*****Although Grace had already been accustomed to various stares throughout her life, especially since she had embarked on the journey of being an entrepreneur, this one left her deeply uncomfortable, making her palms sweat for a reason she had no idea about.“I...I hope you weren’t hurt, Aunty?” she stuttered, uncertain of how to respond to the gaze she was receiving.At the sound of her voice, Laura trembled slightly before stepping forward with her mind a flurry of emotions.She kept her warm gaze on Grace and then gently took her hands once she reached her, leaving Grace, Dorothy, and Xavier utterly flabbergasted.The trio stood there in a daze, unsure of what had just transpired, while Laura, her heart overwhelmed with joy, failed to notice.‘This—this is my daughter-in-law. I’ve —I’ve finally laid my eyes on my daughter-in-law,’ she thought with a mind filled with butterflies, her eyes brimming with unshed tears of joy.Laura had thought she would never get the chance t
***** "Father! Father!!!" Lucius cried out, darting forward as if his butt had caught fire, then with not even the slightest trace of pity, shoved aside the two guards, who appeared to be trying to warn him, and then slammed open the grand door before him, storming inside. “This...” The bodyguards, who had just been roughly pushed aside without any care whether they fell or injured, exchanged uneasy looks. "Master specifically said no one was to enter—why does young master always put us in impossible situations?" one of them muttered, visibly shaken. The other forced a deep breath, trying his best to maintain his composure despite knowing the consequence of making their master mad. "I’m certain the master won’t hold it against us," he whispered hopefully, although his nervous expression suggested otherwise. He then cautiously closed the door that had been forced open by Lucius. As he did so, however, the guard sneaked a glance into the hall and saw Lucius standing motionless. The
***** Lucius had never taken Xavier to his mind and he had long sentenced him to death, merely waiting for news from his bodyguard whom he had dispatched to assassin him now. Never in his wildest dreams—or rather, nightmares—had he expected the next news he would hear about Xavier to be that he had slain a godlike figure such as an E-rank fighter, a level that none in his own family, despite its strength and position, had yet to attain. “You know him?” Borgia asked urgently, noticing Lucius’s dumbstruck expression and outburst. But Lucius was too frozen in shock and disbelief right now to react. He remained transfixed, staring dazedly at the phone displaying Xavier's image, where he was smiling at his parents outside the underground fighting club. Lucius’s mind was in complete turmoil, overwhelmed with fear as he remembered how he had treated Xavier earlier and even sent someone to assassinate him. He stayed like this for a moment before suddenly, something seemed to
*****Grace’s casual expression finally faded away as soon as she heard Xavier still insisting on owning a villa in OceanView Estate.She stared blankly at him for a moment, half-expecting him to suddenly break into a grin and admit he was merely joking. After all, who wouldn’t laugh at such an absurdity of an ordinary person claiming to own a house in OceanView Estate of all places? Yet, there he was, staring back at her, his expression steady, as if he had just casually stated the most obvious fact in the world.She had already been frustrated with him for telling his parents about their marriage—something meant to be a mere business arrangement—without giving her any warning. Now, however, he even dared to boast about something so obviously untrue.‘I thought you were a bit different, maybe even honest, based on the background check I did. But it seems I was wrong,’ she thought, any trace of lingering goodwill she might have had for Xavier vanishing entirely as if it had never
*****Although Grace’s expression didn’t change after seeing Xavier incapable of responding to the question he was asked, her fists clenched slightly with so much fury as she suddenly regretted the mistake of giving her first time to him.Though she had regretted this from the moment it happened, she had kept trying to convince herself that he was at least better than the other men who were only interested in her looks. Especially recalling how he had stood up for her at the bar, and everything she’d learned about his past before he was sent to prison. But now, however, seeing him for what he really was—a liar, a braggart, and a shameless fraud, on top of being an ex-convict—she couldn't help but despise herself to the core, and suddenly... suddenly, she thought Xavier might have planned the incident at the bar.Though this was only a fledging thought, it grew stronger and stronger until finally, it became so believable that she couldn't take it off her mind again.In the next sec
***** "I knew you were somewhat different and mysterious from the first interaction I had with you, “ the figure of a beautifully shaped lady, seated behind a desk inside a dimly lit, shadowed room suddenly mumbled to herself, her expression distant and contemplative with a smug smile on her barely visible lips. Eventually, she snapped back to reality and lowered her gaze to the monitor in front of her, whose screen was providing the only light in the otherwise dark room, and carefully reread the oddly typed, somewhat encrypted message on it before finally, she couldn’t help but release a small sigh. “Never have I imagined that your level of secrecy and mysteriousness actually extends to having the strength needed to eliminate an E-rank fighter...” she whispered with a voice filled with awe, her eyes gleaming with a light that could make one’s skin crawl. Looking at the way she was muttering to herself, lost in her own thoughts, inside the dimly lit office that appeared empty save f
*****"Have you heard the news?” A man in his mid-thirties, who currently has an indifferent expression on his icy face abruptly asked, slowly raising his head.Just at that moment, the door to the grand and somewhat dark-themed office, which radiated power and influence opened, and then Frosh carefully entered, looking extremely wary and deferential, a stark contrast to his usual arrogant, rude demeanor in the outside world.“Boss,” he first bowed his head respectfully to the man in the fine, expensive, and black suit, sitting behind the massive desk with a large cigarette between his fingers.“Yes boss, I just got the news that Jazzy was killed,” he cautiously reported with his head still bowed, but in the following second, a fleeting, calculating glint flashed in his eyes—something the man before him did not notice.The thirty-something authoritative man is Dominic, one of the terrifying and feared rulers of the underground network of Riverton City; Jazzy and Frosh’s boss.He
*****The silence in the office seemed to last an eternity before finally, Dominic, broke it.What did you just say?” he asked, his initial indifferent and icy expression crumbling.Heheheh!’ Frosh laughed inwardly at this but maintained his awkward demeanor.“It—it was Miss Grace. Grace Sky, Boss.”“This!” Dominic finally lost his composure, springing to his feet and glaring at Frosh, who instantly panicked.Who doesn’t know who Grace is to Dominic? She was the woman he had been slowly courting for some time now.Though he could have long gotten her by now if he wanted, he hadn’t because he desired not just her body but her heart, soul as well, and everything.But now…“Why would she do that?! Did that bastard Jazzy offend her?” he growled, his voice dark, menacing, and fierce, causing Frosh’s grin to pause.‘Huh!!!!’ he was dumbstruck by the latter part of his boss’s question.He stared dazedly at his boss for a moment, wondering how much he must have loved Grace to have