Brock sniped a glance at Zayn’s stupid grin and snickered to himself. Looks like he was facing a guy with a few screws loose!The call he had made earlier was, unsurprisingly, made to Mr. Rivera. After a brief—but not wanting to exaggerate details—account over the phone, Mr. Rivera had gotten so sufficiently enraged that he promised he would get to where he was as soon as he could.The thing about Mr. Rivera was that he was one of the upper echelons of Violet Vision Media Corp—a very important man who was worth hundreds of millions in net worth. He was also Brock’s senior and the reason why the latter obtained the opportunity to work in the chairman’s brand-new advertising agency. Mr. Rivera had been the one who introduced Brock’s talent to Sean.And now, his benefactor was coming to do right. With the man’s temperament and mettle, Brock was sure this Larson guy had no way to run! This was especially since he had a good grasp of how powerful Mr. Rivera was; Brock’s skills could not
Alexandra breathed a sigh of relief, and the same blithe smile blossomed out of her lips again. “That’s great!”Brock had been watching them from afar. The fact that Zayn and Alexandra kept chuckling and chattering in that misguided cheeriness, as though Brock’s threat meant nothing, made him foam in exasperation. He could not wait till Mr. Rivera was here.When he was here, oh boy—he could not wait to rearrange Zayn’s face.Finally, after a few minutes of waiting, a large procession of people stepped through the door while the crowd looked on with interest. The one leading them was a square-jawed man with an air of authority.It was Mr. Rivera. Behind him were more than a dozen of people of whom bodyguards and people from Violet Vision each made up about half.Mr. Rivera was, in truth, one of Sean Wilson’s underlings. He occupied a rather high position in the company and owned less than one percent of Violet Vision’s shares. It might not seem like much, but it was enough to secur
Jose Rivera swore to God—he had never imagined the man Brock accused of impersonating the chairman would be the genuine article himself!Looking at that half-smile hanging on Zayn’s lips right now made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles. If one had to ask who he feared the most in the entire world, his answer would, undoubtedly, be Zayn Larson himself.Jose had lived well into his middle age; his battles in the world of business had been numerous as much as they were fabled. Years spent in the world added experience and knowledge, hardening the man’s natural mettle and grit, and for the most part, he was the kind who would not bend a knee to anyone, let alone fear them.Zayn, however, was a different thing altogether. Just a glance at him drew out primal fear from the deepest recesses of his mind.When he first met the chairman, Jose had been dismissive of the young man. He made the mistake of thinking Zayn was another one of those trust-fund kids, a brat who thought
In Brock’s mind, Jose was one of the biggest, baddest tycoons in the world of business. Social connection, resources, wealth—Jose had it all in surfeit. He was the kind of guy Brock always strove to ingratiate himself to, and now, his idol had just taken a knee for Zayn Larson.Brock felt as though his mind had plunged into a whirlpool. For the life of him, he could not imagine just how powerful Zayn had to be to cause someone like Jose to squirm. The only thing he could confirm, though, was that he had made a grave, lethal mistake.Honestly, Zayn never thought Jose would go straight to begging. The man was, at the very least, a powerful figure on his own. Even his so-called offense was hardly Jose’s personal fault, so there really was no reason for the man to drop down to his knees like that.Yes, Zayn had underestimated the strength of his authority. There was no one in his company who did not fear him. Fortunately, he was not an unreasonable person, and he knew Jose was innocent.
“So what if you’re already married?” Alexandra whispered under her breath, her cheeks burning bright red as she looked at the tip of her shoes. “I don’t mind being your mistress.”It seemed like her suggestion shocked a few years out of Zayn because the man froze into a daze. “What—the hell did you just say?!”Honestly, Alexandra herself was taken aback by the words that escaped her lips. Her cheeks were practically feverish.“No! No, that was… another joke!” she said, trying to salvage the conversation as she shook her head.Zayn could not believe it. “Seriously? How old are you, man? You’re in your twenties! Quit being so childish and watch what you say!” he chided a little exasperatedly. “If your parents heard you, God, I bet they'd be so mad their hair would burst into flames!”Alexandra was dismissive though. She mumbled under her breath, “Yeah, right. They’d love the idea of you and me being an actual item.”She had said it so softly that Zayn could not hear her over Mary a
Zayn shook his head. “Nope. I’m gonna have to pass. Gotta go home and report to my wife.”Hints of despondency flitted through Alexandra’s eyes. Biting her lips softly, she asked pointedly, “So… you’re scared of your wife, huh?”“It’s got nothing to do with being scared. It’s got everything to do with respect,” Zayn replied, before adding, “Not that I trust you to understand the difference. You haven’t gotten married.”Alexandra wanted very much to argue, but Zayn was not about to give her the chance. He quickly halted a cab by the roadside and took the ride home, leaving a very frustrated Alexandra to stomp her foot alone.She snapped her fingers, and several bodyguards came out from their hiding around the street before escorting her home.Zayn returned home to an awaiting Faye. When the two of them stood close to one another, Faye’s nose sniffled hard and caught a whiff of perfume.Something slight but evident befell her expression.Women were creatures endowed with the uncan
The woman stared at the young man’s image, her eyes brimming with warmth and yearning. They were so soft, so overwhelming, she could stare at the world with those eyes and watch it melt under her gaze.“Oh, Zayn, how are you lately? Have you found your mother’s baggage? I’m so sorry for what I did to you… Oh, what I did to the family…”Tears adorned her melancholic eyes. Two of them broke away and splashed onto the embroidered image, drenching the young man’s forehead.A flash of scarlet appeared behind the woman without a peep, its movement featherlight and quiet as to avoid rousing the woman from her meander into the past.Nevertheless, the woman sensed the figure’s presence. She wiped her tears away and raised her head, welcoming it with a smile. “I’m glad to see you here, Lysithea. Please, would you mind keeping me company with a chat?”The woman in her twenties, Lysithea, turned out to be a ravishing beauty whose presence eclipsed everything else in her vicinity. She was so m
Indeed, this regal woman was none other than Hayley King, Zayn’s birth mother and Sicut In Caelo’s Saintess… in the past, anyway. Ever since she ran away from the organization and became the wife of the oh-so-mortal Valentine Larson, she had lost any privilege and trapping that came with a title as high and mighty as the Saintess. Now, trapped in a mandated quarantine, she was but a glorified prisoner.“Are you sure? Is my dear Zayn living so well?” Hayley pressed on, both anticipating and queasy about the answer.Lysithea bobbed her head hard into a nod. “Oh, he’s doing better than well, Aunt Hayley! Seriously, he’s as talented and intelligent as you would expect your son would be! He might have not experienced any of our organization’s elite training, but he’s matured and grown so much anyways. My identity was this close to being exposed!”“Oh, that’s good news. Yes, that’s the best news I can hope for,” Hayley replied, her body visibly relaxing before the same easygoing smile res