What Maurice heard next bewildered him, even though it was a detail from many years ago. Felix straightened his back almost instantly. He also adopted a strident tone as he explained, “Mr. Reid, he and his boss once came to propose a business collaboration with my company. It’s just that they got kicked out.”He did not elaborate on the latter half of the information as he believed clarifying the first half was enough for Darius to guess what came next.Darius could tell Felix was a reasonable person, so he did not speak and merely turned to lean his back against the car seat before shutting his eyes. Maurice had more to say but did not know where to begin because he was too shocked. It took him a few moments to mull over his options. Eventually, he remained silent but kept a cautious eye on Darius and Felix. Maurice had figured Darius was insanely rich from the latter’s overall behavior. However, he had sorely underestimated the extent of Darius’ wealth; in fact, he dared not even
What shocked Maurice more was that he felt a surge of warmth in his veins when Edward forced his head to lower apologetically at Darius. He rolled his eyes before ultimately giving in, adopting a sincere and formal tone as he declared aloud, “Don’t worry, Mr. Reid. I can attest to everything Mr. Elliot, who I’m making my mentor now, has said. Alongside what he promised, I swear this under God’s witness—I’m pledging loyalty to you now. If I ever harm you or your family, the Lord is free to condemn me with eternal punishment.”The 15-year-old boy’s promise rang out clearly and with great strength.Darius gradually opened his eyes, turned his head, and shot a raised brow at Maurice. It shocked him to receive such an intense promise because he had never thought about training Maurice Anderson or other strangers to become the Reid family’s bodyguard. Thus, it took him aback to hear Maurice willingly wanting to become his bodyguard. “Not to mention, this kid is swearing his future away to
#No matter what happened during the rest of the drive, Felix kept his attention on driving the car ahead safely and swiftly.Like the former, Maurice was in equal distress throughout the drive. He sat in the backseat with both hands on his knees, gripping his jeans tightly while his gaze remained downcast. Only through doing that could Maurice hold back from asking the many questions in his mind. He even felt Edward’s gaze lingering on him several times, but he dared not raise his head to speak to the latter. Edward initially knitted his brows with concern at the boy, but after some time, Edward would turn away quickly and silently while his shoulders trembled. Moments would pass before he looked ahead again with reddened eyes.Of course, Maurice knew the reason behind that—Edward was not crying out of worry for Maurice. Instead, it was because he found Maurice hilarious.Maurice pursed his lips, not knowing what to do as he could not pinpoint why Edward was laughing. His doubts con
Maurice and Edward’s eyes locked on like magnets for the longest time. As Maurice was about to speak up, he suddenly heard a disdainful snort from the passenger seat ahead.Felix had remained silent the entire time but secretly thought, “Hah! That Edward is practically a dummy at this point. I doubt he’ll respond to Maurice.”Maurice’s heart almost fell out of his chest when he reached to touch Edward’s shoulder. As soon as he detected an abnormality with the latter, he retreated two steps away and withdrew his hand. “Y-You! W-What on earth are you? How did you possess Mr. Elliott? H-He was just sitting next to me a moment ago!” he muttered. His voice tremored so much that it took Edward a long while to understand what he was saying.As Edward thought about how to respond, new emotions and speculations arose in Maurice’s mind. When Edward finally composed himself, prepared an adequate response, and turned to look at the boy, he found the latter retreating while curling into a ball li
Edward’s tone did not fluctuate much. It felt like he was commenting on the weather on a bright, sunny day to his neighbors.On the other hand, Maurice stayed unmoving in the backseat and only raised his head, perplexity clouding his eyes. He did not understand what Edward was implying, so he looked around awkwardly and wanted to clarify with the latter. However, Edward did not allow the boy to ask any more questions. He opened the car door and took one step out before speaking in a gentler voice than before. “There’s no rush for you to learn anything, be it in formal classes for kids your age or other life aspects you should know. You don’t need to feel pressured into starting those things. What you currently need to do is connect with yourself and your environment instead of being detached.”He then exhaled lightly before strolling to the hotel’s front doors. When he entered, Erin was standing by the door, looking down to emphasize the annoyance on her face. Next to her was a gorg
Alicia noticed Erin’s actions but did not leave. Instead, she joined the latter in waiting by the door. However, that only lasted a few seconds before Erin could not help whipping her head in Alicia’s direction, annoyance flickering in her eyes. “I think you should improve your wits if you wish to stay in West Atlantics Int’l or serve by Mr. Reid’s side. For instance, you shouldn’t be standing here! Your continued presence beside me is getting on my nerves! Not only that, but you’ve also used plenty of my time and still insist on staying here even though you already got the answer you wanted!”Several guests, hotel staff, and security members stood in the lobby. When they heard Erin telling Alicia off, they collectively cast a confused look at the latter.Being the center of everyone’s attention made Alicia’s face turn as red as beets. It also dimmed the sparkle in her eyes as she took two steps back and bowed. “My sincerest apologies.” With that, she did not stick around; her feet
Darius’ eyes narrowed to slits just then. Although he did not know why Edward would behave so abnormally, his instinct told him to trust the latter.Edward sprinted forward into the room. Once he got there, he glared daggers at Kate and Felix. The two responded differently, with Kate’s features blanking while Felix’s darkened. Felix slowly held the spot behind his neck while abruptly craning his head from side to side. The crisp sound of bones cracking then reverberated around the space.It was so jarring that even Darius’ heart skipped a beat. What happened next shocked him even more; although it sounded like Felix’s neck was broken, Felix still managed to raise his head as if nothing had happened. Darius did not bother hiding his disappointment at that instant, hardening his gaze before everyone there.Felix noticed it almost instantly and frowned. “Among everyone I know, you’re quite the arrogant man—”“Stand guard at the door for now,” Darius interrupted, turning to face Edward
Not only did Darius continue to approach Felix, but the former’s icy sneer did not lessen one bit. At that point, the two had just begun confronting each other, but Felix felt he had already lost to Darius. Thus, Felix fell so deep in thought that anyone could have heard the gears grinding in his head. He gathered every last drop of his strength to slam the table with his hands.The noise thundered throughout the room so much so that it jolted Kate and Edward. It took the two a moment to gather themselves, but even after, fear continued to burn like wildfire in their eyes. Contrarily, Darius did not even bat an eyelash despite standing opposite Felix, where the noise was the loudest. That baffled Felix so much that all the color vanished from his face. Since he got into the driver’s seat earlier, he’d studied Darius’ every move, hoping to find Darius’ weakness. Sadly, he failed even until now, and it crumbled every inch of his confidence. He took a few seconds to ponder his next m