Debra hadn't allowed herself to dwell on the car accident that had claimed her parents' lives and left her an orphan at such a tender age.She had always assumed it was just a tragic accident. But now, as she sat across from Andrew, the past came roaring back, shrouded in a sinister new light."Marion's parents didn't die in that accident," Andrew said. "It was all a ruse. Marion's mother, Itzel, survived. Caleb sent her abroad to keep the truth hidden and to ensure she could give birth in peace. Soon after, Marion was born."Debra's mind reeled. Rumors had painted Itzel Houston as a vengeful mistress, driven mad by her illegitimacy and resentment towards the Houston family.But on the cruise ship, Marion had confessed that these were merely rumors. Itzel was no mistress, but Dwayne's rightful wife."Who wanted to kill Marion's parents?" Debra asked, her voice urgent. "And what does this have to do with my parents' deaths?"Andrew toyed with a ring on his finger, his expression t
Andrew's face was ashen. "It's pointless even if you knew. It wouldn't change anything. It's better to live your life in peace."Debra's eyes flashed with determination. "I'm the heiress to the Frazier family. I have the right to know everything."Andrew sighed, leaning against the table to keep his balance. "I can tell you about the Four Major Families, but I don't know who killed your parents. I've investigated for years, and I still don't know who was behind the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Houston."Debra searched Andrew's eyes and found no trace of deceit. She took a deep breath before asking, "Do you know everything about the Four Major Families?"Andrew nodded. "I know the general outline of the past grudges and disputes. The Houston family had military power and absolute authority. The Potter family had the most powerful intelligence network. Under the leadership of your great-grandfather, the Frazier family was renowned for its strategic prowess. The Osborne family, originally t
"So, what about Juan? Why does Marion have it out for him?"Debra's mind whirred with memories of her past life. Marion had swept into Seamar City like a storm, quickly becoming Juan's fiercest rival. Their competition was legendary, their battles subtle yet fierce.Marion was undoubtedly Juan's most formidable opponent. Debra clenched her fists, her nerves taut."Is it...""No," Andrew cut her off, anticipating her question. He explained, "Marion has his suspicions, but no concrete evidence. The Nichols family isn't one of the Four Major Families. Their rise caught everyone off guard.""But the Nichols family has been established for a century.""The family tree doesn't lie. The Nichols family gained power under the leadership of Juan's grandfather. It peaked during his father's reign, and under Juan, their influence has become immense."Andrew coughed. "Could you get me a glass of water?"Realizing he'd been talking for a while, Debra quickly poured him a glass and handed it
"Maybe.""Do you truly not know who killed my parents?"Andrew hesitated, then shook his head. "I don't."Debra helped Andrew to the car, and the driver got him in the backseat.Debra's mind was a whirlwind of questions and doubts. Sleep would be elusive tonight."Can you take me to our old house?""Address."Debra pulled out her phone and sent the address to Andrew, who relayed it to the driver."Drive.""Yes, sir."Tucked away in the heart of the city, it had been years since Debra last set foot there. According to family rules, visits were reserved for the New Year, and since her father's passing, she had lived with Ralph.The main estate that had only accommodated the older generations was a stranger to her now. The villa stood abandoned, its grandeur faded.The night wind bit at her, and she wrapped Andrew's coat tighter around herself. The yard was overgrown and neglected, but security was surprisingly tight.Debra pushed Andrew's wheelchair up to the door, pulling o
Andrew turned to look at Debra, his gaze assessing.Debra asked, "Is something wrong?"Andrew pressed her lips into a thin line, reaching out to button up Debra's coat."It's cold. Go home.""Alright."Even in his wool sweater, Andrew looked drawn.Debra whispered, "I'm sorry for troubling you today."She should have realized that Andrew wasn't well. The late-night chill was biting, and she had selfishly dragged him out there to satisfy her curiosity."Curiosity is natural," Andrew said, reading her thoughts. "If I hadn't brought you tonight, you probably wouldn't have slept well."Debra wheeled him forward. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Is your family's ancestral hall like ours?""Similar," Andrew replied. "Our families are locals. The Houstons and the Osbornes came later."Debra nodded. "Could there be secrets hidden in the ancestral hall that we don't know about?"Andrew's tone was noncommittal. "Maybe."Debra understood the subtext. If there were any secrets t
Andrew's car pulled up outside the apartment building.Debra got out with a heavy heart. When she reached the entrance, the security guard hurried over, his voice urgent."Ms. Frazier.""What's up?""You've got a visitor. He's been here for over an hour," the guard said, jerking his thumb toward the reception room.Through the glass, Debra saw Marion sitting inside."I don't know him. Tell him to leave.""Okay."The guard nodded, starting to turn away before Debra's voice stopped him. "Wait.""Ma'am?""Let him in."The guard blinked, thinking he had heard wrong."Ms. Frazier, if he is bothering you, we can help you drive him away.""No, he's my boyfriend.""Huh?"The guard's jaw dropped. He glanced down at his phone, where a news alert blared the reconciliation between Juan and Debra.However, the one in the reception room didn't look like Juan.He scratched his head and went back. "Mr. Nichols, your wife will see you now.""What did you call me?""Mr. Nichols?"Mar
Marion's brows knitted together as he spoke softly."I'll tell you everything you want to know. No more secrets."He cradled her face in his hands and planted a soft kiss on her forehead."There's nothing and no one more important to me than you. But there's something I need to do.""Andrew told me you were investigating your parents' deaths.""Not just that.""What else?""Your parents too."Debra squeezed her hands and asked nervously, "Who killed my parents?"Marion looked into her eyes and then glanced away."What did Andrew tell you?""He said he didn't know. But I didn't buy it. The Potter family has the best intelligence network in Seamar City. There's no way he doesn't know who the killer is.""He just wanted me to be the one to tell you.""How thoughtful! It seems like he genuinely wants to help us reconcile.""It seems I owe him a proper thanks."The pot in the kitchen began to boil over. Marion patted Debra's head gently."Wait in the living room. I'll tell y
The gambling debt was just the tip of the iceberg. It seems that Ralph has been a pawn in a much larger game. The organization behind it failed to sway your father, so they targeted Ralph.""Under Ralph's leadership, our family has been on a downward spiral," Debra mused. "Was their goal to destroy us?"Looking back, the Frazier family's decline began with Ralph. His gambling debts had nearly wiped out their centuries-old fortune.The organization had orchestrated it masterfully, swallowing the Frazier family's business in just a few years. It was chilling."The evidence we have now points to Ralph bribing a driver, Jaycob Ewing, to cause a fatal crash. But with Jaycob and your parents dead, there's no concrete proof. Who would suspect a bribe that led to the driver's own death? It seems unreasonable."Marion paused and added, "Andrew's people found Jaycob's son, who had leukemia. Jaycob took the bribe because he desperately needed money for the surgery. It was a matter of life an
Liza grinned cheekily, "My allowance has gone up every year, but don't lose heart. I'll tell Dad to raise your allowance too."She looked at Garland's sullen face and patted his shoulder. "Cheer up. I'm off shopping."She leisurely hummed a song and skipped away.Far away in Seamar City, Robert was reporting his duties to Theda."These past few days, most of the McKinney Group's clients have jumped ship and joined us. Now that their artists are on hiatus, we can grab their endorsement deals. Within a month, we'll swallow up all the resources they're holding onto," he said."Is Debra doing nothing about this?" Theda asked."She did," Robert replied. "Michael has been working around the clock. Debra's trying to use him to salvage the situation. But it's not working.""Michael may be their ace, and Debra's relying on him to secure only luxury brand endorsements. But if she doesn't care about the smaller deals, we'll take them," Theda said, tapping her chin. "Without clients or reso
On a beach overseas, Debra lay on a lounge chair.In front of her was the blue sky, white clouds, and the endless ocean. The golden sand glittered in the sunlight.She wore sunglasses and flashed a peace sign for a picture before posting it on social media.In the picture, she showed half her face, while the other half captured their artists building a sandcastle.The caption read, [Blue skies, white clouds, the ocean, playful employees, and a boss you'll never have.]The comments section quickly exploded.[I know team building, but I've never heard of a boss taking their employees abroad for it. I want such a boss.][Girl, you just took away all my idols.][The McKinney Group's artists have all gone on break. My happiness is gone.]...In floral trunks, Garland was grumbling while digging in the sand with a shovel, "Your wedding hasn't even happened, and you're already on a honeymoon? You can have your honeymoon. Why let me arrange everything and foot the bills?"Liza heard
Erica chimed in, "Right now, with half the entertainment industry's resources in their hands, their artists are already strained. If they take our deals too, those artists will be run into the ground. Even if they worked 24/7, they wouldn't be able to handle that kind of workload.""To capitalists, artists are just tools to make money. They couldn't care less about how the tools feel. And since those artists are mostly rookies, their rates are relatively low. After layers of exploitation, the pay they take home won't match the work they're doing," Debra replied. "Meanwhile, our artists are enjoying paid vacations for two months, traveling and relaxing. Do you think the Buchan Group's artists will feel okay with that? These are skilled professionals, but they're stuck doing assembly-line work. With such intense workloads, their performance will inevitably suffer, and the quality of their work will drop. For artists, no good work means no staying power. Their popularity will fade, and a
"She's probably trying to catch us off guard with this move," Debra said, calming down. "She's pushing her artists to work nonstop, taking on every gig they can get. By marketing them so aggressively, she's maintaining a temporary buzz. Advertisers will shift their partnerships from our artists to hers. If we lose most of our clients all at once, it'll throw our company into chaos. That's when she will swoop in."Andrew muttered, "So, it's a mind game? Theda knows how to play dirty."But Erica still looked troubled. "Now we know what she's doing. What can we do? Just sit by when she steals our clients?"If they lost their clients, their artists' commercial value would plummet. That would be a heavy blow to their business. Their revenue would dive, and they would lose their standing in Seamar City.Debra smiled mysteriously, "If Theda wants to disrupt us, we'll meet changes with constancy.""What do you mean?" Erica was puzzled."Didn't Michael just say that artists aren't machine
Compared to those mass-produced artists, these people under Theda's management had been trained for years.They were different from those who debuted just because of their looks. These people were versatile and unique in their own ways.Randy mumbled, "I've tried my best, but every time we fight back, they come up with something new. The advertisers we worked with before saw the momentum behind their publicity. Plus, their new talents were cheaper, so they all switched sides. Our ad revenue has dropped significantly. Even our commercial street has to feature ads for those Buchan artists. It's like quenching a thirst with poison."Erica chimed in, "This is the least we can do. Their artists are riding the tide. It makes sense that advertisers would go for them. We can't just tell people not to run ads for them."Debra nodded. "Advertisers choose who's trending. And those newcomers are popular and affordable. Michael is better but beyond the average advertisers' reach."Erica got an
Soon, the interrogators came out of the room. It seemed they wouldn't get any answers today.Kale had been waiting outside the station.When Drake and Debra walked out, he quickly went up."Boss, the plane tickets are ready.""Good."Before getting into the car, Drake said, "I'll give you an answer within three days. Don't forget our bet."Debra shook her head, surprised that he took that lopsided deal so seriously.Her phone rang with a call from Erica. "Check the news!"Debra, sensing her urgency, opened the news app.The top headline was about Buchan Entertainment. The article showcased a lineup of attractive artists and members of popular bands.Randy's words resurfaced in her mind. When she had just returned to Seamar City, he mentioned that a surge of artists had become wildly popular, rivaling the fame of Michael back in the day.Since Oscar left the entertainment industry to take over the Odom Group, these artists had been gaining even more momentum, almost as if the
"You think I'm scared of being caught?" Drake tried to pull his arm away, but Debra held on tightly.In the end, Drake snapped, "Fine! I won't go."The police were already closing in. Running now would only make things worse. Being dragged back in cuffs wasn't exactly appealing.Debra let go of him and smiled cheerfully, "Thank you for your cooperation."Pedro personally led the operation. Within minutes, the officers subdued the six thugs and loaded them into the vans.Pedro glanced at Debra and pointed at Drake. "About Mr. Lowe..."Debra explained, "Mr. Lowe is a witness. He's cooperating with us to clear his name and assist in solving this case. Isn't that touching, Mr. Hardy?""Thank you, Mr. Lowe. Much appreciated," Pedro said gratefully.But then he scratched his head and added, "Well, since Mr. Lowe is a witness, he'll need to come to the station for a statement. I know it's inconvenient, but I'm sure a generous and upright person like Mr. Lowe won't mind, right?"Befor
"I'll talk. It was Matthew Ledger. Please, spare me, Mr. Lowe," Silas said, terrified.He was just a small-time worker running errands for the bigshots.Drake narrowed his eyes, not expecting Matthew to be so bold."Boss, what should we do with these people?" Kale asked."Bind them all up." Drake glanced at the boat. "Stuff them in there, along with the machines, and send them to the West Factory. We'll go meet Matthew.""Yes, boss." Kale gave orders to cram those men into boxes.Among the group, six men suddenly pulled out their guns. "Don't move!"Debra saw it and opened the car door.Looking nothing special, these people had blended into the crowd and acted only at the critical moment.Debra knew that the shipment of so many machines couldn't go unsupervised. She hadn't noticed anyone hidden earlier, but it turned out they'd been embedded within the group.Clearly, whoever was behind this had infiltrated Drake's company."Stand back!" The six men grouped, scanning their s
Presumably, Silas had smuggled out countless machines and made a fortune over the years.Drake pulled out a bank card and said, "There's not much in here, but it's got 300-500 thousand dollars. I'd appreciate it if you guys could help carry all the machines down. Consider this a tip."Everyone was excited to hear that. It was easy money to make.The leader quickly ordered his men to unload the cargo. Drake handed the card over and glanced at his watch.Then he looked over at the car parked 100 meters away from the dock.Inside, Debra rolled down the window but had no intention of stepping in. She was simply enjoying the show.The men brought down the boxes, emptying the cargo ship.Drake nodded and said, "Thanks, everyone."The leader laughed, "No worries. You've already paid us."Drake smirked, "It's for carrying the evidence down."Before those men could react, Kale and his team sprang from their hiding spots.Realizing it was a trap, the men tried to flee, but Kale's peop