The executives of the overseas project had come to Kingsford for negotiations, leaving Miles Yates with almost no free time over the past couple of days. Today, everything had been properly settled, and Mr. Hearst was preparing for his return trip.
As a matter of common courtesy, he naturally came to see off his business partner.
Mr. Hearst was clearly very satisfied. With a broad smile plastered across his face, he shook Miles’s hand. "Mr. Yates, you are even more decisive than I imagined. Your vision is both far-reaching and flawlessly precise. I’m confident we can achieve maximum mutual benefit. It’s been a pleasure working with you."
Miles gave a faint smile. He radiated an effortless grace that drew frequent glances from passersby. "I’ll have my executive assistant escort you to the airport, Mr. Hearst."
Mr. Hearst hesitated for a moment. His fondness for Miles was only growing, and he couldn’t resist asking one more question. "Mr. Yates, do you currently have a girlfriend? Or a partner?
"I highly admire exceptionally outstanding men like you. My younger sister is twenty-seven this year. I wonder if there might be an opportunity for you two to meet?"
Standing not far away, Simon Hawthorne heard every word loud and clear. He slowly lifted his dark eyelashes, his gaze concealing a brewing storm.
Arriving belatedly, Linden noticed the tense standoff. A tingling numbness spread across the back of his head as he observed his boss’s expression. He couldn’t shake the feeling that a storm was coming. Things were about to go terribly wrong.
Hearing this, Miles’s expression shifted slightly before he curled his lips into a polite, measured smile. "Thank you for the flattering offer. I’m sure your sister is just as outstanding as you are, Mr. Hearst. However, I must apologize. I already have a girl in my life whom I want to spend the rest of my days with.
"I want to protect her for a lifetime."
SNAP.
The lighter in Simon’s palm was clenched so tightly that the metal seemed on the verge of warping—a terrifying display of sheer force.
Drenched in a cold sweat, Linden watched Simon’s face closely. He was calm, eerily calm. Yet, it was the kind of calm that heralded an even more terrifying storm.
Unlike Linden’s panicked heart, Simon slowly released his grip on the high-quality replica lighter that Zoe Lancaster had gifted him. He lit another cigarette, his thoughts entirely unreadable to anyone else. Smoke exhaled from between his lips, exuding a raw, magnetic sexual tension.
It wasn’t until someone came to a halt just two steps away that Simon cast a nonchalant sideways glance. Having sent Mr. Hearst on his way, Miles now stood there, looking right at him.
"Mr. Hawthorne. What a coincidence."
Simon lowered his eyes and flicked the ash from his cigarette, the tail end of his voice bone-chillingly cold. "It’s no coincidence. I’ve been waiting for you."
Miles slowly narrowed his eyes. "I found it hard to step away from my affairs abroad over the past few days, but I still caught wind of some news regarding you, Mr. Hawthorne. I heard you got divorced?"
"Still not a coincidence." Simon slipped one hand into his pocket and turned to face him directly. His posture was arrogant yet perfectly composed as he enunciated every word. "I haven’t."
Miles looked thoughtful, his deep eyes flashing. Shedding any pretense, he asked bluntly, "Miss Lancaster submitted her resignation recently. She’s a girl who takes her career very seriously, so quitting out of the blue is already highly unusual. What did you do to her?"
He had returned specifically to see her. But lately, Zoe seemed to have vanished into thin air. She was completely unreachable, hidden away securely by Simon. It was only natural for him to be worried.
To Simon, Miles’s undisguised concern was a glaring overstep. He suddenly let out a soft scoff, the anger he had been forcibly suppressing now threatening to ignite into a raging wildfire.
He thought of the child in Zoe’s womb and her desperate, reckless determination to leave him. Her extraordinary protectiveness over that baby was simply because she cared about the man behind it!
He crushed out his cigarette. "What happens between my wife and me is none of your business."
The moment the words left his mouth, he landed a heavy punch right on Miles’s face.
SMASH!
Simon moved entirely too fast. Having practiced Muay Thai for years, he was an exceptional fighter. When he struck with lethal intent, very few could withstand it.
A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of Miles’s mouth. He stumbled backward violently, nearly falling to the ground.
But the strike had also roused his anger. Like two rivals seeing red, neither man held back. In an instant, they were exchanging brutal blows, alarming many people inside the hotel.
One was the man at the helm of the Hawthorne Group, and the other was the heir to the Yates Family. Both possessed extraordinarily prestigious statuses; wherever they went, they demanded respect! Yet here they were, openly brawling like thugs! Before long, a crowd began to gather outside the hotel. If this made the news, it would be a massive scandal.
Linden had anticipated this. The moment he saw the two cross paths, he had faintly sensed a drastic shift in his boss’s aura. Sure enough, a fight broke out over the madam!
He knew Mr. Hawthorne had been bottling up his frustrations and that this eruption of pent-up anger needed an outlet. If he stepped forward to intervene, he might just be the one beaten to death! He wasn’t even married yet; he had no desire to court disaster.
He had come prepared. Clutching a kraft paper bag full of cash, he tossed half of it to the hastily arriving Mason Sullivan. "Handle this, now," Linden ordered with a cold face.
Startled but quick to react, Mason immediately turned with Linden to distribute the cash among the onlookers. As they handed out the money, they urged, "This is a private family matter. We kindly ask everyone to refrain from recording. Please accept this small token of our appreciation."
Dispersing a crowd was easy enough, but dealing with people who already had their phones out was a hassle. It was much simpler to just buy their silence on the spot. Nobody would turn down a stack of cash.
Sure enough, the bystanders walked away completely elated with the money in hand. Compared to cold, hard cash, what was so interesting about a fight anyway?
With red-rimmed eyes, Simon gloomily grabbed Miles by the collar and slammed him violently against a wall adorned with raised, vintage carvings. Both of their faces were bruised and battered. Having finally snapped, Simon threw all caution to the wind. His voice was hoarse, his words sharp as blades. "She has absolutely nothing to do with you. Know your place!"
A severe, dull ache throbbed through Miles’s back, but he slowly tugged at his bleeding lip. "Forcing her will only make her hate you more and more. You should let her go to find her own happiness."
"Is that so?" Simon’s hostility deepened. He let out a mocking laugh, unable to restrain the sheer stubbornness bleeding into his tone. "Then I might as well make it crystal clear to you. I don’t care if our marriage is forced. Whether she lives or dies, Zoe Lancaster will only ever be mine!"
Even if she betrayed him.
The incident was quietly resolved without a single whisper leaking out.
Zoe had been at Somerset Gardens for nearly half a month, and Simon hadn’t shown his face again. She was completely unable to leave the house, let alone fly to Portellis to visit her mother.
Fortunately, the caretaker had called. She explained that Portellis Hospital had happened to bring in foreign experts who examined her mother. Her condition had gradually stabilized, and she was no longer in any serious danger. This brought Zoe a great deal of relief.
Additionally, the baby in her womb had shown signs of improvement over the past couple of days. The spotting was no longer frequent, giving her immense hope. Her baby was going to make it!
She had done everything in her power; God wouldn’t be so cruel to her. If things went wrong, she would hate Simon, she would hate the Hawthorne family, and she would especially hate Peyton. Every single incident that had nearly caused her to lose this child was something she would never forgive for as long as she lived.
As for the situation between her and Simon...
She looked at the suppressed news section on her phone from a few days ago. It featured photos of Simon entering and leaving a hotel to meet Peyton.
Looking at it all now, she felt completely numb. She couldn’t muster even the most basic of emotional reactions. Perhaps she had already cried all her tears dry.
During this time, she had forced herself to figure a lot of things out. Simon dragging things out with her boiled down to nothing more than his male ego and her refusal to obey him.
Then what if...
What if she catered to his every whim in every possible way?