Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“Arthur…” Old Mr. Guajardo began. “We both know that your father entrusted you to me…”
Old Mr. Guajardo always remembered his dead younger brother fondly, so he was never able to take any firm and decisive actions against Arthur Guajardo and his family because he would always give in to them.
He heaved a heavy sigh and told Arthur, “You said you look up to me as your real father, so how could I not love you as my own son? Ever since you were a child, I brought you up together with my children, and I even brought Halston and Jovan up together too. I’ve always distributed the responsibilities in H Group according to their abilities. I’ve always been fair and just.”
“I know,” the old man continued, “that you were dissatisfied when I handed H Group over to Halston and let Jovan manage the branch overseas. I know that since then, you’ve been scheming and plotting to take over. I can turn a blind eye to all that, but what happened today is different… I won’t interfere with what happened today. It is not my right to take charge of this matter.”
Old Mr. Guajardo turned to the butler beside him. “I’m tired. Take me back to my room. I’m going to take a rest now.”
“What… What do you mean?”
Sheila felt as if a rug was pulled off from under her feet. In the past, no matter how much they crossed the line, old Mr. Guajardo would eventually give in and take their side, so why did he give up his authority so easily today?
She quickly chased after old Mr. Guajardo with tears in her eyes and snot on her nose, “Uncle! You can’t just leave us like this! You must settle this! You…”
“Please step back, Madam.”
The butler blocked Sheila’s way, then helped old Mr. Guajardo back to his room.
Now that the most powerful man in the Guajardo family had given up his authority on the matter, Arthur and Sheila’s pomposity and arrogance deflated significantly.
Arthur turned to his cousin and said, “Alexander, we can forget everything else, but you must tell your son to apologize for the extremely disrespectful things he said!”
Alexander turned to his son, “Your uncle wants you to apologize, Halston. What do you think?”
Halston pursed his thin lips. His eyes were piercingly cold. He exuded such an intimidating air that the atmosphere inexplicably tensed up.
“Sure, I’ll apologize, but…”
His eyes became even sharper and more ruthless as he stared straight at Arthur and Sheila. “Only after the both of you apologize to my wife.”
Arthur was so infuriated that he slammed the table and roared, “What?! I’m your uncle! You want me to apologize to someone younger than me? That’s an utter insult!”
Sheila shed off her mask and disdainfully spat, “Who is Flossie Ellsworth anyway?! She’s just a down- and-out woman who has nothing, and yet all of you spoil her like a princess! My son Jovan would never give a woman like that a second look! And I will never let someone of her status to even step through the doors of the Guajardo family!”
“Since you’re both so brazen…” Halston’s gaze grew colder and colder till it was terrifying enough to induce shudders. “Then I’ll make it clear to you now—if you don’t apologize to my wife today, don’t even think about leaving this house.”
Both Arthur and Sheila were startled by Halston’s threat. They knew that Halston was a haughty man, but they never expected it to reach the point where he would disregard basic social etiquette of showing respect to the elders—all for a woman of a low status!
For a family who had always abided by strict rules, such behavior was simply perfidious!
The elders in the room could no longer stand by quietly. One by one, they stood up and voiced their disapproval.
“Halston, you’re Arthur’s nephew! How could you speak to him like that? Think of how embarrassing it would be if the public finds out about this!”
“No matter how wrong Arthur and Sheila were, they are still your uncle and aunt! You should settle the matter by discussing it like civilized people. Is the problem even worth losing your temper over?”
“As your uncles and aunts, we think you two are the ones who should be begging for your aunt and uncle’s forgiveness!”
Because of his arrogance, Halston now became the target of the family’s verbal attacks.
Seeing this, Sheila was once again emboldened. She snorted coldly and jeered at Alexander and Francine. “I guess the education you gave Halston was too liberal for us, Alexander and Francine! That’s why your son has become a radical that dares to disregard common courtesy! To put it more bluntly… he’s no different from an uneducated brute! If you don’t reel him in now and let him get away with threatening his uncle and aunt, then you might find him stepping over you and peeing on your heads tomorrow! It’d be too late for you to regret it then!”
“That’s right!” Arthur echoed vehemently. “He must beg us for forgiveness today, or else I won’t let this matter slide!”
“I’m sorry,” Francine replied nonchalantly as she sat gracefully on the couch, “but this is between you and Halston. As for who should be the one to apologize, I’ll leave it to you to sort it out. Besides, my son is well-known for being respectful to the elders, yet there are some of the elders who behave in a way that makes them undeserving of respect!”
“What are you saying, Francine Milford? Who is undeserving of respect?!”
Sheila was so enraged that she no longer cared about appearances. She stomped towards Francine, determined to fight with her to the death. After all, the rift between their two families was now so huge that it was irreparable, and there was no point in trying to maintain a semblance of dignity anymore.
Seeing this, Flossie felt embarrassed. She knew that the fight in the family erupted because of her, and she had no desire to become the ‘eye of the storm,’ the central point where family discord and dispute swirled around, causing cracks and rifts within the family.
And so, she hastily blocked Sheila’s way and humbly said, “Please calm down, Aunt Sheila! This is all my fault, so I’ll apologize to you and to Uncle Arthur, I…”
“Get out of my way!” Sheila had no time for Flossie, nor did she care to appear dignified anymore, so she disdainfully shrieked, “You’re nothing but a destitute dog! You are completely unworthy of marrying into the Guajardo family, and you don’t even have any right to speak!”
After speaking, she violently shoved Flossie aside.
“What are you doing…?”
Flossie was caught off guard. She staggered and almost faceplanted on the floor.
Fortunately, Halston had quick eyes and quicker hands, so he was able to swiftly support Flossie’s body with his long arms. At the moment, his eyes were like daggers that were savagely aimed at Sheila.
“She… she was blocking my way! It’s not my fault! Why are you looking at me like that?”
Sheila’s puffed-up arrogance suddenly vanished, and she gulped nervously, feeling somewhat guilty.
“Apologize to her.”
The demand that came out of Halston’s mouth sounded simple, but it was given firmly and coldly as he slowly stepped toward Sheila.
“What are you doing? Don’t come near me! You… You…”
Sheila backed away from Halston in fright. She looked so distressed that she could barely hold her tears in.
Flossie tugged at Halston’s sleeve and whispered, “I’m fine, Halston! Please, stop looking like a man- eating monster! We’re still younger than them, so let’s just…”
“I said apologize!”
Halston repeated his order to Sheila in a much more forceful manner now, completely ignoring Flossie’s pleas. He looked as if he might beat Sheila to death in a heartbeat!
Seeing this, Arthur rushed over and acted as if he was teaching Halston a lesson, asking him, “What are you doing, Halston? Is this how you speak to your aunt?”
“I’m only counting to three. Both of you will apologize to my wife…”
Halston had a savage expression on his face, and his eyes looked bone-chillingly cold as he counted, “One, two…”
Before he could say “three,” Arthur and Sheila were already putting their hands up in defeat.
“We’re sorry! We’re sorry!”
Arthur had a false smile on his face as he turned to Flossie and said, “My wife and I were only joking, but we definitely crossed the line and offended you and Halston. We both deeply apologize to you and hope you won’t take what we said to heart. From now on, we’ll make sure to choose our words more carefully.”
Sheila was naturally still furious, but she considered the possible consequences of offending and angering Halston and how it would surely bring terrible repercussions to their family, especially their son Jovan, so she could only begrudgingly say, “I’m sorry. I said some things without thinking just now.”
“It’s fine!” replied Flossie, trying to turn the whole thing into a small matter so she could get this over with as soon as possible. “We’re the ones who should be apologizing! It’s our fault that we couldn’t take a joke and made the whole atmosphere strained and awkward.”
Flossie could not imagine what the rest of the Guajardo family would think of her from now on. Halston’s aunt and uncle had just been forced to apologize to her, so they must think of her as an unruly, lazy, and wicked woman!
By now, Halston’s expression finally warmed up a bit, and he sneered, “The truth is, I have a lot of respect for you, Uncle Arthur, and Aunt Sheila. You raised Jovan into a very capable man who managed to do a great job with H Group’s branch overseas, raking in huge profits for our company. I’m aware of all this…”
“So,” he added, “as long as you stay loyal to us and refrain from cooking up sinister plots behind me, I will make sure that you are rewarded handsomely. But if I find out that you have impure intentions against me, or if you’re unable to do something so basic as respecting my wife, then don’t blame me for being merciless to the elders.”
