all this."

"...Huh?!" Charlotte Shaw was taken aback. "You—you turned Ethan Lockwood’s secretary? How did you do that?"

Felix Preston raised an eyebrow, a hint of smug pride in his expression and tone. "The same way you turned Renee Sinclair and Yvette Fuller. You just have to exploit their weaknesses."

Charlotte Shaw’s eyes widened with curiosity. "What weakness of his did you exploit? And I thought Ethan Lockwood had three secretaries. Which one did you turn?"

Felix Preston answered, "The youngest one, Simon Abbott."

"Charlotte, do you remember Robert Ford? The man I told you about."

"I remember!" Charlotte Shaw nodded. "He was the one who colluded with Ethan Lockwood to sabotage the Preston Group’s books. That’s why the company was forced to declare bankruptcy."

Felix Preston looked down at her. "Exactly. After the Preston Group went bankrupt, Evan Yates and I had people searching for him everywhere. A month ago, our men finally tracked him down in Sundara."

"He went to Sundara to do business, passing himself off as an overseas Chinese investor. Our men cornered him in a casino bathroom. We applied a little pressure, and it didn’t take long for him to crack. He confessed everything and handed over all the evidence of how Ethan Lockwood conspired against the Preston Group."

"He handed everything over?" Charlotte Shaw was skeptical. "He’s so cunning. Why would he give up such important evidence so easily?"

"Felix, what if he tricked you?"

"He wouldn’t dare." Felix Preston stroked Charlotte Shaw’s hair, his eyes softening. "When he first left Aethelburg, Ethan Lockwood gave him a huge sum of money. He took it and went first to Westerland, then to Eldermar and Veldtland. After almost half a year there, he’d pretty much blown through all the money."

"With no money left, he used the evidence to demand more from Ethan Lockwood. Ethan didn’t want to give it to him, but wary of what Robert had on him, he had the money wired over anyway."

"He took the money back to Westerland, swearing up and down that he was going to start a business, but in less than two months, he’d lost every penny in his new ventures. Broke again, he pulled the same trick and went back to Ethan Lockwood for another payout, using the same evidence."

"And Ethan gave it to him again?" Charlotte asked.

Felix Preston’s lips curled into a cold smile. "He did. Only this time, it came with a death sentence."

"...What do you mean?" Charlotte didn’t understand.

Afraid his words would frighten her, Felix pulled her into his arms, holding her tight in his warm, strong embrace to make her feel safe.

"Ethan gave him another sum of money, and an offer. He told Robert he’d started some new ventures in Sundara but hadn’t found the right person to oversee them yet. If Robert didn’t mind the remote location, he could go there and be a junior manager, looking after the businesses for him temporarily."

"Blinded by greed, the first thing he felt when he heard ’Sundara’ wasn’t fear, but excitement. ’The mountains are high and the emperor is far away,’ he thought. If he became a manager there, he could embezzle to his heart’s content, far from Ethan Lockwood’s watchful eye."

"And then?" Charlotte huddled in Felix’s arms, a sinking feeling telling her what was coming next.

Felix continued, "And so he abandoned his wife and kids and went to Sundara alone. Ethan’s men picked him up at the airport, took him to a hotel to ’settle in,’ and then lured him to a casino."

"Ethan’s plan was to set him up to lose everything at the casino, then have him secretly killed and pin the murder on the house. But, unluckily for Ethan, our men got to him before he could lose it all."

"He might be an idiot, but he’s not a complete moron. Our men just had to give him a little hint, and he immediately realized Ethan wanted him dead. If he wanted to get out of Sundara alive, his only choice was to hand over the evidence to me in exchange for a chance to live."

"...So that’s what happened." Charlotte didn’t say she was scared, but her hands tightened around Felix’s waist instinctively.

Felix held her tighter, his voice dropping. "In truth, the evidence Robert Ford gave us isn’t much. It would be difficult to convict Ethan with it. So Evan and I talked it over and decided to go after Simon Abbott."

"Of the three secretaries, Simon was the most recently hired and the least involved in the scheming. When the time comes for me to expose the Lockwood Group, it’ll be easy for me to keep him out of the fallout. For someone like him, that’s an irresistible offer."

"Simon comes from a poor background. His mother practically worked herself to death to get him out of their small county and into Aethelburg. After he fought so hard to get here, the last person he’d ever want to hurt is his mother. I used her as leverage, and it didn’t take much to get him to flip."

"Ah..." Charlotte finally understood the whole story.

Felix explained, "Simon is his mother’s entire world. If she ever heard about the things he’s been involved in, it might kill her. So when Evan and I found him and laid out the evidence from Robert Ford, he knew instantly what he had to do."

"He’s not a bad person at heart, he just followed the wrong man. The chance to go undercover and make amends? He was more than happy to take it."

"Mmm..." Charlotte nodded and gave Felix a big thumbs-up. "My husband is so smart!"

Felix smiled and leaned down to give her a firm kiss on the lips. "I’m only this smart because I have my wife to guide me. If you hadn’t always been there to keep me grounded, working so hard and earning money to support my ventures, how could I have ever made it this far?"

"Charlotte, you are the one holding Felix Preston’s life together."

Charlotte wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her chin up playfully. "Then how is Felix Preston going to thank me, hm?"

Felix leaned down, pressing her beneath him. "How about Felix Preston repays you with the rest of his life? I’m yours, my money is yours, the studio is yours. Everything I have is yours."

Charlotte asked, "All of that?"

Felix raised a hand to gently caress her face, slowly shaking his head. "It’s not much. In fact, I still don’t think it’s enough."

Charlotte asked, "Then what else do you want to give me?"

Felix lowered his head, his lips brushing against hers. He nibbled at them gently as he spoke. "There are so many things I want to give you. We can discover them all, one by one, in the future. But for now... please, accept me."

Charlotte asked, feigning innocence, "How do I do that?"

Felix gave a pointed thrust of his hips. "What do you think?"

With that, he kissed her passionately.