NovelEnglish
Chapter 46 Disclose the Scam
Gerald was slightly intrigued.
Gerald knew about the shop across the street. This shop was called Treasure Store!
It was built two years ago. When it was built, Gerald also worked there. Afterward, he also moved things
for that store owner a few times.
If Elliot was a profiteer, then the owner of the Treasure Store was a shameless asshole.
Back then, when he worked for the Treasure Store, one of their workmates was cheated. His workmate
accidentally broke a porcelain object, which was clearly a replica, but that workmate had been extorted
of 5,000 dollars.
At that time, Gerald and the others didn’t dare to retort despite their anger. Later, they did not dare to
work for this
shop.
Now, according to Elliot, the people of the Treasure Store often swindled tourists.
“What happened?” Audrey asked in surprise,
“In our business, there’s no return of goods. This means that even if you have bought fake goods, as
long as you’ve paid, then you cannot return the goods,” Elliot said, “But the people of the Treasure Store
are different. They will make some mistakes and pretend that the customers have damaged things. Then
they’ll say that the things are very expensive and force the customers to compensate.”
Audrey frowned and said, “How can they do that?”
“This industry is very complicated,” Elliot shook his head and said, “And because of their appearance,
our business has been somewhat affected. Due to them, All Antiques‘ reputation has been worse.”
Audrey frowned and said, “Then I must go and take a look!”
Elliot frowned but did not speak!
As the richest man in Los Angeles, Bradley had a high status. If Audrey could give the Treasure Store a
warning, it
would be a good thing.
Gerald glanced at Elliot and smiled. He knew that Elliot intended to use Audrey.
He did not make it clear and followed behind Audrey, squeezing into the crowd.
At the door of the Treasure Store, a moustache middle–aged man was holding a girl’s arm and saying
with a sneer, “Lady, this thing is some Ancient Master Artist’s authentic work. And you just broke it.”
He was holding a painting that had been broken into two pieces in one hand and grabbing a short–haired
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtgirl with the
other hand.
Beside the girl, there was a woman. Both the girl and the woman were quite beautiful. The middle–aged
woman was protective of the girl and said, “Don’t try to sling mud at us. We heard that there was an
authentic work of that Ancient Master Artist in this store, so we came here to take a look. However, the
painting suddenly fell from the wall and broke into two pieces. This has nothing to do with us at all.”
“This painting is the top treasure of our store. It was fine being hung on the wall for a long time. Yet, it just
broke into two halves after you took a look at it. How can your explanation make sense?” the mustache
man said with a sneer.
Gerald frowned. He also knew this man. He was Donovan Collen, the owner of Treasure Store, who had
cheated his
friend before. People all called him Exploiter Donovan!
‘Hey, lady, now that the painting is broken, you should just compensate for it. After all, you can afford it.”
“Exactly. Since you broke the painting, of course, you should compensate for it!”
Several people around began to kick up a fuss.
Gerald was aware that these people were definitely hired by Donovan.
As they heard these words, the expressions of the girl and the woman both changed a bit.
The woman gritted her teeth and seemed to plan to compensate. She took a glance at Donovan and
said, “How much
is it?”
“Not much, 2.4 million dollars,” Donovan said.
In the crowd, a gasp suddenly sounded.
The girl and the woman stared at Donovan. At this time, the woman said, “Okay, I’ll pay you 2.4 million
dollars. You’d
better take it well.”
Obviously, the woman and the girl were not short of money, nor were they ordinary people.
Donovan probably had figured that, so he dared to set up such a trap.
He didn’t care about the threatening implication of the woman. In All Antiques of Los Angeles, outsiders
couldn’t be a
threat to him.
At this time, Audrey could not stand this anymore. She was about to rush out. Gerald hurriedly stopped
her. Audrey
frowned and said, “They are clearly scamming the woman and the girl. Are you gonna stand by and do
nothing? Hazel
is right. You are a coward!”
Gerald scratched his head and said, “You don’t know antiques. Even if you step forward, you can’t be of
help.”
Audrey was stunned. At that moment, Gerald smiled at him. “Let me deal with this!”
“You know about antiques?” Audrey asked in surprise.
“Yes, a little!” Gerald coughed dryly and walked to the front. He said, “Hey, Mr. Collen!”
Donovan looked at Gerald and obviously recognized him. He frowned and said, “What are you doing
here? I don’t have
any work here today. Go to other places. I’m busy here.”
Gerald went forward with a smile and said, “Mr. Collen, I didn’t know that we were in the same business!”
Donovan showed a look of disgust and said, “Who is in the same business as you? You are merely a
coolie. Just go
away.”
“Of course, we are,” Gerald curled his lips and said, “We are both robbers!”
Donovan’s expression changed slightly, and in the crowd, there was a burst of laughter.
“What do you mean? You may get in trouble for what you say. Just get lost.” He glared at Gerald, then
looked at the woman and her daughter, “You two just pay the money now.”
The short–haired girl pursed her lips. The woman pulled a long face. She looked at Donovan and then
took out her
bank card.
“Wait!” At this time, Gerald raised his hand and said, “Mr. Collen, you are selling this counterfeit product
at the price of 2.4 million dollars. How can you do that? Don’t you feel guilty about it?”
As he finished speaking, there was an uproar instantly!
Donovan’s face stiffened too. He stared at Gerald and said, “You’re a coolie. How can you know about
antiques? This is an authentic work of the Ancient Master Artist for real!”
When the mother and her daughter heard Gerald’s words, they both looked happy.
he The corner of Gerald’s mouth curled into a smile. Then, he stretched out his hand. Before Donovan
could react, found that half of the painting in his hand had fallen into Gerald’s hand. Then, Gerald took
out a lighter from his
pocket!
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“What are you doing?” Donovan’s expression suddenly changed!
The onlookers were also astonished.
They all gasped in shock.
Gerald ignored him and suddenly lit the lighter. Then, he placed that half of the painting on the lighter
and it instantly burned up.
“What’s wrong with you?” Audrey was also shocked. She didn’t expect that Gerald’s solution was to rush
up and burn the half of the painting.
“Dude, you are finished.” Donovan looked at Gerald, his face dark.
Gerald sneered and said, “Everyone, please take a deep breath.”
The surrounding people were stunned for a moment, and then many of them began to breathe.
“What are you doing?” Audrey was puzzled.
However, at this moment, a knowledgeable person in the crowd said, “As the painting is burned, there is
a pungent
smell. This proves that the paper of this painting is made of modern fiber materials.”
The crowd was in an uproar, and Donovan’s expression changed!
Gerald smiled and said, “That’s right, that Ancient Master Artist lived a few centuries ago. Unless he
could come to modern times and take the paper back… So this painting is obviously fake!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Donovan’s face turned completely dark. Beside him, the woman stared
at Donovan and said, “How dare you trick me?”
The onlookers also started to discuss.
“I’ve long heard that the Treasure Store is bad–reputed. There are always customers who are accused of
breaking things and have to compensate. Now it seems to be true.”
“I will never buy things from this store.”
Donovan’s face was dark. He gritted his teeth and said, “Back then, I spent 2 million dollars on this
painting. I thought it was real. Now it seems that I was also cheated!”
This was what he said. In this industry, he could indeed say this. And no one could do anything about
him.
“Alas, what a profiteer! We had better not come to this store anymore.”
“Shame on the Treasure Store!”
The onlookers started to criticize Donovan, making his face all dark. He darted a meaningful look at
Gerald. Gerald just shrugged indifferently. Then, he ignored the noisy crowd, walked to Audrey, pulled
Audrey out of the crowd, and returned to the opposite side of the street.
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