“You always have a wife at home, Malico. Yet, you fucked my mother. Let’s not act like anyone who is home is any importance to you. Okay?” Lucas sneered again.The words did not just land. They pressed down.Malico tapped his feet continuously on the floor, the rhythm uneven, betraying the tension building in him. He clenched his fist slowly, the veins at the back of his hand tightening. His brows furrowed as the insult settled deep. He did not like what Lucas had just said. Not one bit.Even if he had been having sex with Judy for the longest time, it did not mean he would sit quietly and let Lucas speak about Miranda anyhow. That line, he could not accept.He swallowed hard.“If not for what you have on me…”The thought rose fast, but he killed it just as quickly before he could complete it. There was no point finishing a thought he already knew he could not act on.Right then, Lucas leaned forward, elbows brushing lightly against the table as he prepared to speak again, ready to re

Being a businessman in Oakwood, there were not too many who knew about the new master of the Kingsley Estate.The man had risen too quietly, too strategically, like a shadow taking form only when it was already too late to stop it.And because Liam didn’t lay low, he was not known by his actual name, but by the name of the conglomerate he controls.A name that carried weight. A name that made powerful men pause.Malico nodded slowly, his fingers tightening slightly against the armrest. He understood now why Dancio didn’t know who Liam Ryder was.Unlike in Greenfield, where his name had made it to the news on controversies and almost everyone, if not all, had known who he was.Oakwood was different. Power moved in silence here.“Do you know the Sebastian Kingsley Estate?” Malico asked.“Of course. Who doesn’t know of the biggest conglomerate which the late richest man in the whole country, if not the world, created?” Dancio chuckled, though there was respect buried beneath the humor.“

Dancio throbbed his hand on the table at the Man’s Love tavern, one of the most popular taverns in Oakwood. The low hum of conversations and the clinking of glasses filled the space, but his focus remained fixed.“You good?” he turned to the side, his voice low enough not to draw attention.Malico nodded as he gulped down from the glass, though his grip around it was tighter than necessary.Fifteen minutes ago, Dancio had allowed him, Malico, to follow him to meet Marvellous. It had not been an easy decision. Men like Marvellous did not tolerate surprises. Still, the deal was too big to risk mishandling.Twenty minutes later, they saw him. A man in casual jeans and a hoodie approached the tavern with measured steps.His hands were tucked into the hoodie as though he was cursed with leprosy and he didn’t want anyone to see it. But Dancio knew better. That was not shame. That was caution.“Here he comes,” Dancio sounded, leaning a bit closer to Malico, his eyes never leaving the entranc

“Sir, we are ready when you are ready.” Adrian, one of Alexander Wraithford’s secretaries, bowed as he stepped into his office.The door closed softly behind him, sealing the quiet authority that always surrounded Alexander’s space.“Okay. Let’s get going then,” Alexander sounded. He rose, picked his three phones on the mahogany desk and stepped out of the office.His steps were steady, controlled. There was no hesitation in him, only calculation.Three days ago, he’d been talking with the land surveyor. In the Greenfield Nation, they knew it, Oakwood town was the major land that was fertile in crude oil. This was why many smaller oil companies were situated there.That single conversation had set everything in motion.He stepped into the sleek BMW taking him to the airport to which he’d fly to Oakwood, he pulled out his phone.“We are on the way now,” he texted.“That’s great!” Marshall replied instantly.“We will be expecting you. Please let us know the moment you land,” Marshall add

“Sir, everything here is fake,” Alexander’s employee whispered.The words did not just hang in the air, they cut through it.“Are you sure?” Alexander asked. His voice low but firm.He did not turn immediately. He stood there, eyes fixed on the land ahead as if daring it to prove him wrong.“Yes, sir. We checked everything. This is dry land. All evidence of crude is fake.”The confirmation settled it. No hesitation. No doubt. Just fact.Mario’s heart pounded. Since the moment Alexander instructed his staff to go check for the proof of crude themselves, he knew it, their plan would no longer work out.And now it was right in front of him. Exposed.The kind of power and authority Alexander commanded made his heartbeat faster. Not just fear, but pressure. The kind that crushed men who played games too small.“Shit!” He cursed in his thoughts.He stepped backwards slowly, careful, measured, praying Alexander would not turn back to them. Mervellous was still looking at Alexander, still cal