Someone raised his hand and asked, “What if the person decides to stay forever?” A light laughter rang out in the bar before the host smiled again. “Well, that will be a little too much, but the person is allowed to stay for at least three months.”“Their food, laundry and every other thing that needs to be done will be taken care of for free by the hotel.” The people were shocked hearing him and some of them couldn’t help but pray out loud. “The hotel owner must be in a very good mood. I hope the god of luck smiles down on me today.” “I pray so too.” Once their prayers died down, the host continued, “There are a total of 30 papers for everyone here which means everyone gets a gift for participating.” “The waiters will now give you piece of papers with numbers written on it. Good luck.” Waiters walked around the bar, giving people a bowl to pick papers from. After the numbers were shared, Ryan turned to his sister. “I got number 7.” Mia checked hers and beamed brightly. “I go
“Yes, is anything wrong?” Aria blinked her eyes at him in confusion before she suddenly realized everyone in the bar had their eyes pinned on her. Leon pointed at the man on stage and smiled cluelessly, “That man said something about a penthouse.” “He said number 9 has the word penthouse written inside it. And that means the person who has it gets to stay in the penthouse for as long as three months.”“Doesn’t that mean we will no longer have to stay in that dirty room Ryan’s father rented for our family?” As he said the last sentence, his eyes shifted towards Ryan, showing everyone who Ryan was. “What? Isn’t it too early to say something like that, Leon?” Mia laughed bitterly, keeping a wide smile plastered on her face to hide the envy she was feeling. Leon ignored her and took the paper from Aria then giggled happily. “It’s easy for you to say that, after all, your father rentered two better hotel rooms for you and your brother while he rentered a dirty and dusty room for your
As soon as he concluded, one of the waiters handed her a flower and the other customers began clapping their hands to congratulate her. She walked down the stage, headed straight to their table. When she got there, she realized Ryan and Mia were nowhere to be found. Leon was the only one standing there and applauding her with a wide smile. She stopped in front of him and asked, “Where did they go?” Leon stopped clapping and replied,“They got up and left as soon as you went up.”Then he beamed brightly almost immediately. “Congratulations, Aria!” Some hotel attendants came up to them at that moment and offered to take their things to the penthouse. Emma and Dean were seething angrily in their room when hotel attendants knocked on their door and offered to carry their things upstairs. They were surprised at first and thought Joseph had a change of heart. However, when the elevator kept going up, they grew worried. Emma couldn’t sit still any longer and tapped one of the attenda
“You won this in a lottery?” Dean huffed, obviosuly not believing her. Aria nodded sincerely. “Yes.” Dean stepped forward, pointed a finger at her nose and scoffed rudely, “Stop lying. I heard the bar is only open for those who rent rooms from the fifth floor upward. You used the company’s money to rent this room, didn’t you?” “Why would you use the company’s money to rent a penthouse? You should’ve just snuggled it out and given to me to do something worthwhile with it!” Emma didn’t stop for a second to think about it and instantly believed Dean’s words. Aria clenched her jaw tightly and inhaled sharply, “I didn’t use the company’s money. Stop talking about the company’s money. I’ve never taken it before and I’ve never thought of taking it.” “Leon and I had gone to the reception to complain about how dirty and dusty our room was when we met Ryan and Mia on our way back.” Aria narrated everything to them. When she was done, Emma slapped her thighs gently and laughed heartily. “
As soon as they reported what had happened to Joseph, he immediately went up to the penthouse with them. The hotel attendants were just leaving, so the door was open for them to barge into. However, the hotel attendants suddenly blocked their path and said coldly, “Are you the family of Ms. Miller?” “What nonsense is this? My children and I should be the ones in this house! How dare you block my path!” Joseph stood by the door and thundered furiously. The attendants glanced at themselves, but didn’t move. It was still fresh in their minds, the strict warning they had gotten from the manager of the hotel to treat those in the penthouse with utmost respect and to be extremely cautious with them. In addition, they were told not to let anyone who wasn’t a member of their family in. Judging from how Aria hadn’t asked them to help Joseph and his family into the penthouse, then that meant they meant nothing to her. As that thought settled in their mind, they glared hard at Joseph. “
Joseph placed a hand on his waist and pointed a finger at her in agitation. “Hah! How bold of you to turn me away, Emma Mitchell! Are you saying my family should stay on the fifth floor while your family stays in the penthouse?” Emma nodded and threw her face away, “Yes.” Mia sneered in irritation, “Hey, don’t you dare get cocky with us right now!” “You’re only in this penthouse because Ryan and I thought it’d be boring to drink alone at the bar!” “If we had gone on our own, we would’ve gotten this penthouse! So just know that you staying in this penthouse is because of us! You should be grateful to us!” Dean snickered in response, “Then answer me truthfully, Mia. Had your family won this penthouse in the lottery, would you have let us see what it looked like?” “No, would you have let us move into the rooms your father rented for your family?” “W-well…” Mia didn’t expect Dean to ask such a question, so she was speechless for a few seconds. Seeing this, Ryan sneered in contemp
Dean and Emma’s eyes lit up in happiness immediately, but they quickly hid the happiness in them the moment Ryan glanced towards their direction. Realizing they’d only embarrass themselves even further in front of Emma and Dean, they turned and walked into the elevator with the hotel attendants following behind them. By the time Emma and Dean returned to the living room to continue their soap operas, they realized it had ended. So they turned off the television and went to sleep. A few minutes later, the door to the house opened as Anthony Miller unhurriedly walked in. He stood at a spot and looked around the living room for a moment before he began walking into the direction he thought the rooms would be in. Aria and Leon were the first to wake up the following morning. Emma and Dean woke up shortly after the hotel staffs brought breakfast. “If only life were as good as this!” Dean moaned in satisfaction as he munched on his French toast. Emma leaned forward and adviced Aria,
However, he hurriedly looked away from him and returned to his call as the man didn’t look anything like the man he was supposed to be meeting. In fact, he wondered what someone like this was doing in the company. He ignored Leon and continued speaking into his phone, “As I was saying, sir, I can’t find you in the lobby. Did you maybe change out of your suit for some reason?” Leon held the phone away from his ear as he retorted, “No, I didn’t. This is what I said I’d be wearing.” The voice coming from the other end and that of the man behind him sounded exactly alike. The assistant still didn’t connect the dots and continued looking around. “Are you sure, sir?” “The program will begin in a few minutes. Don’t keep the chairman waiting.” Leon said conclusively before ending the call. This time, the assistant had no reason to doubt this was really the man he was sent to pick. Grant had warned him about asking any questions and looking the man in the eye. So when he realized he h
“Yeah, it’s Aria.” Ryan’s eyes darkened as he said dispiritedly. “Aria, hurry up here. These gentlemen have better things to do than to stay here.” Joseph urged her, forcing on a wide smile. Aria gripped the hand of her bag tighter and swallowed hard when her eyes met the furious look in Stella’s eyes. Nevertheless, she lowered her eyes to the floor and strutted towards the men. “Miss Aria Miller?” The second man repeated, raising his brows questioningly as she got close to him. She nodded, “Yes, I am.” As soon as the words rolled off her tongue, the one with the invite reached into the pocket of his suit jacket for it. He handed it over to her with a gentle look on his face. “Ms. Miller, you’ve been invited to Carolyn Jensen’s fundraiser which is being held tonight.” “The venue and time is written in the visitation. Ms. Jensen looks forward to seeing you tonight. Have a nice day.” Then they left immediately. As soon as they walked out of the door, Joseph snatc
Aria hurriedly closed her eyes to shield the water from getting in. Then, she wiped it off with her palm and slowly opened her eyes to gaze blankly at Ryan.The corners of his lips hooked up into a mocking smile as he dropped his hand and snorted, “What is that scary look for? Is this your way of thanking those who do good deed for you?” Some staffs who were lurking behind him chipped in with a huff, “She can’t even thank you for giving her water.” “How ungrateful. If I were Ryan, I wouldn’t give her anything ever again.” “Look how hard she’s glaring at him after what he went through to bring her that water.” When she kept looking at him without saying a word, he scoffed in contempt, “You still won’t thank you? I just saved you from dying from thirst and you repay me by glaring hard at me?” “Honestly, if I knew you’d be like this, I would’ve saved myself the time and energy of bringing you this water.” “No one even remembered you were standing outside except me. Yet, this is how
“Mr. Bartlett, this is not somewhere I can be. Keegan Gyst isn’t someone that I can just cross into his territory.” “He may not be around now, but when he returns and finds out I crossed into his territory, he won’t take it lightly with…” Rex Mercer was saying, fear laced into his voice as he walked into the basement with his boys, but instantly fell silent when he saw the sight in front of him. He didn’t know which was more shocking; the sight of Keegan’s men heaped onto each other as they groaned in pain or the sight of Keegan himself lying helplessly under Leon’s foot. The shock in his eyes disappeared after a few seconds and he rushed towards Leon unable to hide his excitement. He stood above Keegan, his eyes wide open in disbelief. “Y-you defeated him! You defeated him!” “Do you know anyone called Carolyn Jensen?” Leon blankly asked without turning to look at him. Rex Mercer’s happiness dwindled a little and his brows knitted into a small frown. He was silent for a moment b
Keegan Gyst’s brows perked up slightly when he saw Calvin Heinz. But he only stared at him for a second before he threw his face to the side again.Calvin was bulkier and more muscular than Leon, but there were several of Keegan’s men with the exact same built. “It would take more than one backup to save you from dying today.” Leon stood behind Calvin and slipped a hand out of his pocket to look at the time on his wrist. Then he probed Calvin stoically, “Hurry up, I don’t have all day.” Calvin nodded and began advancing towards the thugs. Robert Weathers saw this and cackled loudly. “Don’t let those muscles in your arms fool you into thinking you can get out of this room alive.” “Instead of running towards the cause of your death, shouldnt you be running out of here? Seems you’re all muscles but no brains.” Calvin’s eyes shifted to him. The coldness in them made Robert flinch in fear and subconsciously huddle closer to Keegan. Calvin snatched the axe from the first thug he got
Robert Weathers sneered and turned on the light switch. The basement illuminated instantly, revealing the dozens of thugs wielding daggers and axes in the room. Leon’s eyes landed on the bulky man sitting in their midst. He had a gruesome knife scar which slanted from his left eyes down to the right side of his lips. Had he whoever gave him the scar slanted his hand a little further and they would’ve damaged his eyes and cut off a side of his lips. “I’ve worked for Mr. Gyst for over 10 years now and I’ve encountered worse scenarios that threatened to end my life, but I never gave up.” “Did you really think a retard like you was capable of making me turn against the man I revere with everything in me?”Leon listened to him with an indifferent look on his face as his eyes roamed the basement. Keegan Gyst stared at Leon intently before he scoffed in disbelief. “So this is the man who beat those bulky men I sent out with you earlier? I expected someone taller and muscular.” “But g
Leon still didn’t respond. The silence was killing Robert. Every second that went by, the more the back of his shirt got soaked sweat. He peeled his eyes open and swallowed dryly when he saw the blank, unimpressed look on Leon’s face. He couldn’t take it any longer and cried out, “I’ll do anything you want me to. Anything. Just name it!” Leon’s expression finally cracked into a small smile. “Go meet my father-in-law. He’s the one who cares about stuffs like this.” Robert nodded without hesitation before the thugs dragged him to Anthony. Anthony would’ve jumped in fright seeing the thugs and Robert walking towards him had Leon not been with them. As soon as he got to him, Robert pointed at the woman, who was still sprawled on the ground sobbing quietly. “I will return this woman’s child to her and also lead you to Keegan’s next big transaction. I will also tell you whenever he’s about to take another kid. I’ll help you put him out of business.” Anthony stared at him with a susp
Robert Weathers scoffed seeing Leon maintain his confident stance. He looked away and slipped out his phone from his pocket, opened the camera app and started video recording. “I’ll record you being beaten up so I can watch it when you’re long dead to remind myself someone as stupid as you lived before.” Leon ignores him and slipped his hands into his pockets, sizing up the dozen thugs running towards him with his eyes. They all had their daggers and axes raised high up in the air. Their movements were erratic and uncoordinated. No doubt, these were just average people who were recruited by Keegan Gyst and given weapons. The first thug to get close to Leon charged at with a wild overhead swing of his axe. Leon stepped to the side at that very moment, just in time to save his arm from being hacked off.As the thug stumbled past him, Leon grabbed the his wrist, twisted it, and disarmed him in a single fluid motion. “Arghh!” Before the others could react to their colleague’s pain
Anthony was speechless and had no idea what to do. This was the first time he was facing something like this. He had been doing this work for the past 25 years and none of the men he rescued children from ever found him. He reasoned since they hadn’t found him for the past 25 years, they would never be able to. So now that it finally happened, he had no plan in mind. He clenched his jaw tightly and glared hard at the restaurant owner, “You can’t do that! Don’t you see the weapons they’re wielding? If you send us out there, there’s no telling what will happen to us!” “To say the least, you and everyone in this restaurant will become an accessory to murder. That’ll be bad for your business, so you should hurry up and call the police!” The restaurant glared back at him and retorted, “You offended Keegan Gyst, he may not be the most dangerous person in Wentworth, but he’s someone you do not want to cross and neither do I.” “Furthermore, he has people in the police. If he finds out I
Thanks to the tempered glass, Robert Weathers could see the people inside the restaurant. His eyes flickered across the place for a moment before he turned to the van again and dragged out a severely bartered woman. Her eyes and cheeks were swollen and her lips were bled from all sides. The state of her face almost made it impossible for Anthony and Leon to recognize her. After a few seconds, Leon recognized her to be the mother of the boy they had rescued from Robert and taken back to the rescue home. .His eyes dimmed slightly and he pointed it out to Anthony, “Father-in-law, it’s the woman from the rescue home.” When Anthony recognized her, he panicked and shot out of his seat. He was about to stroll towards the door of the restaurant when he saw a dozen thugs holding axes and daggers climb out of the van to stand behind Robert. Robert pulled the woman by the hair and barked something into her face. Unfortunately, they were outside and far from Leon and Anthony. Hence, they