“Snatch her back…
and then what?” Silas shot him a cold, sidelong glance.
“Destroy the happiness she wants, take her back by force, and watch her cry every day?
Make her hate me for the rest of her life?”
Ryan was stumped.
He opened his mouth but couldn’t find the words.
Silas looked away, his voice dropping low.
“Sean, Ryan, I’m nearly thirty.
I’ve never loved anyone before, but my love for Sprout might run deeper than anything.
I remember every single word she said yesterday, every look she gave me.
If she didn’t love that man, I would never let her suffer the slightest grievance.
I’d take our guys and snatch her back right this instant.
But she said with her own mouth that she loves her fiancé, which makes me feel…”
He slumped his shoulders and buried his face in his hands, finishing in agony.
“…so powerless.
I don’t want to destroy her happiness just because of my own selfishness.
I can only let her go.”
Saying those words made Silas’s heart spasm.
It ached so much he could barely breathe.
Sprout was his angel, the light in his heart, a rose that deserved to bloom in the warm sunlight.
What he wanted was her smile.
He wanted her to be happy, not to tie her to his side against her will—even if it meant he had to swallow all the bitterness alone.
“Uh…
well…” Ryan was torn.
Street logic dictated that if you liked something, you just took it by force.
But their boss’s perspective had suddenly broadened.
He would rather suffer the consequences alone than hurt the other party in the slightest.
This completely stumped Ryan.
He had no idea how to help his boss alleviate his sorrows.
Silas paused.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he continued, “You guys know…
for a guy with a record like mine, it would be an honor if she loved me.
But since she doesn’t, I have no right to pester her.”
Hearing this, Ryan suddenly slapped himself hard across the face.
“I’m sorry, Boss,” he said, his voice full of self-reproach.
“It’s all our fault.
If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t have gone away, and you and Sprout wouldn’t have…”
Silas waved a hand to interrupt him, the pain in his eyes deepening.
“If you play with fire, you’re bound to get burned.
It’s not entirely your fault.
Maybe it’s just a trick of fate.
As long as I can see her doing well, I’ll be at peace.
In the end…
we just weren’t meant to be.”
The sharp crack of the slap silenced the private room for a moment.
Even the music seemed to fade.
Sensing the tense atmosphere, a few friends tactfully kept their distance.
Sean’s eyes also carried a trace of guilt.
He sighed and patted Silas on the shoulder.
“Boss, since you’ve decided to let go, we support you.
Don’t be sad.
Forget the past and start a new life.”
“Yeah.” Silas gave a slight nod, forcing a small smile before downing another large gulp of liquor.
He might have agreed verbally, but forgetting his Sprout was easier said than done. Get faster updates on g.com.
Seeing Silas agree to move on, Sean finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Their boss had taken the fall for them, causing him to miss out on the woman he loved.
If he couldn’t move past this heartbreak, neither Sean nor Ryan would ever feel at peace.
So, in an attempt to make amends, Sean pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and struck while the iron was hot.
“Boss…
women are like clothes.
You take one off, you put another on.
You can’t just run around naked forever, right?
Women are easy to figure out.
I’ll arrange some for you right now.
Once you have new clothes, you’ll naturally forget the old ones.”
Ryan caught on immediately, eager to pull him out of the shadows of his broken heart.
He quickly chimed in, “Yeah, exactly!
The more frequently you change your wardrobe, the faster your mood will improve.
We’ll get it sorted right away!
I guarantee you’ll forget the past and start looking toward the future in no time!”
Silas shot him an unhappy glare.
“Stop messing around.”
“Who’s messing around!” Sean had already whipped out his phone.
“Manager!
Send twenty hostesses up here immediately!
The prettiest ones you have!”
“Sean!” Silas snapped, but the call had already disconnected.
He pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
He knew his two brothers were just looking out for him, but he had no desire to seek out women.
No one could ever replace his Sprout.
“Don’t worry, Boss.
We’re just getting some girls to liven up the party.
If you don’t like them, we won’t force it,” Sean said with an ingratiating smile.
“But what if one catches your eye?
Having someone to keep you entertained is a good thing.
A man has to look forward, after all!”
Too tired to argue, Silas picked up his glass again.
The alcohol was slowly starting to take effect, loosening his nerves but making the ache in his heart feel even sharper and heavier.
Meanwhile, in the first-floor service hallway of The Imperial Club, Zoe Quinn had just arrived and was nervously following Daisy Donovan to familiarize herself with the environment.
“The locker room is here, and the cleaning supplies are in that cabinet over there.” Daisy was a lively girl with short hair who spoke a mile a minute.
“Zoe, are you sure you’re okay with this?
The pay is high, but there are a lot of private rooms and the square footage is massive.
It gets pretty exhausting.”
“I’ll be fine.” Zoe shook her head.
“Let’s get to work.
Since there are guests in the private rooms right now, we can start by cleaning the other areas.
The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go home.”
Zoe swiftly tied her long hair into a low ponytail, grabbed her supplies, and began wiping down the glass doors in the hallway.
She worked diligently, keeping her head down and tuning out the surrounding noise and bustle.
“What?
You need twenty?
Right now?
Mr.
Crane! New chapters come out on g.com first.
This…”
Manager Warren’s voice drifted from the main hall as he spoke on the phone.
Immediately after, he grabbed his walkie-talkie, his frantic voice crackling through.
“Supervisor, supervisor.
Where are you?”
Manager Miles Ward was a slightly plump man in his forties.
Right now, he was sweating profusely as he looked around.
A supervisor hurried out from the stairwell.
“Manager Warren, what’s wrong?”
“We have a massive problem!” Miles lowered his voice.
“The guests in the Platinum VIP room want twenty hostesses.
At this hour, everyone is already booked out.
Where am I supposed to find twenty girls?”
The supervisor’s eyes widened.
“Then…
what do we do?
Should we transfer some from the other branches?”
Miles wrung his hands anxiously.
When he turned around, his gaze suddenly landed on Zoe’s slender silhouette.
His eyes immediately lit up.
“Who is that?”
The supervisor quickly replied, “That’s the temp cleaner Daisy Donovan brought in today to cover a shift.”
Daisy, who had been wiping a nearby coffee table, heard her name and walked over.
“Did you need me, Supervisor?”
“Did you bring her here?” Manager Warren asked.
“Yeah!
She’s my classmate, Zoe Quinn.
She’s here to cover a cleaning shift.” Daisy nodded.
Thinking the manager was unsatisfied with Zoe’s work, she quickly added, “She’s a really hard worker.”
The manager ordered the supervisor to quickly round up whatever girls were available.
Then, he looked Daisy up and down before shifting his gaze back to Zoe’s pure, elegant figure.
“Call her over.” The manager bit his lip.
If worst came to worst, he would just have to use these two cleaners to make up the numbers.
Daisy called Zoe over.
Miles scrutinized her.
Even with a face mask on, the eyes she revealed were bright and captivating.
“Miss Quinn, right?” Miles plastered on a smile.
“Could you do me a favor?
The Platinum VIP room suddenly needs more people.
You and Daisy can just go up and help make up the numbers.
You don’t have to actually entertain anyone or drink with them.
Just stand in the back row.
Once it’s over, I’ll add an extra two hundred bucks to each of your paychecks!”
Zoe immediately took a step back.
“No, I don’t know how to do that.”
“I’m not asking you to actually entertain the guests!
They asked for a lot of girls; there’s no way everyone gets chosen.” Miles rubbed his hands together anxiously.
“You just have to stand there and go through the motions.
Those big bosses have high standards, and you’ll be in the very back row.
They probably won’t even notice you.
I’ll figure out a way to handle the rest.
Please, I absolutely cannot afford to offend the guests in this room!”
Hearing that they could earn an extra two hundred just by standing there for a bit, Daisy was slightly swayed.
She turned to look at Zoe.
“Zoe, maybe…
we should just go stand there for a while?
Two hundred is enough to cover two whole days of our wages.”
Zoe bit her lower lip, remaining silent.