Wendy was left speechless.Her comment had been casual and offhanded; she hadn't expected Ryan
to take it seriously! After a brief moment of awkward silence, she gritted her teeth and typed, "And how
do you want me to thank you, exactly?"
"Let's have dinner together tonight."
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have a prior engagement for tonight."
It was Ryan who paused this time.
"Who are you going to meet?" he replied after a we "It's a secret!"
She sent the message and immediately turned off her phone.
In that same moment, Ryan was sitting in the conference room, at the headquarters of Oliver Group.
Ryan leaned back against the president's seat, his face clouded.He was gripping his phone tightly with
one hand.
"Sir?"
Coming back to his senses, he turned to the executives flanking him on either side of the conference
table.
"Go on!" he barked before putting his phone away.
The executives exchanged nervous glances and eyed Ryan with confusion.
‘He was just on his phone for a short while.
How come he's very irritable all of a sudden?’ Despite their curiosity, they swallowed the lump in their
throats and mustered the courage to soldier through the rest of the meeting.
They did, however, proceed with their reports with more caution than necessary.
"You call this a report? Redo everything!" Ryan roared.
Then, before anyone else could speak a word, he added, "Is this even a coherent plan? Redo it! And
this one, too! Redo them all!"
At the end of the meeting, the executives were just a few seconds away from bursting into tears.Ryan
had never been one to vent his anger at will.
Instead, he would usually just sit in cold silence and stare people down.
Even then, the other party would always find themselves trembling with fear.
But now, it seemed like he was finally giving in to his emotional impulses.
The senior executives were frightened out of their wits.
"I want the revised plans on my desk before I leave for the day!"
Ryan announced without mercy.
His subordinates closed their eyes and tightened their lips to keep from screaming their frustrations.
Deep inside, however, they were all wailing and complaining.
Ryan's orders meant that they needed to work their butts off and come up with the revisions in just a
few hours.
‘God! This is obviously an impossible task!’
"This meeting is adjourned," Ryan said, ignoring their dejected expressions.
As they scurried out of the room, one of them secretly asked Luke for help.
"Mr.Luke.You have to help us!"
Barely an hour later, Luke was at the door to the CEO's office.
"Mr.Luke, please do me a favor and hand this report to your brother."
"Mr.Luke! This contract needs the CEO's signature.Can you make sure that he signs it?"
"Mr.Luke, this one as well..."
"And this!"
Upon seeing him there, the staff rushed over to Luke and passed over all the documents that needed
Ryan's attention.
As the folders piled up in his arms, he couldn't help scowling and cursing inside his head.
‘Damn it! Are they for real? Why do I have to help them?’
"Mr.Luke, please!"
Left with no choice, Luke took a deep breath and opened the door to the CEO's office.
He strode inside grumpily, the thick stack of documents carefully balanced in his arms.The rest of the
employees watched him disappear through the door, silently praying for his safety and well-being.
‘God bless you! Mr.Luke! “
"Get out!"
Ryan snarled without looking up from his desk.
"Ryan, it's me!" Ryan did look up then, and narrowed his eyes when he saw Luke.
"What are you doing here?"
Luke dumped the documents on the massive desk, then made a show of wiping off a nonexistent bead
of sweat on his forehead.
"Your staff asked for my help.They're all scared of you."
"Well, you may return now," Ryan said dryly.
"Dad and Mom have gone to the hospital to take care of Precious.I have nothing to do there!"
"Then you might as well do some work, since you're already here."
"No way.You gave me a day off this morning!" Ryan cocked his head to the side and raised an
eyebrow.
Luke gritted his teeth and stopped breathing altogether.
‘Oh my God! What a terrifying expression! He was fine when he came to work this morning.What could
have possibly happened?’ He pondered this for all of five seconds before coming to the conclusion that
it probably had something to do with Wendy.
Luke heaved a heavy sigh.
‘Alas! Wendy, you evil girl.You stir him up and get him to throw these adult tantrums, but I'm the one
who has to comfort and placate him.Ah, life is so unfair.’
"Ryan, is it possible that you're in a particularly foul mood?"
Luke pulled a chair over to sit next to the other man.
"Let me guess why! Hmm...Now, I know the only person who can affect your mood this much is Wendy,
so it must be her fault that you're cranky right now.Oh, let me hazard another follow-up guess!
According to the maid working in Enfield, Bruce waited for Wendy the whole night.You've also been
rather testy since Bruce came back, so I thought he must have done something that annoyed
you.Well? Am I right?"
"Heck! This guy is really something!’ Ryan's eyes softened to some degree.
When they were still children, their parents had been far too busy with business and had rarely
accompanied him and Luke.
Needless to say, he didn't have any deep connection with his parents.
This only worsened as he grew up, and after what had transpired fifteen years ago, Ryan’s personality
had become extremely distant and cold.
Most of those who had known him in his early years had been unable to accept these changes in his
temperament, and had gradually kept their distance.
That was, except for Luke.
No matter how blunt or aloof Ryan was acting, Luke would always tag along and follow him happily.
Even Ryan's own parents rarely ever guessed his mind, but Luke was an exception yet again.He could
somehow read into the smallest details and notice the slightest shifts in Ryan's behavior.
And yes, he could effortlessly anticipate Ryan's thoughts as well.
Ryan now looked at Luke with warm humor in his eyes.He reached out.
Luke instinctively dipped his chin and shrank away.
Ryan's palm landed on the other man's head, and he began to stroke Luke's hair, albeit with a small
frown.
As for Luke, he was frozen speechless.
In fact, he was rather terrified.
Just now, he thought that Ryan was about to strangle him or beat him up.
"Uh...Ryan?"
"Bruce asked Wendy out to dinner."
"What? Did Wendy say yes?"
"She did," Ryan replied bitterly.
Luke was lost in his thoughts for a moment.
They still had a mess to sort out, but Bruce just had to come back at such an unfortunate time.
Alas! He was certain that if it had been someone else who dared to pursue Wendy, Ryan could have
easily had the man dealt with.
"Do you want me to look into the restaurant that Bruce booked? We could go there and pretend to run
into them by accident."
"There's no need."
"Eh?" Luke gaped in surprise.
"Ask Kane to contact Carter and see what time Wendy gets off work."
Ryan paused and narrowed his eyes.
"And bring Precious here before Wendy gets off works Luke said nothing, but he raised his hand and
gave Ryan a thumbs-up sign.Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Precious is definitely going to change the
situation.There's no way Wendy will go to dinner with Bruce if the child is around.Precious would never
allow it.'
In another part of Ywood, at a high-rise neighborhood, Eris sat cross-legged on the sofa, her eyes red
and puffed.
Across her was a wide LCD TV playing the video of Brian's interview from that morning.
She had watched it over ten times already.
At some point, all her tears had dried up, and she couldn't cry anymore. In the video, Brian acted like
he was the victim.
He claimed that he had been blind and taken advantage of, and tried to gain the reporters’ sympathy.
And then he announced their breakup to the world, effectively throwing all the blame to Eris and letting
her take the fall.
She would never have believed that Brian would do such a thing if she hadn't seen the video with her
own eyes.
They had been in love for four years, after all, including the years they had secretly carried out their
affair.
They might have broken up, and she didn't really expect him to sing her praises in the media, but she
had never imagined that he would stab her in the back like this.
Her lips curved into a subconscious smile.
Tears began to well up in her eyes again.She swept a gaze at her surroundings.
The place was decidedly in disarray.Her gaze turned cold.
"Do you really think you can get rid of me with an apartment? Humph! What am I, a beggar?"
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