“What? Is that the Magpie’s Treasure Nest?”Upon hearing that, Waine’s reaction was quite overblown. Eyes wide, he stood up swiftly and stared directly at Nathan. Ruby was delighted by the surprise as well. Her jaw dropped so low that she could swallow a fist. Faye was startled. Although she did not know antiques, she could tell it was an antique clock and certainly not a cheap one!She remembered watching a television show about antiquities where they showcased a Magpie’s Treasure Nest that was worth a few million. Nathan had actually spent that much money just to flatter her?She was immediately shocked and felt a strange stirring in her heart.Zayn furrowed his brows ever so slightly. It seemed that Nathan’s pursuit of Faye was his top priority. A genuine antique clock in good condition was worth millions. As the successor to the Tenfy Co. advertising company, Nathan could definitely afford it. The situation showed him that Nathan was acting like a worthy opponent. Frank
Waine’s hand was shaking as his finger grazed the surface of the gift box. “How… How could we accept this? It’s such an expensive antique…”“Hey, now. I don’t want to hear that from you, Uncle Waine. See, Fifi and I are close enough that I consider you as a second father. Shouldn’t I present my dad with an antique worth millions of dollars?” Nathan rebuked with feigned annoyance.His words only served to excite Waine even more, whose expression became even more animated. Through trembling lips, he burbled, “M-m-millions of dollars?!”Ruby’s eyes went as wide as saucers while her appalled expression was colored by shades of crimson. Her eyes glimmered brightly as she muttered to herself, “Oh my God! Millions! We’re rich—we are rich!”Faye trembled slightly and bit her lip even harder. A million dollars alone was a hefty sum to them. In fact, she even came close to offering herself to Sean Wilson in exchange for a sum of 1.5 million dollars to rescue the Carters from their plight, bu
“Hey, hey, hey! Nate, don’t be rash!”“Y-yeah, what are you even trying to achieve here? That antique is worth millions of dollars! Can you imagine what a waste it would be if it’s smashed? Put it down right now!”Waine and Ruby cried out simultaneously as they threw themselves forward to grab hold of the gift box in Nathan’s hand. They were genuinely worried that the young man would smash an invaluable antique clock to bits because of an emotional outburst!Nate did not relent. Instead, his eyes were glued to Faye with nary a blink, making it obvious that the only way to convince him was to have Faye agree to receive the gift.His burning gaze compelled Faye to lower her head as her heart fluttered from within her ribcage. Finally, she nodded slightly as a quiet sign of agreement.Nathan immediately cracked a satisfied grin before sniping a furtive glance at Zayn. Seeing the man in a pensive silence only served to make his apparent victory taste even sweeter. In his mind, this wa
Despite her daughter’s help, Ruby hardly seemed to be in a better state. She had to be eased into a chair to regain her composure.Honestly, seeing her overt reaction made Zayn roll his eyes in speechless silence. How weak could her heart be? If it was brought to her knowledge that her son-in-law who she so frequently scorned had billions of dollars in his bank account, she would be put straight into a coma.Faye was admittedly not very conversant with antiques—her knowledge was limited to some cursory research and more commonly known facts. Still, with a single glance, Faye was sure that this was the genuine article.Even a usually composed woman like herself could not stop her heart from beating quickly as her cheeks and the tips of her ears turned red.The beaming smile on Nathan’s face was impossible to mask. He shot Zayn a look of smug self-satisfaction before returning to his polite pretension, “So, Uncle Waine and Aunt Ruby… do you like it?”“Like? I love it! I love it so m
Zayn looked positively heated. He expected that sort of asinine mentality from his mother-in-law, but now his father-in-law was stooping to that deplorable degree too?Faye lowered her head and bit her lip. She had no answers. In fact, her head was plunged into a chaotic battle—she was at quite a loss as to what to think.Although she did not love Zayn, it did not mean she harbored no feelings towards him. Regardless of how they felt about each other, Faye had lived with Zayn for a good four years by now. He was a useless mite of a person, but he was still very kind to her. He had always taken care of her with incredible attentiveness.Faye might not mention it out loud, but it did not mean that she had forgotten. She even remembered that incident back at the Carters’ gathering when it turned out that Zayn knew Gordon Hayes. He had stood up for her and flipped the family’s derision back at them. How could she not be grateful for all of that?Honestly, Faye was having trouble workin
Faye knew Zayn as a talentless man who just happened to be honest and disinclined to lying. Was he able to tell that it was a fake?Her eyes whipped to Zayn, who returned her gaze with a smiling nod.Waine and Ruby, however, had their biliousness on full display. They spent minutes swooning madly over what they believed was the genuine antique. If it really was, as Zayn alluded, a complete fake, then that meant that 1.8 million dollars was nothing but smoke and mirrors!That could not be! That was unacceptable!Besides, they did not believe Zayn either. To them, he was speaking out of envy-induced spite, which only served to worsen Zayn’s already unflattering image in their minds.To show just how much she despised him, Ruby stomped on the man’s foot, shouting, “Shut up, you good-for-nothing freeloader! Get out of here, right now! You’re so young, yet you’ve already shown yourself to be rotten to the core; it’s not like you ever tried to learn to be decent growing up! It’s patheti
Zayn grinned, completely unfazed.“I have to admit, this fake of yours is rather exceptionally well-made. From its material, design, to its artisanship, every aspect has been imitated so well that you could fool the unlearned eye easily with it. I’m guessing that’s why you decided you could pull off this scam. You were so confident it would work—you were sure that my in-laws would be none the wiser,” Zayn began slowly while smirking confidently.He was a far cry from the weak-willed, pathetic mannerisms he usually assumed. In a blur, Waine and Ruby suddenly felt as though the man before them was someone else altogether.Zayn continued his analysis while circling around the clock matter-of-factly, spouting a wealth of technical jargon as though he himself was an antique expert whose words were just too convincing to disbelieve.As his analysis continued, Waine got darker. He might not have been an expert, but he was far from unlearned. He knew a few tidbits about antique appraisal,
Zayn lost control and accidentally let out a sputtering laugh. Who would have known that Blaze Hunt would be so invested into pretending to be cool? Gosh, ‘Fame is just a puff of smoke’? How hip, original and trendy he was!Zayn did not need to do the research to know that Blaze was a hack whose biggest motivation was fame and fortune. Anyone who disregarded their integrity and took part in a scam, as Blaze was doing with Nathan at the moment, automatically lost his respect.It seemed that Blaze had heard Zayn’s laughter, as he quickly turned to him with an angry scowl. “What are you laughing at?”Zayn shook his head. “Nothing.”Waine jabbed his foot at Zayn’s before turning to Blaze, “Mr. Hunt, please don’t be angered by his puerile actions. You mentioned that it was a ‘priceless antique?”“Oh, yes. Yes, indeed,” Blaze said as he brought himself back into their previous conversation. “Ahem, Mr. Carter? This is truly a Magpie’s Treasure Nest! Look at the material it’s carved from,