Jaxton's entire face was as pale as a ghost as he muttered, "Liam… no, I mean, Mr. Cole, I'm sorry for ever underestimating and insulting you. I was out of my mind and acted rashly! Please forgive me for my callousness. My sister is married to the Nortons, so please show me and my father some mercy! Please, Mr. Cole… Please don't lock me up or torture me! I used to be one of your subordinates, Mr. Cole; please show me some mercy!" Jaxton was bowing his head against the ground so many times that his forehead was bleeding. He was no longer the contemptuous, cocky man that had looked down on Liam just a mere two minutes ago. Liam stared coldly at them and replied, "Fine, I will show you mercy, but only under one condition. All of the Shaws' assets have to be transferred over to Eaden. From today onward, I don't want to see either of you in this town! You are hereby banished from Drunham City, and if you ever show up before me again, I will not hesitate to kill you!"Both Jaxton and H
Wasyl immediately let go of Cheryl's hand and sprinted toward Malcolm like a slobbering dog that had caught sight of a bone. When he passed by Liam, however, he even turned and spat, "Bastard!"Then, he circled past Liam and approached Malcolm with a grin as he extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Lynch. I never thought I'd have the pleasure of seeing you here today. I'm the heir of Abbott Group, Wasyl Abbott. My father is Paget Abbott. I'm sure you must remember him. We've both met you before at various luncheons in the past!"To his surprise, Malcolm did not shake his hand and instead nodded without a single word. How could he possibly remember every single entrepreneur or businessman he had ever had a meal with?Besides, he had just witnessed Wasyl insulting Liam right in front of him, so there was no way he would give this rude young man the time of day!The former mayor of Drunham City, Rhett Lockhart, was sacked because of his disrespect toward Liam, and just a few minut
Eaden furrowed his brows at this. It was clear that he was beginning to lose his patience toward Wasyl. If it were not for the fact that Liam warned him not to expose his identity, he would have punished Wasyl by now!Eaden glanced first at Wasyl, then at Liam, who shook his head surreptitiously. Eaden finally replied, "I don't want to deal with you now, so scram!"Wasyl's entire body shuddered. He quickly took a few steps back and turned to leave. When he saw a stunned Cheryl, still shell-shocked by the entire interaction, he grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her out of the hospital as fast as their legs could take them. Wasyl and Cheryl sprinted all the way to their car, which was parked across the street from the hospital, before finally stopping to catch their breaths. Cheryl leaned against the car, panting, and asked, "Is that really Eaden Wafer? Why would he be here with Malcolm at the hospital and at the same time as that wretched Liam, no less!"Wasyl clutched his swolle
Not even Teresa could hold in her anger at this. "Look at what you did, Celena! You wouldn't be happy until you brought all of us down, even my dear Anna! She got beaten so badly because of you! You're a curse to this family! My baby Anna would never have suffered this fate if it weren't for you and Liam!"Teresa was heartbroken every time she thought of the cruelty Anna had endured when trying to beg for mercy on Celena's behalf. Rage boiled in her eyes, and there was nothing she wanted to do more than skin Celena alive!Reginald was beside himself with rage. He stared at Celena coldly and said, "Do you understand what you did wrong, Celena?"Celena's face was as pale as a ghost. She was both terrified and ashen. These people had watched idly as she and Jovie were captured and tossed into the back of a military jeep without even batting an eye. Now that she and Jovie were saved, they had the audacity to turn around and blame her for everything that had gone wrong!Celena wiped the
Celena sobbed as she stared at her grandfather's cold, expressionless face. "You can't do this to us, Grandpa… I'm your granddaughter… "However, Reginald was unfazed. He stared at Celena as calmly as though looking at a stranger. The rest of the Stones agreed with his decision, and all began to insult Celena."How dare you even plead for mercy, Celena? Don't you know how much trouble you've brought to the family already? If it weren't for you, none of this would have happened in the first place! Do you have any idea how much money we've lost as a result of all the broken business agreements?""Yes! We commend Reginald for this sound decision!""We would never be in this predicament if it weren't for Celena and Liam in the first place! I sincerely hope that the Hughes will punish Celena and let the rest of us off the hook for this!"Celena, however, did not want to give up. She continued pleading, "Grandpa, are you really going to send me over to be punished by the Hughes?"Regin
Everyone, including the guards and all the members of the Stone family, froze and turned in the direction of Liam's voice.Liam strode over to Celena and shoved the guard holding her down aside, then helped her up. "Celena, Jovie, are you okay? Did you guys get hurt?" he asked, glancing at Celena up and down with a concerned look. Then, after making sure she was okay, he proceeded to check Jovie thoroughly.Liam's sudden appearance sent a wave of emotions crashing through Celena's heart. Tears spilled down her face as she shook her head, indicating to Liam that she was fine. There were a lot of things she wanted to say to Liam, but her immense wave of emotions did not allow her to say anything.Instead, she stared at Liam, meeting his worried gaze, and all the words she wanted to say melted into defeated sobs. Jovie twisted herself around to grab Liam's arm, her face pale with shock and fear. There was immense terror in her eyes as she wailed, "What took you so long, Dad? I'm so s
Everyone snapped out of their stupor, and all began to agree with Yafe. "Yafe's right! You're behaving far too disrespectfully, Liam! You're a part of the Stones now, so you should obey the Stones' rules!""You're far too arrogant for your own good! You've been causing nothing but trouble from the moment you arrived here. Why should we even keep you here?""I think we should banish all three of them from the family! There's no need to waste any more time and effort trying to talk sense into them!"Liam's gaze grew colder and colder when he heard this. He glanced around him at the people who were all leering at him. Everyone who met his steely gaze instinctively clamped their mouths shut, shuddering. Finally, Liam turned to stare at Reginald. "Mr. Stone, I've shown you plenty of respect throughout this short time that I've known you, and I've also tolerated everyone's insults and contempt for the same amount of time. I've already made it clear that I will handle whatever the Hughes t
Meanwhile, Liam, Celena, and Jovie returned to their house, where Liam had to console the two of them for quite some time before they finally stopped crying. Jovie was so exhausted that she fell asleep almost immediately, so Liam carried her into her room to tuck her into bed. When he emerged from the room, he was met with the sight of Celena sitting dazedly on the couch, staring into space as though she was zoning out. He sat down next to her, gently held her icy cold hand, and used his other hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks. The tears had clung to her fair, rosy cheeks like morning dewdrops on a leaf.Celena's dark eyes were etched with sorrow and worry. She was worried about Liam; she did not know what the Hughes was capable of doing, and at the same time, she was devastated at how cruelly the Stones had treated her. "Liam, I'm not scared of anything, and I'm not afraid even if we need to run away somewhere else. I've been through a lot throughout the past seven years, and