Leon's eyes were as wide as saucers when he realized who he was speaking to. The rest of his sentence seemed to have gotten lodged in his throat. He stood, frozen in place, and began to break out in cold sweats, especially when Liam scanned him up and down. He could feel his legs beginning to give out, and his entire body was shaking at this point.Sonny, however, did not notice his uncle's visible fear and instead pointed at Liam, seething, "Uncle Leon, you're finally here! It's him! He was the one who did this to me! You have to avenge me, Uncle Leon! Break his legs right now, and that'll teach him not to mess with me!"What happened next, however, came as a shock to everyone, including Sonny. The next moment, the color had drained from Leon's eyes, and he fell to his knees before Liam, trembling. "Mr… Mr. Cole, fancy seeing you here! If I had known it was you, I wouldn't have dared to show my face here…" he stammered.Everyone's jaw dropped at this. This was the legendary Mr. W
Sonny was even more displeased by this. He dodged Leon's next blows and exclaimed, "What on earth are you talking about, Uncle Leon? Why are you on his side? He's just a lame, good-for-nothing…"Thud!The next moment, Leon's eyes were wide with alarm, and he gave Sonny such a forceful kick that Sonny flew backward, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "Atrocious! I have no nephew like you! You must be out of your mind! How dare you speak about Mr. Cole like this? Apologize to him right this instant, or I'm going to kill you myself!"Leon's fear and respect toward Liam were so astounding that no one knew what to make of this. Sonny, however, soon realized Liam must have been far more powerful than he thought. There were only a handful of people that Leon feared, and clearly Liam was one of them. He had messed with the wrong person. Most importantly, his uncle was a man of his word—if he did not apologize to Liam right that instant, he was certain that he would be dead at the hands o
"Uncle Leon, what will people say about us if they find out that we're so scared of that twat. He's nothing more than the Stones' good-for-nothing of a son-in-law! We'll become the laughingstock of the town!" Sonny wailed in indignation. The more he thought about it, the more confused and upset he got. He could not believe it—his uncle Leon, one of the most feared names in the entire capital, bowing before a nobody and asking for mercy!Leon's face fell at this and he finally could not stand it anymore. He whipped around and slapped Sonny across the cheek so hard that Sonny was momentarily silenced. "Shut the f*ck up, you id*ot! You still have no idea how f*cked you are, have you? Do you have any idea who that man is? How dare you disrespect him like this? He just so happens to be in a good mood today, and you managed to get away with nothing more than two broken legs. You should be thanking the heavens that you're even alive right now!" With that, he took an irritated puff of his c
The thought of this was enough to send shivers down his spine. Sonny felt strangely suffocated all of a sudden, as though an invisible hand had wrung itself around his throat. Sensing Sonny's fear, Leon nodded solemnly and replied, "From what I can tell, Liam's power is on par with that of a God of War, which is interesting, indeed. Who would have thought that a God of War would be lurking in Drunham City, of all places? And to imagine he has been disguising himself as the Stones' son-in-law all this while…"Sonny felt his blood run cold. A God of War!His own uncle was a mere One-Star Military King, and even then, he already commanded immense fear and respect from the citizens of the capital. He could not even begin to imagine how powerful a God of War could possibly be…Remorse coursed through his veins. He could not believe how cocky he had been to brag about his lame Sonny Club in front of a God of War! Among the top ten most powerful underground forces in Drunham City? Wh
After relaying some other instructions, Marcus hung up. Hunter was relieved when he did this, and wiped the sweat from his forehead, a grim expression on his face.He had been in the middle of a meeting with the other machinery suppliers when Marcus called, and since they were all only a few feet away from him, they naturally overheard every word of their conversation."What should we do now, Mr. Yale?" "We'll do anything you command us to! Just let us know how we can help!""Indeed, Mr. Yale! Anything at all!"Hunter, however, did not look at all reassured by their declarations. Instead, his expression turned stern as he glanced at them. "Have any of you sold any machines to Celena?"Everyone shook their heads fervently. Hunter furrowed his brows in confusion. "Celena managed to get her hands on the machinery she needs—beats me how she did it, but the point is, she managed to get her hands on what she needs nonetheless. Mr. Bristow has already sent some men over to trash the
Hunter nodded in approval. "This is a splendid plan! As long as we can steer all the applicants away, Celena won't be able to hire any for her factory, and her factory won't be able to run without enough technicians!""Indeed. So what if she's got her hands on the machinery she needs? She can't operate them without technicians.""Let's do this, then. I'll send someone to put up some applications.""I'll do that as well."With that, they all sprang into action, delivering instructions to their respective assistants. Hunter was grinning from ear to ear at this sight. "I'll send out a renovation requirement notice to Celena!"They all grinned at each other, positively certain that their plan would work. Meanwhile, Celena and Liam had just finished tending to the workers at the factory, and had returned to their home. So many things had happened over the course of a few hours that Celena was absolutely pooped by the time she arrived home. She also sustained some minor cuts here an
Liam's entire body stiffened for a moment before he finally burst into laughter. He then gazed at Celena with a tender look and said, "Alright, my dear. I'll do exactly as you say."Celena beamed at him, but all of a sudden, neither of them knew what to say. The room fell silent once more.Celena returned to her position, sprawled face down on the sofa, whereas Liam took up his position half-kneeling on her body. The air seemed to be strung with a flirtatious note now. Celena buried her face in the cushion to prevent Liam from seeing her blushing cheeks, but there was no hiding it—even her ears had turned pink. She finally realized just how suggestive of a position the two of them had taken up on the sofa, and she was painfully aware of how fast her heart was racing now. Liam continued kneading her shoulders and the back of her neck with just the right amount of force. The massage was so comfortable that Celena was certain no massage parlor could even come close to Liam's techn
Besides that, most of the men who had their eye on Celena had already secretly come to Sherah with various gifts and offerings, in hopes that Sherah could help nudge them in the right direction. This was also the reason why she had to continue pretending as though she cared about Celena's happiness. Celena was rather annoyed by this, but she knew better than to let her anger show, so instead she asked, "Mom, why are you calling me? Tell me now, or I'll hang up."To which Sherah scoffed and replied, "Why else would I be calling you? I wanted to invite both you and Liam to the River Lodge for dinner, of course. Your father and I are already here. Your Uncle Kyros and his family are visiting, so we're all meeting for dinner tonight. Cheryl won't be able to make it, unfortunately, so I hope you and Liam can come."Celena's face fell. "Uncle Kyros and Aunt Melaine are in town?" she asked, her heart sinking. Sherah was beginning to lose her patience at this point, so she snapped, "Yes,
The entire meeting room was in absolute chaos. The remaining three Elders were equally vexed, and they all scowled, cracking their knuckles in fury."These people are getting out of hand! How can they possibly frame Liam's poor wife for such an atrocious crime?""We must get to the bottom of this! We must find out who's behind this! He or she cannot go unpunished!"Timothy nodded in agreement and roared at his cowering assistant, "Go find out what truly happened! Find out which filthy scum ordered Celena's arrest and what could possibly delude them into thinking she is a spy against our country!"His assistant squeaked a reply, then sped out of the room as fast as his legs could take him. He did not stop until he reached the front door of the Grand Pendragon Department, where he stood, panting and trying to catch his breath. His expression was wild with fear. He had never seen the Four Elders so furious before. Clearly, whatever had happened to Celena was something very serious ind
Keyon could see right through Prince Faber's apprehension. He replied with a smile, "Prince Faber, why are you so scared of that Liam fellow? Have you somehow forgotten that you are the commander-in-chief now? You have hundreds of thousands of soldiers at your beck and call. Why does it matter what Liam thinks? He has been deposed and is no longer in power! Besides, you have the Yeager family backing you, and there is nothing he can do to harm you!"You don't have to worry about a thing; the Yeagers have this all taken care of. We are just doing this to lure Liam out of hiding. If he dares to touch so much as a hair on your head, he'll be falling right into your trap."Prince Faber furrowed his brows at this. He could not help but question the validity of Keyon's claims. Keyon, sensing this, added, "Prince Faber, you must remember that stripped of his powers, Liam Cole, is now nothing more than an ordinary civilian! If he dares to harm you, he will be sentenced to death for treason a
What would Liam do if he found out Prince Faber had captured his wife? Surely he would not hesitate to turn the entire city upside down to look for her?Prince Faber was more than familiar with Liam's fierce loyalty and could not help but begin to worry at the prospect of having to face his wrath. He stared at Keyon's leering face and asked with belated realization, "Mr. Yeager, you ordered me to capture all those people from the Drunham City Connoisseurs, but the truth is, your sole target has always been Liam's wife. Is that right?"Keyon nodded, smiling. "That's right. We could care less about those businessmen. All we wanted was to get our hands on Celena Stone!"I must admit I was very surprised when I found out that Celena Stone is the wife of the great King Pendragon. Not only that, but I made an even more shocking discovery—it turns out that Liam is none other than the lone survivor of the Cole family, the noble clan who were allegedly wiped out seven years ago!"The ment
After a few moments' hesitation, he finally decided to shoot his shot. "Mr. Yeager, there is something I don't understand. Why did the Yeagers order these businessmen's capture? I've looked into their backgrounds, and they are all honest businessmen who have not broken the law before. If the media catches wind of this, they will surely accuse me of abusing my power…"This was what Prince Faber had been worried about. He had already investigated the people whom the Yeagers ordered to be captured and did not understand why the Yeagers wanted them imprisoned. They were all civilians who had not committed any crime, and he dared not even imagine the consequences if the public found out he had ordered the incarceration of innocent citizens.Keyon understood immediately Prince Faber's concern. He smiled and replied in a reassuring tone, "Worry not, Prince Faber. We Yeagers have taken care of everything. We have made absolutely sure to cover up all your tracks, and no one will know you were
Meanwhile, Celena and the group were taken out of the hotel and shoved forcefully into a couple of jeeps waiting at the entrance. They were whisked away to a nearby military base. Before they could even get their bearings straight, they found themselves being tossed into holding cells. Celena, on the other hand, was taken separately to a small, dark room, illuminated only by the barest sliver of light that peeped in through a tiny window. The room was entirely empty, save for a metal bed frame. A sour stench hung in the air, and it was clear this room had been abandoned for a very long time. A soldier shoved Celena roughly into the room, and before she could realize what was happening, the soldier slammed the door shut.The soldier had pushed Celena so hard that she fell onto the ground, but upon seeing that her captor was about to leave, she leaped to her feet and sprinted over to the door. "Sir, can you tell me what I did wrong? Can you please have mercy on me? Can you at least
Tristan seemed just as baffled as they were. He returned their puzzled gazes with an equally perplexed one of his own. "I… I have no idea…"The general glanced sharply in their direction, then gestured to his soldiers and declared sternly, "Take them away!"His soldiers obliged and stepped forward to restrain the members of the Drunham City Connoisseurs, who all shrieked in alarm, "Why are you taking us away?""General, what did we do wrong? We didn't do anything illegal, so why are you arresting us?""Mr. Xander, save us! They've got this all wrong!""What's going on here? Why are they arresting only us?"Celena's entire body was shaking like a leaf. She eyed the soldiers around her and asked, stammering, "General, what did we do wrong? Why are we being captured? Where are you taking us?"Tristan, stricken with panic, shoved a soldier aside and shouted at the general, "General, I'm the president of the Drunham City Connoisseurs, and I want to know why we're being taken away. Wh
Celena was utterly terrified by the sudden turn of events. She stared pale-faced at the soldiers around her, not daring to move even a muscle. What was going on?All of a sudden, a man in a uniform stepped into the room. The badge on his shoulder indicated to everyone that he was a general. The heavy thumping of his boots echoed through the silent room with every step he took. All eyes were on him as he stepped onto the stage.He carried himself with great authority, and clearly, this man was not one to be messed with. He scanned the room as if searching for someone. Finally, he announced in a deep, resounding voice, "Do not fear, ladies and gentlemen. We are here on a routine check after receiving a tip-off regarding your conference. We will release you all once we have carried out our investigation, and the process will be quicker and smoother if you all cooperate. "Now, I would kindly request you get your documentation ready so that my men may confirm your identity."Everyone
Derek nodded earnestly and replied, "Of course it's true. My sources have never failed me. I wouldn't have trusted you with this information if I didn't think you'd be interested."Celena stared at him for a moment, then turned to glance in the direction of the people he had pointed. She could not help but be tempted by the offer. She considered this for a few moments, then accepted his offer. "Alright then, Mr. Duncan. I'll go with you. Thank you for inviting me."The smile on Derek's face widened. He could hardly believe his luck—Celena had agreed to go with him! Taking that first step was always the hardest, but he had done it!Unbeknownst to Celena, Derek already knew her long before their first meeting at the conference. Her name was known far and wide in Drunham City, not least because of her beauty, but because of her—in the eyes of the public—tragic marriage. Celena had earned herself a reputation as one of the most beautiful women Drunham City had ever seen, and although
The attention they received, however, was large due to Celena and her young, handsome companion, who was a man named Derek Duncan. Their attractive looks, both individually and combined, were easily the topic of discussion that night. Everyone who laid eyes on them admired both their good looks and brains, for certainly only the cream of the crop were allowed to attend this prestigious event. What made this feat even more impressive was the fact that they were both so young!Aside from her beauty, Celena's name was already known far and wide in the business world, not just because of her strong leadership but due to her association with Liam and her company's connections with many international corporations. She had started her business from scratch, but within a few short months, she had single handedly built it up to become one of the top ten grossing companies in Drunham City.There were hundreds of people gathered there tonight, and their seats had been allocated according to t