But he had said he would “only quietly care” for her.
He said he would “never intrude.” He said, “If you’re happy, I’ll just watch from afar.”
She knew that given Silas Sutton’s gangster temper, if he really wanted to pester her, she would have no way to hide.
Yet, he had chosen to silently protect her.
He had chosen to beg with such humble sincerity.
For a moment, this big gangster left her entirely unable to utter a word of rejection.
After a long while, she nodded gently.
“If…
if you haven’t changed your number, I still have it,” she said, her voice very soft.
The unspoken implication was clear: she agreed.
Silas’s eyes instantly lit up.
The radiance in his gaze was so intense that Zoe Quinn almost didn’t dare to look directly at him.
It was as if he had just received the most precious promise in the world.
The corners of his lips quirked upward uncontrollably, revealing a genuine, warm smile.
It was the smile she remembered—stripped of all hostility and coldness, leaving only pure joy.
“I haven’t!” he answered almost instantly.
“It’s still the same number.
I never changed it.”
The reason Sprout hadn’t been able to reach him over the past three years was that his phone had been turned off and confiscated when he went to prison.
He reached out subconsciously, wanting to hold Sprout’s hand just as he had done countless times in the past.
But Zoe took a step back, avoiding his touch.
She drew her hand back to her side, her fingertips curling inward unconsciously.
This subtle evasion caused the light in Silas’s eyes to dim for a fleeting second.
Sure enough, Sprout’s avoidance had once again made her stance clear.
She no longer loved him and was intentionally keeping her distance.
Silas quickly adjusted his expression.
He retracted his hand, casually sliding it into the pocket of his suit trousers as if nothing had happened.
“Well…” Zoe changed the subject, her voice slightly unnatural.
“I’m covering someone else’s shift today.
I haven’t finished cleaning yet, so I need to get back to work.”
“You are not going back,” Silas said immediately, his tone carrying a domineering authority.
“This isn’t a proper place.
I’m taking you home.
I’ll go to the manager and settle your wages for today.”
This was the big gangster she was familiar with—bossy and uncompromising, vastly different from the man who had been humbly begging her just moments ago.
Zoe looked troubled.
“But…
even if I don’t go back to finish the rest of the work, my good friend Daisy Donovan is still in the private room.
I don’t know how she’s doing right now.
I have to get her so we can leave together.”
The mention of Daisy finally reminded Silas of the girl in the black dress who had been with Zoe.
He immediately pulled out his phone and dialed Sean Crane’s number.
The call was answered in seconds.
“Boss?” Sean’s voice was tentative and cautious.
“Right now.”
“Yes, Boss!” Sean agreed without a shred of hesitation.
Less than two minutes later, Sean brought Daisy out of the private room.
Daisy’s face was still pale with lingering fear.
It wasn’t until she saw Zoe standing on the terrace safe and sound that she breathed a sigh of relief, practically throwing herself at her friend.
“Zoe!
Are you okay?” She grabbed Zoe’s hands, looking her up and down.
“I was scared to death!
That guy suddenly rushed over, and then…” She sneaked a glance at Silas and lowered her voice.
“Do you guys know each other?”
Zoe patted her hand comfortingly.
“I’m fine.
Let’s go home, Daisy.”
“Go home?” Daisy paused.
“But we haven’t finished our work yet.
Wouldn’t it be bad if we just left like this?
I should go tell the manager first…”
“No need,” Silas interrupted with a cold expression.
“I’ll take you home.
I will find the manager to handle the rest.”
His tone was calm, yet it carried the natural authority of a superior, making it impossible for anyone to talk back.
Daisy looked at Zoe, then at Silas, and tactfully snapped her mouth shut.
Zoe, however, seemed intent on distancing herself from Silas.
She pulled Daisy’s hand and stepped back.
“There’s no need.
We can just take a taxi back ourselves.”
“Sprout…” Silas wanted to say something.
“Thank you for today,” Zoe cut him off, her tone polite yet distant.
“Goodbye…
Silas.”
She spoke his name with a tender familiarity, almost like a sigh.
With that said, she didn’t look at him again.
She grabbed Daisy and quickly turned toward the elevator, pressing the down button as if she were fleeing for her life.
The elevator doors opened, and the two girls quickly slipped inside.
In the final second before the doors closed, Zoe caught a glimpse of Silas out of the corner of her eye.
He was still standing in the same spot, his figure looking lonely and desolate.
The elevator began its descent.
Inside the confined space, Daisy could no longer suppress the burning flames of gossip in her heart.
She lowered her voice and asked, “Zoe, who was that man?
He’s so handsome and imposing!
After he pulled you out, those guys in the private room wouldn’t stop whispering.
They were saying things like, ‘What do we do if the boss is angry?’ and ‘We’re in trouble now.’ Everyone was shaking in their boots.
What exactly is his background?”
“He’s just a gangster.
Ignore him,” Zoe said, leaning against the elevator wall and closing her eyes in exhaustion.
When they first met at the orphanage, she had known Silas was a violent street thug, which was why she had given him the nickname “Big Gangster.” But what about now?
He clearly wasn’t an ordinary thug anymore.
he had probably climbed to a very high position in the underworld.
But none of that had anything to do with her anymore.
Zoe opened her eyes and forced a faint smile.
“He was like an older brother to me back in the orphanage.
Just now…
he thought I was working here as a hostess, so he got angry.”
“Like an older brother?” Daisy’s eyes lit up.
“But he looked at you so differently!
When he rushed over, he looked like he was going to kill someone!
And the way he dragged you out…
Tsk, tsk.
If you said he was your biological brother, I’d believe it!”
Zoe didn’t respond, merely staring at the descending numbers on the elevator display.
Back on the terrace, Silas was still frozen in place.
He watched the elevator doors close and followed the illuminated numbers as they went all the way down.
Sean walked up to him cautiously.
“Boss, they’ve…
already left.”
Only then did Silas slowly withdraw his gaze.
He looked down at the business card in his hand—the one he had never managed to give her—yet a rare, faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
Even though he hadn’t given her the card, Sprout had said she still had his number saved.
Moreover, she had agreed to accept him in a brotherly role.
That was enough.
Silas carefully tucked the business card back into his shirt pocket.
Since Sprout had granted him this position in her life, he would still have chances to see her in the future.
He would have the chance to speak with her and silently protect her.
Even if it was only as an older brother figure, it was vastly better than becoming complete strangers.
He pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
The scarlet ember flickered on and off in the dark night, while the white smoke quickly dissipated in the evening breeze.
Walking over to the floor-to-ceiling window in the corridor, he looked down at the street below.
He watched as Zoe and Daisy flagged down a taxi, got in, and drove away.
He waited until the taxi merged with the traffic and disappeared at the edge of his vision before crushing his cigarette and turning around.
“Let’s go back to the private room,” he told Sean, his voice returning to its usual calm.
Sean hurriedly followed him.
When the two men returned to the private room, the atmosphere inside was still somewhat stiff.
The music had been turned down considerably.
Most of the hostess girls had already scattered, leaving only a few who remained to keep Sean, Ryan Rhodes, and the other brothers company.
The moment Victor Lane saw Silas walk in, he immediately approached with a wine glass in hand, his face plastered with a fawning smile.
“Silas, I’m truly sorry about what just happened!” Victor said, his tone sincere and apologetic.
“I really had no idea that girl was your woman!
If I had known, even if you gave me a hundred times the courage, I wouldn’t have dared lay a single finger on her!”
Silas cast a sidelong glance at him, his eyes completely icy.