Caius stared at Vespera for several seconds before making his decision."Go to Thiago immediately. Take Evren with you. Go to his villa and beg him to change his mind." Caius's voice was cold and commanding.Vespera's lips parted. "Dad, I don't think he'll...""I don't care what you think." Caius slammed his hand against the table."You caused this mess. You are going to fix it.""But we're divorced.""Then convince him to take you back."Vespera stared at him."How?""Use whatever you have."Caius's expression made his intentions painfully clear."We cannot lose that fortune. Five hundred million dollars is too much to simply walk away from."Calista nodded. "Your father is right."Vespera looked from one person to another. Not one of them seemed concerned about her happiness. They didn't even ask whether she still loved Thiago, instead, they only cared about his money.The Morgan family's attitude toward Thiago had completely changed. He was no longer the useless son-in-law they had

Kent had always believed that wealthy young men were easy targets.In his experience, money and fear went together.Rich young men might appear confident when surrounded by security guards, expensive cars, and people who respected them. But once they were alone and faced with the possibility of death, most of them became frightened.They begged, negotiated, and offered money. And that was exactly what Kent wanted.Over the years, he had learned that threats combined with photographs were often enough to make wealthy victims cooperate. Once they understood that their lives were in danger, they usually paid whatever was demanded.After that, they remained silent. Some were too embarrassed to report what had happened, while others were too afraid of being targeted again.Kent had gotten away with similar crimes several times and had never been caught.That history had filled him with confidence. And tonight, he believed Thiago would be no different.The secluded road stretched ahead, dar

The police arrived at the secluded road less than twenty minutes after the residents made the call.Several officers spread out across the area, searching for signs of what had happened.There was no damaged vehicle, motorcycle, or injured person.Only a few dark stains remained on the pavement.One officer crouched and examined them carefully. "There's blood here."Another officer looked around. "How much?""Not enough to tell."The area was photographed and the stains were collected for testing.The residents who had gathered nearby were questioned one after another. The police searched the surrounding streets and checked nearby properties.They looked for security cameras. But the secluded road had very little surveillance coverage.The few cameras they found either pointed in other directions or had footage too distant to be useful.One officer eventually returned with the preliminary laboratory result. "It's human blood."The detective frowned. "Human?""Yes."That immediately ma

His first priority was water. He ordered 50,000 55-gallon food-grade drums of water. He also ordered additional water containers, high-grade water collection systems, water purification equipment, filtration systems, pumps, purification tablets, replacement filters, and other water-treatment supplies. Water would become more valuable than money after the disaster. He didn't want to take any chances. Then came food. Thiago placed massive orders for compressed biscuits, MREs, freeze-dried meals, energy bars, canned fish, canned meats, bacon, sausages, beef jerky, powdered milk, powdered eggs, canned egg products, canned fruits, assorted nuts, freeze-dried fruits, multivitamin tablets, salt, sugar, cooking oil, spices, sauces, and other seasonings. For many of the major food categories, he ordered quantities measured in tens of thousands of jin. The suppliers were stunned by the size of the orders. Some called to confirm whether there had been a mistake. Thiago simply told them t

Charlotte's subtle advances became increasingly obvious. She never said anything directly. She did not openly ask Thiago to date her, nor did she pressure him into giving her an answer. Instead, she found small reasons to call him, lingered during their conversations, teased him occasionally, and sometimes allowed her voice to soften in a way that made her intentions clear. Thiago noticed every bit of it. But he deliberately did nothing. He had already experienced marriage once. That experience had been enough. The betrayal, manipulation, humiliation, and years of being treated like a servant had completely destroyed whatever desire he once had to enter another marriage. He did not want another wife, and most importantly, he did not want another complicated family. He certainly did not want to tie his future to someone else through legal documents. Charlotte was different from Vespera, and Thiago knew that. She was intelligent, capable, independent, and courageous. She had als