Chapter 304: Checking Assets
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Elijah actually intended for the Kingstons, the organizers of the auction, to hear his last sentence.
It wasn’t Elijah’s first time attending such a secretive auction like the one today, so he knew what the greatest taboo for the organizers of such an auction was.
They were naturally afraid that some people with evil intentions might sneak in and expose the sordid business that went on here.
Indeed, soon after Elijah spoke, a man in his fifties dressed in a tuxedo slowly walked out from behind the curtain of the auction hall.
His face was extremely solemn, and he had his lips pressed tightly together, looking dignified and intimidating.
As soon as the guests in the auction hall saw this man, they immediately seemed astonished and began whispering among themselves.
“It’s Russell Duncan! I’ve only seen him in pictures! I heard that he specializes in handling all matters related to the auctions held by the Kingstons, but he usually works behind the scenes and rarely appears in public!”
“Yeah! My father was the one who told me about Russell Duncan. I finally got to see him in person today!”
“It seems the Kingstons really take this auction tonight very seriously. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent Russell Duncan to personally keep an eye on the situation here. Hehe, it seems that there must be some valuable beauties up for auction tonight!”
“Mr. Russell Duncan has already intervened. It looks like that lowly and shameless punk is definitely going to get chased out!”
“Hmph, he deserves to be kicked out. He ought to have realized that this isn’t a place for him!”
…
Russell’s sudden appearance immediately caused a huge commotion in the hall.
Elijah looked at Lucas with malicious intentions and suddenly mocked, “Punk, you’re dead meat! Russell Duncan is not to be trifled with. If you can’t give him a valid reason later, the consequences will be far more severe than just getting kicked out. Hehe!”
With a straight face, Lucas glanced at Elijah indifferently and even stood up fearlessly, as if Elijah wasn’t referring to him at all.
Elijah was extremely disappointed and displeased with Lucas’s composed reaction as he cursed under his breath. “Hmph, punk, go on. Keep pretending! Let’s see if you can keep it up later!”
Lena looked rather worried when she saw Russell walking toward them.
Although she usually stayed out of the affairs between those major families, she had heard of Russell’s name before.
In addition to his meticulousness and conscientiousness, another reason that Russell was put in charge of handling all matters related to the Kingstons’ auctions was that he was very resourceful and authoritative. When necessary, he would be ruthless. So he had managed to occupy an important role in the Kingston family for many years.
Keeping his eyes fixed in front, Russell walked toward Lucas and said, “Sir, I’m Russell Duncan, and I’m in charge of this auction tonight. I understand that you indeed entered this venue without an invitation, so please cooperate and provide valid proof of assets.”
Russell’s tone was very polite, and he didn’t get influenced by Elijah’s words and didn’t treat Lucas like someone of a lower class who came to cause trouble.
Of course, if Lucas really couldn’t prove that he had 15 million dollars in assets and was found out to have a questionable motive, Russell wouldn’t be so cordial toward him.
“Uncle Russell, he’s my friend. Can you be a little more accommodating?” Lena put her palms together and pleaded.
Most people would more or less give in to the request of a beautiful girl like Lena, especially since she was the daughter of the richest man in Orange County.
Unfortunately, Russell didn’t waver and simply said expressionlessly, “My apologies, Miss Sawyer, but these are the rules of the auction. Any accompanying guest of an invited guest who does not belong to a first-rate family must undergo an asset eligibility check. Otherwise, I will have to send someone to ask this gentleman to leave immediately.”
Faced with the strict and impartial Russell, Lena could only panic inwardly.
Although she had witnessed Lucas win over 15 million dollars from Tony Zander within just ten minutes in Little Atlantis City, she heard later that there was internal strife in Little Atlantis City and that Tony had died in a power struggle. So she didn’t know if Lucas had obtained that sum of money or not.
Besides, even if Lucas had gotten the money, it had been more than two weeks since that incident, and he might have already spent it. She thought that it was unlikely that he would keep such a large sum of money in his bank account for others to conduct checks on!
Even she, the daughter of the richest man in Orange County, didn’t have 15 million dollars sitting in her bank account!
This rule was clearly meant to make things hard for others!
“Uncle Russell, this rule is clearly too overbearing…”
Lena frowned and wanted to continue to say something, but Russell’s cold and emotionless voice interrupted her. “Miss Sawyer, this is the rule of the Kingstons’ auctions. Please don’t interfere with our standard protocol! If you continue to do so, don’t blame me for asking you to leave now despite your father’s status.”
Russell didn’t move his brow at all, but the overbearing dominance in his tone was self-explanatory.
Since Russell already said so, Lena naturally couldn’t say anything else. She could only look at Lucas apologetically with some worry in her eyes.
Lucas suddenly developed an interest in Russell, whom he didn’t take seriously at first.
Russell was domineering, but he didn’t put on airs or compel others by throwing his weight around. Instead, he was unusually austere and strictly went by the book with no room for compromise.
Lucas believed that Russell was not nitpicking on Lena and that even if the Kingstons pleaded with him, he would likewise follow the rules and turn them down.
People like him were rare to come by.
The commotion over here had attracted almost all the guests in the auction hall. Bruce, who was talking to someone at the other side of the hall, naturally saw what was going on here. Feeling a little worried, he hurriedly walked over and reached his hand out to Russell. “Mr. Duncan, this is Mr. Lucas Gray, who’s also my friend. I’m willing to vouch for him…”
Before Bruce could finish his sentence, Russell raised a hand and interrupted him coldly, “Mr. Hale, like I just said, I’m only following the rules of this auction. If anyone else tries to interfere with my execution of the protocol, I will have to ask you to leave, even if you are the head of the Hale family.”
Bruce originally thought that Russell would do him a favor since they had met on several occasions, but to his surprise, Russell turned him down without any mercy.
Bruce began to look sullen.
Of course, he was not worried that Lucas wouldn’t be able to prove that he had enough money. In fact, even if Lucas needed his help, he wouldn’t hesitate to transfer 15 million dollars to him now.
He just didn’t want to see Lucas become the target of criticism and nitpicking. After all, the Hales had now pledged allegiance to Lucas, so Bruce naturally didn’t want to see him get humiliated by others.
At this moment, the guests standing around also began whispering to each other while looking at Lucas with curiosity and bewilderment.
They were quite confused as to why the daughter of the richest man of Orange County and the head of one of the four most powerful families of Orange County would speak up for Lucas if he was just a nobody as Elijah had said.
Could there be something more to this? They wondered.
Just as Bruce was about to say something else, Lucas sat on a chair and suddenly said, “You want to check my assets? Sure.
“However, if I do meet the criteria, shouldn’t the person who just smeared me and tried to stir trouble by being verbally provocative toward me be punished too?”