CHAPTER 262 Gasps rippled through the crowd once she announced that the card was invalid. A deep wave of shock mixed with disbelief washed over everyone. Their eyes were glued to Luca as the waitress handed him his card, but he refused to take it from her. He was stunned that his card had been declined. Last he knew, there were millions of dollars inside the card, and he hadn't used it before. Invalid? He shook his head, refusing to believe that his card was invalid. None of his black cards were invalid. They were all stacked up with enough cash; something must be wrong for her to tag it as an invalid card. Meanwhile, Chris's face broke into a deep smile, his expression lighting up with delight. He knew from the onset that Luca didn't have such money, and now he felt vindicated. Chris's smile grew wider as he leaned back in his chair, his eyes filled with triumph. "Well, well, well, looks like someone's card was declined," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I guess you don't

CHAPTER 264 The whole place fell dead silent as everyone stood stunned that the lights beeped green instead of the expected red. Livie’s eyes went wide with shock as she took in the scene playing out in front of her, unable to comprehend it. Of course, she had expected that it wouldn’t go through. Chris, on the other hand, stood frozen in shock, the blood drained from his face. He couldn't believe that the transaction went through instead of the decline he had anticipated. His expression faltered, looking as if he was trying to hide his embarrassment. Meanwhile, Harper’s face lit up with delight once the machine beeped green and Luca’s card was ejected. Luca’s smile grew wider as he signed the receipt and handed it back to the waitress. Some of his old schoolmates started to nod in respect, seeing how he had sorted it out within a couple of minutes. The girls were beginning to get excited again since he was vindicated and no longer seemed fake. "I... I still don't fucking believe

CHAPTER 266 “Come on, Luca. There’s no need to act tough. We’re still old schoolmates, remember?” She chuckled. “We can always catch up some other time. You know, catch up and get to know each other and all of that. You don’t need to be hostile toward me. I’m not Chris.” Luca scoffed. She really is something else. Did she just say she isn’t Chris? She was all over him, laughing and mocking him for borrowing a car, and now she’s backpedaling? Luca rolled his eyes and turned to her. “That’s fine, Livvie, but I’m actually not interested in hanging out with someone like you, so have a nice day.” Livvie’s face flushed, and a wave of embarrassment washed over her, but she stayed composed, flashing him a smile. “Come on, Luca. I was your friend back in high school, but you just loved staying alone.” Her smile never wavered; she still couldn’t read the room that Luca wasn’t interested. Her eyes sparked with a hint of mischief as she spoke. “Oh, Luca. You’re still as headstrong as we were

CHAPTER 268 Once he got inside, he gently slammed the door and walked upstairs, where he met Sara dressed in a see-through mini dress as she continued to make her pancakes. "You could have asked one of the boys to make that for you. You don't need to stress yourself with that," he said, approaching her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek. "You didn’t tell me you were coming here," he said, and Sara sighed. "I forgot. I would have called you, but I decided to show up out of the blue so we can go for the family dinner tonight." Luca dragged a chair and sat in the kitchen. "What family dinner are you talking about?" She let out a deep sigh, turning to him. "The last one of the year, where they’ll be giving out some gifts to lots of the family members. Grandpa and my mom come together to pick who is most deserving of the gifts, depending on how far they’ve worked for the family this year." "Oh," Luca chuckled. "I didn’t know something like that existed. So whe

CHAPTER 270 Suddenly, the intruder stopped firing when he felt a breath next to him. He paused, his ears on high alert in case he wasn't hearing correctly—and yet he was. His eyes widened in surprise as he sensed the presence next to him. He held his breath, straining to confirm what he heard. Once he turned, Luca seized the opportunity and threw a powerful punch, sending the intruder crashing to the floor. With a swift motion, Luca moved forward, grabbing the intruder's gun and tossing it into the nearest room before lunging at him again. But the intruder quickly recovered. Of course, he was a well-trained assassin, good at his job. He sharply launched himself at Luca, punching with ferocity. Luca swallowed hard, absorbing the blows as his muscles tensed up. He countered with a swift kick that sent the intruder flying toward the kitchen door. Sara gasped in shock as she heard the sound followed by a groan of pain. Her hands began to tremble as she closed her mouth to avoid making