2024-09-10 08:22:31Those words sent shockwaves through everyone who had heard them. They couldn’t believe it, but the person who was most in disbelief was the first saleswoman. She snatched the phone from her colleague and dialed the number.
“Are you sure it was $500,000 received?” she yelled, her voice sharp with frustration.
Her tone was so rude that the person on the other end snapped back. “Why are you asking me an obvious question?!” he demanded. “$500,000 has been received! Is there some hotshot there or something?”
The saleswoman's words stuck in her throat as the confirmation hit her. The others who had belittled Tedmond earlier now remained silent, lips tightly sealed.
“Did you do something?” the voice on the phone asked, but the saleswoman quickly hung up, lowering her head.
She turned to Tedmond, bowing slightly. “I am extremely sorry for doubting you,” she stammered. “Can I get you a cup of tea as an apology while your things are packed?”
Tedmond glared down at her in silence. As she raised her head to meet his eyes, she flinched under his cold gaze.
“We made a deal, didn’t we?” Tedmond said calmly. “You were supposed to apologize while crawling around the store.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. She hadn’t actually expected to do it. “But... but…”
His eyebrows arched. “What are you waiting for? Did you forget what I asked you to do?”
Trembling slightly, she shook her head. “I never intended to do that. Couldn’t we just—”
“Your job or the deal?” Tedmond asked casually, cutting her off.
Without hesitation, she hurried away from the front desk and fell to her knees, shivering with embarrassment. She was about to start crawling when he stopped her with his foot.
“You seem to be forgetting something,” he said darkly. “I told you to apologize to your co-worker.”
She turned her head toward the salesman and yelled, “I’m sorry!”
The salesman was taken aback, awkwardly averting his gaze.
“Now, continue crawling,” Tedmond ordered.
The woman resumed, her face flushed with humiliation, while the other customers who had supported her earlier began recording the scene on their phones.
Tedmond glanced at the other saleswomen, and they all avoided his gaze in fear. “The one crawling could’ve been any of you,” he warned, and the women flinched.
“I’ll get your things ready,” the salesman said quickly, as though trying to rescue the situation. “Thank you for your help.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Tedmond replied. “I was only doing it for myself.”
Despite that, the salesman thanked him again and hurriedly packed Tedmond's purchases. Soon, Tedmond walked out of the store, and with the help of the staff, all of his items were loaded into the car.
“Should I drive you home, young master?” the driver asked, glancing back at Tedmond as he settled into the car.
Tedmond thought about it for a moment. He had left the house with only a few bags from his vacation, but he still had his things at the Griffin home.
“Drive me to Rolling Street,” he replied. “I have something to do there. Don’t wait for me—just drop me off.”
“Yes, young master.”
A few minutes later, Tedmond got out of the car far from his father's home to avoid drawing unnecessary attention. He waited for the driver to leave before walking toward the building.
The atmosphere was still cold, though not as biting as it had been earlier. After a short walk, he entered the Griffin compound. He wondered if his father had returned yet. Then, with a bitter thought, he corrected himself.
‘Ex-father.’
The man was no longer his father.
He pushed open the door and stepped inside, expecting to see his former family in the living room, but no one was there. He made his way toward the kitchen, glancing up the stairs as he walked.
His room wasn’t upstairs like the others'. Instead, it was in a small basement. The memory of the cramped space resurfaced as he approached.
“Didn’t you say he was in his room?!” a loud voice demanded, making Tedmond frown. It was Harold Griffin, his father—or rather, ex-father. “Where the hell is that brat?”
“He was here hours ago,” his stepmother, Evelyn, said, trying to calm him down.
“That brat!” Harold yelled.
Tedmond peeked through the open door. They were all in his room, no wonder the house had been quiet. Harold’s face was twisted in anger, the lines on his forehead prominent as he raged.
“Why are you looking for him?” Max, Tedmond's half-brother, asked. “We kicked him out of the family, like you said. He’s 19 now, and we no longer have to take care of him.”
Harold turned to glare at Max. “You should’ve done it while I was here!” he bellowed. “He has something important!”
Of course, Tedmond sighed. His father had no use for him unless it involved something valuable. Tedmond had considered giving them what they wanted and cutting all ties, but the next words made him pause.
“That stupid necklace his mother left him is valuable!” Harold claimed. “I just figured out its name and its worth!”
Tedmond’s hand instinctively reached for the necklace around his neck. It was the only thing his mother had left him, and for years, they had mocked it as something worthless. If they had known its value earlier, they would have sold it long ago.
His jaw clenched. Now, they wanted to find him only because they wanted something.
“I can get him back,” a voice said. It was Lisa, Tedmond’s ex-girlfriend, her face determined.
“And who the hell are you?” Harold demanded.
Apparently, he hadn’t attended the wedding.
“She’s my wife,” Max replied, and their sister Maxine nodded in agreement. “She’s Tedmond’s ex, and he’s still in love with her. She can trick him into giving us the necklace.”
Hearing that, Harold finally relaxed. “That’s settled then. We don’t need to bring him back here. That useless brat has caused enough trouble already. Get his stuff out of his room and toss it in the trash.”
“His room will become a storage space from now on,” Evelyn said, with a note of satisfaction. “I’ve wanted to get rid of him ever since he was brought here as a baby.”
Tedmond’s eyes darkened. He turned and left before they could notice him. Now he knew why they were looking for him, and he couldn’t wait for them to try. When they did, he would be ready with a nice surprise.
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CHAPTER 871
The SUV ground to a halt at the gated entrance of Pier Forty-Two, its tires crunching heavily over shards of glass and dried seaweed. The driver killed the engine and headlights, plunging the cabin into near-total darkness."Keep the engine warm," Vance told the driver, his voice a low whisper. He turned to Arthur, his expression grim. "Keep your mouth shut unless he asks you a direct question. These old intelligence brokers don't care about your banking committees. They only care about survival parameters."Arthur nodded frantically, his throat bone-dry as he stepped out into the biting, salt-heavy air.They walked down the long, creaking pier, the ancient timber groaning beneath their weight like a staircase ready to collapse. At the very end of the dock, tied to a pair of rusted iron bollards, sat The Iron Sentry. The trawler was massive, its hull covered in jagged patches of dark orange rust, looking completely abandoned to the casual eye. But Vance’s sharp ears caught the f
CHAPTER 870
Vance’s fingers moved across his screen with a rapid, practiced rhythm, its dull glow illuminating the sharp angles of his face. The interior of the SUV remained dead silent, save for the low hum of the climate control and the distant, mocking murmur of the surf.Outside the tinted window, Arthur paced a tight, frantic line in the gravel. Every crunch of stone beneath his designer loafers felt like a second ticking away from his life. He checked his watch again, his heart hammering violently against his ribs.Inside the cabin, Vance placed the phone to his ear. It didn't ring with a standard tone; instead, a series of high-pitched digital clicks echoed through the speaker before a heavily modulated voice patched through."Speak," the voice rasped, entirely devoid of inflection."It’s Vance. I need a line to Henderson," Vance said, his tone flat and professional. "Code alpha-seven. The maritime grid."A long pause stretched over the airwaves. The silence was so heavy that Vance co
CHAPTER 869
Arthur stood rooted to the gravel for a full minute after the taillights of the vintage convertible disappeared past the resort’s iron gates. The exhaust from Tedmond’s engine still hung faint and heavy in the humid night air.Slowly, the paralysis left his limbs. He lowered the leather portfolio, his knuckles aching from how tightly he’d been gripping the eighty-million-dollar offering. The panic in his chest hadn't receded; it had simply crystallized into a cold, terrifying realization. They weren't just taking his boards, his seats, and his autonomy. They were systematically dismantling the perimeter he had spent his entire life building."Are they..." Arthur’s voice cracked in the darkness, trailing off before he could finish the thought. He looked toward the shadow of the main gates. "Are they going to take revenge anyway?"The question hung unanswered in the empty driveway. A document at eight o'clock tomorrow morning wasn't a truce; it was a hostage situation. Handing ov
CHAPTER 868
"He’s a boy! He’s an ignorant, reckless boy!" Arthur cried out, his face turning an ugly, panicked shade of purple in the glare of the headlights. He looked back toward the lead SUV, where the tinted glass hid a terrified, bruised Chad. "I will strip his trust. I’ll send him to the compliance office in Prague to count paper clips for the next five years. Whatever you want! But please, don't let a twenty-minute ego trip on a public beach destroy thirty years of asset building."Persis leaned her elbow against the smooth leather of the passenger door, a slow, icy smile playing on her lips. "Your son didn't just have an ego trip, Mr. Meriwether. He put his hands on my husband. He threw a tantrum because he thought we were small enough to crush. You taught him that strength is measured by a bank balance. It’s a very poor curriculum.""I see that now. I see it completely," Arthur said, sweat dripping down his silver temples despite the cool coastal breeze.He reached into his suit jacke
CHAPTER 867
His face carried the deep, weathered lines of a man who had spent his life shouting over tickers and boardrooms, but right now, those lines were pulled tight with immense tension. He didn't look at Persis. His eyes locked onto Tedmond, scanning the massive frame of the man who had nearly erased his life's work in four minutes.The older man took three slow, measured steps forward, stopping just outside Tedmond’s personal space. He raised his hands slightly, palms open, a universal gesture of peace that looked entirely unnatural on a man of his stature."Mr. Washington," he said, his voice a gravelly, raspy tone that had commanded D.C. committees for decades. "I am Arthur Meriwether."Tedmond didn't offer his hand. He stood like a monolith in the gravel, the cooler hanging loosely from his shoulder. "I know who you are, Arthur."Arthur swallowed hard, his silver mane shifting as he nodded. He looked exhausted, the high-stakes panic of the afternoon still visibly draining his ener
CHAPTER 866
The resort’s interior was a stark contrast to the bright, gritty beach. The hallways were lined with cool, polished marble, the air smelling faintly of fresh jasmine and expensive wax. Large, arched windows offered sweeping views of the coastline, casting long, golden rectangles of light across the floor.They had just turned the corner into the main residential wing, heading toward the terrace elevators, when a door down the hall clicked open.Chad stepped out.He had changed into a crisp, pastel pink button-down and white trousers, clearly trying to piece his wealthy facade back together. He was staring down at his phone, his thumb hovering cautiously over the screen as if checking to see if his bank accounts were truly functional again.Then, he looked up.The moment Chad’s eyes landed on Tedmond’s massive frame, every ounce of color vanished from his face. He froze mid-step, his jaw dropping so fast his phone nearly slipped from his fingers. He looked at Tedmond, then at Persi
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