Yvonne Quinn took the address handed over by Hagen and opened her mouth. Relying on a woman's intuition, Yvonne Quinn felt that Hagen's arrival and departure were both suspicious. She was about to pull Charles Sutton aside to warn him when her phone rang, so she had to swallow her doubts and go answer the call.

Mark Shaw diligently picked up the luggage for the two of them. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your little shop… hmm, and your woman.”

On the phone, Yvonne Quinn seemed to be arguing with someone. Charles Sutton walked over to Yvonne Quinn with concern, but after listening for just a few sentences, Yvonne Quinn immediately hung up.

“What’s wrong?”

“The boss of Furun, William Mason, had a car accident yesterday. After leaving the nightclub, the brakes failed. The police determined that the brake exhaust pipe had been deliberately sabotaged. But the nightclub’s surveillance footage didn’t show anyone approaching the car. So William Mason asked if we had any surveillance footage—he suspects someone tampered with the car at our place.”

Charles Sutton glanced at Hagen, who looked indifferent, as if he didn’t understand Chinese. “William Mason wasn’t hurt?”

“No, he stayed in a private room at the nightclub last night. The car was driven back by his subordinate. After passing the first traffic light, he hit the brakes, the brake line burst, and he crashed into an oncoming car.”

Charles Sutton looked at Hagen with dissatisfaction. “I remember his subordinate never got out of the car last night—he stayed inside the whole time.”

“That’s right, I told him that. And I also told him that we don’t even have surveillance cameras outside our main entrance. But he… never mind, don’t let this bother you now. I’ll handle it, you just focus on your trip.”

Watching the two board the plane, Yvonne Quinn turned and fixed her gaze on Mark Shaw. “So, you’ll be performing at our bar. In other words, you’re my employee now?” Yvonne Quinn asked, probing.

“Yes, please take care of me.” Mark Shaw quickly greeted her.

“Of course, as the boss’s friend, I’ll naturally look after you…” Yvonne Quinn said lightly. “Hmm, I heard you met the boss in New York. So, how did you two meet?”

Mark Shaw was momentarily stunned, then forced a reply: “That was two years ago. I had some money on hand and suddenly wanted to travel. Of course, I didn’t have much, so I couldn’t go to any lively beaches, so I went to Haiti. It’s across the sea from Florida, near the Bermuda Islands.

At the time, I was sunbathing on the beach when I saw Charles Sutton swimming over from the sea… hmm, and he was holding a little girl in his arms. I thought they were illegal immigrants, but the child he was holding was a blonde little girl. You know, it’s rare to see a fellow countryman in remote Haiti.

Back then, Charles Sutton didn’t have a penny on him. I lent him money so he could make a phone call…

After the call, they went to the consulate, and then the girl’s relatives came to pick them up. That’s when I learned their plane had crashed and they’d been missing for a year…

Strange? Why are you all so interested in this? Hagen asked about it before, too. It’s not really a secret—the newspapers reported it at the time. Didn’t Charles Sutton ever tell you?”

Chapter 6 The Boss Has Run Away (3)

Yvonne Quinn answered gloomily, “I only know what the newspapers reported… Life on a deserted island must have been full of hardship. Whenever that time is mentioned, he always gets neurotic, so…”

Mark Shaw nodded in agreement. “That’s right. When I first saw them, they looked so miserable I could hardly believe it!”

Yvonne Quinn immediately asked curiously, “Really, that foreigner—Hagen—is interested in this too? Come on, tell me what happened back then!”

On the plane, Hagen sincerely apologized to Charles Sutton. “I’m sorry, I only made things worse for you. I’ll have my lawyer go over right away. I think if a foreigner steps in, they’ll be more cautious.”

Charles Sutton looked out the window and said gloomily, “Tell him to hurry up… This isn’t about money, I have money. The key is what identity to use to get involved. All these years, Yvonne has been holding things together alone—it’s been tough. It would be good to have some help.”

“No problem, I’ll have them send the best bartender…”

When Charles Sutton’s plane landed, it was still two hours before dawn. The sky was full of twinkling stars, and the city below was ablaze with lights, shining as bright as day. Looking out over the city, the thousands of lights looked like countless stars at his feet.

“Look over there,” Hagen pointed toward the starlit coastline and said, “That’s the ‘Gateway of India’!”

Hagen’s words made the surrounding passengers roll their eyes, and one of them muttered under his breath, “It’s so dark…”

But Charles Sutton took it seriously. He took off his sunglasses and gazed intently at the coastline in the direction Hagen was pointing.

“That gate was built to commemorate King George V’s landing here in 1911,” Hagen said quietly. “In 1911, The Times reported on it. In one of the photos, you can see the face of Patrick van Bronckhorst.”

“Very interesting,” Charles Sutton replied casually. “That gate faces the bay, with both Islamic and Hindu features. The four towers on top have a bit of the flavor of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In front of the gate is the vast Indian Ocean, and behind it stretches the vast land of India. Truly magnificent.”

“Oh my!” Charles Sutton replied with deep emotion, his voice a bit loud, drawing an exclamation from the woman in the next seat: “It’s so dark all around… can you really see it?”