The mild-tempered middle-aged man must have thought that he would not have problems with keeping a temporary cold war with his nephew.

Since he understood how hurtful his actions that time was, his intention was to let some time pa.s.sed to cool off the anger or resentment Gio would have acc.u.mulated within.

But it seemed, old age had gotten him good this time, making him forget that even if his family heir had grown up splendidly, with a temperament honed by the long years in the military, Gio was still someone who etched in his mind to always repay a misgiving or wrongdoings done to him at least seven-folds.

Now, the lad Conrad raised in order to take over his seat had now begun to revolt against him.

And while he felt the idea funny, when he checked how much damage was done to him and his reputation, he actually could no longer laugh.

It was not a good experience discovering late how tens of thousands of women confessed to him through various means and channels.

His and his employees' emails were not let off. The TV was playing those ridiculous flash reports from time to time. The radio as well. And of course, the social media.

Comments were one thing too. Who knows what stupid and d.a.m.nable versions of him were playing in everyone's mind now?

It had already gotten to the point that only ma.s.s hypnosis could help redeem his tarnished image. That was how bad things had turned out for him.

So was his nephew forcing him to contact his lunatic friend to ask for help in saving his reputation?

The bothersome fact was that he was sure that his brother's son's revenge was not even a tenth of the trouble brewed today.

While waiting for the offender to arrive, he sighed.

'My dearest nephew. Do you know? The curious and meaningful stares from my housekeepers and maids are painful to the skin.'

It seemed until that young fellow talked to him, Conrad wouldn't be able to enjoy the calm breeze of his mansion's beautiful verandah to the fullest.

The question though was whether that young man would come...

Well, he was idle anyway, therefore, he could always wait.

It was up to Gio to decide when he would be ready to face him.

...

Meanwhile. At the only airport of Alina City, two figures wrapped in long and thick jackets descended the stairs of the airplane that had just landed.

One of them smiled widely. Her left hand left the stair's aluminum banister and went to her wacky heart-shaped framed dark shades to remove them.

Like the older woman who came with her, she also looked around and then briefly closed her eyes to feel the afternoon breeze.

Then with eyes curving into crescents, she laughed and jumped on the other.

"I'm so so so happy to be back!!!"

The other who was busy taming her long wavy hair that the playful wind kept blowing to all direction got surprised by the sudden weight that pressed down on her back. But what truly shook the heck out of her was the loud shout the girl let out.

Angry, she raised her voice to the leech latching onto her, "Get off of me!!! Steffy!!!"

"Oops!"

The playful woman whose features and body matured but the mind stayed the same, did as told then awkwardly laughed with her hands both up in the air as if she was surrendering.

"Sorry. I was just too excited. You should know. People experiencing extreme emotion could do things that they usually don't. I swear, it's the mood due to finally being back after three years."

Steffy grumbled in her mind,

'Yeah, the normal me will not dare anger an Amazona like you.'

She then continued laughing as if nothing happened.

Her companion shook her head and led her onwards the exit of the airport while dragging a huge suitcase. Steffy followed while hauling her own baggage.

Before they entered the building which bridged the landing area and the place outside the airport, Steffy asked her,

"So Wendy, where is your boyfriend? Last time you told me he arrived at Alina a day earlier because of his job. So where are you going to meet up with him?"

The woman called Wendy, Sofony's best friend, stared at Steffy, the younger sister of her best friend.

"That pretty-faced dog is not my boyfriend."

"But he's always claiming and telling everyone that you're his girl. And that they will be invited to the wedding in the near future."

"Oh? He does?"

Steffy flinched at the evil eyes that got directed to her. At her who turned meek, Wendy lectured.

"Remember this, girl. In order to be in a relations.h.i.+p, there are some important steps or indicators which have to be said or followed. Let me ask you this. Where do you see a boyfriend who never courted or asked his girlfriend to be his girlfriend? I'm telling you, Steffy, if you encounter someone like that, don't ever hesitate or give him a chance to annoy you to death. Kill him at first sight!"

'So you can have someone to arrest?'

The girl opened her mouth wide, but didn't speak.

She didn't know what to say. For some reason, her friend who was only a year older than her seemed so hard to communicate with today.

After walking for a little more than ten minutes, Steffy stopped for a bit.

"Wendy, I'll just buy some refreshments."

The other nodded, seeing the nearby vending machine. They were only a couple of meters away from the entrance.

Just then, her phone vibrated, and when she checked, it was an incoming call from the devilishly pretty dog that they have been talking about a few minutes ago.

Irritated, she picked it up and pressed the answer b.u.t.ton.

After waiting for five seconds, a familiar husky voice echoed into her ears.

"h.e.l.lo? I'm busy at the moment. But have you arrived? If so, please don't leave the airport until I come!"

"... Hey."

She was about to complain but stilled when she noticed that something was wrong.

"Busy! So once again, wait for me!"

The annoyed expression that she put on earlier immediately vanished when she recognized and verified the urgency and pleading in Ver's voice.

What could cause that man to be like that?

She a.n.a.lyzed the background which was actually very messy and noisy. What stood out the most was the caller's rough and hurried breathing, plus the sounds of heavy objects slamming down hard onto something similarly solid and hard.

She was sure it was not the sounds of some unspeakable act done in an equally unspeakable place.

'A fight? And while this d.a.m.n pretty face is in the middle of a call with me?'

"Where are you?!" She urgently said.

Her eyes darted to where Steffy was and felt thankful that the girl was still in the middle of kicking the machine. It had probably swallowed her coins without coughing up the drinks she selected.

By her estimate, Steffy would call a guard or staff to do something about it, not going back until the cans of juice or bottles of water were in hands.

"Hey, tell me where you are!"

When another thunderous sound came to her ears as a reply, she worriedly added, "Uh, whatever! I'll just track your location through the GPS. My brother's back to Alina. I'll call him to back you up!"

Because she temporarily put the call on hold in order to dial his brother's station's number, she missed out on the man warning her again about not leaving the place. He even said to mingle with the crowd if possible and not let strangers pull her anywhere.

The situation seemed dangerous. Yet unlike how the girl somehow guessed that Ver had a scuffle with the organization people at another place and was intentionally held back, Ver was not aware that Wendy didn't hear whatever he said after.

"Target spotted..."

The wavy-haired beauty was about to hit on the okay b.u.t.ton to connect the call to West Alina police station when a voice akin to blokes of ice made her freeze.

What target?

Why does the speaker sound so near to her?

She blinked for a couple of seconds and realized, to her horror, that a black wrapped figure appeared in front of her. However, the real mind-blowing part was how this d.a.m.nably spooky stranger embraced her!

"W-what the effin---"

Yet before she could finish her protest and shoulder throw the offender, she got blinded by the sudden burst of light that engulfed her surroundings.

Everywhere became so bright.

The sharp pain from her eyes made her gasp and close them.

She knew it was bad to not have a grasp of anything around her for even a second, yet her brain couldn't command her lids to lift up.

The intense brightness that lasted for almost a minute was just too much, too blinding.

A couple of moments later, a groan escaped out of her lips as her body got pulled by the gravity fast.

"Ouch!"

As she rubbed her aching bottom, she opened her eyes.

She was now on the ground and when she looked up, the masked man wrapped in all black stood in front.

If she was in her usual state, she would've minded the condescending look the suspicious and pervert-like offender had thrown her.

Unfortunately, the shock had been too great for her to handle to be able to do that.

Her mind had seemingly stopped working when she realized how odd and perilous her situation had become.

Wendy didn't how it happened. But she was sure that she was no longer at the airport.

But in a dimly lit room which she was certain that she would never ever think of visiting.

'Ver... Where are you? I think I've gotten myself into a deep s*** and this time around, I've become a real damsel in distress.'

As her face paled, she thought to herself.

...

Gio Albarez was not the type to take simple and petty revenge against someone.

Also, he knew that there was a chance his own face would annoy the old man to death, hence he decided to respond to the voice message sent through Ever Victorious private line.

He would be going.

In fact, in his blue casual business get up, he was already on his way to the main residence.

The drive there would only take about half an hour since it was also at Central Alina. Only the traffic could get in his way from arriving later than that.

However, it was currently not rush hour, hence he estimated that within the next thirty minutes, he would finally meet again his aloof and usually warm uncle...

That same uncle who requested his separation with Sofony from that lunatic trying hard doctor.

"Gio, you're grinning from ear to ear."

Stepping on the accelerator, he turned his smiling face to Sofony.

The woman sat on the pa.s.senger seat. Since the notice was sent just an hour ago, she was still in her black suit.

The man would have loved to lift up the crimson-colored cover of the sports car, but the woman shook her head and pointed at her hair. A pity.

To her comment, he replied,

"I couldn't help it. It's been a long time since I drive like this."

She tilted her head.

"But you don't like to race much, do you?"

Laughingly, he clarified.

"It's been a long time since I drive like this towards the main residence."

Sofony watched him chuckle with a warm look in her eyes.

Underneath that though, many hypotheses began to form.

Somehow, she felt that Conrad really had a hand on what happened to them before.

Why else would Gio react like this?

Hidden in her love-struck expression were thoughts swirling around and making correlations between Conrad and the bearded man.

Her heart grew cold. And only Gio's carefree smiles were keeping her from teleporting directly to Conrad's place to force the truth out of his mouth.

"Gio, what time do you think will you finish talking with your uncle?"

"Why?"

Sofony revealed a soft smile, replying,

"I don't want to dine anywhere aside from home."

The man laughed. He shook his head and said,

"It should not take long. Probably around 5:30 we will be at the penthouse."

As they drew closer and closer to the private land where the Albarez' main house was located, the two wasted time away by chatting about their plans for dinner and some other mundane matters.

When the dreaded heavy traffic caught up with them on the road, the two even had a hot kissing session which almost headed into something no kids should ever peek into.

Unfortunately, the car ahead moved forward.

They could only exchange glances then laugh.

Such a mystery why they couldn't have enough of each other even though this morning, they had just done the deed.

Sofony shook her head and fixed her clothes. Regarding the wrinkled parts, at times like this, she was very grateful that the system could do magic.

She blinked. And then when she saw that her black suit and skirt were good to go again, her sweet laughter reverberated inside the car.

Everything seemed perfect now.

She laughed because every moment with him was very sweet and heartwarming.

Her merry laughter lasted until a notification rang within her head.

She froze. Gio who never strayed his eyes off of her notice the abnormality in her expression so he pressed on the break and quietly stared at her.

"What's the matter?"

Her answer did not come immediately.

Only after some time did she almost robotically turn to his direction to give him an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry. Something came up."

"Is it very troublesome?" 

Sofony closed her eyes.

Shortly after, her face scrunched up and she answered, "Seems so."

When she saw his expression, she tried to rea.s.sure him with a smile.

"But don't worry. I'll make sure to make it back for dinner."

"Would you like me to come with you?"

She shook her head and grabbed his hand which was on his thigh.

"I saw earlier how you excited you are to meet up with your clan head. Please don't worry much. I'll be fine on my own."

A brief staring contest ensued between them before the man chuckled and planted a kiss on her forehead.

He said, "Go then. Just don't forget to come back to me."

'I will be stupid to not return to you,' she smilingly thought to herself.

It didn't take long for the car's engine to start again.

However, when it began to speed along the high way again, only Gio was left inside.

As for the woman who should be beside him, she had already teleported away.

Nowhere in sight was the soft expression she had a few seconds ago.

Her face now looked so terrifyingly cold despite the slight grin that graced it.

She was dying to know one thing.

Just who the heck wanted to court death so much to actually kidnap her friend, Wendy, away?

...

...

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