"Are you going to kill me if I refuse to tell you?" Stefan asked with a vague smile, fearless even as she stared at the knife in Renee's hand."I won't kill you—but I'll skin you and watch you bleed! You'd wish you were dead… unless you return my brother!" Renee was not joking—Quinton was her flesh and blood, a progeny of their parents. She would never allow anyone to hurt him!"You seem more agitated," Stefan pointed out, still unfazed. "Does that mean your brother is more important to you than your own partner?""Yes!" Renee readily admitted to it. "Family is more important than anything. If you lay a finger on him, I won't hesitate to kill you.""What if your brother hurts the love of your life?" Stefan pressed.Renee frowned, but said with a cool glare, "If that does happen, I will die with my beloved, and let my brother live!"She had no chance of knowing back then that it was an exchange that would become very relevant years down the line!Nonetheless, Stefan calmly said,
Renee trusted promises, and quickly freed Stefan, seemingly unafraid of his retaliation.It was just like she put it—she had restrained him once, and that meant she could do it again."There's nothing womanly about you at all!" Stefan sighed emotionally, flexing his wrists that had almost been dislocated. He was actually skilled in martial arts, even winning the school championship for four years running—only to end up completely restrained by a woman. If word of that ever got out, he would die of embarrassment.Renee said nothing, however, and suddenly leaned closer to him."What are you doing?" Stefan tensed up, sliding backwards and pressing himself against the car door. He tried to get out, only to realize that he had locked it himself.What had he done to deserve this?!"I'm warning you, don't do anything stupid. We can talk about this…" He stared at Renee warily as if she were a beast—he did not want to be tied up again!Renee rolled her eyes, speechless. How much of a c
"Have you considered a partnership between Azure Group and Hunt Enterprise?" Stefan asked slowly. "We've been competing for years, but there was never a clear winner while losses continued to mount. Maybe we could reach new heights if we worked together.""A partnership?" Renee was surprised—the man took her for quite a ride, only to start discussing business?It didn't make sense. Azure Group was small fry to Hunt Enterprise at best, and they were at completely different levels. Even if Azure Group did see rapid growth and aggressively cut a territory of its own in the stock market, they were far from the level needed to necessitate a partnership with Hunt Enterprise.So why would Stefan suddenly come up with something like that? Was he extending an olive branch?"Take your time to consider. If possible, we can discuss the details with Quinton next Wednesday." With those words, Stefan unlocked the car doors and said coolly, "And if there's nothing else, you can get out of my car."
In reality, Renee was hoping to get Stefan to make peace with Quinton—even if Stefan did not extend an olive branch.Their families had been allies for three generations, and their grandfathers were practically brothers who supported each other for years—they certainly would not want them to turn against each other. Quinton was too impulsive and radical—he would inevitably upset many, and they would certainly come seeking revenge. However, if Quinton allied himself with the Hunt family, those enemies would have to be wary of both families, which spared them a lot of unnecessary conflict.To put it roughly… Renee was helping her brother get a sugar daddy. If the day came when she was not around or something bad happened, at least he would not be alone and helpless."Consider it, Quinton. If there are no issues, we can talk to him about the finer details next Wednesday," Renee said earnestly, hoping that Quinton would say yes.Quinton, however, snorted coolly, the look behind his
Quinton returned to his bedroom with Chase following closely behind, at his beck and call as always."Welcome back, sir. None of us had been sleeping soundly ever since we lost contact with you—we almost brought the cavalry down on the heads of the Hunt family!" "You've lost contact with me plenty of times before. Why so serious?" Quinton asked, impassive even as he took off his mask and suit.Chase quickly went to take both, and hung them up primly. "Yes, we did, but this is Stefan Hunt we're talking about. You two have history, so what if he decided to pull the trigger?'Quinton raised a brow, but said confidently, "You don't have to worry about that. He won't go for the kill like me, or it's over between him and my sister."Having fought Stefan for years, he dared say he knew Stefan better than Renee. From a certain perspective, they were like eternal rivals—if either of them won, their dynasty won as well.And Quinton was convinced that if every Everheart could see him now,
"Who's there?" Chase immediately started struggling in his attacker's grip, and elbowed the person hard."Calm down, it's just me." Renee awkwardly removed her hand from the man's eyes and rubbed her aching stomach. "I was just messing with you! I didn't expect that you'd be so skilled at martial arts—that elbow of yours nearly killed me!" "Oh, it's you, Ms. Everheart! I'm so sorry. Please punish me as you see fit." Chase lowered his head guiltily, about to kneel. He was wearing a white suit, which made him look gentle and elegant."Please don't. You don't have to be so careful in front of me, I'm not like my brother." Renee glanced at Quinton's bedroom, then quietly asked, "Is my brother asleep?""Yes, Ms. Everheart.""Let's go and grab a bite then." "Ms. Everheart, we can't. You're my superior, so how—""Chase, I told you before that I'm not my brother. Let's go." Renee dragged him to a street nearby that was full of hawker stalls. "Sir, we'd like to order burgers, chips,
"No, I was just a lackey. It was all because of my boss' great wisdom that Carmine Pawnshop became successful. You don't know how hard he worked back then. He was even dragged a few dozen metres from a car just to get an item his enemy had! He truly risked his life to establish Carmine Pawnshop bit by bit." "I know he's always been a hard worker. I feel like a worthless piece of trash who muddles through life compared to him…" Renee admitted."You can't say that, Ms. Everheart. You come from a totally different background. You're a rich, young lady that enjoyed luxury and led a worry-free life… but my boss was different. He couldn't even afford to eat when he was younger, and his foster parents used to abuse him. Only his sister was a bit nice to him, but at last, she also..." Chase stopped, realising he had said too much, then quickly continued, "In short, you can't blame him for being extreme. He's had to suffer his whole life just to survive." "I know that he's suffered, we're
Chase was silent for a while, then finally heaved a long sigh. "Forget it. Ms. Everheart, I can tell you if you really want to know. I believe that you're the only one in this world who truly cares about him and wants him to be happy. I won't regret it as long as he can resolve that hatred of his. Even if he wants to punish me for it, I'm willing to take the risk..." The man abruptly gulped down his beer, then started to talk about their past."You know that he was abandoned when he was young, right? After that, he got adopted by a poor couple in that small fishing village. The couple already had a son and a daughter, so they were very reluctant to adopt my boss. Because of that, they used to hit and scold him all the time, and they also didn't give him food and made him do heavy labour every day." Chase had also grown up poor in that small fishing village, but because he was the only son in his family, he had lived a worry-free life."When we were young, the boss was very handsome,