The room was left with just Hardy, Elena and Irina.
With no outsiders around, Elena looked at Hardy, her eyes suddenly reddened. 'I'm sorry, Hardy. You warned , but I still got fooled.'
"I admit I was a bit greedy. Leo's maneuvers confused . I thought having Musk and John go to France would ensure everything was fine, but we were still tricked."
Losing $100,000, Elena felt very guilty and upset.
Hardy stepped forward, wiped away Elena's tears, and pulled her into a comforting hug.
'Don't cry. It's a small matter. I'll handle it. I'll ask my friends to help find the guy; maybe we can recover the money,' Hardy reassured her.
He hugged Elena purely to comfort her.
Feeling Hardy's embrace, Elena didn't notice anything strange, only feeling a sense of support.
"If we can't recover the money, I'll use my own funds to cover the loss." Elena said, choking up.
Elena and Hardy had a partnership agreent with a 5% commission on art sales. Losing $100,000 ant about two years work for her.
"I said I'd handle it. Even if we lose the money, I won't let you bear it alone." Hardy said.
Irina stood nearby.
Seeing Hardy comfort Elena, she felt a little jealous.
The boss sure knows how to seize opportunities.
Taking advantage of Elena's sadness to get close.
She blinked her big eyes and imdiately put on a sad expression.
She approached Hardy and said, "Boss, I'm also very upset. I didn't see through that French conman."
Saying that, she moved to hug Hardy.
Hardy, knowing she was pretending, stopped her with a hand on her forehead, keeping her at arm's length.
'Oh~~!'
Irina's crying stopped, and she looked at Hardy, a bit annoyed at being seen through.
Elena seed to realize sothing and pulled away from Hardy, wiping her tear stained cheeks embarrassingly.
Hardy walked to the phone and called HD Security, "Lancer, there's a situation at the auction company. We've been conned out of so money. Bring the strategic research and intelligence team here to track down the scamr."
"I understand, I'll be right there."
Hardy then called Bill and asked him to investigate the activities of the liar Leo in Los Angeles.
Hardy's order mobilized the entire Los Angeles gangs.
...
Lancer brought personnel from the security company to question Musk and John, to understand the events in more detail, while having the portrait artist draw a portrait of Leo.
Leo is a con artist, and his na is likely fake. Therefore, the portrait is particularly important. The security company's intelligence departnt employs a professional portrait artist who, through eyewitness descriptions, can depict the target's features accurately.
Leo interacted with many people. The portrait artist, based on multiple accounts, drew the portrait and after so adjustnts, finally produced a likeness.
"Yes, that's him, it looks just like him. This is Leo," Musk said, pointing at the portrait.
Others from the auction house also confird that the portrait was very accurate.
An analysis of the fake check revealed it was a real check, but the numbers had been altered. Originally, it was a small $100 check, but soone had changed it to $100,000.
The forgery was expertly done, making it hard to detect without close inspection. It was easy to fool soone like Musk.
"This guy has been in Los Angeles for four months, he must have interacted with other people. We can find those he contacted to see if there are any clues," Lancer said.
Hardy nodded and instructed, "Have the portrait artist draw a few more copies and give them to Bill's gang. They should take the portraits and ask around."
"I've also called Allen Payne from the Austrians gang to help find him. Send a few copies to the Austrian gang as well," Lancer replied.
"By the way, investigate the bus station and the airport to see if this man has left Los Angeles."
"Okay, I'll ask soone to do it right away." Lancer replied.
mbers of the Austrian gang and Bill's gang, ard with Leo's portrait, started frequenting hotels, bars, nightclubs, and shopping malls, asking if anyone had seen him. They also questioned local thieves and con artists.
The intelligence departnt checked airport information to verify if Leo had left the city.
By the afternoon, news ca from various sources. Lancer reported, "Boss, so people did see this guy. He stayed at several hotels including the City Garden and contacted other auction and art purchase companies. It looks like he was casting a wide net to find the best target."
"Before Miss Elena said that he left Los Angeles to go to other places. In fact, soone saw him in Los Angeles during that period, which ans that he did not leave, but was just waiting for the opportunity."
"The gang's investigation has also returned. They found several scamrs, and they all said that they had never seen this Leo before, which ans that this Leo is likely to be an outsider. Now people have been sent out to investigate whether he is still hiding in Los Angeles."
Just as the two were talking, Henry ca back.
"Boss, there's a discovery at the airport. This Leo boarded a plane to Miami just twenty minutes after obtaining the check."
"At that ti, he with Musk and John were waiting for a plan to New York. After tricking them, he went to the restroom and directly boarded the plane to Miami. He had already bought a ticket to Miami, indicating this was pre-planned."
Los Angeles was Hardy's territory, but the situation beca more complicated once Leo left the city.
Elena and Irina felt desperate.
The con artist had fled to another city, making it much harder to retrieve the money.
Hardy squinted his eyes and thought about it.
He picked up the phone.
After a few rings, the call was answered.
"Is this the Corleone residence? I'd like to speak with Mr. Corleone. This is Hardy," he said.
"Hi, Hardy, this is Tom."
Tom, the advisor of the Corleone family, answered.
"Tom, I need to speak with Mr. Corleone about sothing."
"Okay, I'll get the godfather on the line."
After a brief pause, the old godfather's raspy voice ca on the line, "Hardy, what's the matter?"
Hardy explained the entire con to the godfather and concluded, "That guy took a flight to Miami, and he's probably just arrived. I plan to send people to find him. Do you know any local contacts in Miami who can help us?"
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