628: The Exchange

The Exchange

Cheyenne was indeed surprised, and at the same time, she felt extremely emotional as well.2

She was surprised because it had only been a few months since Lucas returned to Orange County and a few days since he was revealed to be the chairman of the Stardust Corporation's Orange County branch. The others qualified to receive invitations to the Elite Business Exchange were all established families in California.

And she was emotional because the Elite Business Exchange reminded Cheyenne of the years she had spent working hard to run the Brilliance Corporation when she was still part of the Carter family.

The invitation to the Elite Business Exchange that Dominic Carter had racked his brains and tried to obtain but to no avail was actually delivered to Lucas when he hadn't put in any effort at all. It really made Cheyenne emotional.

Cheyenne reckoned that if Dominic had known that Lucas would possess the power and attainments he did today, he probably wouldn't have treated Lucas and her family that harshly.

But the Carters had long become a part of the past, so Cheyenne merely sighed softly before pushing the unpleasant past to the back of her mind.

Lucas had already gained a rough understanding of the nature and purpose of the Elite Business Exchange. But after noticing that the organizer and inviter of this year's session were the Kingstons of San Francisco, he subconsciously felt that things were not as simple as they appeared.

After all, even if the power he held could indeed push him past the threshold of the Elite Business Exchange, the Kingstons just had a tremendous conflict with him, which caused the deaths of Moses and Marc, whom the Kingstons had valued greatly. The Kingstons should hate him to the core at the moment, and it seemed unlikely that they would be so generous as to send him an invitation.

He thought that there had to be a hidden reason or agenda unknown to him.

While Lucas was thinking about the possible motives behind the Kingstons' action, his cell phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Maddy, who had just returned to DC.

"Lucas, do you know that Roy Smith is dead?!" As soon as the call connected, Maddy broke a shocking piece of news to Lucas.

"When did he die?" Lucas frowned.

"I only learned about it from hearsay. He should have died yesterday. I only know that Roy's father, Vince, rushed to San Francisco overnight, so he must be there now. Vince Smith is not a simple person, and he's the most promising successor of the Smith family. In short, you have to be careful, Lucas!" Maddy said concernedly.

Although she didn't think that Roy's death was related to Lucas, she was afraid that Vince would confront Lucas in a moment of anger since Roy was his only son after all. And Lucas did teach Roy a lesson in Orange County yesterday in order to help her.

Lucas nodded and said calmly, "Okay, I know."

After hanging up, he frowned slightly.

He had only met Roy yesterday afternoon. Although there was a small conflict between them where Lucas even strangled him, Lucas eventually just gave him a warning.

What caused Roy's sudden death then?

With his inexplicable intuition, Lucas could sense that Roy's death would probably end up implicating him.

At this moment, his cell rang again. This time, it was a call from Bruce Hale.

Lucas answered and heard Bruce's voice. "Lucas, do you know about the Elite Business Exchange?"

"Yes, I just received the invitation letter from the Kingstons."

"Today, the Hales, the Parkers, and Joe of Little Atlantis City all received invitations to the Elite Business Exchange. However, I'm afraid that there are malicious intentions behind the invitations. It's very likely that they're out to harm us!"

Lucas asked with raised brows, "Oh? Why do you think so?"

"Because the organizer of the exchange this time was originally the Watsons of Sacramento, and the event was scheduled to take place in mid-November, which is usual for every Elite Business Exchange. But this time, there was a sudden change in the date and the organizer, from the Watsons in Sacramento to the Kingstons in San Francisco.

"This probably means that the Watsons should have reached some kind of agreement with the Kingstons, or even directly defected to them. That's why they gave their rights to host the event to the Kingstons."

"This is what makes the Elite Business Exchange this time even stranger. Logically speaking, the Kingstons just lost their most valued family members of the second and third generations a few days ago. Their corpses haven't even been buried yet, but they're already so eager to take over as organizers of the Elite Business Exchange.

"A greater reason is that they're supposed to resent us for showing up at their home together and forcing them almost to go to war with us. The deaths of their direct descendants are also somewhat related to us. It just doesn't make sense for them to give us the invitations at this juncture!"

After all, Bruce was advanced in years and extremely experienced in various aspects. He had attended the Elite Business Exchange held only once every three years several times. Therefore, it was even more convincing now that he raised these doubts.

Of course, these were all just speculations based on the details that were obviously fishy. Bruce even had some conspiracy theories in his heart. But he didn't voice them out because they were all just his conjectures, and there was no concrete evidence to prove them.

Lucas actually also had some vague guesses about what Bruce said. But since the Kingstons dared to deliver an invitation to him, he definitely wouldn't avoid it!

"Got it. You guys get ready. We'll meet at the Elite Business Exchange in San Francisco when the time comes," Lucas said calmly.

Bruce was still somewhat worried, and he tried to dissuade Lucas, "Lucas, since you know that the Kingstons have ill intentions, you'd better give it a pass. Anyway, the Elite Business Exchange won't have much of an effect on us."

Lucas smiled faintly and said with great dominance, "The Kingstons aren't daunting enough to make me have scruples about them! If even a mere family like this scares me, how can I possibly establish my path of dominance?"

Lucas didn't hide his ambitions at all, and his tone was extremely domineering.

Bruce instantly thought of all of Lucas's past deeds and the time he had arranged for almost 200 armed military personnel to appear at the Hale residence.

He knew that Lucas definitely wasn't bragging because he did possess great power. The power that Lucas had shown thus far was only the tip of the iceberg, and he reckoned that Lucas hadn't shown his true power yet!

At this moment, Bruce was full of pride. Following Lucas had broadened his horizons in ways he could never have imagined!

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