At night, a villa area by the banks of the Whiteville River was illuminated with dazzling lights, shining in every corner, including the rolling river in the distance.
The area consisted of sixty villas connected together. While it wasn’t a gathering place for the top elites, it was still a residence that ordinary people could only dream of.
With a price of two hundred thousand dollars per square meter, it was enough to deter eighty percent of the people in Whiteville. The residents here were either corporate executives or professional managers.
Roberto, Eliezer, and Brian lived in this area. Although their location wasn’t the best, their three villas were lined up together.
At ten o’clock in the evening, across from the three villas, a black Mercedes parked discreetly in the darkness, blending in with the night.
Inside the car, Darnell leaned back in his seat, savoring a strawberry ice cream with delight. He glanced at the monitor screen and then turned to Tia beside him and asked,
“Tia, you said you brought me here for something big. What exactly is this big thing? I’ve finished five ice creams already and still no sign of any action.”
“Is there something valuable hidden in Roberto’s villa? Maybe gold or even a dead body?” Tia skillfully adjusted the surveillance equipment, her expression as cold and ruthless as a spy.
“It doesn’t matter what’s hidden there. What matters is that it can help you achieve your dirty goals-to kick Roberto out of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals and let your goddess Areli dominate the company,” Tia said with a sneer.
“What kind of talk is that?” Darnell scoffed at Tia, “Areli doesn’t care about power. She just doesn’t want to be hindered by anyone and have her work sabotaged by Roberto, which causes significant losses for the company.”
“Besides, Roberto has schemed against me many times before. It’s about time I get revenge,” he added.
Tia smirked, “Seems like you know Areli so well.”
In that moment of Darnell’s confusion, she quickly changed the subject.
“No matter what your purpose is, I will help you achieve it. In return, you must hire me and give me the authority to recruit thirty people. And I want to be the deputy team leader, reporting directly to you.”
Darnell took a bite of his ice cream and replied, “Even though I don’t know why you want to join Darnell’s Elite Force, since I promise you something, I will definitely deliver.”
“Don’t worry. Once Roberto steps down, I will immediately bring you into the company. You’ll have a rented apartment as your dormitory and one million dollars in funding,” he assured her.
He was genuinely surprised by Tia’s motivation to work as a security guard since she had better options available. But once he made a promise, he wouldn’t find excuses to back out.
Glancing at Tia, he noticed her special fondness for uniforms. Today, she wore a black suit that made her look cool and proud. Her tall figure beneath the uniform was beyond words to describe. Occasionally, Darnell’s mind would be filled with thoughts of seduction in uniform.
At that moment, Tia glanced at Darnell without much emotion and spoke without hesitation, “I want four million dollars.”
Darnell was taken aback. “Four million? Is it too much for thirty people?”
Woodsea’s village committee only provided nine million dollars in funding for a year. Tia’s request for half of it was truly painful.
He instinctively tried to negotiate. “Four million for thirty people while Garrett’s team of three hundred only costs five million! That seems unreasonable.”
Tia coldly responded, “I’ll make sure you get your money’s worth.”
“Alright then, I’ve earned quite a bit of money recently anyway. Four million it is,” Darnell agreed.
Darnell shifted his gaze back to the monitor where as four cameras focused on three villas and the road. At that moment, there was still no sign of anyone.
“These villas are all at least four hundred square meters in size. Even the worst one costs at least one billion dollars. It’s not surprising for Roberto to live here since he’s the vice president of the company and a rich brat,” Darnell commented.
“But Brian and Eliezer are ordinary people. Where did they get so much money to buy these villas?” he wondered aloud.
Tia seemed to have already figured out their opponents’ backgrounds as she coldly replied, “Let me tell you, all three villas are owned by Roberto.”
“Ten years ago, he received two hundred million dollars in compensation from land acquisition and used it to buy these three villas. They were cheap back then. Each villa cost only around thirty million dollars.”
“Eliezer and Brian are his cronies and pawns arranged within the company. That’s why they were given free houses,” she explained further.
“As long as Eliezer and Brian like it here, they can live in these two villas until they die. However, the property rights still belong to Roberto.”
Darnell smiled and commented, “Roberto really knows how to win people over.”
“But there’s nothing that comes for free,” Tia sarcastically remarked.
Tia continued coldly with her analysis, “By giving them free houses, Roberto has three purposes. First, it makes it easier for the three of them to gather, facilitating better communication and support.”
“Second, it’s to win their hearts, so they’ll help him make more money.”
Darnell nodded slightly. “That’s a good analysis.” Then he pressed further, “And the third?”
Tia didn’t answer directly. Instead, she pointed at the screen. “The third reason will soon be revealed.”
“Vroom-”
As they spoke, an Audi A7 roared onto the main road and then entered the middle villa-Roberto’s house-its headlights illuminating its surroundings.
He then saw Roberto emerge from the car, a cigar clenched between his teeth, flanked by a driver, an assistant, and two bodyguards, exuding an air of authority.
Almost simultaneously, Darnell noticed lights flickering on the second floor of the villas on either side.
Then Darnell saw two beautiful women peering out, their eyes filled with deep resentment, resembling scorned lovers.
Darnell quickly scanned the files. The woman on the left belonged to Brian, while the one on the right was Eliezer’s mistress.
It seemed he had pieced something together, and his eyes narrowed slightly. “This is getting interesting.”
“The main show hasn’t even started yet,” Tia replied coolly.
She then grabbed her laptop and skillfully began typing on the keyboard. In no time, the screen displayed footage from the villa’s cameras, providing a clear view of Roberto and the others’ movements.
Darnell even noticed three feeds focused on the bedroom, directly facing the large bed.
Next, she opened another program, revealing a dozen phone numbers on the screen.
Darnell recognized one of them as Roberto’s number.
“It seems you’ve done quite a bit of work these past couple of days,” he remarked, a hint of approval crossing his face. “You’ve not only managed to install cameras in their bedrooms but also tracked down all their phone numbers.”
Tia shot him a cold, teasing glance. “Now you know my request for a monthly salary of seven thousand is too high, don’t you?”
Darnell asked another question, “What do you do at the special ops forces, Phoenix?”
“I raise pigs,” Tia replied curtly.
That shut Darnell up immediately.
“You can rest for a while now,” Tia said after checking the time. “I’ll wake you up when everything’s ready.”
As Darnell was about to nod his head in agreement, two Toyota cars screeched to a halt at the entrance. Soon after that, Roberto’s bodyguards opened the iron gate.
The two cars quickly drove inside and stopped in front of the main building. Darnell clicked on his keyboard a few times to zoom in on them.
In the field of vision, car doors opened and four men and women from Baycliff emerged-one of them bald and around fifty years old, exuding an air of ferocity.
Darnell’s eyes flickered with killing intent as he muttered under his breath, “Toby Ramsey?”
Almost simultaneously, Toby Ramsey turned slowly towards their Mercedes-Benz-a gaze like a long knife pressing against Darnell and Tia’s throats.
Tia suddenly felt suffocated.
The next second, Toby Ramsey walked towards their car.