“If you’re not on board, you won’t be my mother-in-law,” Perry said indifferently. Katie looked at Jet pleadingly. The latter looked pathetic, barely keeping to his feet after a beating. He was useless. The drama at the party attracted some attention. Kaze was aware of Leah’s birthday bash, but he had no intention of attending. He was in Butterworth for business. He did not want to get involved with some kid. Arthur, nosy by nature, could not stay put upstairs. He went to the event hall to snag a free meal. He was thrilled to find Perry crashing the party. It struck Arthur that Kaze and Leah were friends. Arthur snuck back to the penthouse and told Kaze the whole story. “You should’ve seen the place. The party is ruined.” Kaze was surprised. “Isn’t Perry her ex-boyfriend? Why is he harassing her now?” Kaze was about to rest, but he could not shake off his worry after what Arthur had told him. “I don’t know about that. It’s chaotic there. I thought Katie wanted
“Stop.”Kaze’s presence turned heads. Leah beamed when the hero of her dreams showed up. Though scared at first, Leah was reassured by having Kaze there. “Save me, Kaze!” Leah trusted Kaze unconditionally. Perry knew Kaze. By some force in the universe, they met again. However, Perry had nothing to fear as he brought along a strong crew. He could get back at Kaze. “Here I was, wondering where to find you. There you are.” Perry held Leah close to him and restrained her before snapping a callous look at Kaze.“I said, you can let go of her now.” Kaze narrowed his eyes at Perry. There was no way Kaze would let Perry take Leah away. Katie stood in the distance. She panicked over her daughter’s abduction, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. She wished someone would intervene. Alas, Katie sneered when somebody actually came to the rescue. She knew Kaze, and Katie did not think highly of him. Nevertheless, Katie would not get in Kaze’s way. Leah’s saf
“What are you doing? Stop!” While talking, Arthur kicked a person down. The other brawlers tried to fight back, but the Viper’s Den members quickly restrained them. Despite feeling grateful to Kaze, Katie still looked down on him. When the Viper’s Den members arrived, Katie assumed that they were there because of her. Katie was the CEO of the Northborn Group. The Viper’s Den must be heeding her call for sure. “You shouldn’t have done this, Perry.” Katie stepped in to take her daughter away. However, Perry would not let go of Leah. “I won’t break up with her.” Perry was relentless. He was not giving up just yet. Cutting to the chase, Kaze grabbed Perry’s wrist. “I guess you haven’t learned anything.” Kaze’s aloof voice boomed. Perry could taste death. Leah seized the opportunity to escape and stood next to Kaze. She nervously looked around, only finding solace when her eyes fell on Kaze. Arthur was there for the drama. However, he quickly got down to busi
“Without his timely intervention, Perry would’ve abducted me.” It was not as if Perry would do anything if he took Leah away. However, the thought of it still sent shivers down Leah’s spine. She would not want to experience it again. Most importantly, Katie did nothing. She did not even stop him. It went to show that Leah’s mother did not love her. Leah came to Kaze’s defense. Katie said the most awful thing. Jet did not have a grasp of the situation. After the brutal beating, he was trying to keep up with his appearance. Against all odds, someone showed up and turned the tide. The point to note was that the person looked unfamiliar. Jet had never seen him before. Jet remained the observer. Due to his injuries, his legs nearly gave him. He pulled a chair to sit down. Katie seemed to know the person, and she looked contemptuous. Jet was quick to pick up on certain things, but he could not read this person. “What’s going to happen if I hurt Perry?” Kaze scoffe
“You might want to think before you act. We are only acting in your best interest. You don’t have to do this to show you’re a man.” Katie looked at Kaze in disdain. As far as she knew, Kaze was trying to make Leah fall in love with him. He was just a broke nobody. The penniless man with no connections was not good enough for Katie’s daughter. Katie hoped Kaze would attack Perry. The Duncans’ rage would shift to Kaze. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.” Kaze tightened his grip, and Perry howled in agony. “Let me go! Do you honestly want to die? You’ll be sorry when my family goes after you. “You’ll regret this, you broke-ass idiot!” Perry slammed Kaze with insults, still delusional that he had the upper hand. He believed Kaze had nothing to lean on. Katie’s attitude determined who Kaze was. “What is your family going to do about it?” Kaze was curious. Leah grabbed the sleeve of Kaze’s shirt. “He is a real psycho. Once he has his eye on you, it’s hard for
Katie doubted Kaze would do anything drastic in public. Still, she was nervous. The whole had nothing to do with her if Kaze upset the Duncans. However, the Duncans could go after her since Perry was hurt on her watch. Katie approved of her daughter dating Perry before because of the Duncans’ soaring business. She had no issues with the subsequent breakup because Perry crossed some boundaries.Leah no longer had feelings for Perry too, so it did not matter to Katie that they split. However, Katie would be held responsible if Perry were harmed on her turf. Katie taunted Kaze to rile him off. Kaze was just a penniless nobody. He would face the Duncans’ rage by stepping on their toes. That was the ideal situation for Katie. Katie would sort out one of her daughter’s suitors while removing herself from the situation. Most importantly, Katie’s authority was threatened as Kaze’s presence relinquished her control over Leah. Leah was smart enough to pick up on that point
“You won’t get me in trouble.” Kaze was not going to let Perry get away with being a jerk. “No. You can’t fight him.” Leah looked at her mother in a fluster, and the latter looked on callously as if it was none of her business. It struck Leah that her mother could care less. Things would not end well for Kaze after crossing the Duncans, and Leah could not let that happen. “I knew it. You’re a crowd. You’re too scared to hurt me,” Perry said while withdrawing his arm. He was sure that Kaze would not attack him. Perry beamed smugly at Leah. “You’re coming with me. I’ll take you out for dinner. It’s your birthday, and I’ll make it up to you and throw you a bigger birthday bash.” Perry looked at Leah with an ingratiating smile, thinking that he could erase what had taken place. “Dream on. I’m not going anywhere with you.” Leah still wanted to cut ties with Perry. “That’s not your choice to make.” Since Perry could walk all over these people without any pushback,
“I don’t care about the party. It’s just for show anyway.” Leah was not keen on the social event. She would not attend the party if not for her pushy mother. Besides, Leah doubted anyone was there to give their best wishes. She could not stand the fake setting. Katie was furious. She planned the event elaborately so that her daughter would shine. However, Leah did not appreciate her efforts. “What did you say? I threw the party for you. Now that it’s ruined, I’ll organize another event for you.” Katie felt like she was losing her daughter. “So what? I won’t like it anyway.” Leah refused to engage with her mother. Fighting with Katie was meaningless. “Don’t get on my nerves. Get right here right now.” Fear washed over Katie, making her feel uneasy. She did not like this side of her daughter. “I can’t stand this place.” Leah looked up at Kaze. Kaze nodded understandingly before snapping a cold look at Perry. “I hope you will learn your lesson this time. You b
“I understand.” Aloysius stayed after receiving his order. “What else?” Aloysius’ presence suggested that there was something important to discuss, but judging by his hesitant expression, it was nothing but trouble. “We lost a few more projects again. These projects are supposed to be backups for us to make a comeback later but they were acquired by someone else.” Aloysius stepped back after giving his report, lowered his head, and waited for Jet’s wrath to befall him. “Hmmm. It’s not your fault.” Jet initially wanted to lash out at Aloysius but after a quick thought, he quietly put down his glass. He knew it was not Aloysius' fault. It was his problem to have unknowingly offended someone powerful, thus resulting in all the malice against him. “I told you to make an appointment with Master Cold. Did you get it?” Jet wanted to meet Master Cold during the birthday party but it did not happen. His father was old friends with Master Cold and they had been business par
Leah would never let her mother know about her suspicion of Kaze’s identity. The thoughts gave her a headache. She took a deep breath and submerged herself in the bathtub. While holding her breath underwater, she lay flat and relaxed in silence, enjoying her alone time. Just as she was about to lose her breath, she rose from the water and gasped violently, washing away the cloudy thoughts in her mind. After Leah’s party was ruined, she was grounded by her mother. Katie was a woman of her word. Since the birthday party was over, Leah was not needed for any other social events. Katie became the laughingstock because of what happened and she still felt embarrassed about it. However, due to her status, no matter what people thought of her, no one dared to make it verbal or mention it in front of her. The birthday party might be ruined but it did not cause too much trouble. Katie managed to shut down a certain news channel from spreading the incident, preventing it from
Leah was still too naive. She knew her mother but not thoroughly enough. Katie regretted not helping her daughter but it was already in the past and her self-blaming for not being a good mother would not help her future. Therefore, she habitually shifted the blame onto someone else. Perry was the one who caused it and it was all because her daughter did not handle her relationship properly. “Perry is hospitalized now. Let’s just put an end to this. We shouldn’t go to them; that’s just asking for more trouble. We’ll wait and see how the Duncan family reacts.” Katie knew she had the power to do certain things but once she did, it would affect her status. She really wanted to do her daughter justice but as the CEO of Northborn Group, there was too much at stake and she could not be driven by emotions. “I never expected you to avenge me,” Leah said coldly. She already expected her mother not to do anything, but when she heard it from her mother’s mouth, disappointment consume
“I told you before but you didn’t take me seriously.” Leah was exhausted by her mother’s negligence. No matter how much she tried to explain, her mother refused to listen to her. To her mother, she was nothing but an ignorant little girl. She did not see the need to explain herself anymore. “How dare you talk back? Was I wrong about what I said? Had you talked to him properly, how could the breakup be so bad? “Besides, it was Perry who made a mistake first. You can use it as a reason to break up with him. You failed to do it and it resulted in this mess. Now the entire Butterworth is laughing at us! I’m embarrassed in front of everyone!” She could not tolerate the embarrassment and the failure, thus her uncontrolled anger. If Leah was not her daughter, she would have kicked the girl out. Leah was deeply aggrieved but no longer wanted to speak. She stood quietly and listened to her mother’s scolding. Her dress already made her uncomfortable physically and after a ful
The other girls were displeased but since the news was useful to them, they held back their tongue. “Pay more attention to the latest news. If you pick a man with a huge debt, you are basically marrying a poor man.” “Yeah. Molly is right.” “You guys are just gossiping. I think Leah’s incident is quite interesting. Someone must be helping her in the shadows.” “Just you guys wait. There’s more to come.” Molly chuckled mysteriously as she picked up her cup of coffee for a sip. The so-called gathering was a meeting for the young ladies to exchange information. Since the mansion's residential area was vast, even after being dropped off at the entrance, Leah still had to walk for an hour to reach her house. Kaze thought it was a few minutes’ walk but it turned out much longer than expected. Leah was not that stupid to walk home in heels. She sat down beside the security check and waited for her driver to pick her up. When the car arrived, she got in without saying anythin
People who knew about the incident took it as a show, wondering what would happen to Perry. Later, they found out that Perry was admitted to the hospital the same day. One of his arms was broken. Most of the families in Butterworth had highly sophisticated intelligence networks, keeping them up to date on the latest happenings in the city. A few socialites—young ladies who had attended the party and witnessed everything firsthand—gathered for tea and discussed it. “Perry was destroyed by Katie Loren!” “I didn’t know what happened but when I left, Perry was like an asshole, shouting and being arrogant. He and his men thrashed the place. We got so afraid that we quickly ran.” Yelena was one of the girls who had attended the party. Her tone clearly carried a hint of gloating over what had happened. Leah had been the center of attention lately because of her birthday party. Almost every family in Butterworth was invited because Katie wanted to elevate her daughter's status,
Leah was grateful for Kaze bringing her to the restaurant to have a simple birthday celebration. It was something she had never experienced before. She liked the serenity and tranquility of such life. Yet no matter how much she enjoyed it, everything would come to an end. When she finished her meal, she would have to go back. She knew her mother would question her about what happened today once she reached home. “Let me send you back.” Kaze picked up his jacket as he offered to send Leah back. Leah nodded and followed him out. When they came out from the alley which was the entrance to the restaurant, they saw the black Maybach at the side of the road. Peter came down immediately and opened the door. Leah reluctantly went over, seemingly unwilling to go in. “What’s wrong? Is there something else?” Kaze asked warmly, wondering what happened to the girl. “Will I get punished and scolded if I go back just like this?” The girl was scared to go back due to the impuls
“Silly girl, there’s no need for teary eyes. It’s just a cake. If you like it, I can bake for you and have them delivered to you every day,” Kaze said. He found it amusing that the girl was moved. “You don’t know, but it’s okay. Thank you.” Leah happily took the cake. Kaze put a candle on it and lit it. “Make a wish, Princess,” Kaze teased as he spoke, but he truly wanted the girl to be happy. “Thank you. I never thought I would spend my birthday here. There are no fancy stages and everything, but I like it.” Leah always preferred a simple and quiet birthday. Having dinner with her family and blowing out candles on a birthday cake were a luxury to her before this. To be honest, she did not want to spend too much time thinking about her birthday but what happened caught her off guard. “Make a wish,” Kaze added softly. Leah put her hands together, made a wish and blew the candle. She did not know if her wish would come true, so she did not want to say it out loud. “
“It’s okay. I have time.” Leah did not want to go back and knew what her mother would say to her, so she wanted to stay out for as long as possible. “Alright. Then I’ll get on with it.” Master Fuller then started to prepare the ingredients. His hands were moving non-stop. Kaze enjoyed his beer and appetizer quietly. The entire room was quiet except for the cooking noises. Leah watched Master Fuller cook. She enjoyed it as if she was watching a show with a charming performer. Master Fuller was just cooking but the girl was deeply captivated. When the dish was prepared and placed in front of her, she anticipated the taste even more, wondering if it was better than she had expected. “This looks great. I had never seen a dish being prepared in such a complicated way.” Leah watched from cleaning the ingredients to cutting it, blanching it, and then frying it. The process was so complicated that she could barely keep up. Due to that, she believed the dish would match he