Mysterious Trillionaire Kingpin

12: Cedric’s Loyalists

“The bank is closed!” one of the men yelled. “Everyone leave now!” he continued. “Everyone except Noah!”

Everyone was shocked.

“What's happening? Why is the bank closing at such an hour?”

“This is a theft involving a huge amount of money. Don't you think the manager is right to close the bank?”

“Besides, he must have stolen it from one of Brookhaven's bigwigs. He's in big soup today.”

“But what will happen to me,” the rich man from earlier complained. “I need to withdraw right away,”

One of the security men moved closer to him. "You are to leave immediately or we will force you out," he threatened.

The man groaned but eventually followed the others out.

Philip felt bad as he was not able to collect tips from the man this time around. Yet, he was happy that he was able to catch Noah. Humiliating Noah was enough for the day.

Within a twinkle of an eye, the whole bank was empty except for the workers and Noah. At this point, Noah had no idea what was really happening.

But everyone gathered around and started whispering among themselves.

The first thing that came to his mind was to call Gilbert. But just as he brought out his phone, Philip hurriedly took it from him and smashed it on the floor.

Noah gasped. “What have you done!”

“So you are thinking of a way to escape? Never in this life! You will confess to us where you got the cheque from!”

“Imagine the idiot who came to withdraw such a huge amount from the bank. See the kind of phone he uses and he wants us to believe he didn't steal it,” Mark laughed.

Noah went to the floor to gather the phone but it was all scattered on the floor. Even if he assembled it, he wasn't sure it was still going to work. 

He looked up at Philip again, angrier this time. “Someone gave it to me last night! Why would you think I stole it?”

“You know what I think?” Philip laughed, “That you got angry about being fired by Oliver so you decided to steal from him.”

“Are you dumb? Is that his name on the cheque?”

“Well, what if you stole from his customers? You used to be a waiter. You have access to a lot of things. You could have easily sneaked inside and stolen from the guests. Now, you will confess or you will be taken away by the police,” Philip warned sternly, an evil smile appearing on his face.

“See! It has Mr Gilbert's name on it. He must have stolen it from Mr Gilbert,” Mark suggested.

Noah sighed. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't even call Gilbert for help. How would he verify his claim?

“Mr Gilbert gave it to me last night," He repeated.

“Really, liar! How did Mr Gilbert know to give you this amount of a check? You are just a filthy liar. And this is the reason why Chloe left you!” Philip accused unprovoked.

“What the heck is happening here!” a deep voice boomed suddenly, with a hint of anger.

“It's the manager!” one of the workers whispered.

“Good, now he won't be able to escape.”

Everyone knew the manager, he was a no-nonsense man. The bank has held its name upright because of him. He would not allow the image of the bank to be tarnished.

Mark smiled, “Now you are in trouble.”

But when Noah looked up, he not only saw an elderly man marching towards him, with a deep frown on his face but also Gilbert walking closely beside him with almost the same expression.

“Mr Robinson, “ Philip started, with a calm expression. “This is a_”

Robinson, the manager, walked past him and over to Noah. He gently helped him up.

Everyone was shocked. What did the manager just do? Perhaps he had no idea what the whole commotion was truly about.

“Mr Robinson,” Philip tried again. “This is Noah, the man who came with a cheque of fifty million dollars. I know him. He was recently sacked due to insubordination. I'm sure he stole this money from Mr Gilbert.”

Robinson turned to him. “You must all be out of your mind!” He roared.

No one could talk for a moment. They were all scared. It wasn't every time that Robinson would be angry and his anger was as intense as the burning funnel.

“Do you have any idea what you've just done?”

“Mistreating your customer is a huge crime!” Gilbert added.

Philip was confused. Everyone knew how close Gilbert was to Robinson even though Robinson was younger. These two were always inseparable. Offending Gilbert was offending Robinson. Since Noah stole from him, shouldn't his anger be focused on him?

“But Noah is not a customer, he's a thief and should be dealt with. Let me ask you, were you in Olive and Vine’s restaurant recently?”

Gilbert looked at him and nodded slightly. “Yes, yesterday.”

Philip and Mark exchanged a knowing gaze.

“He must have stolen the money from you when you were at Olive and Vine's restaurant.”

Robinson moved closer and slapped him across the face. “You must be out of your mind.”

“But_”

“I gave him the cheque!” Gilbert announced.

What!

“Are you saying I stole the cheque?” Gilbert taunted.

Shock kept Philip motionless and speechless for a moment. How could this be? How could Noah be familiar with Gilbert, a known doctor in all of Brookhaven?

Noah was shocked at the turn of things. Who would have thought he would be seeing Gilbert here of all places?

He scoffed and looked at Philip. “I told you it's not every time you look down on people.”

Philip's eyes widened with shock. The event unfolding before him was very fast. 

Robinson turned to Noah nonetheless, his expression soft and gentle. It, in fact, looked like he was smiling. “Are you alright Mr Davies?”

“Yes, he just broke my phone.”

“Really!” Robinson roared again and turned back to Philip. “Seriously? Is this how you treat all the customers when I'm not watching?”

Seeing the turn of things, Philip went on his knees. “Please, forgive me. I had no idea. Noah used to be so poor that he couldn't even afford his tuition f*e. I was worried for the safety of this establishment,” he pleaded.

Robinson huffed. “For this thing you have done, four months of your salary is gone. I will use the money to repay Mr Davies for his phone that you broke. And you!” He pointed at Mark. “Three months' salary, gone!”

Mark collapsed to the floor. How would he survive?

“And where is the cheque!” Robinson yelled.

Philip got up quickly and raced to retrieve it. Mark was too dumbfounded to even stand.

When Robinson received it, he turned to Noah with the same soft expression from earlier. “Please, follow me, I will personally see that you get your money. You can stay in my office while I do that. Please, I'm sorry about all these.”

Noah smiled. “That's fine.”

Just as Robinson turned to leave, he stopped suddenly and turned to Philip again. “Bring coffee for Mr Davies right away!” 

What!