Ryan smiled wider. “You’re Terence Lin’s fiancée and you can’t deny it.”The words dropped into the room with deliberate force.For a brief moment, there was silence. Not the tense silence from earlier confrontations, but something closer to collective disbelief. Then the reaction came in waves.“What did he just say?”“Terence Lin’s… fiancée?”“Are you serious?”The murmurs grew louder, spreading quickly through the crowd like sparks catching dry grass. Many of the people present had never even seen Terence Lin in person, but his name alone carried weight. The Lin family’s reputation in Memoville was not something an ordinary student could ignore.Iris Reed’s shoulders stiffened.Her fingers curled unconsciously at her sides, and for the first time since she had stepped into the conflict, her composure wavered. Her eyes flicked toward Ryan, sharp and alert, then briefly toward Benjamin.Ryan noticed it immediately.The slight hesitation was all the confirmation he needed.He straighte

Rose’s fury finally snapped what little restraint she had left.The slap from moments earlier still burned across her cheek, both physically and in her pride. The surrounding whispers felt sharper than knives, cutting into her from every angle. She could tolerate humiliation from Benjamin, endure contempt from strangers, but being struck twice by Iris Reed in public was something she could not swallow.Her eyes turned bloodshot.“You bitch!” Rose screamed, lunging forward without hesitation.She grabbed Iris Reed by the collar, her manicured nails digging into fabric as she shoved her backward. The sudden violence startled the crowd, several people crying out as chairs scraped loudly across the floor.Iris staggered a step back, caught off guard. She had not expected Rose to abandon all pretense so completely. Rose’s hands clawed at her clothes, fingers tangling in her hair as she tried to pull her down.“You think you’re better than me?” Rose hissed through clenched teeth. “You think

“Yes,” Terence replied calmly. “They did.”He shifted his attention toward the bar once more.“And it seems,” he added thoughtfully, “that you were right in the middle of it.”Rose’s heart pounded.She did not know whether to feel dread or excitement.But one thing was certain.Her night was far from over.Terence Lin straightened his cuffs and stepped forward.The glass doors of the bar swung open again, this time with far more weight than before. Terence walked in first, his presence commanding immediate attention. Behind him followed several rough looking men, their clothes casual and ill fitted, faces hard and impatient. They carried themselves with the crude confidence of people used to throwing their weight around, scanning the room openly as if daring anyone to meet their eyes.The lively atmosphere inside the bar died almost instantly.Conversations cut off mid sentence. Music that had been playing softly from hidden speakers suddenly felt too loud, too inappropriate for the te

The bar felt smaller than it had moments ago.The air, once thick with murmurs and anticipation, now seemed to press inward, heavy and suffocating. Iris West stood rigid in the center of it all, her wrist still aching faintly from Rose’s grip, her mind still reeling from Terence Lin’s words. The threat lingered like poison in her veins, spreading slowly, deliberately.Terence watched her in silence for several seconds.He enjoyed this part.The fear that people tried so hard to hide when they finally realized who stood before them. The moment when pride collapsed and desperation took its place. Iris’s pale face, her unsteady breathing, the way her fingers curled tightly at her side as if anchoring herself to reality. All of it told him he had struck exactly where he intended.Only then did he speak again.“It would have been much simpler,” Terence said calmly, breaking the silence, “if you had just obeyed me from the beginning.”His voice carried easily through the bar. It was not loud

“Very well,” Terence said. “If you want to play the hero, I’ll indulge you. But don’t say I didn’t give you a way out.”The words settled heavily over the bar.For a brief moment, no one spoke.Benjamin stood where he was, posture straight, expression calm. He did not look like someone about to fight. He looked like someone who had already made his choice and would not be swayed, no matter the cost.That, more than anything else, unsettled the people watching.Terence studied him for a few seconds, his gaze sharp and assessing. Then the faint smile at the corner of his lips disappeared entirely.“So be it,” Terence said coolly.He lifted a hand.The men behind him reacted instantly.Several of Terence Lin’s goons stepped forward, cracking their knuckles, their eyes locked on Benjamin with open hostility. They moved with the confidence of people used to violence, used to others shrinking away before anything even began.A low murmur rippled through the crowd.“He’s really going to do it