Chapter 136 - 136

"W- w- what did you say? Josephine? They had Josephine?" Ian asked as he stumbled on the words.

"Yes." Marco told him with a frown. "I'm sorry Ian, I know you were furious with Jas when she betrayed you, but it seemed that they were threatening her with her sister's life."

Ian felt someone place their hands on his shoulders and try to comfort him. He guessed that it was Camilla, it was something she would do.

"Did they have any other accomplices?" Ian asked.

"It seemed like they did, or at least someone was telling them to use the Ortega family." Marco told Ian. 

"I need to see Jas.." Ian mumbled.

"I know you do, we sent someone to fetch her and she's on the way." Marco told Ian. "Don't worry, the Reyes Group will always be on your side." Marco said with a nod. 

"What happened to Mike and Armand?" A young man asked as he leaned forward. Ian recognized him as a young politician that had been all over the news recently.

If he wasn't mistaken, this man was Alexander Sebastian, the son of the Senator Jose Sebastian. He had the same light brown hair and foreign looking features as his father.

"We thought this would be a simple business matter at first." Emilio Reyes explained. "But when we found the young lady tied up, we realized that this could be bigger. So right now, they are being interrogated."

"You will hand them over eventually, right?" Jose Sebastian asked Emilio Reyes.

"We will, of course." The CEO said with a nod. "We just need to know how far and how deep this scheme of theirs ran. If they had one woman tied up, they could have others."

"Just give me or Alexi a call and we will have the police wherever you leave them." Jose Sebastian said with a nod.

"Who is doing the interrogation?" Alexander Sebastian asked.

"People who work for the king of the underworld." Seth said as she stepped forward. "He sent some men to question Mike and Armand, his men are incredibly effective."

"And you are?" The young politician asked as he eyed Seth carefully. 

"A messenger and an employee of the Reyes Group." Seth said.

"It's fine Seth, everyone in this room knows." Marco told Seth with a nod, giving him permission to speak freely. 

"Oh, right." Seth replied as he was clearly surprised. He thought less people knew who the king of the underworld was. "We sent them to Ray's men. I'm the son of the head of the Dean Family Mafia."

"So you are the next head?" Alexander Sebastian asked.

"Depends." Seth said with a shrug and a grin.

"Interesting." Alexander said as he nodded his head slowly.

"My people should be able to get the information we need out of them." Ray Laurence said with a laugh as he leaned back on his seat. "I saw Mike and Armand, they don't look like they will hold up against our methods."

"You never know what desperate people can withstand." Ian said with a frown.

"You're right." Ray told him as he nodded at the assistant. "Luckily, the Reyes Group has a detailed file on all of its employees, so we know exactly what will get them to break." 

"Don't worry, yours is filed separately." Marco said with a laugh as he sensed Ian's concern. "Only the CEO can see those documents. It is dangerous to have our information out in the open."

Ian simply nodded in reply as he remained silent.

"Before I dismiss everyone, I would like to thank you all for you help." Emilio Reyes said. "This whole operation would not have been a success if anyone had failed to do their part. So thank you."

With that the CEO let everyone leave including his friends, but he asked the assistants, Jake, and Seth to stay behind since he wanted to speak to them.

The room took a while to clear and Marco had to escort some of the VIPs to the elevator despite their protests. 

When he finally returned, the CEO nodded at him and gestured for him to take a seat.

"I feel like I need to thank each of you personally for helping out on this matter." Emilio Reyes began to say. "And I will not accept any of you saying that it was only a part of your jobs, because this is over and beyond that."

Everyone in the room remained silent as they listened to what he had to say.

"Jake, I know that you have refused this offer too many times, but this time I am asking you to take it." Emilio Reyes said as he looked at the younger man. "There is no one I can trust to lead the Sales Department of Krisanta Land other than you."

"Uncle, I'm not sure I'm up for the job." Jake said as he tried to turn down the promotion.

"Ridiculous! You grew up in this business. You were groomed to take over a company exactly like this and you will someday. Think of this as practice." He told Jake.

Jake knew he would not be able to refuse the promotion this time, so he simply nodded and accepted the role.

"See, not that hard." The CEO said with a laugh.

"No uncle, it isn't." Jake responded with a grin.

"Seth, your family has provided immense help to the Reyes Group this past week. I have already offered your father several partnerships for your legitimate businesses." The CEO informed him.

"Thank you, sir." Seth said with a respectful bow.

"But, I want to personally thank you. I know that like Jake you would reject a promotion, so I simply upgraded your apartment in Solaire Towers." Emilio Reyese revealed, stunning everyone. "I told your dad and we've arranged for everything in your old apartment to be moved to a VIP floor."

"Sir, you shouldn't have." Seth said, shaking his head. "But thank you."

Seth knew that he could no longer return that reward, so he humbly accepted it.

"Camilla, Ian, you both placed yourselves at risk for this. I've asked Marco to increase your monthly pay as well as to transfer one property each to your name. You don't have any say on the matter since it has already been done."  Emilio Reyes told them.

"Sir, that's too much." Ian told the CEO.

"No, it's not. That is all, you may go." He informed them, not giving them the opportunity to reject his gifts. "Marco, a quick word." He told his head assistant who stayed behind.

Once everyone was out Marco walked back up to Emilio Reyes' side.

"Is it done? Is he in?" The CEO asked his assistant.

"He didn't even need any help." Marco said with a laugh.

"Good, good." Emilio Reyes responded with a nod. "There is one more thing I want you to do."

"Yes, sir?" Marco asked.

"Make sure that none of Ian's plans are stopped." He instructed with a sly grin. "You know our policy, we will always be on the side of those loyal to the Reyes Family and we will never abandon them."

"Consider it done, sir." Marco said with a nod as he left the room.