“Who are you?” Cedric Reyes asked as he pushed Cookie Ye away from Stephen.
Liam was quick to catch his mom, who was exaggerating and acted as if she was about to fall over.
“You asshole! How dare you hurt a woman!” Liam shouted at Cedric, but the man seemed unbothered as he looked down at Liam.
“You didn’t have to come help me.” Stephen crossed his arms on his chest as he looked Cedric in the eyes.
Everyone was shocked when Stephen spoke in such a familiar tone with Cedric Reyes. Many of those in attendance actually knew who Cedric Reyes was, so seeing him defend a nobody confused them.
“I d
As the charity event wound down the most important items were brought out for auction. Stephen never planned on placing a bid on anything, he knew that if people saw him fighting for an item, they would figure out that his identity was not as simple as he let on. Unfortunately, one of the items caught his eye.A diamond and ruby necklace that made all the women in the room swoon. He couldn’t help but imagine Vanessa wearing the item on one of the many events they would have to attend on behalf of the Cho family in the future.Noticing his odd behavior, Andrew leaned forward to speak to his boss.“You’re interested in the necklace?” He asked Stephen. Stephen nodded as he handed Andrew the card his grandfather had given him.“Bid on it in my grandfather’s name. I’m sure he won’t mind.” Stephen said.Andrew nodded and took the card.He quickly stood up and vanished, heading over to the VIP section. A card with Eldrich Cho’s name on it was more than enough to gain him entry into that a
Stephen pushed Alona away from him as he scrambled to get to the other end of the room. He needed to get as far away from her as possible. He knew exactly what this drug did to people, and he had no plans on spending his wedding night with his wife’s cousin. He could feel as his body began to burn, it begged for release in the most intimate way, but Stephen would never let that happen. “Alona, who brought you here? Who did this?” Stephen asked as he managed to crawl around the room, avoiding Alona. He knew who could potentially be behind it, but he needed to hear it from Alona. He needed that confirmation that it was who he suspected. “I don’t know.” Alona cried out. She was clearly in much more pain having been there much longer than Stephen had. “Stephen, please help me, I need you.” Stephen continued to keep his distance despite his own pain and the screams coming from Alona. He knew that he had to stay in control, he couldn’t allow the drug to compromise him. Eventually he
Stephen hadn’t fully yet recovered when John arrived with Andrew.Both men were concerned about their boss and wanted to make sure that they could be of service to him.When Stephen saw the two men arriving, he frowned.“Don’t worry, all your commands have been set in motion.” John said, raising his hands. “I’ve delegated a division of the Essen Mafia to be under Andrew’s command. He will need it for when you come back as the heir to the Cho family.”Stephen frowned, but nodded.He didn’t want to complicate things by mixing the two aspects of his identity. He had always wanted the Essen Mafia to re
When Stephen regained consciousness, he felt more rested than ever. He was so energized that it shocked him. He tried to sit up, but for some reason he still felt weak. It was as if he hadn’t moved in days. “Stephen!” He heard Vanessa shout as he tried to sit up again.He looked at his wife and wanted to call out to her, but for some reason he couldn’t. His throat hurt, probably dried up from the lack of use.“Here, drink some water.” Vanessa told him as she lifted a glass to his lips. After a few sips, he did feel better.“We were worried about you.” Vanessa cried out as she wrapped her arms around Stephen’s neck and sobbed.“How long was I out?” He asked in a hoarse voice as Vanessa released him from her hold.“A day. It’s Thursday night.” Vanessa answered. She seemed unhappy to tell him, probably because she knew he would insist on attending the presentation the next day, something that would definitely do.“Alona?” Stephen asked, concerned about his wife’s cousin.“She’s doing
Stephen paced across the room, he was anxious. “Thirty minutes.” Andrew said as he entered Stephen’s office and handed him a glass of whisky.Stephen raised his eyebrow, wondering why Andrew was handing him a glass of alcohol before the biggest presentation of his life.“It’s to help with the nerves, you can’t deny that you are anxious.” Andrew insisted that Stephen take the glass.Stephen sighed, shook his head, but took the glass.He finished the contents and slammed it on the table.It didn’t matter if he broke anything, at the end of the day everything in the building would become his.His identity as the Stephen Cho would be revealed and the name of his murderer would be known by everyone.“I know you are doing the presentation, but I did a run through, just in case you decided that you weren’t ready.” Despite having only known Stephen for a short time, Andrew could already read him like an open book.He could already somewhat anticipate what Stephen needed. He was prepared to f
Stephen went through the presentation flawlessly, every executive of Cho Industries were in awe of his plans, even his father and uncle. When he was done, some who wanted to suck up to the Cho brothers tried to grill him. They tried to find holes and mistakes in his proposal, but there were none. Everything was perfect, there was nothing wrong and everything was perfect. Stephen and his team had indeed managed to solve Cho Industries’ biggest problem, efficiency of their distribution. When there were no more questions to be asked and the room had fallen silent, one of Chairman Cho’s highest ranked people finally asked the question that was bugging them. “Mr. Sy, who hired you?” The man asked as he closely observed Stephen. Based on Stephen’s looks he was clearly from Marina City, but according to his records, he hadn’t graduated university in Marina city. “I did.” Chairman Cho suddenly said, making everyone gasp in shock. “No wonder.” William Cho suddenly laughed, shaking his
“How dare you accuse me with such flimsy evidence?!” William Cho shouted as his nephew. “You need to try harder Stephen, you ungrateful brat!” For his age, William Cho was quite fit, he climbed over the table and grabbed Stephen by the collar of his shirt. Unfortunately for William, he was shorter and less fit than Stephen, he couldn’t even lift Stpehen off the ground, he only pulled the young man forward. “Watch what you say next uncle.” Stephen warned with a grin on his lips. “You never know what cards the other side has.” William Cho had no idea how influential Stephen was now, how powerful the young man had become in his own right. At the beginning, William had Stephen closely watched by his people, but he soon became bored, thinking that his nephew was quite useless and didn’t really do much to better himself. William was gravely mistaken in this matter, his men just missed the signs. So as time went on William had his people watch Stephen less and less, until they made t
“You’ve thrown many accusations today, Stephen.” William Cho chuckled as he listened to what Stephen just said.”Make up your mind, who is behind your fake death, me or your father?”Stephen grinned at his uncle’s words, the elder man still hadn’t learned not to underestimate Stephen. “Uncle, don’t worry, you are still behind the more successful attempt on my life.” Stephen announced.No one in the room dared move. They all wanted to know what else had happened that day, it seemed to all of them that Stephen knew more than he was letting on. “Your man died, took my place, and by some messed up fortune you saved me.” Stephen said, summarizing what happened that day. “But uncle, that is not the only sinister thing you’ve done to me, is it?” William glared at Stephen, not saying a word. He had finally realized how what he said was playing in Stephen’s favor.“Ah, finally, he’s willing to listen.” Stephen mockingly chuckled as he shook his head and walked over to where Amalia stood, con