Chapter 534: Completely Stunned by This Move

Mrs. Rhodes’s face was ashen. Quentin Blackwood’s voice was already strained with impatience. "Get out!"

Mrs. Rhodes struggled to steady herself. She tried to argue, "You’re the ones who killed someone, yet you’re acting so arrogantly. If you don’t give us an explanation for this, we’ll sue. I refuse to believe you’re powerful enough to get away with this. You think a murderer can just walk free?"

Just then, a lawyer standing nearby stepped forward. "Then what are your demands?"

Hearing this, Mrs. Rhodes thought she saw an opening.

’Maybe Quentin Blackwood just finds us troublesome and wants to compromise to get us to leave.’

’At this point, getting a sum of money would be a decent compensation.’

Mrs. Rhodes spoke directly, "Three billion."

The nearby police officers who heard this all thought, ’Has this woman lost her mind?’

’Her husband tried to rape someone, and she still has the gall to demand three billion.’

The lawyer spoke with unhurried composure. "Let’s put aside the cause of Mr. Rhodes’s death for a moment, as that has not yet been investigated. Since you are refusing an autopsy, we have reason to suspect Mr. Rhodes had a pre-existing medical condition, and that you are concealing this illness to extort money."

The lawyer looked very young, but he was already an ace attorney. He handled many cases for the DG Group and had never lost one.

The people at DG were never just for show. With any one of their lawyers on the case, defeat was impossible.

"That’s complete nonsense! You’re slandering us!" Mrs. Rhodes retorted. "My husband was an old man, and you want to cut him open? He wouldn’t even have a complete body! And how is what we’re doing extortion?"

The lawyer continued, "According to Article 274 of the Criminal Law, extortion of more than two thousand yuan is a prosecutable offense. You just attempted to extort three billion, an amount considered ’especially enormous’ and punishable by a minimum of ten years in prison. We have surveillance footage, and everyone here is a witness. We will compile the evidence and press charges."

Mrs. Rhodes was stunned. ’How could one sentence from me turn into extortion?’

’No wonder she’d thought Quentin Blackwood was being reasonable. He was digging a trap for her and just watched as she leaped right into it.’

"You... I’m not extorting you! I’m demanding compensation!"

The lawyer remained perfectly composed. "Secondly, Mr. Rhodes’s actions against Miss Sherwood were premeditated. We have evidence from current surveillance footage, as well as previous footage from hotels and restaurants. We also know that Mr. Rhodes ordered his men to purchase large quantities of date-rape drugs, and we have testimony from his subordinates. All of this proves that Mr. Rhodes intended to assault Miss Sherwood."

"Attempted rape, kidnapping, and drugging multiple individuals—Charlie Rhodes did all of this. As for the rest of the Rhodes Family, you have no evidence to prove your ignorance in these matters. Therefore, we are formally pressing charges. Our official legal notice will arrive shortly. These crimes are enough to send you to prison for the rest of your lives."

Mrs. Rhodes and her son, Michael Rhodes, were utterly stunned. ’They were supposed to be suing Ivy Sherwood for murder. How had the tables turned so completely, with Quentin Blackwood now suing them?’

’And if they couldn’t clear their names, the entire Rhodes Family would be ruined.’

Mrs. Rhodes said quickly, "What does anything Charlie Rhodes did have to do with us? We knew nothing about it."

The lawyer said, "Whether you knew or not isn’t up to you to decide. The evidence will speak for itself. We are already assisting the police in their search for evidence, and I trust there will be results soon."

Mrs. Rhodes was utterly stupefied. She now understood with chilling clarity that she had picked a fight with the wrong person.

’Even if they truly didn’t know Charlie planned to go after Ivy Sherwood, it didn’t matter. As for the ’evidence,’ real or fabricated, if it could be produced, it would be accepted as truth.’

’And for someone like Quentin Blackwood, fabricating evidence would be child’s play.’

Her face pale, Mrs. Rhodes dropped to her knees. "We were wrong! We were so wrong! It was all Ruby Sterling! She was the one who told us to insist that Ivy Sherwood killed Charlie and then extort you. She said you’d pay up, and if you didn’t, Ivy Sherwood would go to jail."

Terrified, Mrs. Rhodes tried to crawl toward Quentin Blackwood’s feet. "It was all Ruby Sterling! Only she knew about it, we honestly had no idea!"

Quentin Blackwood kicked her away. "Scram!"

’Just looking at them made him feel disgusted.’

There was no warmth in Quentin Blackwood’s demeanor. His eyes were murderous.

"Bring Ruby Sterling to me."

He was like a judge, presiding over their fates.

The Rhodes Family’s situation wasn’t that simple; it wasn’t just about pressing charges for these specific crimes.

Over the years, Charlie Rhodes had been with countless women, and it was impossible that all of them had been willing participants. Quentin Blackwood had already gathered a mountain of evidence regarding women Charlie had forced or simply paid off. Many of them were now preparing to sue the Rhodes Family.

It was impossible for Mrs. Rhodes to be unaware of this. In fact, she was an accomplice.

She knew she couldn’t control Charlie Rhodes, and she knew all about his disgusting fetishes. She knew he loved to toy with beautiful women. But Charlie was rich and powerful, so as long as he was happy, she would help him do whatever he pleased.

When Charlie grew tired of a woman, Mrs. Rhodes would even help "dispose" of her.

For the Rhodes Family, it was nothing more than a matter of money. If a problem couldn’t be solved, it just meant they hadn’t spent enough.

Even their son, Michael Rhodes, had his own history of messing around with women on the side.

Quentin Blackwood now had substantial evidence. If Charlie Rhodes hadn’t died so abruptly, his comfortable life would have come to an end regardless.

And Quentin Blackwood had no intention of letting the rest of the Rhodes Family off the hook. They would all pay for their actions.

The Rhodes Group would likely vanish completely within a day or two.

After Quentin Blackwood had the Rhodes family thrown out, Ruby Sterling was brought in.

As Ruby Sterling was brought in, she saw Mrs. Rhodes and Michael Rhodes, who looked as if their souls had left their bodies. ’Mrs. Rhodes is a formidable woman, but she didn’t even last two minutes against Quentin Blackwood. And now he’s sent for me...’

Ruby Sterling was terrified. After all, she was the one who had delivered the finishing blow.

Ivy Sherwood’s stab had indeed hit Charlie Rhodes, but the location might have been slightly off-center.

At that moment, Ruby Sterling had gone over and pushed the knife deeper into Charlie Rhodes’s abdomen. That was why he had died before he could even get to a hospital.

At the time, Ivy Sherwood couldn’t remember how deep the knife went, and since there was only a single wound, everyone naturally assumed she was the killer.

"I... I don’t know anything! I don’t know anything..." Ruby Sterling’s hair was disheveled, her face a mask of pure terror.

’This situation had blown up. She never imagined it would escalate this far.’

She could still remember the look of utter disbelief in Charlie Rhodes’s eyes as he died, staring at her.

Charlie Rhodes probably never imagined that Ruby Sterling would turn on him, much less that she would be the one to kill him.