The Retired CEO's Guide To Being Spoiled-Chapter 92: The Hidden Shadow

"General Director." Helen Lloyd picked up the phone on the other end, her tone ringing out with utmost professionalism: "I have proceeded exactly according to your instructions. Our operatives have just recently managed to trace the information. In the hands of Gabriel Cole, aside from the project currently under development, there are two other smaller projects. However, their influence is not particularly significant."

"Hmm, has he made any unusual moves?" Ethan Caldwell sat down in his office chair while listening to the call. Simultaneously, he opened the incoming message from his email, reviewing the information displayed on the screen while listening to Helen’s report.

"On the surface, there appears to be nothing." Helen spoke up to this point, paused for a moment, and then continued: "However, after our people established contact with a few insiders on that side, they uncovered a few issues, it is just that these matters remain somewhat obscure. I have sent you a data file, including the cash flows in and out of the accounts that are more or less linked to Gabriel Cole."

Fundamentally, none of the account names on these bank statements belonged to Gabriel Cole. Looking at it from the surface, it was true that there was absolutely nothing related to him. However, next to each account, the relationships - both in the light and in the shadows - of this man were carefully noted.

Finally, after the flow of funds had moved two or three times, it concentrated and poured into a single account.

"Dahlia Thorne?"

Ethan attempted to rifle through the depths of his memory, but it seemed he had never heard this name before in his life.

"Do you remember the scandal of the Harrington family during the previous period, General Director?" Helen’s voice remained steady on the other end, but when mentioning the affairs of the Harrington family, she let out a scoff, seemingly mocking something.

To be honest, the messy affairs of the upper class - as long as one was within the circle, everyone knew them, they happened practically every day. It was just that if something was labeled a "scandal," it meant it must have been exposed to the general public. Most recently, the Harrington family had only one such case...

"Is it related to Jason Harrington’s five-month pregnant girlfriend?"

"Yes, sir. His girlfriend’s name was Daisy Thorne. Originally, that year, after being abandoned by Jason Harrington, Daisy only cried for a while and then returned to her own home. The Thorne family was merely an ordinary intellectual family, the related documents are attached in file number 3. The General Director can take a look."

Ethan clicked the mouse to open the file. Inside, it contained full details as well as photographs of Daisy Thorne, including family portraits. There was quite a lot of information, but fortunately, there was a quick, concise summary right on the side.

The Thorne family had been intellectuals for three generations, and by the generation of Daisy’s parents, they still firmly upheld that tradition. Her father and mother were both teachers at a prestigious public high school in the southern district of the city. Daisy had a younger sister two years her junior named Dahlia Thorne, the year Daisy died, Dahlia was twenty-three years old.

Both Daisy and Dahlia were talented individuals. The reason Daisy came to know Jason was that this girl was excellent in negotiation capabilities, being one of the top employees in the sales department of Helios Technologies. Jason dated her also because he wanted to expand his family’s power and influence.

As for Dahlia, there was no specific information available, only records from when she was still in school stating that she was no inferior to her sister. But when this girl was in high school, she argued with her parents and ran away from home, vanishing without a trace. Since then, there had been absolutely no news of this girl, and the Thorne family had publicly announced to the outside world that their younger daughter had passed away. They only had their unique, only daughter, Daisy Thorne, left.

And Daisy Thorne was a person exactly like her name - a pure white daisy, transparent, fragile, and innocent to the point of being childish. It sounded truly ironic, because at the negotiation table in the business world, Daisy was famous for being a decisive, sharp, and thorny woman. She had once made countless opponents who wanted to take advantage falter, resolving the toughest contracts with a cool head.

Yet, the moment she fell into the web of love, that strong shell immediately vanished into thin air. Daisy became a blind person, naively trusting absolutely, letting Jason spin her around in the palm of his hand without even realizing it.

The ending was that when she was pregnant with his child, she was ruthlessly abandoned by the person she loved without any pity. But instead of resentment or demanding status, she chose the most foolish way to behave. Daisy silently submitted her resignation, cut off all contact, and carried her heavily pregnant belly back to her parents’ home. She only wanted to peacefully give birth to the child, raise it properly into a person, and absolutely did not want the existence of mother and child to affect Jason’s brilliant future.

Ethan swept his eyes over the lines summarizing that short life, the depths of his eyes becoming increasingly somber. Meanwhile, Helen’s voice continued to ring out steadily from the other end of the line, reporting each timeline in detail:

"During the period from when she quit her job to return home until she decided to commit suicide, the information is quite vague; we have not yet traced anything unusual in her daily life. However, a shocking event occurred right before that. Exactly three days before Daisy threw herself from the building, plunging to the ground, both her father and mother had passed away. According to the records kept by the police, it was a tragic traffic accident that happened right on the road while the old couple was going to work."

"That morning, people were gathering as usual when they saw her fall from the sky. According to the police conclusion, it was suicide, and she even left a suicide note. Because the Thorne family was well-known in the surrounding area - having previously ’lost’ a daughter, then the old couple passed away, and now the remaining daughter also did a foolish thing. Matters were pushed to the extreme, causing the resentful words criticizing Jason in the suicide note to be like blowing up a raging fire in the hearts of the people."

Just like that, matters that were originally proceeding smoothly were rumored and discussed by the neighbors. Some people could not bear to see the Thorne family, who were originally good-natured, now ending up with some dead and others wandering, their lives and deaths unknown. So they posted on the internet, and in the end, it was like a great fire meeting the east wind, burning fiercely enough to topple Jason’s position.

"This Dahlia Thorne, is she the biological younger sister of Daisy who has had no news for nearly five years?"

"Yes."