Chapter 176 - Caught in the Act

*** At de Dios's Lending Company Office ***

Charles in his full disguise was sitting in the customer's waiting area. He was there to have a transaction with the company.

"Mr. Smith it's your turn. Please come to the manager's office now." One of the staff called Charles.

He was pretending as Mr. Roland Smith, a man having a poultry business outside the city Z. He applied for a loan in this lending company.

Since this lending company was taking advantage of the poor people and other small business establishments inside and outside the city Z, it was the time to give them the taste of their own medicine.

"Manager Liang, this is Mr. Smith." the staff introduced Charles to the company's manager.

Before the company would release the amount indicated in the loan application, clients or the debtors were being interviewed to assess whether it was a good idea to lend them the money. 

"Mr. Smith, welcome. Please have a seat." Manager Liang said to Charles. He smiled at him before he sat down at the chair in front of the manager's table.

"You submitted your loan application last week. It worths five hundred million. It is a large sum of money. Why do you need it?" Manager Liang started to interview him.

"As you know my poultry business is located outside the city. I am planning to expand my business and establish other branches across the country so I need that for my capital." Charles replied to him.

"Manager Liang, see this doc.u.ment. All the sales reports and the income of our poultry business are in there, you can check it. It's proof that we have the capability to pay for that loan." He gave him some doc.u.ments in the folder.

Manager Liang accepted the doc.u.ment and began to flip and check the information and report inside. He was satisfied with the data written in the doc.u.ment.

They also conducted a validation last week and had visited the poultry business in the countryside. It was operating smoothly.

'This is great. This is a win-win situation for the company.' A smirk appeared on the manager's face.

"Good decision Mr. Smith. There is no other lending company like us that can help you with your capital. If you apply to others, I am sure they won't even lend you a hundred million." Manager Liang was trying to assure Mr. Smith.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I came here and choose this lending company." Charles said to him.

"You will never regret it Mr. Smith." the manager was confident. He was smiling at him but behind that smile was an evil thought.

'Hmm, if you won't be able to pay us, your business will be ours.' Manager Liang thought to himself.

Many small businesses became a victim of this loan shark company. Aside from the very high-interest rate they were giving the customers, they were using the debtors' small business itself as their collateral.

If they failed to pay, they were sending the Los Molasses Gang to collect them. They often resorted to violence, threatening and forcing their clients to pay no matter what.

Clients could not report this injustice as they feared that Los Molasses Gang would do something bad against them.

After a few minutes, Manager Liang gave Charles the briefcase containing the five hundred million cash. They signed the loan agreement, each one had a copy of the said agreement.

"Thank you for trusting us, Mr. Smith." Manager Liang extended his hand for a handshake. Charles gladly accepted it.

"Thank you for this money Manager Liang," Charles said as he gave him a meaningful smile.

"By the way, Manager Liang, where is the president and the owner of this company Mr. Diego de Dios?" Charles added, gathering information about the whereabouts of their target.

"Oh, the President will be coming back tomorrow from his trip. He was out of town for the past few weeks. You know he is a busy man." Manager Liang said to him.

"Why Mr. Smith? Do you want to meet him?" He asked curiously.

"I would love to. Too bad he is not here. I just want to personally thank him for establishing this company. Now I will be able to expand our family business."

"Alright, I will just deliver your thank you message to him." Manager Liang simply said, dismissing Charles.

Charles left the company wearing a wide grin on his face. They were able to fool them. There was no such thing as Roland Smith's poultry business. All the doc.u.ments he presented to them were all fake.

They already prepared everything, even the validation visit conducted by de Dios's Lending Company in the countryside was also fake. It would be too late for them to realize it.

Charles's visit to their main office had one specific goal aside from getting the five hundred million cash. He already planted secret surveillance cameras inside the building.

He also assessed the security systems because tonight Phantom and Charles were planning to rob the company and get all the money in their vault.

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Nighttime came. Two black figures appeared inside the building of de Dios's Lending Company. The security guards were already unconscious. Charles and Phantom were waiting for Elle's call before they made some moves.

Elle's assignment was to turn off the security alarm of the vault and tamper the CCTV recordings. In order to do that she needed a computer and internet access.

Elle asked Erick a while ago if she could sleep in his room tonight. He agreed happily. Unknown to him, Elle was planning to use his computer in his study when he fell asleep.

After making sure that Erick was already fast asleep, she got up from the bed and went to Erick's study. She was very careful and silent, not making unnecessary sounds in order not to wake Erick up.

She turned on the computer and her expert hands immediately took action. She did not waste any more time as Charles and Phantom were already waiting for her go signal.

In just a few seconds, she had gained access to the security server of de Dios's company. A tap-tap of keyboard could be heard inside the entire study.

Several minutes later, she was able to disable the alarm system of the vault and freeze the CCTV cameras inside the building. She immediately dialed Charles's number.

"Hello Elle. How is it?" Charles's voice could be heard from the other line the moment her call got connected.

"I already disabled the alarm. You can now proceed to the next plan." Elle replied to him.

"Wow, that's fast. Master Phantom, Elle just finished her task. We have her go signal now." Elle heard Charles informing Phantom.

"By the way, when are you coming back to the Cafe?" Charles asked her.

"Maybe in the next two days. I will inform you." Elle answered him.

"Okay Charles, I have to go now. Update me on the situation. Take care of that company. Make them pay double." Elle said to Charles.

Meanwhile, Erick suddenly woke up when he felt the absence of Elle's petite figure in his arms.

"Huh? Where is Elle?" Erick mumbled as he searched for Elle inside the room. The light in the bathroom was turned off so he was sure that she was not there.

When he did not saw her, he stood up and walked outside the room to check whether she was in the kitchen and dining area, thinking that she just grabbed some water to drink.

Erick frowned when he did not see Elle in the kitchen."Hmm, where did she go?" Erick scratched the back of his head.

He decided to wash his face on the sink and grab some water to drink from the refrigerator.

"Did she went back to her room?" Erick wondered as he continued to look for Elle.

He walked towards her room but to his disappointment, she was not also there. He started to feel uneasy.

After everything that happened to Elle for the past few weeks, he always got worried and felt restless every time she would disappear from his sight.

"Erick, calm down," he mumbled to himself. "Maybe she is in my study," he added.

He rushed to his study to check whether Elle was there. He was silently praying that she was there because he would be scared to death once again if she would disappear again without knowing where she is.

Erick heaved a sigh of relief when he saw some light coming from his study. This only meant that the woman he was looking for was there.

"Hmm, you are always making me worry Elle," he mumbled before he slowly opened the door of his study.

When he entered the room, he heard Elle was talking to someone on the phone.

"Okay Charles, I have to go now. Update me on the situation. Take care of that company. Make them pay double." Erick heard what Elle just said.

Elle did not notice Erick since her gaze was still focused on the monitor while she was talking to Charles. After saying those last statements, Elle hung up the phone.

"Why are you talking to Charles? What are you doing here, Elle?" Erick's voice was heard in the study.

Elle's body froze the moment she heard that familiar voice. She gazed up only to see the questioning look coming from Erick. He was standing near the open door of the study.

Elle was shocked beyond belief. She was rendered speechless.

'Sh**t! How long has he been standing there? Did he hear everything?'