LOGINGetting up, Charlie went over to give Hamed a heads-up before leaving the restaurant with Claire.Hani then approached them with a smile. "Mr. and Mrs. Wade, how does playing with stingrays sound? They often flock around the northern beach.""Stingrays?" Claire blurted in surprise. "Are they domesticated?""No, but they are a local species," Hani smiled, shaking his head. "And there are plenty of them in the waters around the island. They'd be playing or feeding during this hour, and return to the depths when it gets dark. So now's the best time to see them."Claire nodded and asked, "Can you take us there?""Of course, no problem!" Hani smiled. "We can ride a golf cart over. Allow me to drive."Claire finally smiled, and she chirped happily, "Thank you so much!"With that, she and Charlie got into the golf cart Hani used to ferry guests, the electric vehicle speeding steadily over the cobblestone path on the island as they headed straight for the northern beach.The island was
Elaine was naturally upset with Hani's response, and argued right then, "What's the meaning of this? Is the owner denying us hospitality? Who's more important, your owner or your customers?"Hani was left responding awkwardly, "Please, ma'am. While we always prioritize our clients, a concierge like me won't get to sway the owner's arrangements.""Where is he now?!" Elaine argued. "Tell him to see me—I need to ask if this is how he usually treats his customers!"Hani flinched from the retort, but asked gingerly, "Ma'am… would you happen to know who our owner is?"Elaine snorted in disdain. "Who cares? I paid for this vacation, or what? Is your boss a bigger deal than Bill Gates?"Hani cleared his throat as he quietly explained, "Well, he ranked third in last year's world's richest list… and Bill was the eighth.""What the hell?!" Elaine blurted in shock. "Some hotel owner is actually the third richest person in the world?!"Hani quickly went into lecturer mode and explained, "If
Jacob looked overwhelmed as he sprang to his feet, exclaiming in surprise, "Oh, Mr. Ahmed! Your Oskian is so fluent!"Hamed smiled. "I've been in Oskia for a long while on business. I'm basically a friend of the nation!"Hamed naturally avoided saying that he studied in Oskia, or he'd have to lie more if they pressed the issue.Still, Jacob nodded. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Ahmed. I'm Jacob Wilson—Charlie's father-in-law!"Elaine hurried over right then. "I'm Elaine. Charlie's mother-in-law."Hamed then turned toward Claire and smiled. "And I'm guessing this angel is Mrs. Wade!"Claire had a hunch who Hamed was, and knew that everything he said was going to be a lie.After all, anyone who 'knew' Charlie would know his true heritage.Still, she didn't let it show and flashed a polite smile. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Ahmed. I'm Claire."Hamed nodded politely. "I've always been grateful to Master Wade for helping me with the Feng Shui in my business, and I guess it's fate that brought
Charlie's in-depth projections and analysis left Hamed nervous right then, and he was scowling as he asked, "Come on, man—I can't attack or defend? Doesn't that mean I'm going to lose anyway?"Charlie sighed. "Well, things definitely look bleak—I just didn't think you guys would win that quickly, or for the situation to change this quickly."Hamed groaned, "Well, what should I do?"Charlie thought about it for a while, and said solemnly, "In your place, I'll start from the inside. Seek out any discord or signs of infighting in the enemy camp. Turn them against each other or use money to tempt potential allies. Then, find the right timing for a pincer, and you'd be looking at a complete takeover.""Oh, but…" Hamed smiled awkwardly. "You're a master tactician, but I'm not! To be honest, it's taxing for me just leading 3,000 men. If I had to lead more, I'd be overwhelmed!"Then, he turned towards Charlie excitedly, "Unless you're willing to take over command for me!""Buzz off," Cha
As he finished, Hamed told the women under his breath to find a table, before he threw an arm around Charlie's shoulder and exclaimed excitedly, "Come, brother! Let's talk outside!"Once they got to the beach outside the restaurant, Hamed made sure there was no one around before giving Charlie a bear hug, exclaiming excitedly, "We're really bound together by fate, brother! Fancy running into you here!"Charlie chuckled. "So, when did you marry twice? Never heard anything about that."Hamed scratched his head in embarrassment, "Oh, the old missus bailed during the war, saying I was too dangerous to be with. I never cared to marry since, but started to settle down as the war ended, thanks to you."Then I got married twice—wanted to invite you, but it's not easy bringing someone over to that godforsaken place of mine. And with things getting nervous reasonably, I feel even less keen to bring you over."Charlie nodded. 'Well, it's a complete victory now that your faction claimed full
Hamed didn't notice Charlie just then.He had one woman in each arm, a cigar between his lips, and looked clearly relaxed, even having a whale of a time.On the other hand, Claire, Elaine, and Jacob were all perplexed, unsure how Charlie had become acquainted with the Syrian, who clearly looked rich.Impatient as ever, Elaine asked bluntly, "Sonny, when did you meet him? I mean, how smug could he be, taking both wives out on a trip?"Charlie smiled. "Like you said, it's their culture and it's legal."Pausing, he then explained, "Oh, he's also a client. Didn't Albert ask me to look into some gas mines near the northwest border? He has money invested into the mines."Jacob and Elaine both nodded—it made sense for a middle-eastern tycoon to invest in a gas mine near the border, as it was near their own borders too.On the other hand, Claire kept his head down, staying silent as she knew that Charlie was lying again.In fact, whenever Charlie used the excuse of traveling on the job
When Jordan saw that Jarvis appeared a little sluggish and noted the dumbfounded look on the latter’s face when he turned to look at him, he lowered his voice and asked, “Master Yant, what’s wrong with you?”Jarvis came back to his senses, and he said in a similarly low voice, “Lord Fox, the security
The junior captain from Ten Thousand Armies smiled faintly and spoke up as he said, “Should we still keep you guys on board to eat our food and drink our fresh water if we don’t release you? Let me tell you, we will not feed our supplies to you even if we were to feed it to the dogs.”As he spoke, he
When the news of Badr’s death was confirmed, public opinion around the world was in an uproar!No one would have expected that Badr would die so suddenly!Just yesterday, Badr had vowed to take revenge on Ito-Schulz Ocean Shipping Group and kick Ten Thousand Armies out of the Gulf of Aden at the same
Meanwhile, Claire was preparing to eat lunch at the company.As there were a lot of official duties and business at the company, Claire would usually not bother to go home to eat at noon. Instead, she would eat takeouts at the company because this would save her more than an hour.She was just about t







