News that the Reese family had offended the Lauthner family traveled like a whirlwind in Springdale, and in less than an hour, all the allies they had called to say they no longer wanted anything to do with them."Mr. Winchester, the Reese family assures you our current dilemma will have no effect on what we already have going on. You can rest assured—""Mr. Kent, be assured that your company won't suffer any loss. Even if you do, the Reese family will take responsibility for it. We beg that you be patient—""The Reese family apologizes for—""We will try our utmost best to—"Andy and other members of the Reese family called every one of their allies trying to calm them down, but each person they called ended the call as soon as they realized it was the Reese family.A message came into Andy's phone, and the corners of his eyes twitched.He turned off the screen of his phone and looked up at Hermes Reese."The bank is already messaging asking for their loans back. We were long overdue
Hermes' face squeezed up in pain as the men from the Lauthner family pulled him out of his wheelchair and shoved him roughly to the ground.A pair of black leather shoes appeared in Hermes' eyes, and he clenched his jaw tightly.Before he could say anything, he was pulled up from behind, his crippled legs hanging around.Now face to face with the familiar, wrinkled, and aged face but authoritative and cold eyes belonging to Hamon Lauthner, Hermes didn't know when he swallowed down a mouthful of saliva."You ungrateful bastard. The Lauthner family has been by your family's side for as long as I can remember. All we've done is provide support for you and your ungrateful family from generation to generation, and what do we get in return?""Betrayal!" An enraged member of the Lauthner family spat out from behind him."Did we not do enough for you? Did we not provide enough men for you? Did we not give your family enough money?"Ignoring the pain he was feeling on his face, Hermes' cheeks
In all the chaos, no one stopped to notice the extra addition of one person in the room.Charles Wilkins had changed out of his expensive suit and put on the normal lavish, but expensive clothes usually worn by top families, seamlessly blending as a member of the Reese family..As instructed by Ethan, he waited to see if the Reese family were really worth saving. It was no surprise to anyone that in the matter of life and death, humans were often likely to do what would keep them alive.Siding with the Lauthner family sounded like the only thing the Reese family could do at this point to continue existing.When that happened, Charles would just destroy them together.However, much to his surprise, the head of the Reese family had turned over a new leaf. And someone else seemed to be behind him.Now that he had confirmed what he came for, there was no longer any need to hide himself.Seeing that Charles emerged from amongst the Reese family, Hamon’s eyes visibly darkened in rage.“Has
"Are you calling me a fool, Hamon Lauthner?""Only a fool would fall for the lies of a good-for-nothing. And you fell for the lies of a good-for-nothing. That makes you a fool to me, and I’m sure it makes you a fool in front of other people."Charles was silent for a moment before his eyes snapped to the sudden movement by his side..Sensing the danger behind him, he moved away from behind Hamon like a bolt of lightning.The intended bullet for him missed its target and lodged itself into the wall.A group of masked men rushed towards the middle of the room and pointed their rifles at Charles, who was now sitting at the foot of the stairs leading to the house's second floor.“Are they why you stalled me thinking you could change my mind?”Hamon massaged his neck gently and looked up at Charles.“Not at all. I have no intention to change your mind, it was just to stall you. And frankly, the Lauthner family will benefit more from your death.”“Your brother will be elated to hear that yo
"Wh-what do you think you’re doing? You’re pointing your rifles at the wrong people. Hurry, point it back at him before he uses the opportunity to run!” Hamon Lauthner found his voice a few seconds later and hollered at the masked men loudly.However, the men paid no attention to him and remained in the same position with their rifles.Charles smiled and unhurriedly tapped his foot against the floor. The gentle patting aligned itself with the fearful heartbeats of Hamon and the rest of the Lauthner family.“Obviously, I knew the Wellington family will send reinforcements to you. So I did what any normal person would; I stopped the van conveying them, took out every man belonging to them, and replaced them with my men.”Hamon's eyes suddenly widened in a hurry as he realized he had no one to turn to now.He couldn’t ask the Wellingtons for help, but even if he could, it’d take them a few hours to get to Springdale if they used the family’s private jet.And in those few hours, Charles W
Before Hamon Lauthner could react to what Charles said, he was forcefully shoved forward and taken out of the house.Charles waited until he heard the van outside leave before he turned his attention to the Reese family, who were all staring at him in shock.His eyes settled on the man sitting on the floor, and he quickly strutted to him."Did you save a country in your past life? I envisioned I'd be the only one left standing in this house by now."Hermes didn't retort but just stared up at Charles."Before tomorrow, the Lauthner family will cease to exist. Until the Commander dies and even when he does, no one will dare to groom a family with the last name Lauthner.""The share price for their companies will take a steep fall by 10 a.m. When this happens, their company's shareholders will search for them all to no avail.""When this happens, they'll grow anxious thinking Hamon Lauthner knew something like this was going to happen and curbed his loss by running away with the company'
Scott couldn't hold it any longer and shot back at her, "If Victor Voss had succeeded in killing me yesterday, how did you intend to get your money back? Answer me, woman!"Matilda huffed and calmly wiped the stains on her lips off before retorting, "Your father may not see you as his son and may have ousted you out of your family, but that doesn't mean you'll get nothing from him when he dies.""And if you happen to die before him, I'm sure he'd give me your pension.""A shame then because you'll never get your hands on my pension. You know why? Because you are likely to die before me!" Scott harrumphed in disdain.Matilda noisily threw down her cutlery as she yelled loudly, "Scott William, how dare you curse me! Have I not done enough being your wife for more than 25 years? How much is your pension that I do not deserve, you stingy rascal!"The veins on Scott's forehead became very visible as he screamed back at her."Why do you talk like I'm the only one who made our marriage insuf
As Chloe hurried to the conference room, she took out her phone to go through the information Ann sent to the hotel's WhatsApp group.After she was done going through it, she pushed the door open and walked in."Good morning, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting," she apologized as soon as she walked in and took her stand in front of the projector.All this without looking at the people in the room."Who are you?"Chloe raised her eyes to see two men and a woman sitting across from her. The men seemed to be the woman's assistants, judging by how poised and sharp they looked, and how the woman nonchalantly buried her eyes in her phone.Chloe clasped her hands together and said calmly, "Mr. Cruz is away on a trip at the moment, and he left me in charge of the hotel and its affairs."However, the men were even more dissatisfied upon hearing this."Oh, you must be the new assistant he hired.""New? Why would Mr. Cruz have someone who just joined his company attend to us? What happened t
Wexford That evening, Declan Wellington felt cooped up at home, so he left the house to spend the day golfing with a close friend of the Wellingtons who owned a golf course. They golfed together for three hours before they got tired and drove to his house to rest. Marvin Phelps poured him a drink before asking politely, “This may be out of place for me to ask, Mr. Wellington, but you seemed out of it throughout today. Is anything the matter?” “What?” An absent-minded Declan didn’t know when he blurted out, glancing at him. Marvin Phelps sat up, now fully convinced there was something on Declan’s mind. With a serious look on his face, he cautiously continued, “What is the problem? Is anyone troubling you? Say the word and I’ll have that person’s legs crushed to bits and forcefully drag them here!” Declan raised his eyes to look at him. Even if he said nothing, his eyes lit up a little when he recalled who Marvin was. The Phelps family was headed by this man despit
Scott William was instantly taken aback. Then he gritted his teeth in rage and resisted the urge to grab her by the collar as he yelled at her angrily. “What do you think you’re doing? He’s your son-in-law, how could you think of doing something so despicable to him!”“I know you’ve been looking for ways to get rid of him, but he’s having a psychotic breakdown? Matilda Brown, are you out of your mind?!” However, the woman ignored him and reached into her bag for a file. She placed it on the counter and continued speaking to the officer with a straight face. “Here. This is the result of the psych evaluation. You can check with the hospital he took it at just to be sure.” Scott closed the distance between them and grabbed her arm firmly, “If you have nothing better to do, then turn around and go back home.” “I know you’re scared of this affecting our family, but you don’t have anything to worry about because I’ll take care of this!” “Ethan didn’t do what they’re accusing him of
The sergeant and the other officers were slightly taken aback by his sudden compliance. Given that Charles and Kane were questioning their every word, they assumed they would have to use force to get him out of here. However, not only was he complying, but he was even flashing them a faint, non-aggressive smile. It was as though he had the situation under control which caused them to wonder why. They were yet to be reached by anyone from the higherups, so what was this guy doing. Since Ethan was coming with them willingly, there was no need to cuff him at all. So the sergeant nodded and led him to the station. The reception was decvoid of people, but those who were in their rooms before a few minutes ago, were all standing beside their windows watching who was getting arrested. Ethan walked to the passenger side of the car and glanced around him with an unbothered smile before proceeding to get in. In Wexford County, in the Wellington family residence, Declan Wellington was w
Ethan’s eyes darkened instantly. Almost immediately, he felt a call come into his phone and checked the caller to see it was Declan calling. He was silent for a few seconds before assured her calmly, “I’ll bring them back. Chloe and Honey, I’ll make sure they come back without a scratch.” “For now, focus on getting better. Neither of them would like it if return to see you in such a terrible state.” Then he ended the call without waiting for her response and answered Declan’s. As soon as the call connected, Declan’s bubbly voice sounded in his ears, “Your little bastard is a little too pretty. Truly her mother’s daughter.” “Your genes almost lost the fight, but her eyes saved you. Hopefully, if your other bastard lives, it would put up a fight to look exactly like you.” Ethan tightened his grip around his phone, but said nothing. He remained expressionless, but his eyes beamed furious. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything in really. Declan had truly blinded him from
Ethan didn’t react immediately. He was silent for several seconds before he responded. “You’re the highly esteemed head of the Welllington family. Why resort to threatening your enemy with somsone close to them when you can face them head on yourself?”Declan yawned boredly from the other end. “What nonsense are you talking about? My enemy? You? You really think I think of you as my enemy?” “In what world did you think a bastard like you is worthy of becoming an enemy of Declan Wellington?” “We may share the same father, but to me, you’re nothing more than a confused rat. Sure, you’ve spent a few years in the army and earned yourself a few lackeys, but vagrant like you should know their place.”“Simply talking to me is a privilege you should never have. Whatever I’ll make you go through is a privilege you don’t deserve. Even if I kill you, you should be grateful I let you die by my hands!”Ethan chuckled calmly and went on to reply. “I was told you sent one of the best men your
Meanwhile, Charles Wilkins was looking into the people who crashed into Claire’s car and took Chloe. He tracked them down to their base in a nightclub. The club had lax security. Hence, he wasn’t stopped by the hefty men standing the door as he walked into the club. It was a few minutes past 7 in the evening and the club was getting filled by people. He stood in the middle of the room and glanced around before he spotted the VIP section and strutted straight to it. It didn’t take him long to find the room of the club’s own given that there were six hefty bodyguards in front of the door. Inside the room, a short and fat man was sitting on the couch with two of his colleagues while watching three unclad ladies dancing on a strip poles. Because the music in the room was so loud, he didn’t hear the tussle outside and only realized something was wrong when an unfamiliar man walked into the room wiping his hands seemingly clean hands clean. Charles didn’t look at anyone as he
As soon as Lewis William ended the call, he stood over an unconscious Chloe with a lewd look in his eyes. Ever since he knew right from wrong, he was always told of her lucky he was to have such beautiful cousins. Had Chloe not fallen out of grace with the William family and most people in Springdale, he had no doubt his life would still be filled with words of how lucky he was to have Chloe and Claire as his cousins. He never saw the beauty everyone saw, but now that he was alone with her and could see her up close, he finally saw it. Was she not his cousin, he would’ve slept with her first before handing her over to this gallery director. As he walked out of the house, he received a call from somsone. “What do you think you’re doing? I clearly told you the person I am after is Claire William!” Vivian Martell yelled from the other end as soon as the call connected. Lewis sucked in a deep breath to keep himself from screaming back at her and retorted calmly, “There’s no need to
A minute later, Charles turned to Ethan and reported solemnly, “Mrs. Black wasn’t taken by Declan Wellington. She was taken by the William family.” In the William family residence. Adam William paced to and fro in the living room, his hands clasped behind his back and brows knitted together in worry. “Grandfather, after today, I will make sure our William family will no longer be looked down on by other families!” Those were the words Lewis said to him this morning before he left the house. Ever since Astoria Corporation pulled away their investment, other companies followed suit. They were not only knee-deep in debt, but every valuable thing in their house had been taken by the bank and everyone they were owing. They took everything ranging from jewelries, electronics and furnitures. Even the expensive looking lights were not left out. Adam had run to those whom he had helped when the William family were at its peak a few months ago, but they all hung up on him the moment th
He called her three times and each time, the phone wasn’t answered. There was no denying it now. Soenthing had really happened. His brows knitted into a tight frown as he switched to calling Claire. But just like Chloe, Claire didn’t answer her phone either. As soon as the third call ended, the screen of his phone lit up with a call from Claire and he eagerly answered it. “Where are you? I’ve been calling Chloe. Did something…” He was suddenly cut off by a voice that didn’t belong to Claire. “Hello, this phone belongs to a woman involved in a car accident. Seeing that your contact is saved with ‘Brother-in-law’ I thought it was wise to return your call.” His pupils instantly dilated and he strutted quickly to the window, away from Honey’s earshot.. He pressed the phone against his ear rig heed and repeated in disbelief, “Accident? She was involved in an accident? What about the other woman in the car with her? Is she badly injured? In fact, tell me which hospital you are!” In