The heavy iron gates of the prison slowly closed behind him with a dull, resounding CLANG, as if completely locking away the past three years of his life within its high walls.
Silas Sutton stood outside the prison gates, squinting to adjust to the long-unseen world outside.
His thirty-year-old face had grown a bit leaner, but it only made his features sharper and more defined.
The shallow scar above the brow of his prominent nose was faintly visible beneath his choppy fringe.
Far from marring his handsome appearance, it added an untamed, rugged charm.
Under the sunlight, his slightly long black hair was a bit disheveled.
A faint, habitual smirk played on his lips.
His gaze, a mix of roguishness and profound depth, resembled an unfathomable lake.
He took a deep breath of free air, casually rolling his sleeves up to his forearms to reveal toned, muscular arms and a faded tattoo on his wrist—a solitary eagle.
“Silas!”
“Boss!”
“He’s out!”
A crowd surged in the open space outside the prison gates.
Dozens of men in various attires—some in crisp suits, others in casual wear—swarmed forward and came to a halt in front of Silas.
Sean Crane and Ryan Rhodes strode over from the front of the crowd.
Sean wore a dark gray suit, his eyes already reddening behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
Ryan, dressed in a casual jacket and sporting a buzz cut, grinned like a kid, the diamond stud in his left ear glinting in the sun.
“Silas!” Sean pulled him into a tight hug, clapping him hard on the back.
“Finally…
the day is finally here.”
Ryan rushed up to join them, wrapping them both in a bear hug.
His voice choked with emotion.
“Boss, it’s been three years.
Three whole years…”
The subordinates formed a circle around them, not daring to interrupt, though excitement radiated from every face.
Someone set off firecrackers, the CRACKLE and POP echoing across the open grounds.
In the distance, prison guards peeked out, their eyes full of helpless resignation as they didn’t dare intervene.
Silas pulled away from his two brothers, sweeping his gaze across the familiar faces.
The smile on his lips deepened.
“Making such a big scene…
anyone who didn’t know better would think I’m here on an official inspection.”
“Of course!” Ryan wiped the corner of his eye.
“When our boss gets out, it has to be done in style!”
Sean opened the door of a Rolls-Royce Phantom and made a welcoming gesture.
“Get in.
Let’s go home.”
Silas nodded.
Just as he was about to get in, he paused and glanced back at the heavy iron gates.
The sunlight stretched his shadow long across the ground.
A fleeting look of complex emotion crossed his face before he turned and slid into the car.
Sean and Ryan followed closely behind him.
Kyle, a lean and tough-looking young man with a buzz cut, climbed into the driver’s seat and smoothly started the engine.
The convoy slowly pulled away from the prison, heading toward the city center.
Inside the car, Sean turned around from the passenger seat, taking off his gold-rimmed glasses to wipe them.
His voice was low.
“Silas, I’m sorry.
If you hadn’t shouldered all the blame back then, it would be Ryan and me walking out of those gates today.
These past three years, we…”
“Yeah!
Silas.
If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t have had to suffer through prison.” Sitting next to Silas, Ryan also looked guilt-ridden.
“For this favor, we’ll wait on you hand and foot…”
“That’s enough,” Silas interrupted, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lighting one.
Amid the swirling smoke, the hard lines of his profile seemed to soften.
“When things went south with that shipment, someone had to take the fall.
I was the best fit, and it gave them an answer.
We needed you two on the outside to smooth things over.”
He exhaled a smoke ring, staring through the car window at the rapidly retreating fields.
“Three years in exchange for the safety of my brothers.
It was worth it.”
Ryan’s face twisted with pain.
“But that was three whole years!”
Silas waved him off.
“It’s in the past.
If we’re brothers, drop it.
Don’t weigh yourselves down with it, and I definitely don’t need you waiting on me hand and foot.
From now on, whatever path we take, we take it together.
We make our fortunes together.”
“Yes, absolutely.
We’ll listen to you, Boss,” his two friends nodded repeatedly.
“But Silas…
you suffered in there.”
“It was fine inside,” Silas said nonchalantly, his signature roguish smirk lifting the corner of his mouth.
“It built character.
Not only did I figure a lot of things out, but I also picked up some legal knowledge.
From now on, the way we do things needs to be more ‘standardized.'”
His words drew a laugh from the others, lightening the mood in the car.
Silas suddenly leaned forward and patted the back of the driver’s seat.
“Kyle, did you bring what I asked for?”
“We brought it, we brought it!” Before Kyle could say a word, Sean eagerly beat him to it, as if waiting for the chance to show off.
He quickly opened the glove compartment and pulled out a slightly worn brown leather bag.
“Right here!
You gave me instructions before going in, and I’ve kept this bag with me personally.
I never let anyone else touch it.”
When Silas took the bag, his fingers trembled almost imperceptibly.
He unzipped it and carefully pulled out a blue-covered notebook.
He inspected it meticulously, letting out a sigh of relief only after confirming it was perfectly intact.
Looking down at it, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled upward.
The light in his eyes became unimaginably soft.
Seeing this, Ryan raised an eyebrow and immediately started teasing him.
“Oho!
Holding it so tight, smiling so…
blissfully?” He blew an exaggerated smoke ring.
“I gotta say, Boss, you didn’t ask about the company or the business the moment you got out, but you asked about this bag.
Something’s up!
Don’t tell me this notebook is from a special lady friend?”
Sean also pushed up his glasses, a gossipy look spreading across his face.
“Silas, I’ve never seen you make that expression before.”
Silas shot them a sideways glare, but he couldn’t suppress his blissful smile.
Instead, it only deepened.
“You actually guessed right.”
“Oh?” Ryan’s eyes sparkled, suddenly fired up.
“We really have a boss lady?
When did this happen?
How come we didn’t know a thing about it!
What does she look like?
How old is she?
What does she do?
Tell us, quick!”
Sean also pressed with a gossipy face, “To make our boss care this much, so much that the first thing he does out of prison is look for her stuff…
this woman must be extraordinary, right?
Silas, tell us, is she some wealthy heiress?
A celebrity model?”
With the two of them chiming in one after another, the atmosphere in the car instantly grew lively.
Even Kyle, who was focused on driving, couldn’t help stealing glances through the rearview mirror, a suppressed smile tugging at his lips.
Silas let them make a fuss.
He merely clutched the notebook tightly to his chest, resting his head against the seat back and smiling without saying a word.
After a long moment, he carefully opened the cover.
On the title page, a line of elegant and forceful fountain pen handwriting read: “Sprout.” Beside it were two dates: one was a birthday, and the other was labeled “Menstrual Cycle.” The handwriting was neat, carrying even a trace of solemn earnestness.
Ryan leaned in closer.
When he got a clear look, he burst out laughing.
“Oh my god!
Boss, aren’t you a bit too…
considerate?
You even wrote down her time of the month?
Is this still the Boss Sutton I know?”
Sean caught a glimpse of it as well, adjusting his glasses in surprise.
“It certainly is…
unexpected.”
Their slightly suggestive teasing actually made the tips of Silas’s ears turn faintly red.
He snapped the notebook shut in annoyance and glared at the two of them.
“What are you looking at?”
Though he said that, there was no real anger in his tone.
Instead, it carried a rare trace of shyness.