In the 600-acre Myers mansion.
There was a celebration going on because the movie Sofia Myers, Gregory’s eldest daughter, was part of had released recently and become a box office hit. She got recognition for her role as the woman who got oppressed by her boss on one side and her boyfriend on the other side.
She used to be a decently successful writer before that, but her acting skills were highly praised by the critics as well as the audiences in her first appearance as an actor.
The whole of the Myers family was overjoyed at this.
She was fed pieces of cake by her parents and her live-in lover Andres.
Sofia was a beauty with bountiful proportions any man would love seeing in a woman. Andres was a perfect package: tall, sturdy, hairy, and handsome. They looked good together was what they believed.
“I haven’t been this happy in a long time,” Sofia's eyes turned teary from happiness.
“Hard work always pays off,” Gregory, her father, patted her shoulder. He was proud of her achievement, even though her acting career had just begun.
“Thanks, dad.”
Gregory then glanced at his second daughter, Narika, who was five years younger than her elder sister. She had a cute face and a bright smile, but there were little to no curves on her body, so she had always been low on self confidence since young. Her elder sister always stole the spotlight.
“You should learn from your sister, Narika,” Gregory's voice wasn’t all lovely. “She’s earned 30 grand with her first movie, and now multiple producers are offering her over 100 grand.”
“She’s 30, dad! I’ll also earn like her when I’m 30!” replied Narika faster than he asked her.
“Haha,” Victoria, Gregory’s wife, laughed and kissed Narika. She was a tall, red-haired woman in perfect shape and more adorned than her daughters. “Cut her some slack, Gregory. She’s our youngest child. You are supposed to dote on her the most.”
“She’s a grown-up now,” said Gregory. “Any more doting, and it’ll only affect her in a bad way.”
“It’s fine even if Narika doesn’t earn for another hundred years,” Victoria said, emphasizing how much she liked her second daughter through her caring smile. “We make millions everyday. Let her enjoy her life, and let us worry about the rest.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Gregory could only shake his head. He was a blonde with some gray hair showing up at the sides. “You’re spoiling her, and you know that, so there’s nothing I can do. Both Narika and Marlon need to change their habits. They are at that age where my friends want to marry their children to them, so they must look good—have their own identity, or… I won’t be able to talk about them with my friends and colleagues.”
“I’m sure they’ll realize their responsibilities soon,” Victoria responded, making Marlon happy, but Narika’s expression stayed flat. She knew her mother enough to not fall for her praises because Victoria doted on her one moment and then scolded her the other moment.
Andres looked at Sofia and said, “You look really beautiful today.”
“That’s because I’m quite happy.”
“Why don’t you share some cake with the trash living in the cottage?” Andres suggested.
“Carlos? I totally forgot about him,” Sofia sounded amused and looked at a maid. “Take a big chunk of the cake to the cottage and throw it on the ground. Let him lick it like a dog to eat it.”
“Hahaha,” Victoria’s ears felt like they heard the most pleasant music in the world. “That’s my daughter.”
Marlon amusedly smiled, whereas Narika slightly frowned.
“It’s been over a month since we sent him to that place,” Andres voiced his mind. “With his knees broken, I want to see how he’s doing.”
“Then let’s go and see him together,” Sofia said.
“I’ll come as well,” Victoria's voice had a tinge of eagerness. “I can’t wait to see the miserable look on his face.”
Together, the three of them went to the cottage that was about six hundred meters to the south of the mansion, hidden away behind tall trees. The cottage would be impossible to spot even from the sky as well. It was basically an old abandoned cottage where Gregory’s grandfather had lived.
“He’s not cultivating anything,” Andres could see that there were no plants growing around the cottage. “If he’s not growing plants, what’s he eating then?”
“He probably died from starvation,” Victoria laughed out loud. “He definitely deserves to die like that!”
Sofia and Andres looked at each other in shock before rushing to the cottage. However, they didn’t touch the door because it was dirty. They stood outside and ordered the blonde maid to open the door, go inside and check what Carlos was doing.
The maid didn’t seem comfortable, either, to enter a dirty place that could make her sneeze a lot. She put on gloves and covered her nose and mouth with a towel before heading in.
Water bottles and rotten vegetables were lying on the dusty floor. There were some pizza boxes, out of which lines of ants were touring in and out. She looked around, but couldn’t find Carlos. There was nobody inside.
Meanwhile, Victoria was running her mouth outside. “Even if he begs, I’m not going to let him go. I won’t give him freedom.”
“But, Mom, hasn’t he suffered enough?” Sofia asked.
“No, he hasn’t! I’ve never suffered humiliation in public and had a perfect image until he…” Victoria didn’t even want to talk about it. After all, social media had made memes of her falling on her way up the stage. For her, it was utterly humiliating, to say the least. Even to this day, she felt haunted by that incident.
The maid walked out of the cottage and shook her head. “He’s not here.”
“What?” all three of them were shocked. The smiles on their faces were gone. “Have you checked thoroughly? Maybe he’s hiding under the bed!”
“No, ma’am,” the maid confidently said. “He’s not inside. He’s gone.”
“This…” Victoria, Andres, and Sofia looked at each other’s faces. Where could he have gone with broken knees? A lot of questions popped in their minds.
“What if he goes to the media and tells them everything?” Sofia’s heart was in her mouth.
“We can’t let that happen,” Andres gritted his teeth. “We must find him and silence him!”
Victoria had already made a call to Gregory who was traveling in a car.
“What’s it, dear?” he asked.
She explained to him what had happened. “What should we do now?”
“We’ll do nothing,” Gregory replied.
“What?”
“Even if he approaches the media, I’ll just throw them some biscuits so that his story never gets published anywhere, except in his dreams,” Gregory assured. “So calm down and tell Sofia to just forget about it and have fun.”
“Okay.”
After Victoria explained what Gregory had said to her daughter, Sofia’s heart lightened.
However, Sofia had a frown on her face. “Is dad going to hire men to kill him?”
“Like I said, let the adults worry about such things,” Victoria said with a smile. “You two, go back to the mansion. I’ll have a look around to see if I’ll find any clues.”
“Mm.”
After Sofia and Andres left, Victoria entered the cottage with her nose covered with cloth. “How did the food and water bottles get here?” she wondered and frowned. “Don’t tell me… Sofia still has a thing for him?”
A man with a messy look, Carlos, entered the hair saloon and received many weird glances. Their movements, be it of their eyelids or their fingers, looked to be in slow motion in his eyes. “Hey, this place ain’t for beggars!” one of the workers there tried to push him out, but he took out a hundred dollar bill. “S-Sorry, sir. Please take your seat.” the worker’s behavior took a U-turn. “What type of haircut and shave do you want?” “As clean and simple as possible.” In a few minutes, the job was done. The workers and other customers were surprised by how differently he looked now. Though he had a thin scar running diagonally at the corner of his left eye, his overall appearance was quite manly. He looked rather thin as if he was on an extreme diet, but his deep brow-ridge, his intense gaze, and his thick jaw, everything about his mein screamed manliness. He didn’t care about the change in the impression the others were having of him. He walked out of the saloon and looked around wit
In Myers mansion. The family joined at the dinner table. Victoria had been murmuring with Gregory for a little while, making Andres wonder what they were talking about, even though he acted like he didn’t care. Victoria eventually spoke, eying everyone except Gregory at the table, which included her son, two daughters, and Andres, “I don’t want to do this, but I can’t ignore what happened.” “What are you talking about, Mom?” asked Marlon, her half-assed son who was never good at anything other than playing games and chasing after women older than him. “I’ll get straight to the point,” Victoria didn’t mince her words. “We all know, Carlos rotted in the cottage for weeks.” Everyone nodded in response. “But I found some food packets and water bottles inside.” “What?” Everyone else was shocked to hear that, but Victoria kept scrutinizing their expressions. She couldn’t figure out who did it purely from their expressions. Either none of them did it, or one of them was very good at hidi
A brand new Myers’ luxurious clothing store was being inaugurated by the rising star Sofia Myers. Her live-in lover also accompanied her. Hundreds thronged at the entrance just to see Sofia and to get autographs and selfies. She didn’t give a single autograph or take any selfie until she opened the showroom. She then stated, “I’ll take selfies with those who buy at least one product from this store.” Those words were like fuel thrown in fire. Almost everyone rushed into the store and looked for anything they could buy. Andres was impressed with Sofia. “You really know how to sell stuff.” “Fufu,” she snorted arrogantly. “Look at them fighting like monkeys to buy things from the store. Fans like them are one of the reasons I became an actress. I only need to do a little bit of good now and then, and they’ll take care of the rest.” The two of them could hear people not only talking about Sofia but also her father. Hearing praises from them only swelled Sofia’s pride some more. “You
Andres used the security camera footage to look for the blonde man’s identity on the internet. He didn’t search it for himself but made a worker do it. And the female worker wearing glasses was shocked by the search results. “SFF Charles!” “What?” Andres didn’t like the tone of the worker. “Who is he?” “Straight-fucking-flash Charles, sir!” the worker seemed quite shocked. “This guy got an undefeated record at poker. He pulls out straight flushes half the time and utterly thrashes everyone at the table. Whenever he played, nobody has pulled out a Royal Flush. Never. Not once. Only straight flushes are possible, and that’s also only by him, which is why he’s got the infamous name! Many casinos had already banned this guy from entering!” “He’s a gambler?” “He was. After he got banned by most casinos, he began entering official tournaments, unofficial gaming series and charity events. Do you remember the billionaire Bisconsley’s charity event that happened last month? This guy went a
Only the important guests were invited to the birthday party of Caroline Bisconsley, the wife of the late Benedict Bisconsley who loved her wife so much he gave his entire property to her. Naturally, all of her children and relatives very much sucked up to her at every possible moment. While Caroline greeted everyone equally, her eyes caught sight of two handsome men in the crowd. She showed them to her granddaughter, Laurel, from a distance. “The orange-haired one is Marlon Myers. The only son of Gregory Myers,” Caroline said. “From what I know, he’s definitely going to inherit at least half of Myers’ assets.” “He’s good-looking, for sure,” Laurel said and glanced at the second man. “What about the other guy?” “Ah, he’s more of a rogue with a vague background. Don’t know if it’s his real name or not, but he calls himself Charles Wallace. He’s a gambler who’s got hundreds of millions sitting in his bank account.” “Charles Wallace?” Laurel was a little surprised. “Isn’t he the one
“Why did you stop me?” Laurel’s tone was serious, and her gaze was piercing sharp. “She apologized, didn’t she?” Charles’ sent daggers back at her. “That’s…” Laurel bit her lower lip for a second before yanking her hand out of his grip. Quarreling with Charles at such a party wouldn’t do any good for her, she thought. Still, she coldly peered at Narika and said, “Watch where you’re going, woman, or what’s the use of having eyes and big-freaking glasses?” Saying that, she hurried upstairs to get her dress changed. Charles turned and looked at Narika. Their eyes briefly met, and she turned around and hurriedly left. “Not even a thanks, huh…” Charles muttered under his breath. “Not that I expected it, but… she does look a lot different in short hair. Sofia’s shy sister. She’s become quite lean as well. I almost couldn’t recognize her.” Charles had no idea that the Myers family had put Narika in a dog cage and starved her for almost two months, giving her food every few days so she wo
Charles just won another poker competition and pocketed 3.5 million dollars. The press interviewed him afterward and asked for the secret of his success. “Focus and determination. Those two things will help get results.” That was all he said. “What about luck?” a random reporter asked back. “There’s no such thing as luck,” replied Charles. “Everything in this world is ordained by God. He once stripped me of everything, and then he decided to make me sit here and talk with you guys.” “Haha, you mean you’ve become successful because God wished for it and not because of your own hard work?” “Well, I always work hard, but my effort ends with picking the next poker card on the table. I can’t control the cards every other player picks, can I? The picture I see is very little compared to what a bird in the sky can see, let alone the guy sitting up above the sky, don’t you think? So, the answer to your question is… will you live for a thousand years just because you breathe harder?” His
“Sofia, can we have dinner together today?” “I’m not feeling like going outside, so I can’t.” “Sofia, how about lunch in your favorite restaurant tomorrow?” “I have some important work, no.” “Sofia, do you hate me? Why do you avoid eating with me?” “I don’t hate you, Carlos. Why would I hate you, my husband? I know I hit you sometimes, but that’s because I care for you. You meant the world to me.” “Then, let’s have dinner together tonight.” “That’s… I’m afraid I have a party to attend.” “Then, take me along.” “It’s a women only party, so…” Charles kept thinking back on the times he had asked his wife to spare some time for him only to get refused time and again. Now that he was wearing a new suit, tie, and face, she suddenly had the time to not only call and ask him for dinner but to also pick the dinner spot. And he didn’t find it funny. “I was ignorant back then. She looked beautiful, and I took the bait. I had no idea she had a long list of ex-lovers, and she even met th