Chapter 20 He’s Asking to Be Taught a Lesson

With his advance being shot down mercilessly, Zack was too embarrassed to keep trying. However, it seemed that they were quite fated as Javier and Ciara went into the room opposite of Zack’s. When Javier turned around, he caught a glimpse of Kendrick who was toying with his phone inside.

With a quick ponder, Javier, who had also come from a huge family, understood the situation instantly. The Odells had tried to get some sort of benefit out of arranging a marriage for Jade, but the latter had refused. So Kendrick wanted to find out about Jade’s business direction through Javier, but he had turned the man down.

Hence, Kendrick contacted Zack who was decently acquainted with Jade, wishing to find out the same thing through him and secretly sabotage Jade, so she would go along the family’s wishes and get married when she failed to fulfill the quarterly deal.

Despicable motive and a shabby move, Javier thought. Their family was not even that influential, what was the point of playing all these tricks? It all felt like child’s play…

Javier shook his head and took a seat at the dining table with Ciara.

His younger sister had wanted to throw a big party and invite all their old friends to celebrate his birthday, but he had declined. It meant that there were only two of them tonight, chatting as they helped themselves to the table full of dishes. They exchanged funny stories about what had happened and sh*tty family affairs. Wherever the conversation brought them to, they dabbled into it.

As for the room opposite of theirs, before Kendrick, Zack was tense and groveled like a dog. Like Javier had guessed, Kendrick came with the intention of sabotaging Jade.

“Jade is my elder cousin and of course, she’s an Odell, so you can forget about trying to win her over. If you insist on realizing that fantasy, I won’t hesitate to grind you and your old man at home into bits. Understand?”

Kendrick was frank and crude but Zack did not dare think otherwise because the Odells and his family were miles apart. Not wanting his family’s car seat factory to be doomed, he could only nod quickly.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Kendrick Odell. I’ll make sure to cut all connections with Jade. I won’t even call her, I—”

“Shut up!” Kendrick glared at Zack. “Who asked you not to contact her?”

Zack was a little flummoxed, not understanding what Kendrick was getting at.

The young man continued, “I can help your family’s pathetic little car seat factory with Odell’s resources but I need you to keep an eye on Jade for me. You are to report her every business move to me. And if the situation calls for it, to shoot her in the foot and throw her into whatever trap you can make up.

“Basically, the worse you cause her company to fail, the happier I am, and in turn, the more reward you’ll receive. Understand?”

Zack was confused. No, he did not understand. Was Jade not Kendrick’s elder cousin? Were they not a family? Why…

“You’re unqualified to ask for an explanation. Just tell me if you can do it or not!”

Zack quickly nodded in agreement. Tempted by the offer of the Odells’ help to back up his family’s car seat factory, of course, he could do it. To prove his sincerity, he told Kendrick about the investment Javier managed to score.

“The company was initially going downhill but nobody except God knows where that guy got the investment from and saved the company from its doom. He’s also touchy with anything that pertains to Jade while Jade takes his side very often. Who knows if anything is going on between the two of them…”

Since it was destined that he would never get Jade to himself, Zack went all out to sabotage the woman.

A frown instantly appeared on Kendrick’s face. “D*mn it, it's Javier Kersey again. Looks like he’s asking to be taught a lesson!”

Hearing that, Zack perked up and an evil gleam shone from within his eyes.

“Kendrick, Javier’s in the room opposite of us. I saw him when I came in earlier.

“He brought a girl with him too. That’s one cutie with a hot body.”

While the men hatched an evil plan, the room opposite of theirs talked about returning home.

“Javy, you haven’t gone home for such a long time. Go back for a visit with me. That old fox has let go of his anger for a long time now.”

Ciara was returning to the Kersey’s and wanted Javier to go with her. The latter waved away her suggestion.

“We’ll see. I don’t want to go back yet.”

Ciara wanted to persuade him further but she decided to bite her tongue. The coming of age ceremony would be held soon anyway—about three months from now—and no matter how he tried to avoid it, Javier would have to go back to the house then. She ceased the topic and brought up Zack.

“Right, Javier, who was that dude at the hotel entrance? He had a good time ribbing you. Should we get someone to take him out? The world wouldn’t care about a piece of sh*t.”

Ciara always had a domineering attitude of wanting to kill whoever that offended her, and this exasperated Javier.

“Cici, tell me. When will you ever act like a woman?”

His question made the girl straighten up, chest puffed and chin tucked.

“Who’s said that I’m not womanly?”

Javier felt defeated. That was not what he was talking about. Just when he wanted to explain himself, the door to their room was pushed open.

Zack appeared and put an arm out in a gesture of inviting the man behind him to enter the room. This was followed by Kendrick’s figure. He looked pretty cool when he stepped in but he was dumbstruck the moment he saw Ciara.

He remembered the time he first caught a glimpse of Jade when she came home after spending four years in university. He had been utterly enthralled. It was a pity that Jade was his cousin and the woman that the Dunhams liked, so he dared not make a move on her.

Ciara was different. She was not related to him by blood and no one was there to intimidate him from wooing her, so his mind went south. He gave Zack, who was next to him a light kick, prompting the man to start introducing him.

“Cutie, this is Kendrick—”

“F*ck off!”

Zack was speechless. That was exactly how he was cursed at when he had tried to introduce himself earlier. He was worried that Kendrick would be furious because of it but the latter was not.

Kendrick had always had a good temper around pretty women. He took a seat next to Ciara with a grin on his face.

“Babe, let’s have a drink and get to know each other! I’m Kendrick Odell, the Odello Corp.’s—”

Not sparing Kendrick the opportunity to introduce himself, Ciara asked, “Odello Corp.? Are you very rich?”

Kendrick smirked. “I wouldn’t say I’m very rich, but I believe that the total of what everyone in this room has wouldn’t be more than what I have.”

‘The more ignorant, the more confident,’ Ciara thought.

She asked, “You want a drink with me?”

Kendrick nodded. “Of course. The company of a beautiful woman must go along with fine wine.”

Ciara pursed her lips. “But I don’t like drinking in hotel restaurants. Why don’t we go to a bar?”

It was exactly what Kendrick wanted to hear. The bar was great, a good spot for thrills with its high and pumping energy. He agreed immediately and got up to gesture after Ciara.

Looking at the event unfolding before him, Javier thought that some people really wanted to send themselves to their own graves!