Let Me Go, Mr. Howard Chapter 234

The business world that had regained its vitality two months ago should have started preparing for the power grab about a month ago, but news of it only broke now.

Even before Orion brought it up, Sebastian hadn't gotten wind of it at all.

This whole thing seemed to be happening behind everyone's backs.

Sebastian's silence was exactly what Orion had expected. The foosball game in his hands had reached a fever pitch.

The ball impacts grew more frequent, and Orion's movements became faster and faster, his eyes locked on the ball inside the table frame, seemingly having forgotten all about the headaches the Watson family had brought him.

The noisy commotion stayed within Sebastian's tolerance range.

His fingers curved slightly, propping up his chin, tapping rhythmically at an even pace.

Until there was a loud sound.

The red team scored. Orion pumped his fist, unable to contain his excitement. "Yes!"

From start to finish, Sebastian hadn't said another word.

By the time Orion realized where he was, Sebastian waiting behind him had already lost his patience.

When Orion looked over, Sebastian stood up, his gaze falling on him with neither weight nor lightness. "Looks like Mr. Watson isn't too bothered by this whole thing. Guess you don't need me to step in after all."

Orion immediately reached out to stop him. "Wait, don't go!"

The sudden intervention made Sebastian pause, but he only gave him a lazy glance before continuing to prepare his exit.

"A man named Barnes showed up at home recently. He says he's from Eldoria!" Seeing that the other man was still about to leave, Orion hurriedly blurted out the information he had.

Sebastian had been busy expanding into overseas markets lately, and Eldoria was one of those sectors—the most important one, in fact.

Though he wasn't sure why Sebastian valued that place so much, Orion had basically grown up competing with Sebastian since childhood.

Right now, Orion understood that Sebastian definitely had some plan in Eldoria, which was why he'd come up with this whole overseas market expansion cover story to fool people.

And Sebastian did indeed stop in his tracks, though whether Orion's guess was correct or the other man had simply regained interest was unclear.

Sebastian turned to look at him, his eyes calm and untroubled. "Since when is the Watson family a place run by some foreigner?"

At those words, Orion lowered his head and reached up to scratch the corner of his eye where a drop of water had just fallen, making it itch.

"It's not that he's in charge, but my father and grandfather both follow that guy's every word."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

Sebastian never coddled him, firing back with a question, but at least he came back.

He sat down on the sofa again. This time, Orion didn't dare play with those arcade games anymore and obediently sat down not far from him.

"That guy calls himself Evge... he's got the last name Barnes." Orion frowned, unable to remember for a moment, so he just gave up and explained hastily, "The guy's name is a mouthful. I forgot it after hearing it once."

Fortunately, this little interruption didn't affect the rest of their conversation. "He keeps talking about Mr. Williams. I once—"

"James Williams?"

Before he could finish, Sebastian immediately cut him off.

Orion looked over. The other man's expression was serious—a rare sight on Sebastian's face.

The fingers resting on his leg suddenly clenched tight, and even his half-lowered eyes darkened abruptly. Something was definitely wrong.

Seeing Sebastian like this, Orion's heart skipped a beat. He finally realized the situation was bad, his voice becoming dry and hoarse. "What's wrong?"

Sebastian's mind raced with countless thoughts, but within just a second or two, his emotions stabilized slightly, though his tone remained displeased. "Who knows you came here today?"

"Nobody. I drove here from the company and deliberately took a big detour outside the city."

Fortunately, Orion still had some brains before drinking.

He knew their collaboration had to stay under wraps, so he'd been deliberate about it.

But Sebastian's expression still didn't relax.

Since this Barnes guy was James's man, what was their purpose in getting close to the Watson family?

Nico was already on his way to Eldoria. The situation on James's end was unclear for now, but his people were silently infiltrating the Watson family.

"When did he arrive at your house?" He wouldn't let any detail slip by.

Orion clearly understood this point too. After that question, he immediately began reporting everything in detail.

He had no choice—he was basically tied to Sebastian now.

"About three days ago. My father brought him over, went straight into the study, and they came out after five or six minutes." His tone was relatively calm, but his eyes were dark and his mouth pulled into a flat line.

"After that, my father's attitude toward me changed. At first, I didn't think much of it. I figured after getting through the family's rise, his feelings for me had just dropped back to square one. Never thought there was such a big surprise hidden in all this."

When Orion reached this point, he laughed softly, but it was completely different from his usual deliberate fox-like grin.

Cold disgust, irritation, and heartbreak—those were all the emotions you could read from that laugh.

Sebastian just glanced at him once, didn't respond, and didn't even think about comforting his business partner.

Orion never expected the other man to provide any emotional value anyway. He took a slightly deeper breath and continued, "That Mr. Barnes approached me privately and asked some questions about Shane Wright."

Hearing this, Sebastian finally showed some reaction. "Getting impatient, aren't they?"

The news that Shane was going to Eldoria to visit James had been made public five days ago.

But Shane hadn't rushed into Eldoria. Instead, he'd come to Lumaria first, saying he wanted to visit an old friend.

This information had only been shared with James's side.

Logically, this news shouldn't have been a big problem—it even showed a hint of respect for James.

But James's side was acting like they were facing a major threat, secretly sending people to probe the relationship between Shane and Orion.

But they really had no brains.

Never mind that the Wright family and Watson family already had dealings—just talking about Orion himself, there wasn't a person in all of Sovereign City he didn't know. Hell, every person he knew could potentially be called his friend.

An early playboy who loved to party was actually a guy deliberately pretending to be harmless, secretly as cunning as an old fox.

"Talk about impatient." Orion chuckled, but the laugh disappeared completely right after. "Guess he didn't get any satisfactory answers, so he went ahead and pulled some behind-the-scenes moves."

Seeing that he completely understood the situation, Sebastian frowned, leaned forward, and stared at him intently. "I can see you're not incapable of handling this yourself. What do you want from me? Just to have a good cry? Drink my booze?"

At those words, Orion's expression changed instantly, but he didn't avoid Sebastian's eyes.

"Mr. Howard, you know that once you've helped me once, you should see it through to the end. You can't just walk away from this."

Sebastian leaned back, his gaze still fixed on him, laughing coldly. "What exactly can I help you with?"