Adah laughed, her voice even more teasing than before. “Good. Let’s go.”

Adah pulled on Lance’s arm and set off without looking back.

Still dazed and riding the high of her attention, Lance barely managed to toss a rushed farewell at Allan before leaving with her, grinning like someone who had just won the lottery.

Allan stood there, seconds from losing control completely. Anger swallowed his features, and a crazy idea crossed his mind. He imagined digging a hole and shoving Lance into it, deep enough that no one would ever find the guy again.

Allan knew Adah did this on purpose. She really knew how to provoke him. The way she openly clung to another man, the sweetness layered into her voice, the casual promise to dress up just for Lance. Every word felt like a blade pushed deeper into his chest. If she kept torturing him like this, she was going to drive him to an early grave.

In Allan’s mind, that infuriating woman had proven one thing clearly. Gentle approaches wouldn’t work on her. Maybe force was the only language she understood. Damn it. Why not just take her? He should lock her in his room, make her his, and haul her straight to the city hall to register their marriage afterward. He would turn her into his wife whether she liked it or not. Then, he would see if she still dared to toy with him like this.

Right as those thoughts took shape, sharp pain exploded through his leg. A cane struck his calf without warning.

“Ow!” Allan cried out, hopping in place. He twisted around and found Raymond, who had supposedly left moments earlier, marching back with a furious expression carved into his face.

Raymond wasn’t holding back. Even in front of the crowd, he swung again without hesitation.

“Grandpa! Are you actually trying to beat your own grandson to death?” Allan protested, clutching his leg and glaring up at Raymond.

Raymond scoffed sharply and launched into him without restraint. “I have to lower myself and lie outright because of you, you useless boy!”

? ?: ?ν?

Allan dropped his head, fully aware that every word was deserved. His engagement with Adah had been Raymond’s decision from the beginning, yet he had thrown it away on impulse, rebelling against his grandfather and canceling everything out of sheer arrogance.

However, once Allan learned that Adah was actually Ava, panic had set in. Desperate to undo his mistake, he had gone straight to Raymond, confessed everything, and begged the elderly man to intervene.

Raymond had nearly blown his top at first. In the end, he had swallowed his anger and agreed to help.

Raymond had believed that swallowing his pride for his grandson’s sake would be enough to smooth things over. Watching Adah link arms with Lance and walk off shattered that belief completely.

Even though Allan and Cole were close, Raymond and Ruben had been sworn enemies for most of their lives. Their clashes dated back to their youth, decades of arguments that never truly ended. Age had done nothing to cool that rivalry. The truth was simpler and uglier. They had once competed for the same woman. Back then, both men had fallen for Diane. She had chosen Ruben in the end, a loss Raymond had never truly accepted.

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