The emerald dangled from Vivian’s neck, sparkling in the light. The necklace caught everyone’s attention, including Tedmond's. He had thought Max lied about their grandmother having the necklace, but she indeed wore the same one.“What’s wrong, grandson?” Vivian asked. “Are you mad at me for not being there for you when Max and Maxine treated you wrongly? Don’t worry, I will take care of them. Just give your grandmother a hug.”Tedmond tried to keep a straight face. He didn’t want to speak to her. Although she was acting all kind toward him now, it was only in the present. In the past, she had resented him for being an illegitimate child, often telling him to his face that she didn’t consider him her grandson and only acknowledged Max.She had starved him since he was a baby, waiting for him to die, but Maxine's nanny had been kind enough to feed him. As long as he could remember, if his grandmother was home, he wouldn’t have anything to eat or drink unless he stole from the kitchen
Max flinched as all eyes turned to him, sweat forming on his face. "I didn’t steal the necklace," he insisted. "Someone must have tried to frame me."Tedmond’s lips curled. When he brushed past Max to get to Mrs. Karishin, he slipped the necklace into Max’s pocket. Since Max wasn’t paying attention, he didn’t notice when Tedmond planted it there.Tedmond already knew Max had placed the necklace on him and that he had returned it to the person who had originally stolen it."How dare you try to frame Tedmond after stealing from us?!" Kyle yelled. "Not only did you threaten me, but you also stole from me."Mrs. Karishin sighed, rubbing her forehead as the diamond necklace was presented to her. "This is the real one.""Oh my God, I can't believe Max stole from the Karishins.""Is that why he said the Griffins were above the Karishins? Was it because they were getting a contract with Xinca?""He tried to shift the attention onto Tedmond so that no one would think to search him.""Thanks to
Melody’s lips broke into a smile. “I said I was going to marry you,” she confirmed. “You don’t recognize me or try to please me when we meet. That’s perfect!”Tedmond arched his eyebrows at Kyle.“How can you marry him?” Kyle asked. “You’re six years older than him!”Melody glanced at her brother, a blank look on her face. “Does that matter? He looks pretty mature to me.”Kyle’s eyes bulged. “You always said you liked mature men! Tedmond is younger than you!”Sighing, she glanced at Tedmond. “He’s more mature than the older men I’ve met. I have to marry him now before he finds a girlfriend.”Tedmond watched the siblings argue. They weren’t even asking for his opinion, as was typical of Kyle.“What did you just say?” Mrs. Karishin asked, appearing next to them.“Did Mel say she’s getting married?” a male voice shouted, arriving at the same time as Mrs. Karishin. “Who’s the man she wants to marry?”Tedmond’s eyes darted to the man who had just arrived. He looked like he was in his late
The party ended shortly after Tedmond left. It was no longer a birthday party but an event where the Griffin family was exposed, and a famous actress proposed to a man.News of everything spread quickly, but the story of Melody proposing to Tedmond dominated the internet, web searches, social media, and even the news. A video was uploaded as proof. The worst part was that they didn’t blur his face, and an article was written, informing men about the type of man Melody was interested in.In the living room of the Griffin mansion, Max, Maxine, Lisa, and Evelyn watched the news and saw the report about Melody and Tedmond.Max gritted his teeth. “How could Melody propose to Tedmond? I became friends with Kyle just to meet his sister, and now this happened before I even got the chance.”
If Melody had gone along with his plan, it would have been easy, but he brushed the thought aside. Melody was a public figure; he couldn’t tarnish her image.He began writing in his notepad again. He was targeting the company, Max, and Lisa first. Since their marriage wasn’t genuine, he could make them regret it. First, he had to make them cheat on each other. If they weren’t terrible people, they wouldn’t fall for it.Now that he had used Melody for a while, he could find another person to manipulate both Max and Lisa.A light tug on his pants snapped him out of his thoughts. He glanced down to see Bianca peering up at him.“I called that bald man,” she revealed.“Junior Torrus?&rdqu
“Woah!” Lisa exclaimed, eyeing the expensive restaurant Tedmond had brought her to. “I’ve never been to a place this luxurious before.”Tedmond raised an eyebrow. “I thought so too.”He led her to a table, and they both sat down. Lisa still wore the contact lenses, pretending to be Cora, but Tedmond had other plans.“Waiter,” she called softly, waving the waiter over before turning her gaze back to Tedmond. “Since you’ve been here before, why don’t you order for me?”Tedmond nodded. “Sure, I’ll do that.”A smile appeared on Lisa’s face. She expected him to order expensive food and didn’t want to do it herself, hoping no
Sprinting towards them as the man tried to kick her again, Tedmond caught the man by the arm and flipped him over, slamming his back on the floor."Eek!" the man cried out as Tedmond twisted his arm even further. "What the heck are you doing?!""How dare you treat my daughter like that?!" Tedmond demanded, about to punch the man in the face when he was surrounded by several men.Judging by their attire and demeanor, Tedmond could tell they were bodyguards. He let the man go, rose to his feet, and immediately picked up Bianca, holding her in his arms."Sorry I’m late," Tedmond told Bianca."No worries," Bianca replied."He dares to hit the young master of the Lin family!" one
“I am willing to work for him as long as he pays me five times my salary,” Hino admitted. “There’s no way I’ll stick with the Lin for that low pay.”Neil’s nose flared. “You! I trusted you and thought of you as my most loyal guard. How could you switch so fast?”“You said money was the best thing in life, didn’t you?” Hino retorted.“You bastard!” Neil yelled. “You’re going to regret this!”“I don’t think I will,” Hino said, no longer supporting Neil. “I asked for a salary increase to cover my daughter's medical bills, but you dismissed me and didn’t even give me more time to find something else.”Tedmond’s eyes darted to Hino. No matter what Hino’s reasons were, it didn’t change the fact that he had supported Neil in bullying Bianca. And now, Hino was trying to gain Tedmond's favor. There was no way Tedmond would keep someone like him around.Hino could leave him for someone offering more money, and that was the worst kind of guard to have.“You didn’t even give me time to see her, a
Three hundred million? Joe wasn’t even surprised. He just recalled the words Tedmond had told him earlier.“They might ask for a billion or five hundred million or three hundred million dollars,” Tedmond had said. “Whatever it is, make sure to give it to them and get them to sign the documents.”‘Here I thought he might be exaggerating; he was right,’ Joe thought, his gaze focused on Evelyn. ‘She just mentioned one of the prices Tedmond warned about, but it seems her family doesn’t approve of this.’Harold and Maxine glanced at Evelyn, their shocked expressions quickly turning into anger.Joe grinned from ear to ear. ‘Boss was wrong, though. He said they would only aim for large amounts and support the person asking for it. But here they are, mad at her for mentioning such a sum.’“What are you doing?!” Harold demanded, confused and pissed. “Didn’t we agree that we were going to take a loan of a billion?!”Joe froze, his body stiffening. He had to blink several times to come back to h
At the mention of Tedmond, Evelyn and Harold glanced at the spot she was pointing to, but they couldn’t see anyone in sight.“No one is there,” Evelyn replied, returning to Maxine. “You must have seen someone else. Tedmond isn’t the kind of person who would be here.”Harold nodded in agreement. “There’s no way they’d let him in anyway,” he said, rolling his eyes. “That useless son of mine isn’t great anytime soon.”Ki overheard their conversation and realized they knew the new boss. He also heard Harold call Tedmond a useless son.Someone doesn’t know their son’s real behavior, Ki thought. How is someone who bought a company like this regarded as useless?Instead of commenting, Ki repeated his usual greetings. “Hello and welcome to Loanbull. How can I help you today?” he asked, a fake professional smile appearing on his face.Their gazes returned to him. Smiling back politely, they nodded before Harold spoke.“We’d like to meet the person in charge,” Harold said. “What we came for is
“What do you mean?!” Max yelled, pulling himself away from his father, but it didn’t work. His arm didn’t seem to hurt as his father gripped it. His mind was still stuck on the words Tedmond had said.‘This can’t be happening!’ Max thought, trying to convince himself. ‘They can’t possibly pick money over me.’However, when he glanced at his parents, they glared at him, expecting him to apologize to Tedmond.“You shouldn’t force him to apologize,” Tedmond told them, making their eyes light up momentarily. But his next words caught them off guard. “I should leave since he doesn’t want me here.”At that, Harold and Evelyn grew paranoid. They couldn’t let him leave without first calling his baby mama and asking her to invest in the company.“Don’t leave yet! We’ll make him apologize!” Evelyn yelled.In a matter of seconds, Max was shoved to his knees before he could react. His eyes widened in shock, and he couldn’t speak, even though he tried.“Apologize to him!” Evelyn yelled the pity sh
Tedmond made his way downstairs, heading to the one place he knew Max would be. He could tell that if Max met the others there, they would side with him since Tedmond wasn’t in sight.As he approached the kitchen, he heard voices. It was his stepmother and ex-father, speaking so quietly that he couldn’t make out their words.“I can’t believe I have to cook for that brat!” Evelyn cursed loudly, making the maid at the end of the kitchen flinch and frown as she hurriedly cut the fish. “He’s the son of you and that useless maid, and now I have to be a maid to him!”Harold glanced at her, concern etched on his face. “You should be more worried about that,” he said, taking the knife from her and helping cut the fish. “It’s good his mother isn’t around. It’ll be easier to control him once we get custody of his daughter.”Evelyn frowned at his words. “How are we supposed to get custody? Tedmond’s never brought her home before. That means he doesn’t have custody either—it must be with his baby
When Max got upstairs, Tedmond was nowhere to be seen. He searched the guest room, but Tedmond wasn’t there. He decided to check all the other rooms, yet Tedmond was still missing.The last place he hadn’t checked was his own room—and Lisa’s. Turning around, he headed toward the room, his heart pounding against his chest. As he approached the door, he paused. The room was silent, which made him hesitate.‘If Tedmond isn’t in the other rooms, could he be with Lisa?’ he wondered, before reaching for the door. He must not be over her yet.Oddly, the thought of Tedmond being with Lisa made him smile. If that were the case, it would make getting the necklace from him much easier.Opening the door softly, Max peeked inside, only to see Lisa standing there, staring directly at him.“What are you doing?” she asked, her brows arching in confusion.Max straightened up and pushed the door open fully. Without a word, he brushed past her and began searching the room. He checked everywhere—even the
Hearing his father’s words, Tedmond's smile dissipated, but then the grin returned to his face. “What did you say?”Guessing their father’s intentions, the others joined in. Harold had just gotten an idea: if he could convince Tedmond to make his baby mama invest in their struggling company for a fake project, they could get the hundred million back.“There’s a project going on, and we need investors to fund it,” Max added, his face serious. “It’s a big project, and the investment required will be substantial.”“That’s right. Your baby mama will be part of the family too. It would be great for her to help us,” Maxine continued.Evelyn even went as far as holding Tedmond’s hand—something she had only done when she was about to hit him as a child.“You’ll have the right to return to the family as long as you agree to help us with the investment,” Evelyn muttered. “You’re my son, after all, and it makes me sad that you were kicked out.”Tedmond was taken aback. He had guessed they might
The question was one that Duncan had been waiting for. He had thought about what to do and had come across an idea that might help him. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but he knew he had to try.“I would like you to give us the background research documents you have about us,” Duncan said.Silence ensued between them. Tedmond’s gaze fixed on Duncan, who met his eyes without blinking. They stared at each other for a long time. Tedmond hadn’t expected Duncan to ask for background research about his own company.“Why would you need that?” Tedmond questioned. “Do you think it will help clear your name?”Duncan didn’t elaborate. “I’m not going to mention your name or the name of the company when I release the file. I just want to release the details of my company so people can see and judge for themselves.”“Who would release it?” Tedmond pressed, his curiosity rising. “If you release it yourself, it will look fake, like you did it intentionally to clear your name.”“I would have one of t
“Can I get her name?” Harold questioned. “She is the same age as my granddaughter; they could be friends.”Hearing that, Tedmond frowned. The two girls were the same person, and he was trying to get them to be friends with each other. That was the worst thing he had heard all day.“Don’t cross the boundaries, Mr. Griffin,” Tedmond replied, peering at Harold. “Why are you here?”Harold wasn’t shocked by Tedmond’s words—he had been expecting it. After all, he hadn’t paid the compensation or regained trust between them, but that didn’t bother him much. GNN was in crisis, and Griffin’s Cooperation would be the one to be picked no matter what.“I’m here to pay the compensation fee and apologize again for my family’s behavior,” Harold answered.“I thought I told Ms. Fincall to give you the account number to which the money should be transferred. Did you lose it?”Harold flinched. Was it that obvious he had thrown the account number away to have an excuse to meet the president in person?“I
Thomas nodded. “Right!”Seeing that they would be busy, Bianca sighed. “Could you send me to Persis’ place?” she asked.“Okay,” Tedmond agreed.*****“Have you found a lead yet?” Duncan asked his secretary.The secretary shook his head. “Not yet. Were you able to contact Xinca too?”Duncan shook his head. “I sent a staff member to meet with them, but he hasn’t arrived yet. If he had met with them, he would have contacted me.”The secretary sighed. “What are we going to do now that the source of the rumor hasn’t been found?”“We’ll just have to make sure to convince Xinca that it was all a rumor, and at the same time, find the source. All that matters first is Xinca, and then we’ll have to settle the rumors.”“Do you think it was made up by someone? We didn’t offend anyone, did we?”Duncan shook his head, placing his hand on the table. “We didn’t. GNN never offends anyone.”“Then who would spread such nasty rumors about us?”Duncan thought about it, and then it hit him. His eyes widene