Initially, the old woman was pretty furious when she saw the saleswoman smiling once more. She almost wanted to rip her mouth open. However, she understood why the saleswoman was smiling when she found out that the deposit fee was 45,000 dollars.They had thought they would be able to reserve a house worth millions of dollars with just a few hundred dollars worth of a deposit? What a joke!However, the old woman was not going to allow that amount to cause her to humiliate herself. She shot a fierce glare at her husband before she said, “What are you smiling at? It’s 45,000 dollars, isn’t it? We’ve got the money to pay! My husband meant to say that that amount feels like 450 dollars to us!”The old man hurriedly agreed. “Exactly!”The saleswoman was stunned, not realizing that the old couple was actually rather wealthy. However, she did not want to cause any future problems for herself due to some misunderstanding, so she secretly turned on her cell phone’s video recording fun
The old man no longer dared to utter another word after Javier’s violent threat. However, the old woman suddenly seemed to change her tactics and sat down on the floor, flailing her hands about like a madwoman. “You lot are so unfair! You real-estate agents are taking his side to bully us! You refuse to let us pay the deposit fee and buy the house. Plus, you’re even ganging up with him to beat us up! Call the reporters! Have them expose their cruel deeds!!!”According to a saying on the internet, the elderly did not become villains, the villains just grew old. Jade had never seemed to understand this saying in the past, but after witnessing what the old couple was capable of, she fully understood it now.‘Both of them are just full of nonsense and they’re doing anything they want, including behaving like madmen just because they’re old. They’re such shameless people!‘I just don’t get it… How do they manage to be so shameless despite being so old?’Seeing that her exquisitely
Money made the world go around, as they said, and it made it go fast.For example, every document and required paper had been handled by the sales representative two days later posthaste. Javier paid a king’s ransom for the housing property tax, but frankly, he hardly felt the loss when it came to his overall wealth.By late afternoon, Javier had scouted Clouston’s most expensive home design company based on its professional expertise. Just the thought that they were being commissioned to design and renovate three luxury villas made the company pay rapt attention. It dispatched two teams to follow Javier back to his house. They would hash out some designs and let Javier choose the one he liked the most.Jade led the teams into the villas, and the brainstorming began. Javier himself took a seat at the entrance step and lit a cigarette. It mattered very little how the villas would look as long as Jade was pleased.It was then that trouble paid him a visit.Oh, it was not Jade, who w
Javier actually remembered Victoria Loesch a little. She was one of the young rising stars Chad had contacted back when he had been facing Lloyd Young. He had not exposed her darkest secrets to hurt Lloyd because he had been busy promoting the movie “Ackerman.”He would never have exposed her, to be honest, had it not been for the…special circumstances they had found themselves in. She might not know this, but Victoria had actually been working under Javier this whole time.That was the problem, was it not? She had been disrespecting her boss’s boss, right down to declaring she would crush him with her wealth alone. That was just inappropriate!He produced his phone and started calling Lloyd while Victoria watched, sneering at him. “What now? Gonna call some tabloid to make up ‘news’? Please, you know they’ll argue for me rather than against me, right? Hell, my fans are an army! Go and stir up a riot if you aren’t scared of being canceled to hell and back!”“Gee, you’re Miss Badass
It was at that moment that Victoria knew how she had f*cked up.She was more than certain that the call Javier had made to Lloyd had been legitimate. No one else other than the boss of her company could have the ability to cancel her in such a short amount of time. Nor could anyone else have the power to take away all of her resources and opportunities as a star, including any advertising work and talk show appearances.As he flicked the ashes off his cigarette again, Javier’s toothy grin remained the same. “Yep, it was me. What, you wanna punch me in the face for it?”Victoria dared not, even if she wanted to. Three months of inactivity could chill one’s momentum to stardom enough when it came to an actress of her type. Even if she could, theoretically, rise out of her hiatus and back into new heights, it was still going to be an uphill battle. What more could she expect after being canceled altogether?She might very well have no way of continuing her career.How could she not p
Javier went inside his villa and accompanied Jade as she discussed home décor with the team of designers they employed. He was already starting to forget about the event that had happened just minutes ago. It was so trivial to him that he would not waste any effort by caring.It was not trivial to Victoria, though. After getting back up to her feet with the aid of her own rage, she snarled at her parents for a while before putting her mask and shades back on and leaving. As she passed by Boulder Bear, the ire of his defeat rushed back to her, and she shot a mean, harsh swing at Boulder Bear’s crotch.Had this overpriced useless piece of sh*t beaten that *sshat into a sniveling pulp from the get-go, she would have never needed to expose her identity and get canceled!She turned on her heels and stormed off, not even pausing to look back at her brutalized mother and her bewildered father. The old woman cupped her cheek, choking back tears as she asked in a quivering voice, “What…happe
Someone had shot Chessie, and no one could tell who it could have been.All the text stated after that was where they were right at that moment.Javier wasted no time reporting the address to Herschel. The car took a sharp turn away from the airport and into the freeway, the flight aborted and abandoned.Faye would never have texted him if it were not that big of a problem, and reality made Javier suspicious. When he called her on her personal number, no one picked it up.That meant that Chessie’s condition was severe enough that it prevented her from picking up her phone.The revelation moved the deepest part of his lividity. What kind of special foolhardy motherf*cker would dare touch one of his women?!His rage even boiled over to Faye. What the f*ck was she doing if the woman she had been sent to protect had ended up getting harmed anyway? And harmed this severely at that! How useless was she?!Fighting back the ugly flame in his chest, he called Trevor and told him there wa
Javier met him in an old, abandoned warehouse. Saul Smith was a man close to his fifties and yet he still looked rather fit and ripped. Tattoos crawled all over his body, except his face, which was quite a terror to behold as it was. A long scar, indicating that it used to be a knife wound, ran down his right eye and reached the left corner of his lips, accentuating the inhumanity of his appearance.Javier could hear Saul’s voice reverberating from the warehouse even before he stepped inside. “You mad motherf*ckers. Showing your pretty faces like that for me with no care in the world. Why are you so sure I won’t kill every last one of you once I’m outta here, eh?”He studied the bandage around Running Man’s shoulder and asked, “How bad is this?”Running Man waved. “Just a scratch, Boss. The wussy retaliation of cornered prey holding a knife, more like it. Ain’t nothing to be compared to bombs on the battlefield.”Javier smiled and patted him on the shoulder. He took a cigarette out
As Bernadetta launched a barrage of kicks against the restaurant door, Mrs. Greene summoned 120% of her strength, holding the fort. The older woman had made a living terrorizing others with absurd accusations and downright unreasonable demands, but this time, she had met her match. Bernadetta James put the “man” in the word “woman”—in that she resorted to violence as soon as things escalated. In the end, it took both Mrs. Greene’s apology and a deal to provide Javier and Bernadetta with three days’ meals, all free of charge, to make the young woman stop. Then—“because I actually have a weakness against people sincerely appealing to my better angels,” according to Bernadetta—she amended the peace offer, changing the three days’ free meals to…a week’s worth. Back in the inn, Javier expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Bernadetta for rescuing him. “I can’t thank you enough for standing by my side when I needed it the most, Bern. But I can thank you a bit more if you refrain from using t
Mrs. Greene opened her flap and unlocked the floodgate, the spit during her tirade so profusive that she could water an old lady’s lawn. “It’s him, officers! It’s all him! He did this to his own camera just to remove himself as a suspect, but we know better than that! He’s the guy who stole my goddamn lingerie!”She turned and trained her finger on Javier. “You vile, disgusting, degenerate piece of sh*t! Ptooey!”‘Back at you! I'd rather spend the night with my left hand than with you!’ By this point in the morning, Bernadetta had arrived at work. Her heels clicked onto the floor as she sauntered toward the commotion. As soon as she heard what had transpired, she laughed, looking clearly amused. She trained her perfectly manicured finger on Javier and piled on. “Oh, it was him. I can testify to that! He stole Mrs. Greene’s bra because he is…the Lingerie Phantom Thief! By day, he is Javier Kersey. At night, he is Jo Ker, the Bra Stealer!” Javier threw his arms up in exasperation
Javier shook his head. By the time his vision was back to normal, the dog was gone. It had escaped! “What kind of hell spawned this little sh*t?!” Javier wondered to himself aloud. “Was this really an effect of the world changing? Is this an example of mutation because of the Storm? Or is there something else at play?”Baffled and unsure what to think, Javier returned to the dorm and told the residents to open the door. Inside, he found Florence huddling the frightened kids closely. She was white from fear, and yet in the presence of vulnerable kids, she had assumed the role of the protector without a second thought. “Hush, it’s alright! It was fake. Someone pulled a terrible prank and put on this white sheet and…” Javier made up a fib to explain the haunting away exactly because the truth could land him in a mental institution. No one would believe him—and for good reason too!Javier drove Florence back to the Yuzuian restaurant, where the latter’s electric scooter was. While
A resentful wail—interspersed only by sobs that sounded more like someone was being strangled—was echoing in the middle of the night while Javier and Florence could not see even a single soul out there? Animated by the power of “hell, naw!”, Florence dove into Javier’s arms for protection. Her hands were clasped firmly on either side of her head, hoping to block out the ghastly demand in her ears. Her eyes were squeezed so tightly shut that even a crowbar could not pry them open.Javier himself was just as terrified. He would have felt better if he could see the source of the voice rather than just hear a woman sobbing about getting her head back. At least he would know what he was up against! But just hearing it without any visuals at all?! Nooooope!Then, Florence hugged him in a “help-me!” sort of way. She was soft and supple—damn, that sexy figure in combination with her silky-smooth skin sure was welcoming. She was warm, and damn did she smell good! Nothing competed with fea
The dog barked in protest as it pointed its paw at Javier with the intensity of a mob before executing a monarch. The flames in its eyes were so bright that they could incinerate Javier into ashes in milliseconds. In the end, though, all that protest was for naught. Constance tied it up in the parking garage, while Javier watched in glee. Ah, sweet, sweet revenge! The stupid dog had thought it could set him up, had it? That would teach it!The look the Pomeranian shot him almost felt like a threat: ‘Just you f*cking wait, hooman!’‘Wait for what? How much can a stupid b*tch like you do to me?’ Javier scoffed in his mind. Now that the four-legged pest was gone, Javier turned back to Constance and talked about the new orphanage. As it turned out, despite the old woman’s sentiments for the building she had founded, she was a lot less obstinate and unreasonable as she might appear. “I mean, I don’t object to it completely. I know the new place is gonna be better, but…” She faltered a
Florence called half an hour later to tell him where they’d be having dinner. After leaving the inn in Bernadetta’s care, he hurried to the venue. Florence had picked a newly-opened Yuzuian restaurant. Javier had never liked Yuzuian restaurants, but since Florence had invited him, courtesy stopped him from asking the woman to change their meeting venue. He found Florence quickly enough and sat across from her. They placed their orders, and Javier began his performance: He started sighing and doing his best to look forlorn. It intrigued Florence enough to ask what was wrong, and Javier told her about his unfortunate beef with Constance that day.“It’s so unfair, man! Why would I bully a dog for no reason?” he moaned. “I’m sure Aunt Constance misunderstood. You’re a knightly, heroic, kind man! How could someone like you possibly get off on hurting a dog? I’m sure Aunt Constance was just too worried about the dog’s welfare to think things through. She didn’t mean it. I can vouch for
Herschel was dressed quite sharply today. It was the full ensemble—black leather shoes, black slacks, a white collar, and last but not least, the good old oil-slicked hair. The typical look of a high-ranking office worker, just as Javier had requested. Ordering him to get in his car, Javier asked, “You brought all the stuff I told you to?”“Yo, I would never forget the stuff my boss told me to bring. I’ve got all the preparations down pat. You can check ‘em if you don’t trust me,” Herschel replied. He fished an ID and some documents out of his leather bag. “See? All the documentation a journalist in the most important room of a news agency would have.”After a round-check and some instructions, Javier sent Herschel on his way to complete his mission. The man was strangely reluctant, though. “Boss, you told me you decided to work in that inn, right? Does that mean, you know, that you’re gonna call me ‘boss’ while you’re there?”Javier had almost forgotten he had mentioned this. It
Javier’s suspicion turned to Constance Hellman’s white Pomeranian. He turned to the director’s office and met the dog’s eyes. With its paws on the windowsill, it hoisted itself up to look out of the window. Seeing the dog cracking a lopsided grin and baring its fangs—beaming as smugly as a teacher’s pet who had managed to subdue everyone through the power of being the boss’s favorite—made it look both amusing and chilling. It would have been had the dog not caught Javier’s gaze, suddenly dropped the smile, and put on a face that seemed to be saying, ‘I’m just your average dog! Nothing to see here!’And then it feigned—yes, feigned—a yawn as its one last measure to cover up the fact that it had been laughing smugly to itself. ‘What. The. Actual. F*ck?!’ Javier thundered in his mind. ‘B*tch’s a natural actress! What’s it doing here instead of being interviewed on a talk show after becoming viral on TikTok?’In combination with Russell’s report, the incident inside the director’s of
As Javier was befuddled, Constance rushed in from outside and picked up the white Pomeranian gingerly to carefully check its injured leg.“Oh, baby, what’s the matter? Did you hurt your leg?”The white Pomeranian whined in pain and began twitching upon hearing Constance’s concerned question. This upset Constance so much that she admonished him sternly. “Mr. Kersey, I thought that you were a loving person, but I can’t help doubting your motive now.“I’m skeptical about you taking good care of the kids here when you’d even hit a cute dog!”Javier felt extremely offended. When had he hit the dog? He hurriedly explained, “Madam Hellman, I didn’t do anything!”Constance asked angrily, “You didn’t do anything? Why would it suddenly limp now and whine so pathetically? Why did it hurry over to me? Give me a reasonable explanation!”Javier was in distress as well. “How would I know? It was fine when I was carrying it just now, but it wanted to get down on the floor, so I carefully placed