Chapter 2

"Tell me!" I demanded. "Where's Barry? What happened to him?"

Carlisle was frozen in fear at the ruthlessness in my eyes. He thrashed around and tried to swat my hand away, snapping, "Get your hands off me, Ethan! Who the hell do you think you are? Why should I tell you anything?"

Panting heavily, he tried to overwhelm me with bluster. "I'm warning you. The CEO of Universal Group is going to show up any second now. I'll make you pay for it if you cause a scene and ruin the village's plans!"

I tightened my grip, tightening my grip until his face turned bluish. "I won't move an inch from this spot until you tell me. I'd like to see who suffers the bigger loss if your plans fall through."

The air was thick with tension. The villagers exchanged glances among themselves, but none of them dared to step forward.

Suddenly, a young man squeezed through the crowd. "You just want to know where Barry is, right? I'll tell you!"

I didn't know who the young man was. He looked to be in his 20s. He was dressed in a suit, which made him stick out like a sore thumb among the villagers, and his hair was slicked back until it gleamed.

He pulled out a stack of wrinkled documents from his briefcase and threw it in my face, exclaiming, "Here! Take a look for yourself."

My heart plummeted into my gut when I grabbed the documents and scanned through them. It was a collection of promissory notes. Each note recorded the amount of money that Barry had supposedly borrowed, ranging from several thousand to over ten thousand dollars.

My eyes stung as I stared at Barry's name and signature that were penned in crooked handwriting at the bottom of every note.

"Do you understand now?" the young man sneered in a sharp voice. "This is proof of what Barry did. He swindled all of the villagers' hard-earned money before making a run for it. Death would be too merciful a fate for someone like him."

The other villagers' tempers seemed to explode upon hearing his words, and they immediately began to air their own grievances.

"That bastard, Barry, doesn't have a conscience! He hasn't paid me back for the money I lent him after selling off my cow!"

"He swindled me out of my father's casket money!"

"Why are you in such a rush to find him, Ethan? Are you in cahoots with him?"

My mind went blank even as the villagers' enraged voices echoed in my ears. Was it possible that Barry had actually changed? Did he become a bastard who would lie to his friends and family and run away with their money?

No! That was impossible!

I whipped my head up and caught a glimpse of Carlisle and the young man exchanging glances with each other from the corner of my eye.

Having been in the business world for a decade, my instincts immediately told me something was amiss.

I stared at the young man. My voice was cold when I demanded, "Who are you?"

The young man adjusted his tie and wore a smug expression. "The name's Simon Trenton, Carlisle Trenton's son. I work in Universal Group's project department."

He gave me a once-over. He didn't even bother hiding the threatening edge in his voice when he said, "Since we're from the same village, I won't take your earlier rudeness to heart, Ethan. Get out of here right now. If you don't, I'll tell my CEO that you're causing a commotion when he arrives…"

He intentionally paused and let out a scoff before continuing, "You have a criminal record, after all. I'm sure that you don't want to be locked behind bars for another few years, right?"

Carlisle immediately straightened his back as if he had found his backbone. "He's right! My son's an important figure in Universal Group. In fact, he was the one who secured the one-billion-dollar investment project! You'd best make yourself scarce if you know what's good for you, Ethan."

What an utterly preposterous situation!

Even if I disregarded the fact that Simon was most certainly not a core member of the company, Barry was the only one whom I wanted to take charge of the one-billion-dollar project from the very beginning. It had nothing to do with Simon or Carlisle whatsoever!

I turned around when I realized that I wasn't going to get a single truthful word out of the people standing before me. Relying on my memories, I strode toward the direction of Barry's home.