Ethan had left them too traumatized.They had witnessed a businessmen get crushed to death by an electronic signboard that fell from the sky, right in front of them. Blood splattered all over them, making them scream on the spot.The most terrifying thing was that after the investigation, the person’s death was ruled an accident, not murder!“I’ll be more mindful next time,” Oliver said, “There’s something more important now.”“Don’t tell me… Is Snow planning to go against Ethan?”They all gasped in unison when they thought of that possibility.The last person who tried to use a honeypot trap against Ethan met a horrible death. His room was filled with blood, and his family was poisoned to death.“I don’t think so.”Oliver looked nervous as he brought it up. Simply bringing up the topic gave him chills. After all, he was the one who sent Snow out on that mission.“It’s not about Ethan. It’s about Snow. She knows that her parents are dead, so her wish has been fulfilled. I’m wo
“Okay. I’ll bring her home once everything in Aqua City is settled. She’s so sweet, and she really understands me…”Just thinking about Snow filled Stephen with energy.This time, he absolutely could not fail. Aqua City’s economy had to take off. He had to clear his name and make everyone look at him differently!Seeing the change in Stephen’s expression, Simon felt relieved that his son had finally found the right person. With everything falling into place—timing, opportunity, and support—it seemed impossible for Stephen to fail this time!More than ten days passed, and the grand opening of the games was just seven days away. As the stadium had finally been completed, Stephen took the mayor for an inspection. The place was massive, spanning a full three hectares. Although it was only a single level, it was divided into many sections to ensure that there would be enough space for all the events to be held.Eighty percent of the field was made of chemical plastic, while the remai
He quickly called Oliver.“Mr. Fox, can you reach Snow?”Oliver asked, “What happened?”“I can’t reach her. The people at home also said that they haven’t seen her for days.”“What?” Oliver immediately said, “Let me try calling her.”He picked up another phone and tried to call Snow but could not reach her either.“No good. I can’t get through either.”Stephen grew more anxious. Snow was missing! He hung up the call with Oliver and immediately booked a flight back to the capital.A few hours later, he arrived at the Lowes’ residence.Stephen looked in Snow’s room and noticed that it was clean and tidy. The clothes he had given her were untouched.“How could this be?” He slumped on the bed, his expression hollow. “She’s all alone and is unfamiliar with the place. Where could she have gone?”Suddenly, he thought of Ethan.“Right! Ethan knows her. Maybe Snow went to find him!”At that thought, Stephen immediately drove to Drakthorn Ridge.When he arrived at the villa, he not
He did not expect Snow to be Stephen’s woman!Liam put two and two together and immediately guessed that Snow probably wanted to use Stephen as her shield.What a cunning woman!Stephen did not know why Liam reacted so strongly to this piece of information.“Is Snow Green really with you?” Liam asked in confirmation.“Yes, she is!” Stephen felt uneasy. Did Snow get into an accident somewhere and someone had to collect her body?He quickly asked, “What happened to Snow?”Liam took a deep breath and said, “I don’t know. We’re also looking for her. Do you know what Snow has done in the past?”Stephen frowned. “She’s just the daughter of a steel magnate. What could she have done?”Upon hearing those words, Liam immediately knew that Stephen had fallen for the cunning woman’s devices.“You’ve been deceived. She has a record of defrauding millions, and she’s hurt people...” Liam listed Snow’s crimes.Stephen stood frozen in place, unable to move. He could not believe it!Snow was
“Are you going to bear the consequences if the criminal escapes?” Liam was a little angry.Nina’s case had gone cold for three years. There had to be an explanation.Furthermore, with everything that Snow had done, she could not be allowed to continue roaming free.“I’ll take responsibility!” Stephen felt like his heart was being pierced and was bleeding endlessly. “If she’s truly guilty, I... I’ll personally cuff her.”It took him all his courage and strength to utter those words.“Don’t forget what you just said.” Liam pulled him forward.They then approached Snow.“Snow.”Her body trembled when she heard Stephen’s voice. She raised her head to look at him. “Why are you here? Did you finish your business in Aqua City?”Stephen did not seem to hear her question and asked anxiously, “Did you...”Snow interrupted him, “Yes. Everything they say is true. I’ve hurt many people.”She clenched her fists and raised them slowly.It was as if she was waiting for the handcuffs!Boom
Stephen stared straight at the ceiling. “Snow was arrested. She’s committed so many crimes.”“Huh?” George thought he heard wrongly. “Is that all? Did you forget who you are? You’re a young mogul from Metropolis. It’ll be easy as pie for you to get her out!”At those words, Stephen’s eyes instantly lit up. “That’s right! I can save her!”However, he soon thought of something else.“She seems to be tied to an unsolved case from three years ago. Her friend killed a family of thirteen before committing suicide.”George agreed that that did complicate things.“Although it’s problematic, it’s still resolvable. Your family can get her out as long as she cooperates.”Those words completely awakened Stephen.That was right!He still had the Quinns! With the Quinns’ support, freeing Snow would be easy.He immediately called Simon.“Dad, I need a favor!”Simon was confused. “What is it? Did something happen in Aqua City?”“No,” Stephen said. “Aqua City is doing well. It’s Snow.”“H
Oliver did not understand and simply said, “Okay, I got it.”When Liam hung up, he quickly sent a message to the other bosses.“Ethan sent someone to tell me that Snow has been arrested, but the Quinns are planning to get her out. What does that mean?”The other bosses read the message but also did not understand.Why would they be informed about the Quinns wanting to release her?Were they supposed to tell the Quinns that they were not allowed to?Could they even do that?Even if they combined their forces, they would not be able to stand up to a finger from the Quinns.“I don’t get it either.”“Maybe it was just to inform us?”Oliver shook his head. “From my understanding of Ethan, he doesn’t do things without a reason. Each move he makes has a deeper purpose. Think carefully!”He found a place to sit down and began to ponder deeply.What was Ethan trying to say?“He didn’t eliminate us but told us this instead. What exactly is he thinking? Wait! He didn’t eliminate us?”
Since the topic involved Stephen, the rumor that the Quinns were trying to release a criminal quickly attracted attention.“What? Stephen has a mistress? That’s vile!”“Not only does he have a mistress, but she’s even a criminal!”“He even wants his family to bail her out!”“What is he doing?”The internet was enraged. While they did not even have a girlfriend, Stephen had Rachel, and now he was keeping Snow as his mistress.After Snow was arrested, he wanted to use the Quinns to bail her out using their power.“Stephen Quinn, come out and explain yourself. Why are you protecting a criminal?”“I thought that Stephen was a righteous person, but it seems he’s not after all. Heh.”“Is it really appropriate to let someone this rotten manage Riveria?”The discussions quickly escalated. Everyone who heard about the situation was infuriated.Simon was making arrangements for Snow. He planned to give her a new identity and wipe her slate clean.Just then, he received a call from th
Tyler frowned. “What happened?”“It’s about Riveria.” Nolan handed his phone to Tyler. “Simon and Stephen have completely lost all shame. I can’t believe they said something like this.”After reading the news, Tyler’s expression darkened. “Although I know they’re shameless, I still underestimated them.”In the past, they had slandered Ethan and stole his achievements. Now, after being exposed, they fabricated evidence and worked with headquarters to deceive the public.“Tyler, what should we do?” Nolan asked. “I can’t stand by while they slander Mr. Rivers like this.”Tyler said, “Let me think.”To them, Ethan was their savior. Without Ethan, the Spencers would never have made it out of Riveria alive. It was thanks to Ethan stepping in that they had a chance to start over.However, Simon was shamelessly going further to distort the truth and rewrite history. They could not watch this happen. The truth had to be exposed!A moment later, Tyler said in a low voice, “Let’s go to Ri
The netizens had mostly been deceived by the internet trolls.When they saw Simon and headquarters both speaking out, they fully believed that Stephen was innocent and that everything was part of Leo and Ethan’s schemes. Even the few who had firmly believed in Ethan began to doubt themselves.Online, the uproar gradually died down. At that moment, Simon took the next step! He had someone publish the recording of the gala and instructed the trolls to guide the audience in revisiting the highlights.With that, both he and Stephen were completely safe.When people reviewed the gala recording, it also boosted Riveria’s popularity. It was killing multiple birds with one stone!Simon did not rest. Instead, he took the official statement and the trending discussions online and headed to the jail to meet Leo.“Has he confessed yet?” Simon asked the staff.After Leo was imprisoned, he had been questioned who the mastermind behind this was.“No. He keeps saying there’s no mastermind.”S
“Yeah. I’m from Breeze City. If Stephen is driven away by all your insults, what are we supposed to do?”“All this is part of Ethan’s scheme. He’s deliberately trying to frame Stephen!”This was the next phase of their attack. They accused everyone of being too extreme and then created a victim narrative to gain sympathy. Finally, they flipped the story. Stephen was the pure-hearted and selfless one while Ethan was the true villain!While the internet was being flooded with manipulated narratives, Simon was not idle either. He felt that fabricating transaction records and hiring internet trolls alone was not enough. Ne needed more fabricated evidence.Thus, he had several people in Riveria publicly claim that Stephen had been the one managing Riveria all along.Ethan Rivers? Never heard of him!After a day of work, Simon was drenched in sweat. He felt his heart pound as if it might leap out of his throat.After all, he had not rested properly for days because of the gala. Furthe
Simon stayed up all night thinking.The next morning, a little after 6 a.m., he called someone to forge records that Stephen had lived in Riveria before.At the gala, someone had questioned whether Stephen really was the Grand Marshal’s mentee. His response at that time was that Stephen had always lived in Riveria.Now, he had to fabricate those records as soon as possible and release them publicly. Protecting Stephen’s identity as ‘the Grand Marshal’s sole heir’ was extremely important. As long as that narrative was maintained, it would minimize suspicions from others.“But that’s not enough.”Simon continued to take action and hired internet trolls. Since he could not suppress the public’s interest, he personally intervened and made the trolls comment that Stephen was the one in charge of Riveria while Ethan was a corrupt criminal and that Leo was spewing nonsense!As soon as the money was paid, the trolls began their work.“You guys say that Ethan was the one in charge of Riv
However, the event was quickly losing steam! Leo had shifted everyone’s attention away, and people were more curious about Ethan and Stephen’s true identities. The whole internet buzzed with discussions, and many were engaged in fierce arguments. Even if Simon tried to suppress the controversy, it was nearly impossible to stop it. Quite a few people were even starting to leave the event. Many planned to stay in Breeze City for a few days and tour the city, but after experiencing the incident, they no longer trusted Simon. Therefore, they changed their plans and decided to leave the next day!By the time the event ended at 1 a.m., the audience present had dropped to less than half of the original count. When Simon and Stephen took the stage and saw the half-empty seats, they felt dispirited. The celebrities and singers who attended the event could also barely manage a smile. They regretted coming. The scandal surrounding Stephen’s real identity could easily engulf them, and the l
Stephen immediately raised his head and asked, “Where is she?”Simon fell silent. He had no idea where Lily was. Perhaps only Ethan would know her whereabouts, and he did not know how to answer Stephen. Stephen frowned as he waited for a response. “What’s wrong? Didn’t you say she’s alive? Why don’t you tell me where she is?”Simon took a deep breath. “It might not be the best time to tell you now.”He still tried to brush it off. “What do you mean?” Stephen was getting anxious. “Do you want me to get on my knees and beg you? Don’t you know how important she is to me?” Stephen pointed at his gray hair. “I want to see her again so badly.”As Simon lowered his head, looking conflicted, Stephen fell to his knees with a bam. “What are you doing?” Simon exclaimed and quickly pulled him up. At that point, he realized that he could not hide it anymore. He did not want to say that Ethan saved Lily, but only Ethan knew where she was now. Even if he wanted to lie, he could not. W
“Everything we’ve worked hard on would go to waste, and the Quinn family would be plunged into endless doom. The federal government would cull us. Nobody would let us off.”The issue now was not as simple as stealing Ethan’s achievements and locking him up. They were unafraid to do it in the past because they thought Ethan was an incapable orphan without any backing. They figured he just got lucky. However, they were wrong. Ethan turned out to be the Grand Marshal’s only mentee and the head of the Ledger family’s chosen one. He was also the one who intimidated the South Regent into retreating and achieving peace for Riveria. Everyone in the province owed him their lives.Just the revelation of his identity and achievements would be more than they could handle, and there was a new problem. Under their management, Riveria had nothing but problems. The province was once the nation’s largest, boasting a 15 trillion GDP, but how much of it was left now? It had long since fallen to
It happened all too suddenly. He had done everything he could to prevent this. He had made countless preparations, ensuring no criminals or illegal weapons could get in, and even arranged his own men to be the “lucky audience” chosen for the interactive session. Yet, he had not expected a celebrity of that level to speak out for Ethan. Simon racked his brains, trying to figure out how it all happened. However, how would he know that the celebrity had become famous thanks to Ethan? His mind buzzed, completely blank. He could only say, “We will investigate this matter. Everyone, please wait for our notice. For now, please continue to enjoy tonight’s show!”He handed the mic to the host and rushed off stage. The show had to go on. He had put too much effort into inviting celebrities and pouring money into security to have it go to waste like that.Unfortunately, people’s attention was not on the show anymore. Stephen, Simon, Riveria, and Ethan immediately started trending. The e
However, the truth was that everything she went through had nothing to do with Ethan, while the hardships he had encountered were even more unbearable than hers. However, he always remained calm and was even willing to lend a hand. “I’m sorry.” Snow trembled, tears streaking across her face. There was so much she wanted to say, but she did not know where to start. She could only apologize repeatedly and wipe her tears away. Her heart was filled with resentment toward Stephen, who was no human at all! Lily also spoke, her voice shaking, “I can’t believe you were the author. And you’ve done so much!”She thought back to the first time they met and when she called Ethan petty. Now, she finally understood how generous Ethan was. He had sacrificed himself to protect everyone in Riveria, saved her life when she should have been dead, and helped her find a new meaning in life. Yet what about him? He was imprisoned in that desolate mountain alone. Lily thought about herself. As the