One night stand with my president (chapter 672)

 

Chapter 672: Paying the Price for His Past Actions

After receiving this news, the Thomson Group’s partner companies would surely pass it along to their own collaborators.

Word would spread. Those men could forget about ever finding work at any reputable company again.

Physical pain? That was the least of their worries.

This—being blacklisted from the entire industry—was the real punishment.

“How about I take you somewhere nice to eat?” Harrison coaxed her gently. “I heard there’s a new restaurant that just opened nearby.”

“I don’t really have an appetite,” Adeline mumbled.

Harrison smiled. “You’ll have one once we get there.”

By the time they left the company, night had fully fallen.

Harrison had arranged for them to have a reservation in advance, taking Adeline to the newly opened restaurant.

A private room on the top floor, with floor-to-ceiling windows offering a view of the city’s nightscape.

The lighting was dim, candles and aromatic oils flickered on the table, and beautiful lilies adorned the setting—very atmospheric.

Harrison also had them open a bottle of red wine, paired with the restaurant’s signature steak and seafood. As she ate, Adeline’s mood finally began to lift, just a little.

“Ah! I can’t believe this happened on my very first day at the branch.”

Thinking about it, Adeline couldn’t help but sigh again.

“It’s not your fault,” Harrison said softly. “They’re the ones in the wrong.”

“I know they’re in the wrong.” Adeline frowned.

“It’s just… encountering such awful people inevitably leaves you feeling irritated.”

“Then have some more seafood,” Harrison suggested. “I noticed you really liked the Hokkaido sweet shrimp. Want another order?”

Adeline shook her head. “No, I’m full.”

At that moment, Harrison’s phone rang. He answered, listened for a while, uttered a faint “Mm-hmm,” and then hung up.

“Who was that?” Adeline asked casually.

“Rowen Palmer,” Harrison said.

It turned out Rowen had dug up more information about Harlow.

This wasn’t his first time doing something like this.

He had pulled similar stunts before.

He had even managed to deceive several innocent, pretty girls into dating him. After dinner and a movie, he’d find a way to get them to a hotel, sweet-talk them into sleeping with him.

But worse, he would secretly take compromising photos of the girls while they slept, using them to extort money and even threatening the girls into sleeping with his friends.

Most of the girls he tricked were naïve and timid. Seeing their private photos, they’d panic, scramble to gather the money he demanded, agree to his outrageous requests, and beg him not to spread the pictures.

He’d take their money, promise solemnly to delete the photos, then turn around and share them with others, even uploading them to certain seedy websites.

These girls thought they’d found their soulmate, only to be robbed of both their money and dignity, left with scars that might haunt them for life.

Hearing this, Adeline couldn’t help but curse.

“What else could you call a man like that but an animal?”

“We’ve already dealt with the others and let them go,” Harrison said. “As for this Harlow, Rowen mentioned he has a better way to make him pay for his past actions.”

“What kind of way?” Adeline asked curiously.

Harrison smiled. “Don’t ask so many questions, or it’ll spoil your appetite.”

“Oh, come on, I’m curious…”

That very night, naked photos of Harlow and the friend who had gone along with him appeared on a niche website frequented mainly by men with particular proclivities.

Alongside the photos, the site also listed Harlow’s contact information and home address.

What awaited them next was predictable.

As for the girls Harlow had previously victimized, Adeline instructed Rowen to have their intimate photos completely scrubbed from the internet—deleted from Harlow’s devices and anyone else’s. The money they’d been swindled out of was also returned to them, courtesy of Harlow.

Hopefully, it would offer them some small measure of solace.

Meanwhile, Powell’s right-hand man had already been arrested by the police.

Initially, he’d insisted the kidnapping of Connie was his own doing, with no involvement from Powell.

But someone from the Mendoza family visited him in detention.

They showed him photos of his family.

Of course, the Mendozas didn’t intend to threaten his family. They simply urged him to think about them.

Once he was in prison, would someone like Powell really take care of his family?

He’d probably just toss them a pittance and be done with it.

But this man would be serving a life sentence.

His family would be waiting for him all those years.

Hearing this, the right-hand man’s resolve began to waver.

Then the Mendoza representative added that if he was willing to confess everything, testify as a cooperating witness, and identify the real mastermind, the Mendoza family would help him secure a reduced sentence and ensure his family was well taken care of.

After two days of agonizing, he finally told the police the truth.

The one who ordered him to kidnap Connie was Powell.

The man wasn’t entirely foolish—he had actually kept evidence linking Powell to the crime.

So the police issued an arrest warrant for Powell.

Powell had wanted to lie low elsewhere, but with the Mendoza family and Harrison Thomson’s people watching him, he couldn’t even leave the city.

In the end, he was arrested.

Along with him, his underlings were also taken into custody.

At first, Powell didn’t think it was a big deal.

Just a kidnapping, he figured.

He’d have the Mason family pull some strings, throw some money around, and everything would blow over.

But he hadn’t anticipated one thing.

One of his underlings heard that the right-hand man’s family would be cared for by the Mendozas and that he’d receive help obtaining a reduced sentence.

The underling got ideas.

So he told the police about Powell murdering Monica.

Not only that, he revealed the burial site.

Police went to the location and, sure enough, exhumed a female corpse.

DNA comparison confirmed it was Monica.

Only then did panic truly set in for Powell.

He tried to appeal to his family for help.

But recently, the Mason Group had been under relentless pressure from the Mendoza Group.

They had always been rivals, but this time the Mendozas were clearly going for the throat, backed by the Thomsons. If things continued, the Mason Group would be on a permanent downhill slide.

After internal discussions, the Mason family decided to cut Powell loose and use that as a gesture to seek peace with the Mendozas.

Their approach was sincere, and the Mendozas accepted.

After all, Powell was their real target anyway.

Now, Powell had no way out.

Furthermore, police investigations, combined with evidence provided by the Mendozas, revealed numerous other illegal activities in Powell’s business dealings.

He would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

When Adeline received news of Monica’s death, she was stunned for a moment.

Then, she sighed.

“Monica really did go to Powell after all…”

“How could anyone rely on someone like that?”

“Poor Pharrell…” Gracie Mendoza sighed as well. “That child is now without a father or mother.”

Then they received another piece of news that no one had expected.

Pharrell wasn’t Monica’s biological son.