“I honestly have no idea how you formed this misconception of your so-called beauty—it’s not like you’ve compared yourself to all the men and women in this world.” Edward sighed and put his hands behind his back, standing up straight. He looked at the woman resolutely. The woman’s chest heaved with rage at his words, and she growled, “You may look like you know what you’re talking about, but that doesn’t mean you’re right!” Edward raised an eyebrow disdainfully. “I think you know very well whether that sentence is directed at me or yourself.” The woman gnashed her teeth angrily but soon regained her composure and forced out a smile. “You’re the most useless man I’ve ever met, Edward. All you’re capable of is standing here and squabbling with me. What else can you do?” She gave him a condescending look. “And yet you dare look down on me! Regardless of what you think, there’s no denying I’m an outstanding woman, and I landed my job through my own hard work. I started as a lowly ass
In any case, the woman knew nothing she did would work against Darius—he was much too powerful. Even if she and her comrades were to face him together, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Her knees gave out, and she fell to the floor. At the same time, she yelled, “There’s no reason! We just happened to see him while thinking of a way to deal with you, and we did a background check on him to find that he was the plainest person we’d ever met. No one paid attention to him before he took over Dream Investment Group, so we took the opportunity to forge an identity for him. This way, no one would notice anything fishy about him and suspect him.” Darius raised an eyebrow at this, looking irritated. “I’m shocked to hear that, and I have no words to describe your stupidity.” He stepped toward her, making her tremble and curl into a ball. She shrieked, “I’ve already told you everything you want to know. Why are you still coming at me? And why are you still holding that blade? Are you going to g
Darius’ instinct as an enlightened martial artist told him the woman was telling the truth. So, he didn’t interrupt her lest she had some funny thoughts and decided to lie again. The woman looked at him when she was done speaking and relaxed when she saw him nodding. Her tone became lighter as she continued, “I don’t know whether there’s anyone else who can enter his office; as far as I’m aware, in the company, his secretary is the only one. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you anything about him. I’ve only ever received calls from him and never seen his face. Of course, if you need his phone number, I can give it to you.” She looked at Darius cautiously. Darius frowned. “You can continue speaking. I’ll reward you accordingly if I think you deserve it.” The woman sighed in relief. Then, her eyes glowed with the excitement of sharing gossip—it even overwhelmed her fear of dying. “Mr. Reid, I’m positive that the black-robed person behind Dream Investment Group has to attend to certain ne
Then, Henry smiled gently. “I’m nothing but a poor man; my son had to live in squalor with me.” His eyes turned red. “There’s no better way of putting it—I’ve turned into an evil person.” His smile became forced as he turned to look at Edward. It seemed he’d suddenly forgotten about feeling scared. “I only wanted to avenge him, but I dreamed of him last night. He was sad and kept asking me why I did the things I did.” Tears filled his eyes. “He’s always been a strong boy; I’ve never seen him cry. That was the first time, and it made me feel terribly guilty.” Henry shut his eyes. “He told me I was no different from the other unsavory characters because of the things I did.” Edward hadn’t looked into Henry’s background, but he knew he was telling the truth—provided he wasn’t secretly an enlightened martial artist. Edward appraised him to see whether he could catch Henry out somewhere. Henry met his gaze and smiled faintly, not looking flustered at all. He continued calmly, “All I w
Pearl focused on the trash around her feet. They were of various sizes and shapes, and she’d be in danger if she ignored where she was walking. If she were to fall onto the piles of trash, her image would be ruined. She could not accept that, so she focused all her attention on the ground. So, she didn’t hear the other things Darius said. Darius tucked his hands in his pockets. When he saw Pearl had no intention of answering him, he frowned and said, “Pearl, it’s fine even if our records are here; there’s no way we’ll track them down by ourselves. Of course, that’s only the first and least important reason. We need to remember that we hail from wealthy families—recreating our records is as easy as snapping our fingers.” He thought she’d be happy to hear this, but he was wrong. Pearl looked up at his words and frowned. “Darius, that’s where you’re wrong. Those records were penned by different people at different times, and I have no way of tracking them down. Even if I were to loca
The two people on the floor didn’t intend to stop, but they turned to look at Darius. He applauded them with a smile, attracting everyone’s attention. Edward stood up straight and said, “Mr. Reid.” Darius nodded and walked forward, asking, “What happened while I was away? I’m a little lost from missing the beginning; that’s gonna affect how much I enjoy this show.” Marion gaped at him. She wanted to speak, but Edward beat her to it. “It started out simple enough—Henry called Marion Brandt by her full name.” Darius raised an eyebrow. “Marion Brandt?” He crossed his arms and nodded. “That’s a pretty nice name. What was wrong with Henry uttering it?” He turned to look at Marion curiously, which she didn’t expect. She widened her eyes at him and gnashed her teeth but knew she was facing someone she couldn’t afford to offend. She exhaled to calm herself, then shut her eyes. “I don’t understand why you’re back here when I already told you everything there is to tell.” She opened her
It was a call from Erin, which made Darius frown. She should’ve been busy at this time; the fact that she was calling meant something serious had happened. He took a deep breath and lifted his hand from Pearl’s shoulder. His eyes were still on his phone, but his words were directed at Pearl when he said, “I’m going to answer a call; wait here for Edward. When he returns to his senses, we’ll find our records in no time.” After that, he left. Pearl remained rooted to the spot as she watched him leave, feeling like her shoulder wasn’t the only thing that felt like something was missing. Her heart felt the same, especially since she’d gotten a glimpse of who was calling. She knew Darius had left to attend to work, but she still couldn’t help looking bitter at the thought of Erin’s face. She had the sinking feeling that she couldn’t compare to Erin, no matter how beautiful she was. A flurry of thoughts flew through her mind, but there was no one around to pay attention to her. It was
However, Edward could tell something was definitely bothering Darius. He trailed after Darius, parting and pursing his lips hesitantly. Finally, he breathed deeply and said, “Mr. Reid.” Darius’ footsteps didn’t falter. “I thought you were gonna keep sighing behind me.” He stopped and turned to look at Edward. Pearl stopped as well, and silence descended upon the three. Darius continued flatly, “Henry Fort is mentally ill. His mental state suffered a major blow upon his son’s death, and he developed dissociative identity disorder. He apparently has two identities now.” Edward’s and Pearl’s breathing hitched at his words, and he shut his eyes to conceal his pain. He sighed and said, “He used to be one of the good guys. But his son…we can seek him out after digging up our records. There could be a huge disparity between what he believes to be true and what actually happened.” Pearl and Edward were curious to know why Darius seemed so tormented and exchanged a look. Then, Pearl asked