"Shameless… absolutely shameless."Jenny’s voice cut through the stunned silence like a blade, sharp and unrestrained, her expression twisted with anger as she stepped forward, while her gaze fixed on Scarlett and Ethan with open disgust."Have you completely lost your sense of decency?" she continued, her tone rising without restraint. "In a place like this, in front of everyone, you dare to do something so indecent?"The hall, which had only just fallen silent after the kiss, stirred again, whispers rising in waves as every eye remained fixed on the two figures standing at the center of it all.Scarlett did not move, she did not even bother to react.If anything, her composure only deepened, her posture remained straight, and her expression was calm, as if Jenny’s outrage held no more weight than background noise.Ethan stood beside her, equally unmoved, his presence steady, his gaze quiet, as if none of it was worth reacting to, though a faint shade of redness still lingered on his

"Why is there nothing about this…?" Ethan muttered under his breath, his gaze fixed on the screen in front of him, while his brows slightly furrowed as he scrolled through page after page, yet finding nothing that made sense.The symbol engraved on the dragon ring reflected faintly under the light, resting silently on his finger as if it carried secrets that refused to be revealed so easily."This old man and his cryptic things...." Ethan sighed scrolling through the screen, "why doesn't anyone like to keep my life simple? Why should things in my life always get complicated and messy?" For the past few hours, he has gone through a lot of Ancient artifacts, rare family heirlooms, hidden organizations, he had searched through almost everything he could access, yet every result either led to nothing or contradicted the previous one, as if the existence of the ring itself was something that had been deliberately erased."Strange…" he murmured softly, leaning back slightly, his fingers ta

"I told you already, if the money doesn’t come in today, we won’t be calling you next time… we’ll be at your doorstep to collect the money personally."The voice on the other end was low, almost lazy, yet the threat beneath it was unmistakable, and as the call ended abruptly, Charlie slowly lowered his phone, his fingers tightening around it as a thin layer of sweat formed across his palm.For a moment, he didn’t move, in fact he wasn't able to take a step forward or backward.The silence in the room felt suffocating, pressing against him as his breathing grew uneven, his mind racing through numbers, deadlines, and the reality he had been trying to avoid for days.All his savings were gone.Every last bit of it.What had once felt like a harmless gamble had turned into something far more dangerous, something that was now closing in on him with every passing second.He thought if the Carvendish family were to secure the investment, he could take a huge sum of money from that, but every

"How dare you come here after I warned you not to?"Jenny’s voice cut through the hall the moment Ethan stepped forward, her composure cracking as anger surged through her, her eyes locked onto him as if his very presence was an insult she could not tolerate.Ethan paused mid-step, his gaze shifting toward her, and his brows lifting slightly, not in shock, but in faint confusion as he studied her expression for a brief moment."You warned me? About what?" he asked calmly, his tone carrying neither guilt nor hesitation, only quiet curiosity as if he genuinely failed to understand what she was referring to.Jenny stiffened for a second before recovering, her chin lifting slightly as she spoke with confidence. "Yes, I did, I told you not to attend this meeting if you still wanted to come back to me."A brief silence followed.Ethan exhaled slowly, a faint sigh escaping him as he looked at her, his gaze steady, almost indifferent."Even if you did," he said calmly, "what made you think I

"That’s impossible… you can't demand us to pay, there’s no way you can do such a barbaric act here!" Jenny’s voice trembled despite her attempt to sound firm, her fingers curling tightly as she stared at the shattered fragments on the floor, while the faint glow of the broken pearl continued to mock her disbelief.The man did not react to her denial, his expression remained unchanged, as if her words held no more weight than the silence around them."You have one week," he said calmly, his tone steady yet suffocating, as if the outcome had already been decided. "If the amount is not settled by then, the consequences will not be something your family can bear Ms. Jenny, at that time you'll see how barbaric our Luiron family can become for our heirloom."The words settled heavily, but this time, they were not met with silence."We are not paying anything," Jenny snapped suddenly, her voice rising as she forced herself to stand her ground, even as the unease in her chest grew stronger.