Reborn to Build a Billion-Dollar Empire

Chapter 005

"The hell are you looking at?"

Faced with Victor Hale's naked humiliation, Bruno Kade felt rage surge through his chest. He clenched his fists and charged forward, fury propelling every step.

Victor didn't spare the murderous Bruno a single glance. His gaze remained fixed on Roxy Delane, cold and unyielding, as though she were the only person in the room worth his attention.

Roxy had been working the underworld since she was fourteen or fifteen. Victor's demand infuriated her just as much as it did Bruno, but she could not afford to cross him, not now, not with what was at stake.

"Bruno!"

Bruno's fist was already raised, poised to strike. He wished he'd been born deaf so he could've ignored her and let the punch fly. But he hadn't, and he couldn't.

Roxy didn't blush at Victor's nakedness. Instead, she stepped forward, closing the distance between them. With each step, her eyes sharpened, taking on a dangerous glint that could cut through steel.

"What exactly do you want?"

Victor stood there completely bare, yet he carried himself like a war god clad in impenetrable armor. He looked down at the two of them with utter contempt. Just last night, they'd treated him like a dog. Now, the tables had turned.

"Kneel."

The single word Victor spoke to Bruno was soft, but it carried an unmistakable authority that filled the entire space.

"You bastard! I'll kill you!"

Bruno raised his hand, but before he could complete the motion, Roxy kicked him hard. He crashed to the ground, landing directly in the filthy water pooling across the floor. In an instant, he looked like a drowned rat, soaked and pathetic.

Roxy twisted her sculpted brows into a furious scowl. She resembled a tigress about to devour her prey, ruthless and unforgiving.

"Kneel! Apologize to him!"

The scene didn't just stun Bruno. Tubbs and everyone else from the escort house stood frozen, mouths hanging open in disbelief. Their eyes were wide with shock, unable to process what they were witnessing.

In this part of Fairhaven, everyone knew Bruno Kade was Mr. Reyes's right hand. He was a name that carries weight in the underworld. Even though Roxy had Mr. Reyes backing her, to treat Bruno this way in front of outsiders, and for the sake of a stranger no less, was beyond excessive. It was almost suicidal.

At that moment, Bruno's heart was consumed by nothing but hatred. The kind of hatred that made his teeth grind together. He wished he had a knife in his hand so he could send Victor straight to the afterlife.

Victor let out a cold snort. Like a king surveying his conquered subjects, he looked down at the filthy, soaked Bruno. Then he turned his gaze to Roxy, his expression dripping with contempt.

"The lottery ticket, I don't want it anymore. I can stay right here. What I want is you, and his life."

He paused, then shifted his eyes back to Bruno. The corner of his mouth curled upward in a mocking smile.

"It won't take long. Someone will come to collect soon enough."

He wasn't bluffing. Roxy had used money stolen from Mr. Reyes to play the stock market. If she didn't cover the loss soon, and Mr. Reyes found out, neither of them would survive. The consequences would be swift and brutal.

Roxy understood the stakes perfectly. She immediately increased the pressure on Bruno, her eyes rounding into something demonic and terrifying.

"Kneel!"

Bruno's teeth clattered together audibly from the force of his clenched jaw, but he had no choice. None at all.

The tiger-like man dragged himself up from the ground. Then, in a position of perfect, humiliating submission, he dropped to his knees before Victor in apology.

The air went silent. Several seconds ticked by. Victor waited, but he didn't hear the words he was expecting. So, in a tone one might use with a petulant child, he asked softly, his voice deceptively gentle.

"What's wrong, do you feel wronged? Then what are you still kneeling there for, get up and get lost."

Roxy was so angry she could barely stand to watch. She shot Bruno a pointed look, silently ordering him to bow his head and apologize properly.

His brothers were all watching from behind. Kneeling on the ground was already humiliating enough, but he'd already done it. His dignity was already gone. Better to end this nightmare as quickly as possible.

"I'm sorry!"

The words came out loud and clear, accompanied by the thud of his forehead striking the floor. Immediately after, Victor walked directly up to Roxy and spread his arms wide toward her.

To everyone watching, it looked like Victor was about to publicly assault Roxy. Tension rippled through the crowd, tightening every chest.

Roxy belonged to Mr. Reyes. She might not be his only woman, but she was his favorite. His most prized possession.

If Victor dared lay a hand on her, especially in front of all these witnesses, then this day next year would be his death anniversary. There was no question about it.

But Roxy lived up to her reputation. Faced with the naked Victor, she didn't retreat a single step. Her composure remained unshaken, her expression calm and controlled.

"What do you want?"

Victor spoke just two words.

"Clothes."

At that moment, one of Bruno's men rushed over and picked up Victor's original clothes from where they'd been discarded.

But the clothes were soaked through, completely drenched. How could anyone possibly wear them?

Victor turned his head and stared at the young man, his gaze sharp and accusing.

"Are you trying to humiliate me?"

Only after Tubbs ordered someone to fetch a fresh set of clothes, and Victor had dressed himself, did he finally prepare to leave.

As he was walking out, Tubbs hurried after him, his voice anxious and apologetic.

"Mr. Hale, about what happened earlier, I was wrong. Please, be the bigger man and don't hold it against me."

Tubbs had watched Victor tame Bruno with just a few words. Even Roxy didn't dare offend him. That could only mean one thing. He had to be someone important, someone powerful.

Tubbs was terrified that one day Victor might get upset and come back to settle accounts with him.

Victor wasn't a bad person. He'd only wanted to teach Bruno a lesson. As for Tubbs, well, Victor wasn't that petty.

Once they were in the car, Victor dropped a single sentence.

"A restaurant."

Roxy instructed the driver to head to a five-star hotel. They had private luxury rooms there, perfect for conducting business discussions away from prying eyes.

Once they entered the private room, Bruno stationed all his men outside the door, blocking them from coming in.

"You little punk! If you don't have a solution to Roxy's problem, then today, you're not walking out that door!"

Victor didn't even look at him. He picked up the menu instead, his movements casual and unhurried.

"Waiter."

He spoke as if a waiter were already standing right beside him, but Bruno hadn't let any staff enter the room.

Roxy suppressed her impatience and told Bruno to open the door and call someone in.

Victor ordered without hesitation. Glazed sea bass, the braised pork belly, and the fish chowder, plus a large bowl of rice.

After the waiter left, Bruno ground his teeth together again. His face twisted into something bestial and vicious.

"Talk! Are you going to talk or not? If you don't start talking, I'll smash your head in!"

Victor still didn't spare him a glance. His eyes remained quietly fixed on Roxy.

Roxy understood what he wanted. She opened her designer red handbag and pulled out a pristine lottery ticket. She placed it on the glass lazy Susan and spun it toward Victor.

The three hundred fifty thousand dollars had finally returned to him.

This wasn't just a number. It was Victor's stake to regroup. It was the future of two children. It was everything.

Next, Victor took two sips of tea. After that, he didn't utter another word. Not a single syllable. This drove Bruno absolutely mad.

Bruno's mouth twitched uncontrollably from the anger boiling inside him. He wanted to threaten Victor again, but Roxy stopped him with a sharp gesture.

Furious beyond reason, Bruno yanked the door open and barked orders at his men outside.

"Get to the kitchen! Bring me everything they've got!"

His brothers immediately broke into a run toward the kitchen. Moments later, they returned carrying five dishes and two soup tureens. Behind them, two men struggled together under the weight of a massive rice cooker filled to the brim. Five steamer baskets of buns followed behind them.

The whole spectacle looked like a robbery in progress. People at nearby tables stared in stunned silence, their expressions frozen in disbelief.

The food crashed onto the table with a thunderous boom. Bruno, like an enraged tiger, let out a ferocious roar.

"Eat, now!"

Victor picked up his chopsticks slowly, eating with an unhurried, almost indifferent air.

The last time he'd eaten here was just before his bankruptcy. Back then, his wife's face had been radiant with happiness. His two children had eaten until their mouths were greasy with oil and satisfaction.

Even though he hadn't eaten a single grain of rice since yesterday afternoon, Victor still ate very little. His appetite had vanished, swallowed by memory and loss.

After finishing his meal, Victor asked for Roxy's phone. His own had been lost yesterday during all the chaos.

He opened the notes app and typed three strings of numbers. Then he handed the phone back to Roxy.

"Sell off everything now. Transfer these three stocks. Unload the first one the day after tomorrow afternoon, when the market opens. The other two, unload them Monday morning at nine thirty."

His gaze darkened, taking on a serious, almost threatening weight.

"If you don't listen, and you lose money, don't blame me."