Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“Oh?” the man could not help but raise his eyebrows.
Adie was completely undaunted even as he was faced with the man’s intimidating aura. Instead, he went straight to the point and clearly stated his intentions of seeking this man out.
“You must be curious about the identity of this opponent of hers, aren’t you? Well, it’s really not that hard to guess. Mommy said this man is a mean villain. Everyone in Beach City wants to defeat him. I guess you want to defeat him too. That’s why I came to find you. I hope you can be Mommy’s helper, and when Mommy finally wins. I’m sure she’d be very generous in rewarding you…”
The man’s expressions beneath the mask became even more complicated now. He coldly asked, “Why don’t you tell me who this mean villain is?”
“Can’t you guess? It’s Halston Guajardo, the president of H Group, of course! You’re an idiot, aren’t you?!”
Adie slapped his forehead, looking very disappointed. He had expected Mr. Q to be powerful and intelligent, but he unfortunately turned out to be so stupid. Even Daddy Liam was smarter than him! If he had known this, he would never choose him to be his mother’s helper!
“That man, huh? Well, he is pretty impressive, I’ll give you that. So what does your mommy think of him?”
“Mommy said Halston Guajardo is the most arrogant, cunning, and ruthless person in Beach City. He’s also the person she regrets ever knowing the most! And because he’s always so cocky he ends up offending many people! The whole of Beach City wants to defeat him! If you add up all of his enemies together, you’d get more people than the water in the sea!”
“Is that so?”
The man suddenly clenched his fingers. The smile on his lips turned cold and stiff, and the expressions underneath his mask were inscrutable. He stared at Adie’s little face from behind the mask, regarding the boy’s adorable face, healthy red lips, and clean white teeth. He then brusquely asked, “Did your mommy ever tell you who your daddy is?
‘Well, about that…”
Adie’s eyes darted around as he contemplated the question. He figured that he could not possibly let this man know that he was the villain Halston Guajardo’s own son himself, since that would lessen the chances that he would want to be his mother’s helper.
With that in mind, he told the man in a serious tone, “My daddy is Liam Osborne. You do know him, don’t you? Mommy told me that he’s not too shabby himself. He’s the future heir to the Osborne family, which is one of the eight great families of Beach City. Mommy also said that with the combined strengths of the Osborne family and the Ellsworth family, defeating the Guajardo family is only a matter of time!”
“Is that so? Hmph, your mommy is pretty ambitious, isn’t she?”
Mr. Q’s words sounded especially curt and surly, as if he was upset about something.
‘Jessanna Ximenez, you sly woman! How dare you lie to me?!’
‘But it’s fine,’ he thought. ‘It doesn’t matter whether this kid has the blood of the Guajardo family or not. As long as he’s Flossie Ellsworth’s son, then this deal is definitely worth it!’
Without any emotion on his face, he opened the car door and stepped out, striding into the pawnshop with his long legs.
Adie, utterly unafraid, followed him in bouncing little steps, as if it was just another normal day of going back home for him. He was truly a free spirit.
An attractive young man in a long white coat warmly greeted the man as soon as he got inside.
“You’re back, Mr. Q! So… this is the priceless treasure you were talking about?”
The young man was called Chase Cheever. He was the person in charge of the Carmine Pawnshop. Although he was still young, he was gifted with a pair of shrewd piercing eyes that made him the leading figure in the item appraisal circle. Everything in the pawnshop had to go through his appraisal before they were accepted here.
As Chase noticed Adie, he looked the boy up and down, scrutinizing him, before displaying a confused expression.
“What an adorable baby this boy is! He is good-looking, for sure, but I can tell at a glance that he’s been brought up like a prince. He won’t be able to work much, and he won’t be worth that much money either. What need do we have for someone like him?”
He had heard a few days ago that Mr. Q would go out and procure a new ‘ rare treasure’ he had found himself. He had not slept at all after hearing that, as he was just too excited to see what Mr. Q would bring back. But this is just… a useless brat?!
“You don’t need to know anything about that,” replied Mr. Q. “All you need to do is make sure he is well taken care of in the next few days.”
Mr. Q put his hands in his pockets and turned around to look at Adie with a somewhat cold attitude, as if trying to maintain a distance from the boy. But then Adie unexpectedly ran up to him and clung onto his leg like a koala bear before declaring in a pure childlike voice, “I knew you’re a good person, Little Q!”
Mr. Q’s whole body stiffened. He neither pushed the boy away nor embraced him.
Adie raised his soft and chubby face and smiled as brightly as a flower in full bloom. Then, in a voice that sounded as adult-like as he could muster, he said, “Congratulations. You passed my test. I can introduce you to Mommy without any worries now. If you work hard as her helper from now on, your future will be bright!”
Both Mr. Q and Chase were rendered speechless.
Chase began to understand why his boss wanted this little brat now. His audacity and courage alone were beyond the reach of some adults. He was indeed a precious gem, and if they continued to polish him, the power he might attain in the future could be immeasurable!
He assumed that the brat’s antics would lead Mr. Q to erupt in rage. After all, rumors had it that he despised being physically close to anyone.
Surprisingly, not only did he not lose his temper, he even gently caressed the boy’s head and gently reminded him, “Don’t get cheeky.”
Could… Could it be that this little brat was actually Mr. Q’s illegitimate son?!
The next day, Leia gingerly unlocked the door to Flossie’s bedroom and cautiously leaned half of her body into the room, and looked around.
All she saw was everything in the room in impeccable order just as it had always been. There was not a trace in there to suggest that anything ” passionate’ had happened last night as she expected.
Her best friend Flossie was lying on the bed with her back turned towards the door. She was sleeping very soundly, wrapped up in a thick beige blanket
Meanwhile, her useless brother was indolently lying on the couch, sound asleep. His clothes were still in perfect order. Not even his hair was the slightest bit ruffled up!
There was no need to guess. There was definitely nothing “interesting” going on last night at all!
Leia sighed. These two had been dragging it out for close to ten years now, yet they were still stuck in this ambiguous “friend zone” after all this time. She was almost irked to death thinking about it!
“Ahem!” Leia dragged her feet into the room and yanked the curtain open, flooding the room with bright sunlight. “Wake up, both of you! Time to get up!”
Liam woke up with a grimace and promptly got up to his feet and grabbed his sister from the back by the collar of her shirt.
“You little sh*thead!” he hissed. ‘So you finally opened the door, huh?
You’re getting too bold for your own good if you have the audacity to play this kind of stupid prank! If you didn’t think that I’d teach you a sore lesson today, then you’re about to get a big reality check on how frightening your brother can be!”
’Ah!” Leia screamed and struggled in resistance, but against her brother, she was nothing but a helpless little bird, and had no chance of escaping his grip. ’Let me go, you idiot! I only did it to help you guys! What a shame! All my good intentions and painstaking efforts were totally wasted on you!’
“He’s going to kill me!” Leia continued to make a loud commotion, now turning to Flossie for support. “You’ve got to help me, Flossie! My brother’s gone crazy! He’s really going to kill me!”
Despite the huge commotion between Liam and Leia, Flossie surprisingly still lay quietly in bed in the same position the whole time, just as if she had been replaced by a mannequin.
“That’s strange,” Leia noticed after fighting with her brother for a while.’ Why do I feel like there’s something wrong with Flossie?”
“Didn’t I tell you to comfort her last night?” she asked her brother. “How did she end up this way? Did someone hurt her?”
“Do you think anyone could hurt someone like Flossie?” replied Liam, putting his hands in his pockets. He looked at Flossie, whose back was turned towards them, and softly added, “If I’m not mistaken, I think she’s just in a self-healing mode.”
“Self-healing mode?” Leia asked, puzzled. But judging by how calm her brother seemed, perhaps Flossie was in no big trouble after all?
Liam slowly added, “When a person gets hit by a huge psychological blow and becomes seriously traumatized, they’ll get into a self-healing mode like some animals do. Some would bawl their eyes out, some would make a huge commotion, some would overeat or turn to alcohol to help them cope, and some would even turn to sex and become promiscuous. My guess is that our boss here probably chose to sleep in order to heal her trauma.”
“No way,” argued Leia. “The Flossie that I know has full confidence in Adie’s ability to survive. She can’t be so worried about her son that she became traumatized, can she?”
“Who told you it has anything to do with Adie?” replied Liam. He heaved a long sigh. He had no desire to keep the truth of the matter a secret anymore, so he explained, “Halston Guajardo is dead. In fact, he died trying to save Flossie. The doctors couldn’t save his life. Perhaps Flossie just can’t accept the reality of his death at the moment, so she…”
“What did you say?!” Leia’s eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets. “Halston Guajardo is dead?! This is earth-shattering news! Never mind her, I don’t even think I can believe that’s true! I’ve heard of rumors about his death, but no one actually believed it! This is Halston Guajardo we’re talking about after all! How could Beach City’s most powerful man just die so easily like that…?’
’It’s not just a rumor,” said Liam, “because I saw his corpse on a stretcher wheeled out of the operation room with my own eyes. His body was lying stiff under a white cloth.”
Liam was filled with conflicted emotions. To him, Halston Guajardo had always been an opponent both in business and in love. He had been anticipating the day Halston was finally eliminated, yet now that he had actually died, he felt inexplicably lost.
The man that he had always aimed to surpass was now gone forever before he had the chance to actually surpass him. Because of that, Halston Guajardo had become a forever insurmountable godlike figure. How could he not feel disheartened by it then?