As soon as the words rolled out of Richard’s lips, everyone present turned their heads to glare at him. Although he spoke about himself, his words sounded more like he was defending Tedmond, and they couldn’t stand hearing such a thing.“What do you mean you wouldn’t give it back?” Adeline demanded, her face twitching with anger.The others also wanted to hear Richard’s answer. How dare he say that when they were trying to figure out how to force Tedmond to let go of the shares and return them?“Like I said,” Richard began. “We’ve always told him how useless he was and made sure he felt worthless. Now that he has the shares—something even his father doesn’t have—he will never give them up, no matter what we do. So, it’s all a waste anyway. We should give up right here.”The others tried to speak, but Richard cut them off, unwilling to let them interrupt before he finished. He had already thought it through and was sure of his conclusion.From Tedmond’s behavior earlier, it was clear t

Realizing that Tedmond had recorded the entire conversation, they all began to panic again. They had just managed to convince Duncan to let them off, and now Tedmond had another piece of evidence to use against them—one that could involve the cops, as it contained proof of their kidnapping attempt.“We didn’t mean it that way!” Adeline yelled, completely panicked since she had also agreed to it. “We were just talking. Of course, there was no way we would actually kidnap your daughter—she’s our family.”“Adeline is right,” Harold immediately added. “We only wanted to meet her since you wouldn’t allow us to.”Tedmond tilted his head to the side. “Really?” he asked, his eyes softening as if he were considering their words.Adeline and the others nodded quickly, desperately hoping he would buy their excuse, even though it was so weak that no one would believe it.“Do you all think I’m dumb?” Tedmond demanded, his eyes darkening. His sharp tone made them flinch. “I don’t care how you come

Looking at the manager, Tedmond smirked, tilting his head slightly to glance at the employee who had been mocking him moments ago.Her face had gone pale. She had been the one to make it seem like he didn’t have the money to be in the VIP room, even though he had clearly stated that his friend was waiting for him.“Didn’t you say you’d quit if I was telling the truth?” Tedmond asked smoothly.The employee immediately panicked, scrambling to think of what to say. If she made a mistake and slipped up, she was going to lose her job.“I made a mistake,” she blurted out. “Your shirt made me think you wouldn’t be able to afford the VIP section. There have been tons of people who came in here claiming they could afford it, but they couldn’t.”The manager turned to her, but Tedmond stopped him with a raise of his hand.“You said you would quit if my shirt wasn’t cheap, like you claimed,” Tedmond muttered.She nodded, starting to feel relieved. She had only mentioned quitting if his shirt was

Trouble?Kyle peered at Ottis, finding him strangely familiar. However, he couldn’t quite place where he had seen him before.Tedmond frowned. He had seen Ottis’s message but hadn’t expected to run into him so soon. He had classes to attend and didn’t want to waste time dealing with him.More importantly, had Ottis been in the restaurant when he bought it? That would be a problem. If Ottis knew he had enough money to purchase a high-end restaurant, his identity would be exposed—and Griffin would figure it out too.“I had no idea you became friends with one of Max’s buddies.” Ottis’s voice dripped with amusement, a grin creeping onto his face. “After getting kicked out of the family, are you trying hard to be Max?”Tedmond rolled his eyes. As if. Why would he ever want to be Max? Even if Max were made president of the entire country, he’d still be the last person Tedmond would want to emulate.“What the hell are you talking about?” Kyle snapped, his glare fixing on Ottis. The moment he

Seeing the hand heading for his face, Tedmond didn’t bother dodging or bracing himself, which made Ottis even more furious. Ottis still remembered when Tedmond would brace himself or try to dodge the punch, but now, it was different.“You insolent bastard!” Ottis barked, and without another word, he raised his hand to strike.However, before the punch could land, Tedmond’s hand shot up, effortlessly catching Ottis’s wrist in mid-air. The sudden stop made Ottis flinch.Tedmond looked down at the hand he’d just caught, then back at Ottis with a mixture of disbelief and contempt.‘This man used to scare me?’The realization hit like thunder.It was then that Tedmond realized he hadn’t been scared of Ottis at all. He had only been scared of fighting back. In the past, he had known that if he had tried to hit Ottis back, it would have led to so much trouble. But now, he could hit him all he wanted.Ottis, red-faced and trembling with rage, tried to yank his hand back, but Tedmond held on,