The leader of the hijackers and Joe stared fixedly in the direction of the van. The money they had stolen was inside, but they could only watch it from afar, unable to reach it.
Perhaps this was the true meaning of “so close, yet so far.”
After seven or eight minutes, two police cars surrounded the van and screeched to a halt.
The police officers inside the cars rushed out, their guns aimed at the van.
“You’re surrounded. Get out of the vehicle!” one male police officer shouted.
There was no response from inside the van.
The police officers approached cautiously.
“Look over there, two people lying on the ground!” a young police officer with keen eyes pointed not far from the van.
“Sergeant Burke and Sergeant Felton, go check it out,” the leading female police officer commanded.
“Yes!”
Sergeant Burke and Sergeant Felton, guns at the ready, walked over.
Five or six minutes later, the police had the situation under control.
“Captain, all four hijackers have been subdued. One of them has been shot and is in critical condition.”
“Did you call for an ambulance?” the female police officer asked.
“They’re on their way,” the male police officer replied.
Looking at the four motionless hijackers on the ground, Madame Godwin furrowed her brows. “What exactly happened here?”
The scene was rather eerie. Inside the van, one hijacker had fainted from being shot in the back, while the hijacker in the front passenger seat was staring with wide eyes, completely immobilized.
Outside the van, two hijackers lay on the ground, gripping their guns, but similarly frozen with their eyes wide open, unable to move.
It was as if the three hijackers who hadn’t been shot suddenly experienced a collective paralysis.
“Captain, do you think it was tdone by a fifth person?” a male police officer speculated.
“A fifth person?” Madame Godwin’s frown deepened. “Let’s gather the evidence first and make further investigation.”
It was a day Jill Godwin wouldn’t forget. All four hijackers were taken away in an ambulance. Except for the one who had been shot, the other three hijackers had no injuries-they simply couldn’t move.
From graduating the police academy to becoming the captain of the Criminal Investigation Team, Madame Godwin had never encountered such a bizarre robbery incident before.
Meanwhile, Leo, to avoid getting into any further trouble, had hitchhiked a long way back to the city center.
After getting off the ride, he paid the driver a hundred bucks, then went to a bank to deposit the money. Thankfully, there were no mishaps this time, and he smoothly turned the check into cash and deposited it into his bank account.
Due to the substantial amount Leo deposited, the bank even issued him a platinum VIP card, which meant he could use the VIP channel for his transactions.
From this, Leo deeply understood that rules were made for the wealthy. Since he couldn’t change the rules, he might as well strive to be a beneficiary of those rules.
After leaving the bank, Leo was about to hail a cab to go back to the Henley family’s mansion when his phone rang.
It was Sophia calling.
He answered, and Sophia said, “Wherever you are, come to my company immediately.”
Without giving Leo a chance to respond, she hung up.
Leo was accustomed to Sophia’s ways. Since he had nothing else to do, he decided to go to the her company.
Arriving at the Golden Leaf Shopping Plaza, he went up to the third floor and found Sophia’s company. He walked in.
Sophia had rented a storefront with an office inside. To reach her office, you had to pass through the sales hall.
The moment Leo walked in, the salespeople’s eyes were all fixed on him. They started whispering to each other, pointing at him and occasionally showing disdainful expressions.
Leo had experienced this before, so he was used to it.
He pushed open the door to her private office. There was a large open-plan workspace with neat desks, each equipped with a computer. The employees were all busy with their work, and only a few glanced at Leo briefly.
No one asked Leo why he was there because they all knew his identity.
Miss Henley’s husband, the Henley family’s son-in-law, a man who lived off his wife.
Leo walked straight to Sophia’s private office and knocked on the door. Sophia’s voice came from inside, and Leo entered after pushing the door open.
On Sophia’s desk, there was an Apple laptop, and she was flipping through some documents.
“Sophia, I’m here,” Leo announced.
Sophia responded with a brief acknowledgment, still focused on the documents. “Mhm, take a seat.”
Married for four years, this was only the third time Leo had entered her office.
Leo took a seat on the sofa and waited for Sophia to finish her work.
The wait lasted for over an hour.
“Sophia, why did you call me here?” Leo had drunk a lot of tea and used the restroom several times.
“Why are you in a rush? You have nothing to do anyway. Wait until I finish my work,” Sophia replied, sounding annoyed.
Leo could only take out his phone and play a game while continuing to wait.
Another hour passed, and Sophia finally closed her laptop and set aside her files before standing up from her chair.
“Follow me,” Sophia said as she left the office without looking back.
Leo didn’t know what she was up to, so he curiously followed behind her.
As they passed through the sales hall, Leo once again received a disdainful glare from the salespeople.
On the B1 floor, Sophia led him directly to her parking spot.
When they reached the parking space, Sophia pointed and said, “Take a look.”
Leo followed her gaze and saw a Mercedes-Benz parked there.
“This is your car…” Leo said but soon noticed something was off. Although the car’s design resembled Sophia’s Mercedes-Benz E-Class, it was definitely not the same car.
After all, he had driven that car for four years and knew it inside out.
It seemed that someone had parked in Sophia’s private parking spot. Leo walked forward, intending to check if there was any contact information left in the car. However, after taking a few steps, he paused again. The license plate number on this Mercedes S-Class was identical to Sophia’s Mercedes E-Class license plate number.
Occupying someone’s parking spot and using their license plate number-nobody would be so annoying, would they?
“Sophia, what’s going on here?”
“I should be asking you the same question. The people from the 4S dealership brought it over today, saying my car couldn’t be repaired, so they gave me a new one,” Sophia replied sarcastically.
When did the 4S dealership start being so charitable? Leo found that hard to believe.
“Are you saying someone deliberately sent it?” he asked.
“What do you think, you ‘marvellous doctor’?”
Sophia’s taunt suddenly gave Leo a plausible guess.