Chapter 904

No matter what happened, everyone still had to follow the chief’s orders. What he said wasn’t to be questioned lightly. But the lead officer just couldn’t swallow his pride. After all, Hector had made it clear he wasn’t going to compete for anything. And now? It was like he completely went back on his word. That was why the lead officer’s hostility toward Hector had become even more obvious lately. But Hector didn’t care about any of that.

He only needed to hold his current position and do his job. And as for Julian, he had to keep a close eye on him. That was something he’d personally promised the big shot. As for everything else, it wouldn’t be so easy to trip him up, especially not the lead officer—he was a joke. Hector had never even taken him seriously.

The chief, of course, was well aware of the tension between the two. Plenty of people had already brought it to his attention. But their petty conflicts meant nothing to him. Where there’s competition, there’s progress. If he wanted the department to grow stronger and more capable, then they needed to push themselves. It was up to them to handle it internally. He didn’t need to waste his time worrying about it. As long as no one crossed the line, he was more than happy to let the competition play out. At that thought, the chief’s smile grew even wider. He really had to thank Lucas for all this.

Suddenly, the sharp ring of his phone pulled him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the screen and saw an unfamiliar number flashing. He frowned slightly—who would be calling at this hour? And judging by the area code, it didn’t even seem to be a domestic number.

He hesitated for a moment, but for some reason, he picked up the call anyway. Whoever it was, they were clearly persistent—it had to be something important. The moment he answered, a man’s anxious voice came through.

“Hello, is this the chief of the Millford Police Department?”

The chief blinked in surprise. Clearly, the caller had found the right person. “Yes, who’s speaking?”

Albert let out a breath of relief. Thankfully, Lisa had found the right contact—she wasn’t entirely useless after all. He got straight to the point. “Mr. Warren, I’m the chairman of the Hayes Group in Ravenshore. I’d like to ask if a man named Julian Hayes is currently being held in your jail.”

The moment he heard that, the chief immediately knew who the caller was. He’d already had his suspicions the moment the man introduced himself. But with matters like this, it was always better to let the other party bring it up first. That way, the upper hand always stayed with him. There was no need to expose anything unnecessarily.

“Yes, he’s being held here.”

Albert’s tone turned slightly reproachful. “Mr. Warren, I’d like to ask a favor. Would you be willing to release my son? Whatever terms you name, I’m willing to agree to them.”

His thinking was simple: if the chief refused to release Julian, it had to be about money. The kid had ended up in jail, but there’d been no news coverage. Clearly, it wasn’t some serious violent crime, which meant it could probably be smoothed over with money. So, Albert wasn’t all that worried.

But the chief found the whole thing amusing. “Sounds like you don’t actually know what your son did, do you?”