"Wait, so one of the Jaffin daughters is Mr. Marvin's lover?" William said, the 35-year-old man who had been hiring people to go after Stella and Mia.
"Yes, Boss. It appears that way. We overheard the man addressing the woman with affection. He also mentioned that Stella should have disclosed her debt, so he could settle it without causing embarrassment." "Why don't you find out first! You should have—" "Our job is to collect debts, not look for information!" The man interjected. "Now, hurry up and pay for our work, so we can leave this place!" "Damn it!" William exclaimed, his fists clenched tightly. He walk over to the desk, opened the drawer, and retrieved a brown envelope to give to the men. "Mr. Marvin also mentioned, if you want to take the blame, just blame Damian." "Damian?" Without hesitation, William grabbed the cell phone lying on the table and dialed Damian's number. *** "What is the meaning of this? Why did you unilaterally cancel our partnership?" Damian demanded angrily as he entered William's room. "You canceled my partnership with Esther! I lost hundreds of millions in profits!" William retorted, rising from his seat and approaching Damian. "What do you mean?" Damian asked, his expression puzzled. "I had a partnership with Esther Company, and it was terminated." "So, what does that have to do with me?" Damian said, not comprehending. "Mr. Marvin said it was all because of you!" "Because of me? I don't even know him! How could it be because of me?" "One of the Jaffin daughters is Mr. Marvin's lover." William explained. "What?" Damian exclaimed, staring at William with a shocked expression. He diverted his gaze, deep in thought. "Stella? No, no... there's no way it's Stella. She just broke up with me. How could she possibly be involved with Mr. Marvin? Is it Mia? But she already agreed to... earlier." "Mr. Marvin must be furious that you've caused distress to his girlfriend. I understand, the Jaffin treasure wasn't willingly handed over to you, but forcibly taken. Moreover, you instructed me to retrieve it directly from his daughter. We had to pursue them, all because you didn't allocate a single penny. Thanks to you, I've suffered significant financial losses. I should have been earning hundreds of millions from the profits of my partnership with Esther! But you've sabotaged everything. Damn it! I should never have followed your directive to collect that debt from the Jaffin daughters. This is entirely your fault!" "Fine, I apologize." William conceded. "You're sorry? Everything can't be solved with just an apology!" "What should I do? Compensate for the loss?" Damian retorted. "Or are you going to seek revenge on me? Go ahead! I'm not afraid. Instead of focusing on revenge, you should be figuring out how to prevent your company from crumbling. You've already forfeited the profits from the partnership with Esther. And now, you've terminated our partnership as well. That means you'll lose out on the profits from our collaboration too. Are you confident your company will recover from this?" William stared at Damian with a sardonic glare, his fists still clenched tightly, acknowledging the truth in Damian's words. Damian smirked triumphantly. "Use your common sense," he advised, tapping his temple with his finger before turning to leave. "Okay." William conceded at last. Damian's smile widened upon hearing William's response before he exited the room. *** "My secretary will draft a letter for the arrangement we discussed earlier." Marvin said, his attention focused on the road as he drove. Beside him, Stella nodded slowly. "I have conditions as well." "What?" "I want our marriage to be genuine. Even if it's only on paper, I don't want it to be a fake. I refuse to trivialize the sanctity of marriage." "What?" He stared at her in disbelief, then abruptly pulled over to the side of the road, and turned to face her with the same shocked expression. "You mean we're actually getting married?" "Yes," she affirmed. "Marriage is sacred, it's not something to be taken lightly." "Are you out of your mind?" he exclaimed. "It's precisely because I'm sane that I'm saying this," she insisted. "No! Our marriage will be purely contractual. There will be a contract to sign later, specifying the duration of our arrangement. If our mission isn't accomplished by the end of the contract term, there will be an option for an extension," he explained. "I refuse," she replied firmly, arms crossed. "I won't entertain the idea of treating marriage as a game. Contract marriages are not acceptable!" "But I don't love you! How can we go through with a real marriage?" he protested. "You think I love you, huh? Well, I don't love you either. My heart is closed off to all men. I've lost faith in men entirely. I don't even plan on getting married for the rest of my life. So don't worry, in this marriage, you're still free to do as you want. I know your life must be filled with countless women." "That's not the case! I-" he said, but she cut him off. "If you're unwilling, then let's cancel our agreement," she said, her smile unwavering. "I've already settled your debt!" he retorted through clenched teeth. "I'll repay the debt. I'll work in your household as a servant or fulfill any role you assign me. A typical monthly salary is usually at least three million, and my debt is fifty million. That means I'll need to work with you for around seventeen months. Three times seventeen equals fifty-one, which exceeds one million. So, I'll be working for about a year and a half without pay from you. That's no issue. I'm prepared," she said confidently. He glared at her, clearly annoyed. "How?" she asked incredulously. "You're being petty!" he retorted. "Petty? My conditions are simple. I just don't want to play around with marriage. That's all. Even if you become my husband on paper, I won't impose many restrictions on you. You're free to do as you want," she explained. "So, do you agree? If not, I won't insist. Tomorrow, I'll come to the company as an employee." With that, she reached for the door handle, ready to leave. "Okay," he said. "I agree." She turned to face him, who was looking at her with sarcasm evident in his expression. "Okay," she replied before leaving. Continued..."You're home already? How strange, you're usually home late at night." Stella remarked upon entering the rental house and seeing Mia sitting on the carpet playing with her cell phone."I have something to talk to you about." Mia said, putting down the phone and looking at Stella seriously."Same here, I want to talk to you too." Stella replied, settling down on the carpet."Well, you go ahead and talk.""No, Mia. What I have to say will take some time, so please, you go ahead." Stella suggested."What I have to say will also be lengthy.""Instead of debating about it, why don't you go first? I promise to listen no matter how long it takes. We have plenty of time anyway. So, what's on your mind?""Okay." Mia replied, her eyes briefly closing as she caught her breath. Then, she fixed her gaze on Stella. "Damian came to see me earlier.""Huh? What?" Stella exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock. "What did he want?""He proposed a deal." Mia explained."A deal? What kind of deal?""He offe
"Mr. Marvin should be able to help us, right?" asked Mia."I don't know," replied Stella while putting on her socks. She was getting ready to see Mr. Marvin and discuss their deal. "He's willing to make a deal with me because there are benefits for him. If he helps you, what will he gain? I don't think so.""Huft..." Mia exhaled very harshly."But there's no harm in trying. Come with me to meet Mr. Marvin and let's talk to him. Who knows, he might be willing to help.""I'm not sure since there's no benefit for him, but never mind. There's no harm in trying first. At least we'll have tried."Stella nodded, then got up, as did Mia. They left their rented house and walked to Esther Company.30 minutes later.Stella and Mia got out of the taxi that they had booked online earlier. They stood in front of the company."Wow... the company is bigger than Dixon, Sis.""It doesn't matter if it's big or small. Let's go!" Stella urgued.They took another step and entered, then walked towards the r
"About your idea of switching positions. I'm sorry, I can't," Marvin said. "I made a deal with Stella from the beginning. So the woman I'm going to marry is her, not you, and that's inviolable."Mia pursed her lips. She really wished she could switch positions so that she could marry Marvin, who was a perfect man."Besides, you made that mistake knowingly, didn't you? You already knew Damian wasn't a good person but still made the deal. As for Stella, she did make a mistake, but she didn't know that Damian was a bad person. If she had known he was a jerk, she wouldn't have fallen for him."Stella who heard Marvin defending her, smiled. Mia now looked very upset."Okay! So what about me, what's the solution? I don't want to marry Damian either. Give me a solution," Mia said."What do I have to gain by helping you, hm?" asked Marvin. "I made the deal with your sister because it had a mutually beneficial goal and mission, and I think you'll enjoy it later too. So if I help you now, what
Stella looked at Marvin with furrowed brows as he said he would never fall for a woman again."After the mission is successful, you are free to choose your options. I allow you to stay in my house and enjoy all the facilities as long as you don't interfere with what I'm doing."Stella nodded in understanding. "Since it happens in the future, we'll see how it goes.""One more thing," Marvin said."What?"Don't expect more from me. Don't put your heart into me and never involve love."Stella turned her gaze in another direction and smiled sadly. She looked back at Marvin again. "You are numb, right? Then it's the same. Damian made me reluctant to fall in love with a man again. All men are jerks!""So you're calling me a jerk?" asked Marvin with narrowed eyes.Stella swallowed hard. "You're on the exclusion list," she said with a smirk.Marvin was still squinting and glaring sarcastically. Stella went back to reading the contents of the agreement, then when she finished, she looked back
"He killed the person I care about the most," said Marvin, his eyes piercing."Who?" asked Stella. "Your lover?"Stella and Mia glanced at Marvin, their expressions serious, wondering who he was referring to."Yes, Lily... she's my lover whom I love very much," Marvin replied. "I just found out that the accident that happened to Lily eight months ago wasn't purely an accident, but it was due to Fanny's interference. That damn woman managed to make it look like an accident, and she did it very cleanly.""Is she so deeply in love with you, sir, that she would take someone's life?" asked Stella."That's not love! It's obsession!" Marvin retorted, locking eyes with Stella. "So, I need your help, Stella. Help me bring down Fanny for killing Lily, and I'll assist you in reclaiming your property rights and even dealing with Damian.""Wait, does that mean Fanny killed Lily out of jealousy, wanting to possess you entirely?" Mia finally spoke up. "Fanny eliminated Lily because she saw her as a
"Are you guys up to something with me?" Damian asked, his eyes wide open and teeth bared. Mia swallowed nervously. "You deliberately accepted a deal with me to get revenge. And behind that, you have Stella and Mr. Marvin helping you," Damian said. "I only found out about Stella and Mr. Marvin's relationship this morning, and I told them about our deal," Mia replied. "Stella was furious at me, then revealed that the debt had already been paid by Mr. Marvin." Damian's brows furrowed. "So?" "This morning we met with Mr. Marvin, and asked for his help in canceling the deal with you. Unfortunately, that damn Marvin didn't want to help because the deal was already signed, it would be very difficult to cancel it. He was afraid you would demand a lot from him later," Mia said, pretending to be annoyed. "So he won't help you?" asked Damian. "No!" replied Mia, looking annoyed. She sat back with her arms folded under her chest. "He said he's already spent a lot of money paying off t
A few days later. Stella and Mia got into the car that was waiting in front of the apartment. One of Mr. Marvin's bodyguards picked them up to take them to the company. "Why do you think Mr. Marvin asked us to come?" Mia asked Stella, who was sitting next to her. "Probably to talk about the wedding. What else could it be?" Stella replied in a casual tone. She turned her head to look out the window and saw that the streets were very crowded even though it was already working hours. "Aren't you happy to be marrying Mr. Marvin?" asked Mia when she noticed Stella's indifferent expression. Stella immediately turned to look at Mia. "I'm getting married to a man I've only known for less than two weeks. What's there to be happy about? I don't love him at all. I never even imagined that I would marry a man this way." "Mr. Marvin is so perfect as a man. Aren't you attracted to him at all?" "He's still stuck in his past. He agreed to marry me to take revenge for Lily's death. He said Lily
"That quickly?" Stella stared at Marvin in shock. Marvin nodded. "The sooner, the better." "But how can it be done as soon as tomorrow?" Stella asked softly. "Nothing is difficult for me, everything is easy. Especially when money rules everything," Marvin answered. "Oh, okay," Stella nodding in understanding. Marvin was right. "Anything else? Any more questions?" Stella shook her head. "No." Marvin turned to Mia. "Any progress with your agreement with Damian?" "Not yet," Mia replied. "He hasn't talked about the wedding, he just said he would prepare for it soon. Yesterday afternoon, after I got back to my apartment, Damian asked to meet. I thought he wanted to discuss the agreement or the wedding, but it wasn't about that." "What did he talk to you about?" Marvin asked. "Your relationship with Stella," Mia answered. "He said he found out from Mr. William. Mr. William blamed him for the canceled contract with Esther. You were careless, Sir. Damian was suspicious of us." "Susp