As soon as the words were out, Hazel released her grip, and Edo collapsed to the ground like a cooked noodle, weak and limp.
The leader hurried over to check his breath, and when he felt that Edo was still alive, he breathed a sigh of relief.“We’ve told you everything we know. There’s a cause for every debt. Can you give us a way out?”In the darkness, Hazel couldn’t see their expressions, but she could imagine their fear.If they had attacked an ordinary girl this time, their faces would probably be just like those of the women they had previously targeted.“I didn’t intend to harm you. I will let you go. Tomorrow, go to the police and confess. My car has a recording, and I will cooperate with you. If you turn yourselves in, you’ll likely receive a lighter sentence. Consider it the last favor I’m doing for you.”After saying this, Hazel got into her car. She wasn’t worried they wouldn&r"However, when I say small projects, I mean ones that aren't the big projects your company handles. Queen Corp can't afford those right now." Hearing this, Omar was immediately stunned. The small projects in his eyes were exactly the kinds of projects that Hazel was referring to—projects that Queen Corp currently couldn't handle. "If you can't manage, just cooperate with Grandpa’s company. I’ll send a few capable people over to your company, and you won’t have to worry about the projects or the staff." Omar was so pleased with his own suggestion that he didn’t notice the change in Hazel’s expression. When Omar finally realized, Hazel spoke up, "Grandpa, we talked about this at the family reunion. You can’t spoil me like this." Omar waved his hand and stood up to go upstairs. "Alright, alright, I admit I was wrong. Go to sleep, I’m going to bed too." After all, at his age, what difference did it make if he took charge directly? Hazel couldn’t do anything
"How about this? The branch we’ve established still doesn’t have many projects. We can temporarily lend some of our people to your company." Hazel immediately rejected, "Let’s not talk about whether your employees agree, just the idea alone is enough for me to get criticized at the shareholders' meeting." She would have to borrow employees from another company to handle her own company’s issues? If those old men who didn’t understand the situation found out, they would surely lecture Hazel. Moreover, the HX branch had just been established and was in need of people. Hazel couldn’t pass all these troubles onto Xander. He had already done enough for her as a friend. "Last night, Grandpa asked me if I needed employees. If it’s necessary, I can borrow a few from him. His company is already well-established, so it shouldn’t be a big problem." At first, Hazel intended to handle these matters herself, but it seemed she would have to use her connection with Omar aft
Back in the office, after sending those two off, Bailey walked in. Hazel was busy handling the project sent by Omar and didn’t have time for her. “If you have any work-related matters, just directly report to Sully. Remember, she’s your superior now, and you’re reporting to the wrong person.” “I’m not here to report work. My parents want you to come to dinner at our house this afternoon. You should know, it’s not me who wants you to come.” Bailey put on an arrogant posture, her nose upturned, as if she didn’t want Hazel to come to her house. But Hazel could see through her act. The more she acted this way, the more it seemed like she wanted Hazel to visit. Using such a childish tactic, it was hard to believe that Jonah had entrusted her with this task. “If that’s the case, I’ll do you a favor. I’m really busy with work, though, so I don’t have time.” With that, Hazel lowered her head and started working again. Bailey grew anxious and slapped her ha
Hazel paused for a moment, wondering why she was thinking of Damon at this time.“Don’t be so formal at home, just call her Hazel, we’re all friends here,” Jonah patted the man on the shoulder, waving his hand dismissively, without considering Hazel’s feelings at all.Being called ‘Hazel’ so familiarly wasn’t something a man meeting her for the first time should be doing.“By the way, Hazel, this is Marco Lennon, the only son of the Lennon family and the heir to L Corp. You two are about the same age, you can get to know each other. I heard the company is having some difficulties, maybe Marco can help out.”The expression on Jonah’s face, along with his words, almost made it clear that today’s visit was a setup for matchmaking.Sully couldn’t help but laugh, “Well, I knew there had to be some reason for calling you here today. Once I saw it was a matchmaking setup, I was relieved.”At least it wasn’t something more malicious, and she didn’t
No matter how you look at it, Sully certainly hoped Hazel would end up with Xander. However, when it came to feelings, it was important to respect Hazel's wishes. "Stop making nonsense. Do you think I have time to think about these things right now? The company is so busy, how could I even consider dating?" Hazel said. Hearing this, Sully felt much more at ease. No matter what, she would rather Hazel stay single forever than fall for a scumbag like Damon again. In fact, being a workaholic, just like her, wasn’t such a bad thing for Hazel. At least she could control her own emotions. Whenever Sully thought about people in relationships, whose emotions were at the mercy of someone else, she felt a pang of unease. After following Bailey upstairs, it was obvious that the second floor wasn’t as spacious as the first, but it wasn’t small either. The second floor alone could accommodate a large three-bedroom apartment. The three bedrooms upstairs were for
After saying this, Hazel pulled Sully and was about to leave, but Adele quickly stepped forward to stop them. "Hazel, don't be angry. Your uncle just doesn't know how to speak. Men like him always get things wrong. We really invited you here today just to have a nice meal with you." "I know there have been some unpleasant things between you and the company before, which is why Bailey invited you over for dinner. To be honest, I have some selfish intentions too. Your uncle doesn't know how to handle things, and I want you to look past it, considering he’s still your elder in a way. Don’t hold it against him too much." Adele spoke sincerely, but Hazel wasn’t buying it. "Excuse me, ma'am, it’s not just work-related issues between us. You know exactly what you’ve done," Sully said, pushing Adele aside and grabbing Hazel’s arm, ready to leave. For some reason, as soon as they reached the door, both of them suddenly felt dizzy. Hazel nearly lost her balance a
Although Marco couldn’t hear her clearly, he understood what Sully wanted him to do. Just as Jonah was about to drag Hazel into the room, Marco stepped forward and pulled Hazel into his arms. "Mr. Queen, have you forgotten our agreement?" Even if Sully didn’t say anything, Marco couldn’t just stand by and watch the woman he cared for being humiliated. With Marco protecting her, Hazel finally regained a bit of her sanity. Her strength also began to return gradually. First, her fingers could move, then she was able to stand on her own, and soon her mind cleared up significantly. "Marco, this is a family matter of the Queen family. As an outsider, you should mind your own business!" Earlier, when she had helped Bailey into the car, Bailey’s head had been bleeding heavily, and she was unconscious. Jonah had intended to go to the hospital, as he couldn’t rest easy leaving Bailey in such a state. If it weren’t for Adele telling him to return and tak
In front of Hazel, Xander was usually able to control his emotions, and it was rare for him to lose control like this. When she thought about what Sully had said to her about Xander liking her, seeing him like this made Hazel’s heart tremble. She had no feelings for Xander and didn’t want their brotherly bond to become complicated. “No need, I’ll handle it myself. I wasn’t entirely unprepared for this situation,” she said as she removed a button from her clothes. It turned out she had brought a mini camera with her in advance. With this evidence, even if Jonah wasn’t imprisoned, he would still be detained for a while. Moreover, Hazel’s actions toward Jonah could be considered self-defense, and Jonah wouldn’t be able to use this incident against her. This time, she was going to ruin Jonah’s reputation and force him to sell the shares he held in the company! Less than half a day had passed since Sully was hospitalized when Damon arrived. By that time
"You're saying that Charles only came to me with a business deal because he's trying to get close to me?" Hazel stared at Xander, her gaze unblinking.Xander wasn’t sure how to respond—he didn’t want to make things awkward, but it was hard to avoid the implication.He could tell Hazel wasn’t quite seeing things the way he did. It wasn’t just business, he thought; there was something else behind it."Honestly, I used to think the same thing," she continued. "But then I realized, he never actually said anything like ‘if we work together, you have to marry me.’ So, why not agree to the deal? I’m just giving him the chance to be around me. Whether or not he can make something out of that, that’s not my concern."Hazel had known all along that what Charles really wanted was a chance, not her hand in marriage.Xander finally nodded. "I get it now. I was worried about you not seeing through him. Looks like I was wrong."He had watched Hazel grow in
This was the best solution Chrissy had come up with after spending an entire night binge-watching idol dramas. The situation between Damon and Hazel right now was simply because there was no opportunity to push their relationship forward.Chrissy decided to get involved herself and serve as the bait this time."When I went to find Hazel just now, she looked so shocked, like she hadn’t expected it at all. And after I left, probably she and her best friend are already talking about you," Chrissy said confidently.She analyzed the situation with such precision that if the security guards from Queen's company hadn’t arrived so quickly, she would have stayed longer and delivered a whole monologue.Thinking about this, Chrissy felt a little disappointed. She had prepared a whole speech for this, but barely got two lines out before being kicked out.Seeing Chrissy so sure of herself, Damon couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.The way
Hazel had also considered this possibility, but since Damon kept telling her that he had deceived Harold with his acting, she didn’t think too much about it. Now, after Omar’s reminder, she started to reconsider the matter. Before she could figure it out, Omar added, "Unless his real purpose was to tell you these things, but for some reason, he couldn’t tell you directly and had to do it this way instead." When Omar said this, it felt like a sudden revelation to Hazel. After all these years of planning, Harold couldn’t have trusted anyone so quickly, even someone with the same goal. So the only possibility seemed to be what Omar had just mentioned. "Then what’s his purpose in telling me this? Grandpa, do you think my parents' accident has anything to do with him?" Hazel was confused. She had thought she had everything figured out, but now she realized she hadn’t seen the whole picture. It felt like there was a huge net above her, trapping her in t
Hazel focused her gaze on Sully, pausing for a moment before speaking. "Maybe. I feel like I don’t dislike him as much now." "To be more precise, after he told me the truth about everything, I stopped disliking him. He has his reasons, and everything he did was for his late brother. If I were in his shoes, I’m not sure I could have done much better." At first, Hazel had felt uneasy, thinking that if everything had been clarified from the beginning, many misunderstandings could have been avoided. But now, after experiencing the aftermath of her parents' accident, she understood some of Damon's helplessness. Until she had clarified some matters, she didn’t want to share them with too many people, not even Sully or Xander. To Hazel, these two were some of the most important people in her life right now. "I still think there shouldn't be too many secrets in a relationship," Sully pressed. "Can you accept that, after you're with him, he’ll hide things
Hazel was almost ready to directly reject him, but after thinking it over, she decided to be more tactful. Maybe Damon had been so busy with work and studies his whole life that he didn’t know how to like someone properly. Perhaps he had seen someone confess like this before and just copied it. Maybe it was something he’d learned from an idol drama from a few years ago—those kinds of scenes really existed in those shows. "I’ll have the security take care of all this. You should head back to the office. I heard Price Corp is expecting a big client today. Aren’t you going to meet them?" she said, offering him an out. The idea of a big client was just a way for Hazel to give Damon an excuse to leave. How would she know if Price Corp had a big client coming today? But Damon seemed completely confused by her words. He asked, "I’ve pushed all my work to tomorrow. And our company isn’t expecting any big clients today. Did you hear wrong from someone?" He
Once Hazel returned, she immediately buried herself in company matters, dealing with the clothing brand. After this ‘hunger marketing’ campaign, imitation products had started flooding the market. But this was all within Hazel's expectations. At first, some people might buy these counterfeit products, but once time passes and they can master the quality, those imitations will start to look fake. Then, people will flock to the genuine products with real quality. Sully walked into Hazel's office, holding a document that Agent Amber had sent over. It contained some dirt on Bailey, but it wasn't enough to bring her down from her current position. "Hazel, look, these are all from Agent Amber, you know, Bailey's agent." Hazel and Agent Amber hadn't had much interaction, and what she knew best was Agent Amber's work capabilities and her relationship with Bailey. Hazel skimmed through the documents and when she saw the first part, she thought she’d read it wron
Compared to Bailey, whom she managed, Agent Amber naturally admired Ariana more, as she was someone who genuinely pursued her craft. Ariana lacked the calculated ambition that many others had, making her more pleasant and relatable, with a better connection to the audience. As Agent Amber continued talking, her gaze shifted back to Bailey, and she sighed, "If only Bailey had half of Ariana’s dedication, she wouldn't have ended up as the second female lead." The artists Amber had previously managed might not have started with leading roles, but after transitioning through a few supporting roles, they had consistently remained at the forefront of the screen. Even if they weren’t the female lead, they were often standout supporting characters, sometimes even outshining the female lead. Unlike Bailey, who had participated in numerous variety shows and even self-funded her own micro-drama where she played the female lead, it was only thanks to Agent Amber's personal e
“Mom, I’ve already told you, I’m only marrying Hazel in this life. If you really care about me and don’t want me to live out my days alone, then you’d better treat Hazel well,”After saying this, Damon turned and went straight back to his room.Agatha’s face darkened, her eyes following Damon’s retreating figure, her expression turning malicious.Not only did she not want to see Damon live a lonely life, but she also wanted to hold her grandson as soon as possible. The thought of Delilah’s child saddened her deeply.Since her son and Hazel’s relationship was developing so quickly, it seemed like it was time to check if Hazel could have children.If she truly couldn’t bear children, then Agatha would never allow her to enter the family, no matter what.The recent events involving Hazel hadn’t escaped the notice of Jonah’s family, either....Adele had been k
"I've been so worried these past couple of days! Ever since Xander told me, I've been anxious and couldn't sleep well. I even sent you messages, but you didn’t reply! Thankfully, you're finally back!" Sully was so emotional that she nearly burst into tears. She had originally planned to go on a business trip today, but after hearing from Xander that Hazel was returning, she canceled everything and rushed over. Hazel gently patted Sully on the back. "Alright, alright, nothing happened in the end. But the matter’s still not resolved, and we’ll need your help." After comforting Sully, the group sat down together and began discussing the recent investigations and what Harold really wanted. Omar brought out everything he had recently gathered, which was all information about Harold. Mark also took out a stack of documents, all related to the organization and the past history of Hazel’s parents. Once they had gone through both sets of documents, everything st