Elara blinked in surprise. Before she could say anything else, Kade continued, his voice steady and firm. “I brought you here tonight. You were insulted, humiliated, and treated like trash in front of everyone. They mocked your company, questioned your integrity, and even accused you of selling yourself just to enter this event. If they had only insulted me, I wouldn’t care. But they chose to target someone standing beside me.” His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Vivian and the others. “That means they slapped my face as well, and I don’t let people disrespect those under my protection and walk away without consequences.”The words caused Elara’s heart to skip a beat. She lowered her eyes immediately, pretending not to care, but a strange warmth spread through her chest. Under his protection. Why did hearing those words affect her so much? She wasn’t even his girlfriend. They weren’t a couple. Yet the way he spoke made it sound as though he genuinely intended to stand between h

His roar echoed throughout the hall.Clara sighed.“You leave me with no choice.”Then she looked at the guards.“Teach him some manners.”Mark laughed immediately.He genuinely thought she was bluffing.After all, he was Mark Knox.The son of the Knox family.No matter how prestigious this event was, surely nobody would dare touch him.Surely—BAM!A heavy fist smashed directly into his jaw.The impact was so powerful that Mark’s vision blurred instantly. His body spun sideways before crashing violently against the marble floor.The entire hall gasped. For a second, complete silence filled the air.Then laughter erupted everywhere.Some guests couldn’t even contain themselves anymore.Others immediately pulled out their phones.Several people began recording.Mark lay on the ground feeling blood drip from the corner of his mouth.His head spun.Before he could even recover—BAM!Another kick landed in his stomach.“ARGH!”His scream echoed through the hall.The guards showed absolut

A smug smile slowly crept onto Vivian’s face as she convinced herself Kade wouldn’t dare go that far. After all, regardless of everything that had happened, family ties still existed between them. And besides Elara was there, she would never allow Kade to humiliate her grandmother like this.Kade looked at her for a brief moment before calmly shaking his head.“No.”Vivian immediately let out a sigh of relief. She straightened her back proudly, convinced she had escaped the humiliation.However, Kade’s next sentence completely drained the color from her face.“I have something else prepared for you.”…Ten minutes later…Inside the women’s guest restroom, the elegant and prideful matriarch of the Voss family was kneeling on the cold tiled floor with a pair of thick rubber gloves covering her hands. A filthy toilet brush was clenched tightly in one hand while the other held a bottle of industrial cleaning solution. The expensive gown she had proudly worn to the Business Excellence Gala

Elsewhere inside the grand gala hall, Brent Reeves was also enduring a humiliation he never thought possible. Dressed in a crisp black-and-white waiter’s uniform with a serving tray balanced in his hands, he moved stiffly through the sea of wealthy guests, forcing a fake smile onto his face every time someone stopped him. Every few seconds another voice would call him over.“Waiter, refill my champagne.”“Bring me another glass.”“Hey, you’re too slow.”“Clean this table before you leave.”Each command felt like another slap to his dignity. Brent had spent years building his way up as the president of the Voss Group, a man who attended banquets as an honored guest, not someone serving drinks to others. Yet tonight, he had become nothing more than an ordinary waiter, running errands for the very people who would normally greet him with respect.His fingers tightened around the tray so hard that the glasses nearly cracked.“Damn you, Kade…” he muttered under his breath while forcing ano

The moment those words reached Kade’s ears, his expression changed completely. The warmth that had been on his face while speaking with Elara disappeared, replaced by an icy seriousness. His grip around the phone tightened unconsciously, the veins on the back of his hand becoming visible as he slowly rose from his seat.“What did you just say?” he asked in a low voice.On the other end of the line, Zia took a deep breath before repeating herself carefully.“Young Master… we’ve found traces of Master Zucker.”Kade’s pupils contracted.“Are you certain?”“We’ve verified the information multiple times.”His heart skipped a beat.For years, Master Zucker had disappeared without leaving behind the slightest clue. Even the Azure Organization, despite its vast intelligence network spread across the country, had failed to locate him. Yet now…They finally had something.Zia continued urgently, “This isn’t something I can explain properly over the phone. Please come to headquarters immediately