The Killer Queen (Noella Briony)

"It's like they've lost someone from their own family!"

And not just anyone, but the head of the household, Tristan!

How come they're all acting so cool about it?!

"Tristan was your father, right? Since he was, it's only natural for you to come and claim his body. If you don't, we'll have to treat him as an unidentified corpse and cremate him with the others!"

Ulrich: "He's my dad, sure, but there's probably a dozen Tristans in the country. How can you be sure this one's him?"

The other party quickly recited Tristan's social security number.

"After checking, we've confirmed this is indeed your biological father."

"Oh, then just ditch him."

The other party: "What?!"Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Ditch him? Where exactly?

The Schnabel family must be joking!

Even a con artist would be shocked at this point!

Are these people seriously ill?!

Isn't this the time for tears and mourning?

"This is your biological father we're talking about..."

Ulrich raised an eyebrow, "Everyone dies eventually. Don't be sad, your time will come too."

The police officer was totally taken aback.

"Why would I be sad? He's not my father!"

"Exactly, not your dad. So what's the fuss? Just dump him anywhere!"

Ulrich said, ready to hang up without leaving any room for further discussion.

The other party was clearly panicking!

"Wait a minute! We can arrange to send him back to you, but you'd need to cover some expenses."

"How much?"

"Five million dollars."

Ulrich immediately shook his head: "Five hundred Vietnamese dong, maybe. My dad's not worth that much! Just find some place to dump him, goodbye!"

With that, Ulrich hung up the phone.

Malvina was almost dying of laughter!

All her fears had evaporated, replaced by tears of mirth.

"I didn't know you were such a scammer yourself. Five hundred dong isn't even a cent. You're gonna give those scammers a heart attack!"

Real Tristan frowned: "Five million dollars. Am I really worth so little?"

Noella laughed: "Dad, they wanted to use that as a pretext to get our bank account details, and then drain it through illegal means."

Tristan stroked his chin.

"So they're after the money?"

"If they could've fooled us into paying, it would've been a bonus. Intimidating the Schnabel family and landing a fatal blow, while also making some cash on the side. All part of the plan."

It made the entire Schnabel family view this as a mere telecom scam, trivializing the whole episode!

Wealthy families often feel embarrassed by falling for scams and usually keep it to themselves.

Knowing this, groups that target wealthy families are not uncommon!

Tristan: "Losing money is one thing, but spreading rumors of my death? That's downright ominous."

Sienna piped up, "I got a message too, saying mom was seriously ill and needed money."

Tristan: "Should I send it to the underworld?"

His mother had passed away years ago, and Ashlyn, that stepmom of his, was barely hanging on as it was!

"It'd be more believable to say my dad was dying. Let me see... And now there are messages saying my daughter needs tutoring fees?"

Tristan was dumbfounded!

Noella: "Using my name to ask for money from my parents is easy, but there's a flaw in their plan. If my parents had sent money to the account provided, their personal information would've been compromised."

If it had actually been Noella asking, Tristan and Sienna wouldn't have hesitated to give.

If not for the fact that their precious daughter didn't need tutoring fees at all, Tristan might have actually sent the money.

Damn scammers!

Noella's fingers flew over the keyboard, tracing the scam to its source based on the video call with the scamming police officer.

"Beckett, this group is also connected to Dillon."

Ulrich, with a cold gaze: "Beckett,

encountered a few scam groupse

while working with Doctors Without Borders. Pearl's husband seemed quite involved with those circles!"

Pearl's husband, always a shadowy figure.

As a man who married into the family, he was rarely seen in the Patel circles, showing up only to accompany Pearl to significant events. Malvina added: "Pearl's husband, I think his name was Connor Baker. A few years back, he visited the Gruber family. Seemed like an odd fellow." Connor wasn't a memorable character for Malvina, only known for the many children in the Patel family now bearing the Baker surname! Entering his name, Noella quickly found information about Connor.

"Early on, seemed like he was into pyramid schemes? Ended up in jail for it."

Beckett nodded, "I've heard about that. Afterward, he rarely operated within the country, seems he moved on to scamming."

No surprise there.

Noella focused on a message from Mizar.

[Connor is Oriana's uncle, her father's brother.]

[The customs officer who tried to scam you? That's their pro!]

Seeing the patterns, it truly was a professional scam operation!

Since the last debacle at Azure's launch event, Oriana has been cooling her heels in a detention center.

After a moment of contemplation, Noella replied: "Let Oriana out, inform her about the Patel family's banquet." [Hehe, boss is up to no good again!]

With Oriana's petty schemes, causing a stir at the Patel family's banquet would be a piece of cake!

The Patel family's upcoming banquet was sure to be an eventful one!

Lockhart Prison.

Amidst a sandstorm, the prison stood isolated in the desert, its watchtowers unmanned, as anyone approaching Lockhart Prison without authorization would be shot on sight.

In the desert, a woman barely recognizable under the sand, held a gun towards a distant target, squeezing the trigger swiftly!

The target fell to the ground with a thud!

Xavier clapped his hands in approval. "Nice shot!"

Millie picked herself up off the ground, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. "Xavier, have people lost their minds these days?"

Why are so many folks treating Lockhart Prison like it's some sort of tourist attraction?

Do they think they're on vacation?

Since when did Lockhart Prison become the new Disneyland?

Xavier snorted dismissively.

"Some folks just can't sit still. They want to test your mettle, see if you can hit a target from a hundred yards away with ten consecutive shots. Once you can do that this place might as well bear your name!"

Xavier was genuinely considering handing over the reins of Lockhart Prison to Millie.

This kid had the right mix of smarts, cunning, and a certain roguish charm - the perfect successor in Xavier's eyes!

Millie pondered for a moment, "That's fine by me, but I follow in my mentor's footsteps! Whatever she tells me to do, I do!"

The duo made their way back to the prison.

Jasper was squatting on the ground, phone in hand, taking a call.

"Jasper, your dad's got a mistress on the side! He's only giving a thousand bucks a month to your little brother and sister!"

A mistress? And siblings?

Armed with the knowledge about the scam gang, Jasper wasn't fazed in the least.

Jasper replied coolly, "That little,

-

huh? Well, tell you what, come find me and let them call me 'Dad.' ' ас add a zero to that amount aze thousand for ten months, a hundred a month. How's that for generous?"