“This place is really special to me,” Benjamin replied somewhat indifferently. “I can’t let you guys close it, even if it’s for a few days.”“What?” the police officer couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy. He took his baton out.“Wow, chill, bro,” Benjamin got out of the seat. “You don’t have the court orders to shut this place down, do you?”“I don’t need to show you anything. Now, get out!”“Calm down, sir,” Benjamin politely said. “My in-laws have been treating me poorly, so this is the only place I can come every day and take my stress out, so what will happen to me if you close this bar?”“I don’t care,” the officer yelled.“Then, can I at least come to your station and pass time there?” Benjamin innocently asked.“What?” Irritation coiled up the officer’s intestines. “You think that the police station is your guest house?” he swung the baton at Benjamin’s legs without hesitation.Benjamin jumped over the couch and dodged the attack. The officer chased him. Benjamin made him ru
“I was so looking forward to coming to your wedding reception, but then it didn’t happen.” “I’m sorry, Evelyn,” Rebecca was talking over a mobile while learning to cook rice with the help of online videos. “A lot of things happened, and… I can’t give you a date yet, but it will happen one day.” “Huh, I thought you would be the last one to get married in our friend group, but you are always full of surprises.” “I didn’t plan for things to happen this way, you know.” “Mm, can you… help me find a boyfriend? They all look the same to me. Give me some advice. You used to date many men in university? How did you choose them?” “Haha. I didn’t choose them. They chose me.” Evelyn sighed. “So I just have to try everyone and then judge?” “There’s no easy way as far I know,” replied Evelyn. “But when you find the right one, your heart will tell you that he’s special.” “Special in what way?” “Well, my guy can sweet-talk, but he doesn’t put up all sorts of facades like most men do. He doesn
“Stop with your nonsense,” Jane yelled at Steve through the mobile in the middle of the night.“Look. I didn’t see them in action, but I sent you the picture, didn’t I?” Steve spoke, trying to reason her. “When he comes home, ask him.”“Ask what? It’s just a picture showing him and a girl coming out of a lodge,” Jane said, frustratingly. “How can you tell from this that they’re even together? They must be coming out at the same time.”“Are you kidding me?” he raised his voice. “They’re not holding each other’s hands, but you can tell they’re walking together, can’t you?”“I can’t, but let’s talk about this. Were you following him?”“No,” he replied without a shred of hesitation. “I just happened to be passing by, and I saw this.”“Yeah. Like I’d believe it. I know you are desperate, but this is too much to the point you’re starting to scare me, Steve.”“T-That’s not my intention,” Steve’s heart felt troubled. “You know that, right? I would never harm you. I was fine when I saw you wit
“If I had known you would hug me for feeding you a spoonful of carrot pudding, I’d have done it every night when I was in the villa.”“Haha.”Benjamin and Rebecca enjoyed the meal together in a cave with a cold but comfortable atmosphere.They toured throughout the Mabel fort and took pictures together. There were no animals other than a few birds, but the visuals from there were quite stunning as the fort was built on top of a mountain. They climbed the famous Mabel hill that had 777 steep steps to the top. Rebecca went three-fourths on her feet, and Benjamin carried her in arms for the rest, embarrassing her quite so much with his overly enthusiastic action. From the top of the Mabel hill, the whole city was up for view.There were stone benches, so they sat there. She prepared fresh lemon water with salt, sugar, and a little bit of grated chili mixed and shaken well. He drank it without a problem, but it was too spicy for her. Her tongue and mouth were on fire. Luckily, she brought
Rebecca was reading private messages on her social media accounts.“Do you do hook-ups? I can pay a thousand per night.”“You’re much prettier than your mother. Please let me lick your toes.”“Can we meet? I’ll do whatever you want.”“I’ll happily pay ten grand for your underwear.”“I earn over 100K a year. Can we go out on a date?”“Are you really married? If not, I can divorce my wife and marry you. Is that okay?”Rebecca was grinding her teeth as she scrolled through the messages. She was not much of a social media person, but she just wanted to check her online profiles once to see how they were doing, but she didn’t expect a long list of messages from perverts.“These idiots have no other business? How can they be so shameless? How can I change the settings so strangers can’t post me messages? I should ask Veronica. She knows better about these things.”She called Veronica, but her sister didn’t answer. “What’s she doing?” she tried again, but there was no response.She put the m
The next morning.Luther tried calling the bodyguard he had assigned to take care of Benjamin, but his mobile was in switched-off mode since last night.Luther came to Artur who had just finished his bath and arrived at the dining table. “He either ran away, or he’s got compromised, sir.”“What do YOU think?”“Knowing the guy, he’s not the type to run away.”“So the son-in-law dealt with him? A war veteran?”“There’s no other explanation.”“Send a batch then. If necessary, you take care of it yourself. I want results before the sun goes down.”“Understood,” Luther was standing appropriately erect, arms crossed in front of the crotch, and still looked relaxed. His eyes exuded confidence as they always did.“Where’s my father? He’s usually sitting here, ready to give me a lecture or two about how a person of means should behave differently with different people.”“Mr. Terry and Mr. Langdon paid a visit, so he’s upstairs, talking,” Luther broke out of his balanced stance and leaned towar
The zero squad of David’s security service was made of war veterans. They normally didn’t meet unless it was an order from David or Luther. Today, after receiving a call from Luther, they all gathered at the Rye’s Pizzas. All twelve of them, excluding Luther.“To kill a pizza delivery guy, you gathered all of the zero squad,” the one with the tattoo 2 on his chin said, his arms folded tightly. Unlike the rest, he didn’t seem to be interested in pizzas. “This is an overkill among overkills.”“Our task is not to kill but to cut his balls off,” Luther reminded them once again. “Let’s put egos aside and work together.”“Isn’t one of us enough to do the job?” the one with the number 1 tattoo on his forehead said, chewing bubble gum. “Who’s this son-in-law that you wanted all of us on this job?”“I called you all just to be on the safe side. Besides, this is what Young Master Artur wanted.”“Ho, so it’s personal to him. Then it can’t be helped. Are we gonna brood here until that guy shows u
Luther didn’t fight. He was allowed to leave, even though he didn’t tell who he was working for. Alfred knew who he was, but Benjamin thought he was just part of the security gang. Since he didn’t fight, Benjamin didn’t see the reason to kill him.Though Alfred wanted to clean everything that had happened at the pizza hut, Damian told to leave things to him.Christopher and the rest of the staff were outside. After hearing the gunshots, they had already called the police. They were too terrified to enter the store.However, the first person that had arrived at the scene was none other than the chairman of Rye’s Pizzas, along with Allegra, his pale secretary and personal maid.Christopher kept shamelessly drooling at Allegra and couldn’t look elsewhere ever since she arrived.Benjamin had already left the scene as Alfred had taken him away to a different place.Allegra took care of the situation outside while Samael went in.“Whoa…” Seeing the decapitated head and the dead bodies, Sama
“How are things with your family, brother?” Fiona asked.Selena raised an eyebrow. “You’re in a family that deals with real-estate, so you should already know how we’re doing.”“Haha, I do, but outside information can only be trusted so much,” Fiona responded. “Recently, we’ve worked hard on getting a marriage deal for Fiona. Her fiance owns a reputed sports agency that deals with covering all the popular international sports. He earns hundreds of millions every year, but his father is a tycoon in the alcohol industry. Their net worth is in tens of billions.”“Good for you and your daughter,” Jacob smiled.“By the way, Brother,” Fiona glanced at Veronica and Akash. “What does Veronica’s husband do?”Jacob’s expression slightly changed.Veronica frowned and looked at her mother who was looking back at her with a rather poker face.“He is staying at home for now,” Veronica said openly.“Pfft, he’s jobless?” Riley snorted. “Your taste is so bad, Veronica, not just in terms of finding a pa
Benjamin went to the first floor and waited in the hall until Rebecca left her room.Then he went to her room. The door was locked, but he solidified his energy in the keyhole and opened the door.He entered the room quietly and saw the water bottle on the table next to her desk. It was half-full.Benjamin took out the vial and poured a drop of water into the bottle while saying ‘I love you, Rebecca.’He entered the bathroom and poured a couple of drops in the bathtub while once more uttering the three words ‘I love you, Rebecca.”He was about to come out of the room, but then he stopped and then ended up leaking another drop of water on the pillow, and another on the blanket. “I love you, Rebecca.”“Hopefully, this will help,” he thought.Benjamin then hurriedly left the room and then went to the rooftop. He mixed a few more drops in each of the four water tanks, while saying the words out, “I love you, Rebecca.”He looked at the vial.Three fourths of it was finished.He put the via
Despite Uzza, Rye, and Benjamin living in separate rooms, there were many guest rooms still available in the mighty Sterling villa, the best property on Rachel Hill.So, the families of Jacob’s siblings stayed in those rooms without any issue.But the problem was with the cousins, who were trying to show off. They acted arrogant and haughty with Veronica and even mocked Rebecca for the little hair she had on her head, not even bothering to wonder why exactly her hair was like that.Rebecca didn’t even bother talking to them, or sparing a word with them because she knew how selfish and self-centered these people were.Jacob and Shawn might have forgiven these people, but Rebecca couldn’t just act like nothing ever happened.She didn’t treat them badly, either. She just ignored them and minded her business.However, her cousin sisters got their eyes on Benyamin who was quite good-looking. Her cousin brothers were also unable to avert their eyes from Rye.Rye looked more like an exotic f
So many people started visiting Sterling villa ever since Selena herself had leaked the news of her buying a lot of land and buildings in Aurora Hills.Selena was sitting on the balcony, with Veronica next to her.“Why has the traffic increased so much?” Veronica said, “I’m seeing so many cars come and go recently.”Selena somewhat smiled and sipped on cream coffee. “I wasn’t born rich, Veronica. My relatives didn’t even let my parents into their homes or invite us to their functions because we were poor as church mice.”“Stop joking, Mom,” Veronica smirked with amusement. “You look like a million dollars. I’m sure our relatives’ sons back then would have wanted to marry you.”“You’re not entirely wrong, but they didn’t want to marry me as much as they wanted to mess with me,” Selena said. “I still remember one guy telling me, ‘I may look ugly as hell, but I can show you heaven in bed.’”Veronica went silent in shock. She didn’t think her mother’s beauty would have brought such terrib
Delle was bringing food, three varieties, on a big plate.Rye intercepted and took the plate from her. She brought it to Benjamin and sat by him under the tree.The grass was cool, even though the breeze was warm.“You think I haven’t noticed that you weren’t eating anything since you made that 40-day promise?” Rye said. “You were just acting like you’re eating.”She broke the bread mixed with fruit and brought it closer to his mouth.He didn’t open his mouth.“Do you want me to stop eating just like you are doing?” Rye said.Benjamin, who was staring into the distance, glanced at her. “Is it possible to love and hate at the same time?”Rye pursed her lips together, not quite understanding why he asked such a question. “I was angry with the things you did. I am still angry, but I don’t hate you. So, if you really love someone, I don’t think you can hate them.”“If there is no hatred in his heart, then how is Neel able to do this to me?” Benjamin asked, a hint of pain laced through his
Rebecca and Benyamin had breakfast together.This nearly made Selena’s eyes bleed. She didn’t think she’d live a day like this.Watching them eating happily was like injecting poison into her body.While she loved seeing her daughter happy, she couldn’t spare any mercy on the man who tricked her daughter into marrying him.Even now, she was thinking in her heart, devising plans on how to separate her daughter and her husband.Having lost the mood to eat breakfast, she came to the backyard.Amber was preparing the background setting needed for the interview.“Where’s Kathy?” Selena asked.“S-She’s with Samuel Sehla, ma’am,” Amber hesitantly said.Selena’s gaze turned a little icy, but then she smiled. “I knew Kathy had it in her, but I didn’t think she’d be able to grab the attention of someone like Samuel Sehla.” She looked at Amber. “What about you?”“I-I don’t plan on grabbing anybody’s attention,” Amber quickly replied.“Tsk, tsk,” Selena shook her head. “Try to grab Benyamin’s att
The next morning.Rebecca came out of her room fast and reached the dorms just to check on Benyamin. She found him brushing his teeth with his finger. And he was using salt.“Don’t you have a brush and toothpaste?” Rebecca quickly asked. “You should have asked me then.”“No, I’m fine with this,” Benyamin replied. “The smell of the chemicals in the toothpaste just makes me feel nauseous, so I’m fine with just this sea salt.”“But… will salt be enough?”“It’s enough,” Benyamin gave a thumbs-up. “In fact, I’m worried about you because you’re using that chemical-ridden toothpaste which dullens your brain.”“If they dullen the brain, then why would they promote toothpastes so much on television?”“They will promote everything that will make them money while keeping the people sick, so that they will not be able to think clearly and would rather depend on the government to think for themselves,” Benyamin smiled.“That’s not funny,” Rebecca hissed. “I have to go and brush my teeth. And I’m f
Later that night.Benjamin was out in the garden, sitting under a tree, doing nothing as hours went by.“He’s been like that since dinner,” Rye was watching him from the first floor’s window. “It’s not good.”“What can I say?” Uzza was feeling heavy-hearted. “It feels like the story of Abel and Cain altogether, though in a different way. The brothers that represent the duality of current man. The devil sure knows how to mock us and make us angry. I’m certain now. It’s his plan. He put the sworn brothers against each other.”“But how did he get Shadow?” Rye frowned. “I don’t sense any demonic energy in him.”“Considering Shadow’s abilities, it’s easy for him to hide the demonic energy,” Uzza opined. “He’s a perfect place for demons to hide, though I don’t know how they got hold of him. He must have been caught by surprise. I just hope that this won’t lead to something disastrous.” She was looking at Benjamin. “The longer this goes, the more likely that someone among those is going to b
Veronica brought Akash with her to dinner. Almost everybody was present at the dinner table after a very long time.New tables were arranged because there were more people now.Veronica could see that Akash was not taking his eyes off Benyamin. “Why are you staring at him nonstop?” she asked in a low voice.“He’s tall, handsome, and so fair. Even his hands are so shiny. How’s that possible for a man?” Akash sounded quite envious. “Men are not supposed to look so good-looking, right?”“Mm…” Veronica looked at Benyamin and felt the same. “He does look like a million bucks, but he doesn’t seem to have much muscle on his body. What’s the point of being tall when you don’t have enough muscle? You only look like you have inadequate genes.”“Not every man can be built heavy like the men in your family.”“Haha, you’re right,” Veronica was proud of her brothers and dad because they were tall and big and good-looking. Their jaws alone would melt the gazes of many women, after all.Rye and Benjam