Chapter 299: What Exactly Are You Trying to Do?

Maxim Chandler was speechless.

It was hard to reconcile the cowardly, pathetic, and dissolute man before him with the mastermind who had once deliberately hired a hitman to commit murder.

“Second Master, it’s me, Maxim Chandler.” He took two steps forward, emerging from the shadows and breaking the dead silence.

The familiar voice reached Kevin Hawthorne’s ears. Still shaken, he squinted to get a better look at the visitor, then clutched his chest, his face full of anger.

“Maxim Chandler! Are you trying to scare me to death?”

Maxim Chandler extended a hand to help him up from the floor. His tone was level, but held a hidden meaning.

“If you had a clear conscience, Second Master, you wouldn’t be so easily startled.”

Kevin Hawthorne slapped his hand away, his face a mask of impatience and vigilance.

“What could I possibly have to hide? What are you doing here?!”

“I came here specifically to see you.” Maxim Chandler’s expression was serious, neither servile nor overbearing.

“To see me?”

“Yes.”

“What for?”

“President Hawthorne asks that you come with me. He has an important matter to discuss with you.”

Kevin Hawthorne’s brow furrowed in astonishment. “When did Jared get back? Isn’t he on his honeymoon abroad with Vesper?”

“You’ll find out when you get there, Second Master.”

Kevin Hawthorne was quite drunk by now and didn’t press the issue, nodding nonchalantly.

“Fine, lead the way.”

He let his guard down completely and followed Maxim Chandler into the car.

The car was silent and oppressive, without a single sound. Maxim Chandler handed him a bottle of Evian water.

“Second Master, have some water.”

After a night of heavy drinking, his throat was dry and burning. Kevin Hawthorne didn’t think twice, taking the bottle and gulping down more than half of it.

In an instant, a heavy drowsiness washed over him like a tidal wave, and his eyelids felt too heavy to keep open. His head lolled to the side, and he fell into a deep sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, the view outside the window was of a completely unfamiliar foreign country.

The plane landed smoothly.

Kevin Hawthorne jerked awake, shooting upright. His heart clenched as he whipped his head around to demand harshly,

“Maxim Chandler, where are we?”

Maxim Chandler was the first to get up and deplane. He glanced back with a faint smile.

“M-Country. After you, Second Master. President Hawthorne has been waiting for you for a long time.”

The smile was mild, but in Kevin Hawthorne’s eyes, it held a strange chill that sent an inexplicable shiver down his spine.

He glanced down at his watch.

5:30 in the morning.

He had been asleep for a full three hours.

Even when he was dead drunk, he never slept so soundly, so completely unaware.

In a flash, he remembered the bottle of water Maxim Chandler had given him in the car.

Kevin Hawthorne’s face changed drastically. “You drugged me?!”

Maxim Chandler stood at the cabin door, his smile unwavering, his composure perfect.

“You need evidence to make accusations, Second Master. You were drunk and fell asleep. That has nothing to do with me!”

Rage surged in Kevin Hawthorne’s chest, but he had no concrete evidence and couldn’t refute the claim.

Spirited out of the country in the middle of the night and now in a strange foreign land where he knew no one, a powerful sense of unease gripped his heart.

‘What on earth is Jared Hawthorne planning?! Was there something he couldn’t say over the phone? Did he really have to drag me all the way here?!’

His thoughts were in chaos, and the more he considered it, the more terrified he became.

They were uncle and nephew. If Jared Hawthorne just wanted to ask a few routine questions, why would he resort to such forceful methods and go to such lengths to bring him to another country?

“Explain yourself, or I’m not getting off this plane, and I’m certainly not going with you!”

Maxim Chandler’s expression remained placid, his tone firm and allowing no room for argument.

“Second Master, you currently have no ID and no money. You have no way of leaving. M-Country is a dangerous and complicated place, far less safe than Northolme. If you’re out here alone, there’s no telling what might happen.”

“Are you threatening me?!” Kevin Hawthorne’s face turned ashen.

Although he had never been here, he was well aware that the situation was chaotic and danger lurked everywhere. Here, it didn’t matter who you were; if you fell into the wrong hands, you would become helpless prey.

Maxim Chandler said lightly, “I’m just offering a friendly reminder. Whether you come or not is entirely up to you.”

With that, he turned and got into the black sedan waiting by the roadside.

Staring at the unfamiliar streetscape outside, Kevin Hawthorne ground his teeth. Overwhelming apprehension suppressed his anger, and he could only climb awkwardly into the car from the other side.

He reached into his pockets—his phone and wallet were both gone.

He didn’t have to think hard to know that Maxim Chandler must have taken them while he was unconscious.

‘Jared Hawthorne’s men are audacious, completely disrespectful.’

At that moment, the unease in Kevin Hawthorne’s heart peaked. He truly couldn’t guess what his own nephew planned to do to him.

His mind was in turmoil the entire way. The car finally stopped in front of a top-tier hotel in the city center.

Maxim Chandler led him straight to the thirty-sixth floor, to the presidential suite at the far end of the hallway. He raised a hand and knocked lightly on the door.

“President Hawthorne, the Second Master is here.”

The door opened at once, and Leon Quillan stepped aside.

The two entered the room, one after the other.

The light in the living room was cold and white, the atmosphere quiet and suffocating.

Jared Hawthorne sat alone in the center of the sofa, his posture ramrod straight, his aura cold and intimidating.

Suppressing the rage in his heart, Kevin Hawthorne strode forward and questioned him aggressively.

“Jared Hawthorne! Is there something you couldn’t just say to me? Did you have to drag me to this godforsaken place in the middle of the night?”

“Your man has some nerve! He dared to drug my water! Was that on your orders?! What the hell do you want?!”

Faced with this barrage of questions, Jared Hawthorne’s expression remained unchanged. He unhurriedly picked up a celadon teacup, turned it slightly in his fingers, and took a small sip.

Then, his dark, profound eyes slowly lifted and fixed precisely on him.

His gaze was calm and rippleless, yet like a bottomless, frozen well, it bore down with a bone-chilling cold and a natural authority.

A single glance was overwhelmingly powerful.

Kevin Hawthorne’s heart skipped a beat. His arrogant bluster was instantly extinguished, and he subconsciously avoided eye contact, the conviction in his voice weakening.

In just a few short years, the once-immature nephew who had needed his protection was now a completely different person.

The Jared Hawthorne of today was calm, ruthless, and deeply calculating, with an overwhelming, oppressive presence. Even though he was the elder, standing before this man, Kevin felt a deep-seated fear.

He had been keeping a low profile lately and, as far as he knew, had never offended Jared Hawthorne. He truly couldn’t figure out why his nephew would use such forceful means to bring him here.

Kevin Hawthorne forced himself to maintain the posture of an elder and, steeling himself, spoke up.

“Why are you looking at me like that? You dragged me to a foreign country for no reason; you owe me an explanation!”

Jared Hawthorne set down his teacup. His movements were slow, his expression blank, his voice deep.

“I had you brought here, Second Uncle, to settle some old scores and ask you about them face-to-face. I was just worried you wouldn’t be honest or willing to admit to them.”

Hearing this, the unease in Kevin Hawthorne’s heart intensified. He hurriedly suppressed his guilt and feigned a calm demeanor.

“Jared, we’re blood relatives, uncle and nephew. There’s no need for secrets between family. Whatever you want to ask, just say it. I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“Is that so?” Jared Hawthorne narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone tinged with faint mockery.

“Of course! We’re close kin, bonded by blood. Would I lie to you?”

Jared Hawthorne’s gaze turned cold as he slowly brought up an old incident from many years ago.

“I wonder, Second Uncle, if you still remember that time I went to Ashmore and was nearly killed in an assassination attempt on the way?”