However, just as Maurice was about to say the word, he paused before shaking his head. Edmund raised both brows in confusion, not expecting this to happen. Immediately after, his brows furrowed tightly, and he wanted to ask why. That was when Edmund caught sight of a hinting look from Lorenzo. He immediately fell silent but secretly panicked, unable to hide the growing anxiety in his eyes as he stared at the blond boy. Maurice's gaze was downcast, his fingers twiddling while tears brimmed in his eyes. He willed himself to hold his breath. Not wanting anyone to see him break down, he kept his head down. Still, he replied loudly, "That's a huge decision. Before I decide, I have to ask my adoptive mother's opinion." He then raised his head and no longer concealed his emotions, earnestly saying, "It doesn't matter how she treated me before. Without her, I might not have survived until now. Plus, she's given me plenty of financial aid throughout my life. I never expected her to treat

Austin's attention was on Clara, who continued to gaze longingly at him but did not seem like she was getting out of the car anytime soon. Only then did he truly realize he was getting deserted. The young lady, whose name appeared several times in the background research documents he asked for, now behaved far more mercilessly than her supposed "naive" nature. His jaw fell wide open as he cried, "What are you doing, Clara? I'm your brother! So what if we have different fathers? We still share the same bloodline—we're both Veyrons! I'm just a Veyron on my mother's side. Yet, you're ditching me here? I know you're capable of saving me! It's just that you're not trying harder!" He yelled louder with every passing second. He would have run after Clara's car if not for the pain in his chest. On the other hand, Clara was frowning. Her chest tightened with guilt when she heard his hoarse cries. Panicked, she turned to look ahead at Bianca, who did not hesitate to start the car and pull do

What Maurice heard next bewildered him, even though it was a detail from many years ago. Felix straightened his back almost instantly. He also adopted a strident tone as he explained, "Mr. Byers, he and his boss once came to propose a business collaboration with my company. It's just that they got kicked out." He did not elaborate on the latter half of the information as he believed clarifying the first half was enough for Lorenzo to guess what came next. Lorenzo could tell Felix was a reasonable person, so he did not speak and merely turned to lean his back against the car seat before shutting his eyes. Maurice had more to say but did not know where to begin because he was too shocked. It took him a few moments to mull over his options. Eventually, he remained silent but kept a cautious eye on Lorenzo and Felix. Maurice had figured Lorenzo was insanely rich from the latter's overall behavior. However, he had sorely underestimated the extent of Lorenzo's wealth; in fact, he d

No matter what happened during the rest of the drive, Felix kept his attention on driving the car ahead safely and swiftly. Like the former, Maurice was in equal distress throughout the drive. He sat in the backseat with both hands on his knees, gripping his jeans tightly while his gaze remained downcast. Only through doing that could Maurice hold back from asking the many questions in his mind. He even felt Edmund's gaze lingering on him several times, but he dared not raise his head to speak to the latter. Edmund initially knitted his brows with concern at the boy, but after some time, Edmund would turn away quickly and silently while his shoulders trembled. Moments would pass before he looked ahead again with reddened eyes. Of course, Maurice knew the reason behind that—Edmund was not crying out of worry for Maurice. Instead, it was because he found Maurice hilarious. Maurice pursed his lips, not knowing what to do as he could not pinpoint why Edmund was laughing. His doub

Edmund's tone did not fluctuate much. It felt like he was commenting on the weather on a bright, sunny day to his neighbors. On the other hand, Maurice stayed unmoving in the backseat and only raised his head, perplexity clouding his eyes. He did not understand what Edmund was implying, so he looked around awkwardly and wanted to clarify with the latter. However, Edmund did not allow the boy to ask any more questions. He opened the car door and took one step out before speaking in a gentler voice than before. "There's no rush for you to learn anything, be it in formal classes for kids your age or other life aspects you should know. You dont need to feel pressured into starting those things. What you currently need to do is connect with yourself and your environment instead of being detached." He then exhaled lightly before strolling to the hotel's front doors. When he entered, Bianca was standing by the door, looking down to emphasize the annoyance on her face. Next to her was