The Retired CEO's Guide To Being Spoiled-Chapter 269: The Calm Before the Storm

"Harrison Thornton’s side must have found out something too, right?" Julian Sterling leaned back in his chair, his voice much more relaxed. He guessed so because in the business world, there was no such thing as simply helping each other out.

Harrison Thornton’s comment came too timely. Even if Ethan Caldwell had asked for help, the man would not have intervened so easily. Unless the warning from Ethan actually helped Harrison Thornton discover something.

"We haven’t found out who secretly took the photos, but Harrison Thornton’s side noticed a few suspicious individuals." Ethan Caldwell did not explain clearly, only speaking vaguely: "His main focus is not on legitimate business."

Wealthy, possessing a massive fortune, feared by both the underworld and the lawful society, yet not focusing on business. It went without saying what line of work the man was in. Julian did not ask any further.

There were some things that were better left just knowing the surface.

"Is everything alright on your end then?" Julian slightly furrowed his brows, his fingers tapping lightly on the desk.

This matter was clearly aimed at Ethan. If the mastermind truly angered Harrison Thornton, Julian was afraid that Harrison would lose his patience and take his anger out on Ethan. After all, working with figures who stood in such gray areas always harbored immense risks.

"Rest assured, he is not that unreasonable. The two sides currently still share common interests."

Ethan knew what Julian was worrying about, so he coaxed the younger man quickly, the deep and steady tone transmitting through the phone carrying an evident comforting power. The two of them chatted for a while longer about their upcoming work arrangements before hanging up. Putting the phone down, Julian continued to process the remaining unfinished documents. By late afternoon, the sunlight outside the window had faded. Helen Lloyd knocked on the door and entered the office to report the situation once more. Everything at the company and on the media platforms remained normal.

Julian merely hummed in response, flipping to the last page of the file. He was wondering where to drop by for dinner this evening when Helen Lloyd approached, handing him an exquisitely packaged box made of excellent thermal insulation material. It was not very heavy to hold, but he could still feel the warmth transferring from the box to the palm of his hand.

"What is this?" Julian asked in surprise.

"The boss was afraid that you would be too busy to know what to eat and might buy random unhealthy food outside, so he instructed me to pre-order a meal from a restaurant and bring it to you." Helen Lloyd replied carefully.

"Oh, thank you." Julian looked at the food box, the corners of his lips unconsciously curving up a bit: "Ah, right, about me going to Kensington City tomorrow, hold off on telling Ethan for now. I want to give him a surprise."

Hearing that, Helen Lloyd smiled, her eyes showing that she completely understood. She nodded, confirming that she absolutely would not leak any information beforehand, and then excused herself to step out. Julian also nodded and said nothing more.

By the time he returned home, the spacious apartment was somewhat quiet. Julian sat at the dining table, eating the warm, pre-prepared food while carefully monitoring the situation on the internet through his tablet. Contrary to the possible scenarios he had anticipated, everything went very smoothly tonight. The current direction of the netizens’ comments was handled extremely well by the media team of the Caldwell Empire. The negative keywords had been pushed down, and no unexpected situations had arisen.

But the more it was like this, the more anxious he became. This silence was far too forced.

Julian did not believe that everything would simply stop there. The opponent had taken the trouble to set up such a massive chessboard; they definitely could not give up right from the first move. The more peaceful the situation was, the more it felt like the terrifying calm before the storm. They were waiting for another opportune moment to deliver a decisive blow.

Harboring this worry, Julian carefully observed the online situation continuously, occasionally refreshing the news page to ensure he did not miss any fluctuations. It was not until the clock struck the hour to rest and Ethan called to wish him a good night that still nothing had happened.

Hearing the familiar voice ringing from the other end of the line, Julian subconsciously relaxed his tense shoulders. He could only let out a heavy sigh, the sound inadvertently slipping into the earphone microphone. The man on the other side immediately noticed the anomaly and asked softly: "What’s wrong?"

Julian did not hide anything either. He recounted in detail to Ethan his predictions about the abnormal silence of public opinion tonight. After patiently listening to Julian ramble through his analysis for a while, Ethan slowly spoke up, "There’s no need to worry. The more anxious you are, the more you fall into their psychological trap."

"Hmm?" Julian furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Since we could handle the situation so quickly and cleanly, they will definitely realize that we were prepared beforehand. Thus, the tricks arranged in the background are forced to stall to assess the situation. At this moment, if they act hastily, it will conversely expose their flaws and ruin their entire plan. Meanwhile, as they hesitate to advance, the ones who become anxious are us. This situation is no different from scaring ourselves, draining our spirits and creating conditions for the opponent to gain the upper hand."

Hearing Ethan analyze every detail clearly, Julian also gradually calmed down. Ethan Caldwell’s words were incredibly reasonable. Recently, the workload and many troublesome matters had crashed down all at once, causing Julian to become a bit hasty, lacking his usual composure. Thinking it through, Julian finally let out a sigh of relief: "I know."

"So can my baby rest assured and go to sleep now?" Ethan softened his voice, dragging out the ending note as if he were coaxing him. "Stop overthinking; there are solutions for everything, just go to sleep. The road ahead is still very long; hold on for a few more days, wait for me to finish sorting out the work, and then I will be home." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"I know. I’ll go to sleep first; you should rest early after finishing your work too."

"Mm, I know. Good night."

"Good night."

After hanging up the phone, he buried himself in the blankets for a long time, his sleep still somewhat fitful. Initially, Julian thought it was because he was still worried about the online affairs that he could not sleep. It was only later, when Julian accidentally rolled over to the spot where Ethan usually slept and buried himself in the place that still held a lingering trace of the man’s scent, that he felt a little better. Only then did he realize that, in truth, it was because he did not have the other man by his side that he was not used to sleeping alone.

Sigh, in such a short amount of time, habits had changed to a terrifying extent.

The next morning, Julian brought a not-so-refreshed face to the company.

Today, there was no passionate phone call routine like the day before. Colin Grant, the assistant accompanying Ethan, had texted him that there was an urgent matter this morning, so Ethan had rushed off to deal with it. Actually, Julian had no objections, calling each other three or four times a day sounded a bit bothersome anyway.

Not to mention, he was flying to Kensington City this afternoon anyway. In just a few hours, the two of them would meet again.

Thinking of this, Julian’s mood also became a bit more relaxed. There wasn’t much work in the morning. After Helen Lloyd reported on the internet situation from the previous night, Julian was the only one left in the office.

Before Ethan went on his business trip, Julian had anticipated that many things would happen. He just hadn’t expected that the storms he imagined would not appear at all. The only thing that caused a slight difficulty was also resolved very quickly.

But for some unknown reason, Julian kept having a feeling of unease in his heart.

He had the feeling that something immense was going to happen; there were things that kept flickering in his thoughts. But Julian had no way of grasping them.

Right at this moment, the notification on his phone showed that he had just received an email marked as important. Julian absentmindedly opened the email to read, but within moments, his face hardened.

The more he read the email, the worse his expression became. Right at that moment, Julian immediately called Ethan. However, unlike previous times, the phone rang continuously, yet no one answered. He could not even reach Colin Grant.

Julian’s face grew increasingly unsightly as he picked up the intercom, instructing Helen Lloyd to come to his office.