After handling things in Paris, William saw Carlos off. Carlos was heading to Switzerland to find like-minded members of the Assassin's Brotherhood to deal with Sloan in New York.
While eating breakfast and reading the Paris newspaper, William smiled as he turned to the third page. It indeed reported a sniper attack that had occurred by the Seine the previous night, in which three Albanians, a father and his two sons, had died.
Finally, the Murad family had been sent to meet Satan. With all the adult males dead, William believed the family would soon be absorbed by other forces. These people no longer had the strength or time to cause trouble for William and Bryan.
However, the biggest surprise was yet to come. After William turned on the TV, he saw that many Parisian TV stations were reporting a sensational news story: an anonymous informant had exposed the issue of human trafficking, which concerned most Europeans.
This unknown anonymous person not only revealed that Albanians were brazenly kidnapping single young women traveling from all over the world in Europe, but also exposed that the Albanians' protector was a director of the French Security Committee, Claude's superior.
The TV host also implicitly mentioned the situation of underground auction houses in Europe and how the annual value of women trafficking alone in Europe reached billions of dollars. Each year, tens of thousands of missing young women were reported, and the number of those not reported or registered as missing in Europe from other countries was unknown, conservatively estimated to be tens of thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands.
Finally, the female TV host presented a lot of evidence of Claude's superior accepting money from the Albanian gang. With tears streaming down her face, her makeup smudged, she passionately called on society to pay attention to the cases of missing persons in Europe and demanded a thorough investigation by the government.
William realized almost immediately that this must have been leaked by Claude's wife. He hadn't expected her to be so ruthless. She must have had some secret code with Claude or learned of his disappearance somehow, and in her desire for revenge, she disregarded her own safety.
However, Claude's wife's actions benefited William. Claude's superior was now fighting for his own survival, and the underground auction house was busy putting out fires and destroying evidence. Their energy and time would be focused on identifying the leaker.
Indeed, within a few hours, TV stations reported that Claude's superior had been taken away, and the police had sealed off 7 Bellic Street. In the third basement, they found an underground auction venue, over a dozen young women awaiting auction in a few days, and a large quantity of illegal items.
At this, all of France was enraged, and protests began to break out in many places.
Seeing this situation, Paris would quickly descend into chaos. For safety, William immediately had the hotel book him a private jet flying directly to New York. He did not want to stay in this powder keg that was Paris.
After booking the flight, William had the hotel send a car to pick up his cousin Amanda, who was recuperating, and bring her to the hotel to stay with Ginny.
As William, prepared and awaiting Amanda's arrival, saw the suite butler tap on the open door. With William's nod, the butler entered and said, "Mr. Cavendish, a gentleman who wishes to remain anonymous hopes to meet with you. He says he has a message to deliver to you. Mr. Cavendish, what do you think?"
Just as he was about to leave, someone came knocking, asking to see him. Who could it be, and what message did they want to convey? William thought for a moment and then said, "Please invite the gentleman up."
Soon, the butler returned with a short, thin old man who appeared to be over 70, with a serene expression, wearing a black fedora and a light jacket.
After the butler bowed, closed the door, and left the suite, the old man smiled, took off his fedora, and said, "Hello, Mr. Cavendish, my name is Charlie."
"Hello, Mr. Charlie, may I ask what you need from me?"
"I'm here to deliver a message, and also to give you one of our business cards, so that if you ever need to find us in the future, you won't have to go through other Continental Hotel members," he said, handing William a silver-white metal business card.
Upon hearing "Continental Hotel," William knew what the old man did. This old man was a cleaner. But how did these guys find him so quickly? "Thank you, but I don't quite understand why you're looking for me. It seems we haven't crossed paths before, Charlie."
Charlie smiled and said in a calm tone, "Don't worry, Mr. Cavendish, there's no need to be so cautious. We don't care who you are or what you've done. We only care if you'll intersect with us, if you'll act, when you'll need our services, and if you can pay our fees.
As compensation for this uninvited visit and to show our sincerity to an important client like you, we have already taken care of the aftermath of the dozens of bodies that suddenly appeared in Paris these past two days, free of charge.
I must say, Mr. Cavendish, it is truly our dereliction of duty to have met you so late. If we had known you sooner, we would not have missed the opportunity for nearly a hundred gold coin transactions in Montenegro and Paris. There are really few people with your outstanding business capabilities nowadays.
Please, in the future, if you have any needs, be sure to call me, lest some old friends mock me for being truly old and no longer even capable of developing clients."
William looked at the old man before him, whose face was serene and amiable, yet whose words were chillingly cold and bloody. He wondered if these people still possessed any emotions. "Alright, Charlie, I accept your kind offer. I also know that you are the best in certain aspects. But can you tell me who wishes to convey a message to me? I have other matters to attend to shortly and don't have much time."
Charlie seemed to understand William's sudden sense of distance and, chuckling, said without minding, "Thank you for your praise. Mr. Winston, the manager of the New York Continental Hotel, asked me to tell you that he sincerely invites you to meet him at the Continental Hotel at 175 Fifth Avenue in New York. He said that once you hear his last name is Winston, you should agree. He has a lot he wants to say to you."
"Winston"? William thought curiously. Wasn't Winston his grandfather's middle name? His grandfather's full name was Henry Winston Cavendish. Good heavens, no way. Do I have a hitman boss as a relative? If they are relatives, they must be from Henry's mother's side, which is several generations removed. They haven't had contact for decades. What could he want with me? Still, there shouldn't be any harm in meeting him.
The Continental Hotel apparently knew about what William had done in Montenegro. That made sense; William hadn't hidden his tracks in Montenegro, so anyone with connections and a keen interest could have traced the incident back to him.
Thinking back now, he had been too naive then, believing that killing a few dozen people would make people fear him.
Truly powerful and influential people would not directly confront William; they would often observe him from the shadows. Fortunately, William had made a fortune in Switzerland, so he no longer had to worry about money. Wealthy people could still accomplish many things.
Perhaps he should spend a hundred million pounds to set up a revenge fund at the Continental Hotel, or pay a sum to see if he could get a large assassin organization like the Continental Hotel to refuse any contracts concerning him.
Suddenly hearing that the head of the world's largest assassin organization was looking for him made William curious. What could be so important that he was formally invited to meet in New York?
After thinking it over, William nodded, "Alright, I'll go if I get the chance."
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