“Noah managed to rally Graham to his side and do his dirty work.“I have to say that he’s extraordinarily cunning! He must have some dirt on Courtney. I’m willing to bet that he knows about some humiliating secrets. So, she had no choice but to persuade her husband to take Noah’s side.”…It just so happened that Noah was looking their way. Gwynn turned her head sideways. She said to Marisol, “He has always been ruthless.”The latter nodded, agreeing with her sentiment. At that moment, a server came in with a sumptuous fruit platter. She laid it down on the coffee table and said, “This is from Mr. Noah. I’ll also bring some snacks over in a minute.”Gwynn wanted to reject it, but Marisol accepted it. Once the server left, the latter said, “You’ll be playing into his ego if you reject it! It’s best to act as if you’re unfazed in situations like this. Make him guess what you’re thinking. Send a message to him that paltry gestures such as this are nothing in your eyes. After al
Noah didn’t do anything to her. Her lean wrists were tied up and she was helplessly in his embrace. She couldn’t move at all, nor did she have any intention to call for her help. Her sleeping gown was pulled open, after all.He lay on top of her. There was a glint in his eyes as he stared at her with the glow from the moonlight. After a long time, he leaned into her chest. He was a tall, burly man while Gwynn was slender and petite. That didn’t stop him from leaning on her shoulder. He wouldn’t have shown this vulnerable side of him under normal circumstances. However, he was intensely fearful now. He had always been confident and sure of himself. The way he saw it, Gwynn could never leave him for real regardless of how much she fought back. After all, he wielded power and influence. There are a lot of ways for him to restrict her freedom.Still, life threw him a curve ball. Seemingly out of the blue, she found her real father and family: Archibald and the Templetons.The ol
After a brief moment, Noah said, “Where would you like to meet?”Archibald chuckled faintly. “Let’s do it at my villa. I don’t like to talk about my family affairs at work. Moreover, people could be listening in to our conversation. We certainly don’t want that!”Noah hung up the phone. Lowering his head, he cupped his face and asked Kim. “I’ve lost the battle, haven’t I?”Kim didn’t say anything for a long time.Leaning back on the leather chair, he looked at her and said, “Everyone’s being respectful and fearful of Archibald! Why would anyone stand up to him and take my side publicly? I actually think they’re all secretly selling away my company’s stocks!”Then, he added, “See to it that every stock they sold is bought back under my name. Use my personal funds!”She didn’t think it was a good idea. He lit a cigarette. “I’ve lost my pride. I can’t lose my company! I have no use for my wealth. The Sanders Group is the only thing that matters now. I have to save it even if it’
Noah smiled dryly in response. After all, history was always written by the victors!Archibald was truly a formidable and cunning opponent. He had crushed Noah with constant pressure for a whole month. Now, it seemed the old man was going to dangle a reward in front of him!As expected, the old man wanted him to divorce Gwynn. Then, he’d be rewarded with a large-scale renewable energy project in the northern part of the country. This single project could very well revive his dying company.He listened to Archibald patiently. Then, he said softly, “I’ll agree to divorce Gwynn! However, I respectfully reject your offer of the project! I was able to rebuild my company from the ground up after I got out of jail. I can do it all over again.”Archibald looked at him sharply. Sneering, he said, “Do you think you’re still a young man?!”He ignored the sarcasm in the old man’s tone. He stood up slowly. The fact was that he had thought long and hard about it before he came here. He
The next afternoon, Noah was already at the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau by the time Gwynn arrived. He was smoking in the car. He didn’t put any hair gel on his hair and his clothes weren’t as fresh as they were last night. His eyes were bloodshot, giving him a miserable look. He stared at her through the window, his eyes filled with nothing but longing.After a long time, he extended his arm and opened the car door. Then, he walked into the building with her. She said softly, “Honestly, we don’t have to show up in person! You have a lawyer for this. He’s the one who has been handling things for us!” He stared at her profoundly. Perhaps it was because they were about to sign the divorce papers. In any case, she seemed so delighted to be talking to him. He was kind of surprised that she spoke this much too. He had begged her to talk to him in the past. Hell, he even tried to force words out of her by thrusting into her roughly when they were in bed, but she just wouldn’t
“You’re right, Noah! You’ve regained your freedom, now that we’re divorced.“Gianna is still waiting for you to go back to her side.”…With that, she shut the car door with a bang, not caring if it might’ve slammed on his fingers in the process.The thought of Gwen brought tears to her eyes. She hated Noah’s guts. At the next moment, her white BMW rushed past him and crushed the jewelry box. He picked it up, brushed off the mangled pieces, and took the pink diamond ring out. The ring was fine, but it was no longer the same ring that fitted snugly on her finger. It was twisted out of shape. He stared at it quietly. His heart hurt more every time it throbbed.…A week later, he left the Sanders Group headquarters in the middle of the night. His once reputable company was facing bankruptcy. There was a stock halt. Noah mortgaged away nearly all of his properties and luxurious cars. That was the only way he could protect the company, even though it was a husk of its for
The soup Gianna brought over was spilled on the lobby floor. Lowering his head, he looked at it for a while before he picked up the soup container and tossed it into the trash can by the door. He didn’t need a woman to take pity on him. After that, he kept drinking himself into a stupor. He’d call out to Gwynn once he woke up from it. Sometimes, he’d even dream about the moment when they met each other for the first time.This time, however, he woke up from his drunken stupor and saw Emma. She was wiping sweat from his forehead. Her head was lowered and she spoke softly, as she usually did. “You kept calling out to ‘Gwynn,’ Mr. Noah. Is she someone you love?”For a minute there, he wasn’t completely sobered up. After a brief moment, he said in a husky voice, “She’s my wife.”She got bold and asked, “Why don’t you go home, then?”He looked dazed when he heard the question. After a while, he pulled out a cigarette from his front pocket, lit it up, and smoked it leisurely.
Noah didn’t manage to find his voice until after a brief moment. “Are you dating him?”Gwynn didn’t deny it. Nodding lightly, she said, “My family recommended him to me. We’ve just had dinner together.”After that, she took her coat from the sophisticated man and bade farewell to him. The man had a good idea who Noah was. However, he didn’t ask her about it. Instead, he took a step back with dignity and flashed her a faint smile. Clearly, he liked her enough to want to have another date with her. Then, Gwynn drove off in her white BMW.The man left too. Noah stood on the street in the dead of night. The neon lights and the escort standing next to him accentuated his misery and the fact that he had lost everything. That was right!The fact was that he had lost everything. He proceeded to dry heave by the roadside, his mind flooded with memories from a much simpler time. “I’ll go to Silvercrest with you, Noah.”“You can’t tell anyone that you’re my husband once we’