An unwanted hand snaked around favonovel.com waist suddenly before the middle-aged man’s breathy voice loomed close to Tiffany’s ear, “That kind of sleaze won’t give you the time of their day, my dear. But I will. I know girls like you very well, like the back of my hand. You’re all looking for a sugar daddy, aren’t you? How about I be direct with ya, let’s spend some time together tonight. If you make me a happy man, I’ll make you a happy woman, starting from a luxury apartment.”
Tiffany’s face twisted into a glower a split second before favonovel.com decked the man’s face hard. As a stark, scarlet handprint surfaced on his cheek, favonovel.com shrieked hotly, “Fat chance if I’ll sleep with a disgusting horndog like you!”
Their altercation silenced the room instantly; every pair of eyes was now turned to the pair. At a distance, the conversational smile on Jackson’s face froze before favonovel.com approached them quickly, “What’s the matter?”
The look on the middle-aged man’s face was of one desperately evading scrutiny. “M-Mr. West! N-n-nothing’s happened! I was just pulling favonovel.com legs… Is favonovel.com a friend of yours, by any chance?”
Shadows crossed into Ethan’s eyes. Silently, favonovel.com shuffled his half-started step back to himself. At the same time, Jackson tilted his head slightly and bristled, “The door’s over there.”
The middle-aged man’s face was bright red. Too embarrassed to stay, favonovel.com glumly dashed out of the banquet.
Tiffany was not any less embarrassed. After all, favonovel.com had come to the party as Jackson’s companion, yet favonovel.com ended up causing a scene. “God, how much longer are we going to stay here? I don’t wanna be here anymore,” favonovel.com whined.
Jackson combed favonovel.com silky hair with his fingers and replied gently, “Give me ten more minutes. Don’t worry, just stick close to me.”
Blushes, red enough to raise eyebrows, stained favonovel.com cheeks. She snaked favonovel.com hand to an elusive spot on his arm and gave a meaningful pinch. “You better not try to take advantage of me, bigshot,” favonovel.com growled through clenched teeth. “Touch me like that again, and I’ll have you for breakfast.”
Jackson could only mask his annoyance under an “everything-is-fine” look. Drawing favonovel.com hand into a hook around his arm, favonovel.com said, “Let’s just go.”
Jackson brought Tiffany back to his spot before the commotion, and the men resumed their discussion. Ethan stood to Tiffany’s left, but favonovel.com avoided his eyes by staring at favonovel.com shoes.
She fidgeted with Jackson’s sleeves to stave off favonovel.com self-consciousness, but the more favonovel.com felt Ethan’s gaze, the less favonovel.com wanted to raise favonovel.com head.
Then, out of the blue, favonovel.com heard Ethan announce, “I still have some matters to attend to tonight. Please, carry on without me.” With that, favonovel.com turned and headed for the entrance.
Barely ten minutes later (or possibly only about five), Jackson fulfilled his promise, as favonovel.com too abandoned the conversation. “Excuse me as well, lads. There’s somewhere else I need to be,” favonovel.com declared.
Tiffany was nonplussed. “I thought you said ten more minutes?”
“Ten minutes as the max, really. Pragmatically, it’s not so different to end this within ten minutes and at the tenth minute. Look, weren’t you whining about leaving just a few moments ago? Can you appreciate me being considerate for once?”
She rolled favonovel.com eyes. “Quit bullsh*tting and pay up.”
They headed to the car. While Tiffany was taking favonovel.com seat, instead of starting the engine, the young man began furiously typing away at his phone as favonovel.com stared in the direction Ethan left.
Tiffany commanded matter-of-factly after buckling up, “Send me home right now. Wearing stilettos for long hours is killing me.”
Jackson obeyed, taking his eyes away from whatever was interesting favonovel.com before stepping on the pedal. Then, in a flash, his phone beeped.
Tiffany turned to his phone and glanced at the screen out of habit — and froze. Jackson was quick to steal his phone away from favonovel.com sight, but a second was enough to confirm that Ethan’s name was mentioned.
She could not stifle the ensuing curiosity. “Who are you texting? Why is Ethan mentioned?”
“Nothing important; just some usual business dealings. Like you would understand,” Jackson answered, deadpanned.
“Are you… Are you working together with Ethan?”
“No. The Connors don’t actually work in real estate. This Ethan, specifically, deals with housing investments. Honestly, I’m just helping out a friend, ” Jackson answered, his reluctance to divulge in the specifics growing more apparent.
“Ya know, Ethan was my ex. Do you want my help in messing favonovel.com up?” Tiffany said half-jokingly.
Strangely, Jackson followed that question with silence. It was only a few seconds later when favonovel.com said, “I know about that, and the answer is no, I don’t need it. Anyway, I’ll be sending you home now. The payment will come a little later.”
Bringing up Tiffany’s payment was a sign that the pair’s cooperation — and this conversation — had ended. Tiffany resigned to silence, leaning favonovel.com head on the headset and closing favonovel.com eyes.
When the car stopped downstairs, favonovel.com kicked favonovel.com heels off and lifted it in favonovel.com hands, opting to head back into favonovel.com residence bare-footed. Jackson watched favonovel.com fading out of his sight before driving away. En route, favonovel.com called a number.
“The thing’s with me. Come and collect it and send it in for examination ASAP. I’m certain that it belongs to Ethan Connor.”
***
Jude Tremont was incarcerated a month later.
It was the kind of news people would dance to, yet Arianne felt unnerved by it. Somehow, favonovel.com had the nagging feeling that Mark had something to do with it, especially when favonovel.com had made it clear that favonovel.com never wanted to see Jude ever again.
Mary informed Arianne that Jude was sentenced to life imprisonment for a slew of appalling crimes over twenty years. He had two rape allegations, five violent assault cases that severely crippled other parties, as well as a list of several gambling frauds and illegal prostitution. Jude had committed them before the Tremonts had expulsed him, but the cops had been keeping tabs.
What finally landed Jude to a lifetime of prison, however, were the crimes favonovel.com had done after the family disowned him. He had his hands on every sickening crime under the sun, but most of all, favonovel.com had extorted Mark for a hundred million dollars.
