Chapter 501 I Wouldn’t Have Hurt if You’d Died
Soon after they left, the venue returned to order. In this race against time to get rich, the audience preferred to ignore the incident in favor of devoting themselves to the cause.
When she noticed Kenneth’s hand inadvertently holding his wound, Elise said before she could think too much about it, “Thank you.”
In response, he only looked at her affectionately without saying anything.
What she didn’t know was that he was absolutely entranced with the way she used his power to take Ziggy down a peg.
Surely it wouldn’t take long before she completely got used to it and relied on this identity of his.
The pain of Kenneth’s wound was nothing in comparison to the feeling of being relied upon by her.
It wasn’t until Elise realized something was strange and looked up at him that he quickly averted his gaze. Clearing his throat, he changed the topic and asked, “How did you know I came to exterminate the Eagle Gang?”
Stunned, she pulled back.
No… She’d only been blathering nonsense. It couldn’t be true.
“You really exterminated the entire gang?” Elise murmured tentatively.
Hearing that, Kenneth frowned.
From her question, it seemed she hadn’t known about this matter, and yet…
Seeing through his thoughts, she offered up an explanation. “I only said all of that to scare Ziggy and to let him know that there were others better than him and not to be so brazen. I didn’t know Eagle Gang was truly gone… Is this why you got so badly injured yesterday?”
Kenneth hummed in response. Having already let things slip, he had no choice but to confirm her suspicions.
After a moment of thought, she continued, “Did you do it single-handedly?”
“How else?”
“So, that was the reason you came to Dukethorn? Did Smith Co. and the Eagle Gang have irreconcilable differences of some sort?”
Instead of immediately replying, he simply stared at her expressionlessly.
Feeling somewhat at a loss, Elise twisted her hands. In truth, she herself didn’t know why she was suddenly so interested in his business, either, but with no way to take back what she just said, she could only wait silently for his response.
Of course, there was nothing strange about it. Wasn’t it worth her time to get to the bottom of anything she found suspicious?
Yes, it was only because he happened to be Kenneth Bailey and not because he was Kenneth Bailey that she paid special attention.
“No,” Kenneth finally said after a long time, looking suddenly like a docile and loyal hound as he spoke slowly and softly. “You were attacked by the people from that gang. I was afraid someone would come after you if I didn’t take care of them all. Clearing them out once and for all gives me less to worry about.”
Thud thud thud…
And just like that, Elise felt her heart begin to race.
As she stared at his earnest expression, she suddenly found that she had lost all ability to speak or express herself. There wasn’t anything she could say or any way she could react.
Only after a long time did Elise take a deep breath to calm down. Her tone icy, she muttered, “Don’t humor yourself by doing these things. I already have people I would give up my life for. If you’d died at the Eagle Gang’s haunt yesterday, I wouldn’t have felt hurt in the least bit.”
With that, she spun on her heel and walked away.
Before she could get too far, Kenneth followed after her and caught her wrist.
All at once, Elise’s heart jolted like she had been electrocuted, and she shrugged him off in terror. “Don’t touch me!”
Even though he didn’t know what was happening to her, he lifted his hands in surrender. “I have no ill intentions. I only wanted to say that your bet with Ziggy doesn’t have to continue. It can end here.”
“What are you implying?” Her breathing was still somewhat unsteady.
“With the Eagle Gang gone, the Carnegie Family has no crutch to lean on. They can’t cause any fuss and they wouldn’t dare touch you.”
That was when she caught his meaning.
Only after breathing out deeply and readjusting her state of mind could she say as calmly as possible. “You underestimate me. Do you think I can’t win?”
“I’m worried—”
“Don’t say such things anymore.” Elise didn’t wait for him to reply before continuing, “I don’t care who you worry about, but I don’t need you to worry about me. Moreover, I never do anything that I have no confidence in, so just you wait and see. Once I get some top-quality goods, I’ll have a piece of jewelry made to thank you.”
“I don’t need that.”
“You’re taking it whether you want it or not!” she snapped forcefully. “It’s the only thing I can give you, nothing else apart from that!”
Elise would never tolerate or accept having feelings for someone other than Alexander Griffith.
And so, after leaving Kenneth with this sentence, she left the lounge and went to find Tom.
By now, Tom had chosen two pieces of stone. After getting them registered, the duo left to have lunch.
Right as they exited the venue, Tina could be heard hurriedly chasing after them. “Hold on a minute, Miss Sinclair…” She came up to Elise right as the latter stopped in her tracks and turned back. “I said I would thank you today. Will you have lunch with me?”
As Tina finished her quiet question, she looked away, only for her gaze to fall on Tom. In an instant, her smile became somewhat unnatural, and her hand that was clutching the strap of her purse subconsciously tightened as her eyes darted away.
“Sure.” Elise was quick to decide as she murmured, “We can find a quiet restaurant with relatively few people in it.”
Once they reached the restaurant, Tina went up to the host station to get a table number with Tom and Elise trailing behind her.
“Hey.” Elise nudged his arm to remind him, “You’re old acquaintances. Be proactive. Don’t miss this excellent opportunity.”
Flustered and uneasy, Tom protested, “I’m worried she’s not interested in me, and yet my heart aches to see her with Ziggy…”
“Well, you’d best let her know, then. What’s the point in only me knowing about it? At your age, it’s completely up to you whether you want a wife. Don’t come crying to me later that I’m not concerned with your personal issues as your boss,” Elise counseled meaningfully, sounding twice her age.
At this point, Tom didn’t know whether to laugh or feel awkward. After all, Elise herself knew that she was younger than him, yet she was teaching him about romance.
Clearly, she was interested in everything except doing business through stone gambling.
Of course, she was most interested in sleeping.
In the less than a week since they met, Elise had spent half that time sleeping.
Very soon, the trio got a table and sat down.
Not long after that, as if she had remembered something, Elise picked up her cell phone and headed toward the exit. “I have to make a call. You guys can get started first; there’s no need to wait for me.”
The moment she left, the atmosphere at the table became strange.
Somewhat uneasily, Tom and Tina stared at each other, neither having the courage to speak up first.
Finally drumming up his courage, Tom broke the silence. “Uh—let’s order first so that the food will get here by the time Miss Sinclair comes back.”
“Alright,” Tina agreed politely before pushing the menu over to him. “You pick, I’ll supplement.”
Without further ceremony, Tom chose two kinds of meat and a vegetable to be shared among them before arranging for some drinks and pushing the menu back to Tina.
After glancing through the menu, she picked out some dessert and appetizers before flagging down an attendant. As she was passing the order form to the attendant, she suddenly remembered something and snatched the order form back, scribbling ‘no scallions or cilantro’ in a corner.
Only when she finished writing and looked up to meet Tom’s gaze did she realize she had revealed something by accident. Nevertheless, she still stubbornly handed the order form back to the attendant.
The moment the attendant left, Tom sighed. “It’s been so many years, but you haven’t forgotten that I don’t like scallions and cilantro.”
“It has nothing to do with you,” Tina answered indifferently. “It’s simply that I don’t like them.”
“You used to eat them in the past.”
“As you said, that was in the past. No one has stayed the same since. Can’t I change?”
