Cole West felt that he must be the unluckiest person in the world. Otherwise, he wouldn't find himself in a situation where a simple "get lost" had escalated to the point where he didn't even have a usable credit card in his hands. Now, he had to obediently go home for meals or mooch off his friends. However, he didn't even feel like going to his friends anymore. The thought of being treated as a joke by his former buddies made him wish he could lock himself at home until he died.
Initially, he thought the most painful time would be the days spent confined at home. However, once he learned that he was now the defendant, accused of unimaginable crimes and required to pay massive compensation, he realized that the truly painful times were yet to come.
"Minor? When did I mess with a minor?" Cole angrily retorted to his father's questioning. "Do you not know what kind of girls I like?"
Old West certainly knew his son's interests; this kid had taken away several women that he had his eyes on. But apparently, liking older women didn't mean Cole wasn't interested in minors. Forget about people outside not trusting Cole; even his father, upon hearing the accusations, was inclined to believe them.
"If you haven't done anything, why would the Moran family sue you? Let me tell you, if you go in this time, don't even think about getting a penny of the family fortune after I die!"
Cole's eyes widened, "You're not giving me the money? Are you planning to donate it to charity?" He absolutely didn't believe his father would have such noble ideals. "Or do you have a few more secret illegitimate children out there?"
"Smack!" A loud slap landed on the back of Cole's head. "If I had other sons outside, I would have kicked you out a long time ago!" Was it necessary to pamper him so much if he had more than one troublesome son? Especially when even the women he fancied weren't spared!
Holding his head, Cole exclaimed, "So that's it, right? If you die and don't give me the money, do you have anyone else to give it to? Don't tell me you'll share it with your relatives; I wouldn't believe it even if there's a punctuation mark in it!"
Old West was nearly driven mad by him. He had just casually mentioned it, and this brat actually thought he was eyeing the family fortune! Although, after he died, the entire fortune would indeed go to Cole, it didn't mean he was willing to give away the money he had worked hard for his entire life before meeting God!
"I'm still young; I can still have ten more or so!" He was only in his fifties, and others could still have children at seventy or eighty. Why couldn't he?
Cole scoffed, "Come on. You've only had me for so many years. If you could have more, wouldn't you have done it by now?"
Old West, feeling as if a sword had pierced his chest, restrained the urge to cough up blood and delivered another slap to his son's head.
"You brat, I say one thing, and you've got ten things to retort with?" What had he done wrong to deserve such a troublesome son?
"I've said my piece. You deal with this matter yourself. If you can't get the Moran side to drop the charges, I won't spend a dime on hiring a lawyer for you. Just go to jail honestly!"
Anxiously, Cole grabbed his father's sleeve, preventing him from leaving. "I don't know what they're crazy about. How do you expect me to resolve this? I've already dropped the case and stopped bothering that little star, and they're still treating me like this. What can I do?"
Old West thought of hitting him again. "You must not have apologized, right?" He swore if this brat dared to say he didn't, he would beat him severely!
Cole instantly wilted and didn't dare to look at his father.
Seeing his son like this, Old West had an incredulous thought surfacing in his mind. "You didn't apologize, did you?" He swore that if this damn kid dared to say yes, he would definitely beat him hard!
Cole's heart skipped a beat, and he struggled to breathe. "I dropped the case! Doesn't that mean I apologized? Why are you hitting me again?" His words were pounded back by a series of slaps.
One after another, Old West was truly determined to beat him to death.
"Who do you think you are? If you dare to let them roll, you don't even dare to apologize?" He shouldn't have let him handle the matter on his own in the first place. Now, if he were a member of the Moran family, he wouldn't let this damn kid off so easily when faced with such trouble!
Cole, with a stiff neck, exclaimed, "Why should I apologize? What did I do wrong? Look at my leg; was I the one beaten up?"
"You still dare to say that!" Old West yelled louder than him. "Wait until you earn more money than them, then you can act all tough!" He was really jealous! The Moran family had a child, and how could they educate him to be so successful? Look at his own, aside from spending money for him and snatching women with him, what else did he have?
"You don't even earn more money than them?" Cole rubbed his sore body, grinning, and said, "If you had as much money, they would be the ones apologizing now!"
This brat! Old West was truly infuriated. Even though he was no longer useful, he had built an empire in the retail business! Although the Moran family had also established a conglomerate thanks to Oswald, they already had their own business before that. In terms of the years of inheritance, they had far more than him!
"I've said what I had to say. Either go apologize and settle the matter or get ready to go to jail! I won't spend a penny as compensation for you!"
As reported in the news, compensation with so many zeros would bite off a large chunk of his money. His money wasn't something that fell from the sky. He could spend it wherever he wanted; why should he give it to others?
Old West snorted in anger and walked away, considering how many more children he should have now. Was it a better idea, considering the practical problem at hand?
Meanwhile, Cole stayed there, pondering deeply about what had happened with the minor.
Not only was he concerned, but everyone who knew about the incident was also equally interested.
If it were a few days ago, Laila might have allowed the situation to be hyped up for a few more days. Since seeing that her grandfather was implicated due to her actions and attacked by a group of uninformed people and scheming opponents, she changed her mind and decided to resolve the issue swiftly.
The first step she took was to hand over the evidence video she obtained that day to Anthony, instructing him to operate according to the plan within the media outlets under the Moran Group.
Finally released by Laila, Downey, just out of the confinement, was immediately sent to NBC's most popular talk show as a guest.
Being Laila's own media, the questions wouldn't be too harsh, but they could cooperate with their agenda to showcase what needed to be exposed.