The Tyrant Billionaire

Hill hesitated. Saying too much would hurt, but too little would mean death. Finally, he gritted his teeth. "I'll pay $50,000."

The masked man shook his head and laughed coldly. "Not enough, far from enough. We've investigated you. You bought a winery for $130,000 with money from selling jewelry. You must have brought a lot of good stuff from France. Hand it over if you want to live."

Hill's heart pounded. He knew these people had great resources and wouldn't let him go easily. To stay alive, he had to give up his wealth.

"I have a safe deposit box at Wells Fargo in San Francisco, with jewelry inside. The key is in my office drawer at the winery. You can take me there to get the key," Hill said.

"Haha, no need. We'll get the key ourselves. Just tell us the code," the masked man said calmly.

Hill closed his eyes in pain. "The code is XXXXXX."

Hours later, a suitcase was placed before Hardy. Inside were jewelry boxes, containing a diamond necklace with an emerald pendant, a gemstone brooch, sapphire earrings, and more, all from prestigious brands like Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Louis Vuitton, and Chaumet, showing their high value.

There were also uncut gemstones like Colombian emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and opals. Hardy picked up a thumb sized ruby, estimating the collection's worth to be at least two or three million dollars.

Henry smiled. "I asked Hill about these jewels. He said he collected them while gathering art. The paintings were too big to hide, so he smuggled these smaller jewels piece by piece. Over time, he amassed this collection. After arriving in America, he sold some jewels for over ten thousand dollars, used the money to arrange citizenship, and adopted the alias Jack Goodwin."

"Later, he sold a few more pieces of jewelry and spent money to buy wineries in Napa Valley and Bordeaux."

Hardy put down the jewelry, closed the box and said to Henry, "Continue to interrogate him, the big head we want is still behind."

The masked man entered the interrogation room again. Hill had been tied to the chair for several hours. Seeing the masked man come in, he urgently asked, "Mr. Robber, you got the jewels, right? Can you let me go now?"

The masked man looked at Hill, "I'm curious about something. You spent money to buy a winery in Napa Valley, why did you go to Bordeaux to buy an almost abandoned winery?"

Hill was stunned.

"Why? Because I'm a wine merchant from Bordeaux, a place famous worldwide for its wine. I want to make good wine there and bring it to America to sell and make money," Hill explained.

"Is that so? I don't believe it" the masked man squinted.

"What other reason could there be?" Hill muttered.

The masked man narrowed his eyes and said, "It is rumored that before you left France, you were still helping the Germans collect antique artworks. At that time, Germany was on the verge of defeat. There was a batch of artworks that were not sent out and were hidden by you. Is this true, Mr. Hill?"

Hill's face kept changing.

This was Hill's greatest secret, now exposed.

"I..."

He just said one word before the masked man stopped him, "Don't rush to deny it, or it will be hard to take back later. I hope you think carefully before you speak, and I'm not done talking."

Hill swallowed and held back his words.

"You first bought a vineyard in the US, and a year later, you sent a lawyer to France to buy a vineyard being auctioned there. You knew the family that originally owned Red Leaf Vineyard was killed by the Germans, and the vineyard would surely be auctioned. You bought the vineyard in the US entirely to buy Red Leaf Vineyard a few years later, right?

But you let the lawyer buy it at a high price, so I guess your real purpose wasn't the vineyard but something more valuable hidden there."

"What could it be? The answer seems obvious," the masked man smiled at Hill.

Hill's face turned very ugly. He knew his biggest secret was finally exposed. Helplessly, he lowered his head and said, "Alright, I'll talk. There is indeed a batch of artworks hidden at Red Leaf Vineyard."

Hill helped the Germans collect artworks. At first, many were directly shipped out, but as the war situation became tense, the Germans paid less attention to them. The items Hill collected later weren't taken away by the Germans.

Before the Normandy landing, Hill sensed something was wrong. At that time, he received orders from the Germans to hide the remaining antique artworks and retrieve them later when there was a chance.

Hill chose the long abandoned Red Leaf Vineyard. The vineyard had no owner and had been abandoned for several years. It covered over 100 acres, with hills in the distance. The original owner had dug a cave in the mountains, intending to use it as a natural wine cellar, but it wasn't completed before the Germans came and killed the family.

The cave's location was hidden and unknown, so Hill chose to hide the artworks there.

The cave was sealed with stones and covered with wild grass and vines, and the entrance was completely concealed the following year, so no one has discovered it until now.

The masked man took out a hand drawn map showing the Red Leaf Vineyard, "Point out the cave's location. Don't try to deceive us you won't leave here until we find the stuff."

Hill saw that the other party was well prepared and resignedly pointed to a spot slightly southwest of the vineyard's center.

"It's here. There's a small path leading up between two hills, on the right cliff face."

The masked man drew a circle on the map and noted Hill's words verbatim.

Before long, the map was sent to Hardy. After reading it, Hardy took a puff of his cigar, pondered for a moment, and said, "Henry, draft a contract to transfer both of Hill's vineyards to us."