2025-02-25 16:32:58The moment Harper Valente stepped inside, the temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Her sharp silver eyes scanned the scene, her presence commanding. The store fell into dead silence. The manager, who had been brimming with arrogance just moments ago, visibly paled at the sight of her.
“H-Harper Valente…” he stammered, his voice trembling.
Before he could process his next move—
SLAP!
A crisp, merciless slap landed across his face.
The sound echoed through the store like a gunshot.
The manager stumbled back, clutching his cheek, eyes wide with disbelief.
“H-Harper! I—”
Harper’s voice was ice. “Who the hell gave you the right to humiliate my boss?”
The manager’s mind spun. Boss?
His gaze darted back to Nathan. This… lowly errand boy?
Panic set in. He forced a nervous laugh. “M-Misunderstanding! I thought he was a mere assistant, running errands for you! If I had known—”
SLAP!
Harper struck him again. Harder.
The manager collapsed onto his knees, face burning, gasping in pain.
“You dare judge my boss by appearance?” Harper’s tone was lethal.
The clerk, who had been watching with a smug expression, suddenly looked like he wanted to disappear into the floor.
Margaret, watching the scene unfold, frowned. “Wait a damn minute. Who even is this woman?”
Jessica sneered. “Pfft. Probably some secretary trying to act important.”
Harper’s eyes snapped toward them. “And who are these barking strays?”
Margaret scoffed, crossing her arms. “I’m Margaret Miller. Miller Group. I don’t know who you think you are, but—”
“You don’t need to know who I am,” Harper cut her off, turning to the manager. “But you? You do.”
The manager was already trembling.
At that moment, hurried footsteps echoed down the hall.
“G-General Manager Valente!”
The store owner himself came rushing out from the back, sweat dripping down his face.
He froze at the sight before him—his manager kneeling, Harper looking murderous, and Nathan standing completely unbothered.
The boss’s stomach dropped.
“What the hell happened here?!” he demanded.
Harper’s voice was clipped. “Your trash employees refused to serve my boss, insulted him, and then tried to hand over his purchased goods to this walking corpse.” She pointed lazily at Margaret.
Margaret gasped. “Excuse me?!”
Jessica leaned over, whispering. “Mom, I think she’s serious…”
The store owner’s face drained of all color.
He turned to the manager and clerk. “You… you insulted General Manager Valente’s boss?!”
The manager’s face was a mess of panic. “B-Boss, listen, I didn’t know—”
“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” the owner bellowed.
The clerk tried to sneak backward, but the owner pointed a shaking finger at both of them.
“You’re fired.”
The clerk collapsed. “S-Sir, please, I—”
“Out. Now.”
The manager looked like he had been slapped a third time. “Please, have mercy! I—”
“OUT!”
Security guards immediately rushed forward, dragging the two out by their collars.
Margaret and Jessica watched the scene unfold, stunned.
Jessica, ever the idiot, muttered, “Damn… That’s some serious overreaction. I mean, it’s just a stupid herb.”
Harper’s head snapped toward her.
Jessica froze.
Margaret rolled her eyes. “Honestly, this is getting ridiculous. So what if he has a rich friend? It doesn’t change the fact that he’s a stray racoons who got dumped.”
The store owner flinched.
Harper’s eyes flashed dangerously.
The owner panicked. “M-Madam Miller, I think you should—”
“Oh, shut up.” Margaret waved him off. “I don’t care who you all think he is. He’s still nothing but a leech who latched onto my daughter—”
“Security. Get rid of them.”
The order came not from Harper but from the owner himself.
Margaret blinked. “Wait—what?”
“I SAID GET RID OF THEM!”
The security guards rushed forward, grabbing Margaret and Jessica.
Margaret screamed. “You CAN’T do this! I am MARGARET Miller—”
“OUT!”
Jessica kicked at the air. “You’ll regret this, you bastards! I’ll—”
The doors slammed shut behind them.
Silence.
The entire store seemed to exhale.
Margaret Miller and Jessica stood outside the store, their faces frozen in a mix of disbelief and rage. The automatic doors had slammed shut in their faces, leaving them humiliated in front of the onlookers who had gathered to watch the commotion.
Margaret’s fingers trembled as she clutched her purse. "That… that lowly racoons actually dared to humiliate us?"
Jessica scoffed, flipping her hair, though her voice shook with anger. "No way in hell did he get that rich on his own. He must’ve latched onto that new woman."
Margaret’s eyes narrowed. "That’s the only explanation. That Valente woman must be his new host. Just like a parasitic leech, he’s sucking the wealth out of another clueless woman."
Jessica crossed her arms, a sneer forming. "And I bet he’s letting her crawl all over him just like he did with Sophia. God, he’s so disgusting. He has no shame, no self-respect, just a stray racoons rolling over for treats."
Margaret’s lips pressed into a thin line before she pulled out her phone.
Jessica’s eyes gleamed. "Calling Sophia?"
Margaret smirked. "Oh, I’m not just calling. I’m making sure she knows exactly what her ex-rat is up to."
She tapped the screen and waited as the phone rang.
Sophia Miller sat behind a sleek glass desk, reviewing the finalized guest list for Imperial Corp’s anniversary event. The event was critical. Every high-ranking business figure would be attending, including the new Chairman of Imperial Corp.
She needed to make a good impression.
Her eyes skimmed down the list until she saw an empty space next to "Chairman of Imperial Corp."
Her brows furrowed. Strange. Why isn’t the chairman’s name listed?
Just then, her phone buzzed.
Margaret Miller.
Sophia sighed. Her mother only called when there was drama.
She answered. "Mom, what is it?"
Margaret’s voice came hissing through the phone. "Sophia! Do you know what that filthy racoons of an ex-husband of yours just did?"
Sophia pinched the bridge of her nose. "Mother, I don’t care about—"
"He stole the herb!"
Sophia froze. "What?"
Jessica’s voice cut in from the background. "The precious Golden Ginseng you were supposed to buy for the new Chairman of Imperial Corp? That mangy dog Nathan took it right in front of us!"
Sophia’s grip tightened on the phone. "That’s impossible. Nathan has nothing. He’s nothing."
Margaret cackled. "Oh, sweetheart, it gets worse. He wasn’t alone."
Sophia’s stomach twisted. "What do you mean?"
Jessica sneered, her voice laced with venom. "He’s attached himself to some rich woman. We thought he was a beggar, but no—he’s upgraded from a stray racoons to a lapdog."
Margaret added, "You should’ve seen them! She was slapping managers around, calling him ‘Boss’, acting like he’s someone important."
Sophia felt her blood turn cold.
Nathan?
The same Nathan she had discarded like trash?
No. No, that wasn’t possible.
Jessica’s mocking voice rang out. "Can you imagine it? That pathetic loser actually landed on his feet. Just like a cockroach, he always finds a way to crawl back up."
Margaret sighed dramatically. "Poor Sophia, you must feel so embarrassed. Just days after you kicked him to the curb, he found some rich woman’s bed to warm."
Sophia gritted her teeth.
This wasn’t possible.
Nathan was supposed to be suffering. Alone. Worthless. Begging for scraps.
Not… not stealing her opportunity to impress the Chairman of Group Imperial.
Not walking around with a woman powerful enough to make people kneel.
Jessica laughed. "Guess you weren’t his ‘one true love’ after all, huh? He replaced you faster than a broken leash."
Sophia’s nails dug into her palm.
Nathan… you bastard.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Ch-223
Nathan had barely slept when Dante shoved the door open at dawn. His lieutenant’s face was grim, eyes blazing. “They’ve made a move,” Dante said. “It’s Harper.” Nathan was on his feet instantly, the last trace of exhaustion gone. “Where?” “Old tram depot, south line. Syndicate men staged a power outage, drew Harper in with a false Imperium relay signal. Roarke’s already tailing them.” Nathan’s mind worked faster than his pulse. A direct trap on Harper wasn’t reckless—it was calculated. The Syndicate had finally stopped chipping at the edges. They were cutting straight to his core. “Gear up,” Nathan ordered, already strapping on his sidearm. “If they’ve put Harper in play, they want me out in the open. Let’s give them the mistake they’re begging for.” --- The tram depot loomed like a skeleton of iron and glass, its windows shattered, the tracks rusting into weeds. Power lines dangled dead, swaying in the morning breeze. Nathan approached with Dante at his flank, their boots sile
Ch-222
The next node wasn’t hidden in the ruins of some forgotten quarter or stitched into shadows of abandoned warehouses. It pulsed at the heart of the city itself, inside a steel-and-glass tower where executives still sat in boardrooms, oblivious to the corruption threading through their walls. Nathan hated the exposure, but there was no choice. If the fragment bled unchecked in a place like this, thousands could unravel in hours. They slipped into the lobby under the guise of night cleaners, badges forged and uniforms plain. Dante pushed the mop bucket with a convincingly bored expression. Roarke trailed behind, all bulk and silence. Nyx carried her tablet slung low in a janitor’s cart. Miley kept close, her eyes wide, but steady. Nathan’s voice was low, steady. “Remember—precision. This isn’t a battlefield. Too much noise and the Syndicate will tighten the noose before we can move.” The elevators groaned upward. Floor by floor, the tension grew. By the twenty-third, Nyx’s device beg
Ch-221
They emerged from the subway into the industrial district, the sky above bruised with unnatural hues that shifted faster than weather should. Nathan didn’t look up; his focus was already on the next fragment. The last few nodes had left traces—resonance he could track, faint distortions in space-time, whispers of corrupted memories that clung to the air.“We’re running out of time,” Nyx said, scanning the abandoned factories. Her fingers hovered over the tablet as if feeling the pulse of the city. “The fragments are accelerating their synchronization. If they complete alignment…” Her voice trailed off, leaving the threat unspoken.Dante cracked his knuckles. “We’ve dealt with worse. Let’s just find it and smash it.”Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “Not smash. Contain. The energy isn’t just dangerous—it’s alive in a way. Force alone will make it worse. We need precision.”The team advanced cautiously. The district was eerily quiet. Windows of warehouses reflected the bruised sky in shards, giv
Ch-220
Nathan didn’t pause to savor the temporary victory. The streets had settled, but the pulse of the city still throbbed with corrupted echoes. Every alley, every rooftop, carried a memory of the unreal—footsteps that never existed, shadows that flickered where no one had stood.“Node stabilized,” Nyx said, her voice tight. “But that’s only one of six. The fragments—they’re moving. Each one trying to synchronize, rebuild the pattern.”Dante kicked a loose brick, sending it clattering into the gutter. “So we’re chasing ghosts across the city?”Nathan ignored the remark, scanning the map on his pad. The other nodes weren’t all in the city—they were scattered, each in zones where the fragments’ influence had warped reality enough to hide them from conventional detection. One in the subway lines under the East Quarter, one in a private art complex near the docks, another… and Nathan’s pulse went tight as he read the location.“Harper’s location,” he muttered. The pad highlighted the cafe dis
Ch-219
The fire in the warehouse smoldered behind them, thick smoke curling into the night, but Nathan didn’t allow himself a second to watch. His boots hit the wet pavement as they raced back through the streets, Dante covering their flank while Roarke scanned for tailing forces. The northern lights above had grown jagged, like veins of electricity crawling across the sky—unnatural, and resonating with a pulse Nathan could feel in his bones. He pulled out the small data pad he always carried, fingers flying across the interface. Every compromised feed, every suspicious movement across the city, every anomaly the Syndicate had engineered: it was all converging toward one point. He keyed in a sequence and the screen lit up with a 3D map of the city, overlays blinking red. Syndicate hotspots. Safehouses. Extraction points. And the glowing symbol that made his stomach tighten: Miley’s position, moving slowly through the crowd, unaware. “She’s still in the café district,” Nathan said. “Two blo
Ch-218
Nathan didn’t wait for the dust to settle before making his first move. By the time the council dispersed, he was already moving, pushing through narrow alleys behind the riverfront warehouses. The Syndicate’s grip on the city had always been obvious in shadows and whispers, but tonight it was bared like an open wound. His instincts told him the corruption he had just exposed was only a symptom: the disease ran deeper, coiling through the veins of the city like a parasite.“Keep moving,” he muttered to himself, jaw tight. The coded map he had stolen from the accountant wasn’t just a ledger. It was a blueprint—shipping routes, laundering nodes, hidden safehouses. A network spanning far beyond the docks.From the rooftops, a shadow trailed him. Nathan didn’t need to glance up to know. She’d been there since the council meeting—an unfamiliar presence, sharp and measured. He let her tail him, weaving through side streets deliberately, until he reached the rusted gates of an abandoned rai
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