"Come in. The door's unlocked."Dominic trembled slightly before carefully opening the door. As soon as he stepped into the villa, he spotted Gideon, who was sitting on the couch."Sir!"Dominic rushed over and gave a low bow of respect.If Lavinia, Elara, and the others had seen this, their jaws would've dropped.Glancing over at Dominic, Gideon asked, "Didn't you give this villa to me? Why did you come back? Have you changed your mind and decided to take it back?"Dominic shook his head fervently. "No, of course not, sir. You've misunderstood me. I came here to see you.""What for?""I'd like to head to Oasis Vale. I hope you can fulfill my request," Dominic beseeched with a solemn expression.Chuckling, Gideon asked, "Why do you want to head to Oasis Vale? You're good friends with Hercule, right? Do you want to visit him?""I'd like to move into Oasis Vale and train," Dominic replied.Gideon was startled. Dominic wanted to train at Oasis Vale? Did he get hit on the head
Marion explained, "For some reason, Mr. Duran's people said we stole some of their business. They want us to apologize and make up for it.""Mom, Dad, we can't afford to offend Mr. Duran. Let's just apologize and compensate for it," Elara said grimly.Smiling bitterly, Arnold said, "Mr. Duran wants us to compensate him with ten million dollars. Where can we get that kind of money?""What? Ten million dollars? He might as well rob a bank!" Elara exclaimed in anger.Just then, she turned to Matthew and pleaded, "Matthew, can you help us?""That's right, Matthew," Marion chimed in. "You and Elara are the best of friends. Do help us. You can lend us ten million dollars first."Matthew's lips twitched. As it was, the Carters were in urgent need of money. He'd managed to gather a little over 20 million dollars by lying that Rachel thought highly of him, but he wasn't going to lend that money to anyone!That being said, he couldn't possibly reject the Seymours outright, so he assured
The slap left Matthew rather dazed.Marion and Elara exchanged looks. They realized that even Nino's subordinate showed no respect for the Carters, let alone Nino himself. Shawn had gone so far as to hit Matthew without hesitation, too.Clutching his face, Matthew got back on his feet. Sensing the strange looks in the women's eyes, he felt humiliated, but he dared not say anything.After seeing that even Matthew couldn't do anything about it, Arnold knew there was no use in saying anything else. With great bitterness, he said, "I'll pay ten million dollars in compensation. Please tell Mr. Duran to give me three days to gather the money.""Three days? That's too long. You're not even getting an hour, let alone three days," Shawn retorted."What do you want, then?" Arnold fumed. "We're a modest family with a small company, and business hasn't been going too well. I can't fork out ten million dollars in cash right away. If you insist on being unreasonable, I'll have no choice but to
"I'll go!"It seemed to have taken every bit of Elara's strength to get those words out. She felt weak and wobbly on her feet, as if she could fall at any minute."How wise of you, Ms. Seymour," Shawn remarked with a grin. "Excellent. Come with me, please.""Ella!"Arnold and Marion were extremely agitated. They wanted to rush up to Elara and pull her back, but the men stopped them. All they could do was watch as Elara got into the car.Overwhelmed by his anger and sorrow, Arnold spat out the blood and fainted. Marion was so terrified that she didn't know what to do. Too beside herself to even call 911, she simply clutched Arnold and sobbed."Dad! Mom!"At some point, Gideon came back and was shocked by this sight. He quickly checked on Arnold and used some medical techniques to stabilize his condition.Slowly, Arnold regained consciousness, coughing as he did."Arnie!" Marion was overjoyed. "You're finally awake. You scared me half to death!""Ella…"Arnold had a dead loo
Elara was extremely familiar with Tom Horne, the plump young man in front of her. In fact, she was traumatized by him.They'd gone to college together, and at the time, he'd persistently pursued her. She wasn't interested in him, so she rejected him countless times. Much to her detestation, he shamelessly continued his attempts anyway.In the end, she had no choice but to get a few people to beat him up. Following that, he stopped bothering her.It had been three years since then. Elara didn't expect Tom to show up here, and from what Nino said, it sounded like he was a person of some importance.Elara remained doubtful. To her knowledge, Tom came from an ordinary background. No matter how much success he achieved in three years, how could he have managed to become a big shot who could hang out with someone like Nino?"It's been a while, Elara," Tom said meaningfully. "I bet you never thought I'd show up here."Snapping back to reality, Elara said, "Mr. Duran said it was you who
Elara was dumbstruck. She thought she must've misheard Tom."What did you say, Tom?""I asked you to perform a striptease for me. You can leave when you're done. That's not too much to ask for, right?" Tom said.Elara turned red with anger and berated, "You've gone too far, Tom!""I've gone too far?" Tom guffawed. "Are you dumb or naive, Elara? Do you really think I'd look out for you? Do you think I specifically asked for Mr. Duran's men to bring you here just to make you drink a few glasses of alcohol? "How is that enough to make you pay for all the pain and suffering you caused me during our college years?"Tom's tone grew steadily colder. Even his expression was contorted maliciously.He marched up to Elara like a stalking predator and growled, "Do you still recall how you humiliated me back then? You said I was delusional and a dog you couldn't shake off. You said you'd die before agreeing to be my girlfriend. You also called me a pig and said I was an ugly clown—that no w
"Hold it right there!"Once those words rang out, Elara instinctively pulled her clothes back on properly.Gideon rushed into the room. Eyes landing on Elara, he asked, "Are you okay?""It's you!"Elara had been wondering who'd arrived to save her. She didn't expect it to be Gideon. It would've been a lie to say she didn't feel moved, but what was the use of him showing up? Nino had no respect for the Carters, much less the Snows, who had fallen from grace. He was only going to get himself killed.With a foul expression, Nino questioned icily, "Who the hell are you, punk? How dare you cause trouble on my territory? Do you want to die?"Gideon didn't answer his question. Instead, he asked, "I'd like to know who hit Arnold Seymour, Elara's father. Come forward. Let me take a look at you.""Hah!" Shawn chortled. He was one of Nino's right-hand men. "It was me who brought my men over to beat Arnold up, punk! What about it? Are you going to try and stand up for him? How are you rel
"Gideon! What is that nonsense? Hurry up and apologize to Mr. Neely!" Elara berated."Gideon, right?" Shawn asked mockingly. "Listen to your wife. She knows her place. If you apologize, I'll just break both your arms. If you don't, I'll break all four limbs."However, Gideon took out his phone."Oh? What's this? Are you trying to call someone?" Shawn taunted. "I'm dying to see who would dare to come to Mr. Duran's territory and rescue you."Instead, Gideon simply said, "I gave you a minute. You have 30 seconds left.""What?"Shawn and the others were dumbfounded."20 seconds," Gideon said."Ten seconds!""Alright. Time's up! Since you're not doing it yourselves, I'll just have to help you out."Pale with fury, Shawn snarled, "I've never met someone as dumb as you. Since you've got a death wish, I'll fulfill it for you. Get him, men!"Gideon turned around and said, "Back away. Don't get hurt."Elara was outraged that Gideon was being so stubborn, but when she saw the men in