"What do you think you are?" Derek snapped. "How dare you call my father's name like that?"
He stepped forward and pointed at Ethan's face, anger twisting his features.
This was Lowe territory.
In Derek's mind, even a dragon had to coil here, and even a tiger had to lie down.
No matter how well Ethan could fight, once the Lowe family's security power entered the room, he would not have a chance to resist.
"Shut up!"
Graham Lowe's roar rang through the spacious office.
His face had been red with anger a moment ago.
The instant he saw Ethan clearly, every trace of color drained away.
Derek did not notice.
"You hear that? My dad told you to shut up. Kneel and beg now, and maybe he'll leave you a whole corpse."
"I told you to shut up!"
Graham rushed around the desk with shocking speed for a man of his size.
He grabbed Derek by the collar and yanked him around to face him.
Then he raised his right hand.
Slap.
The sound cracked through the office.
Derek staggered back several steps, one hand pressed to his cheek.
"Dad? Why did you hit me?"
Blood touched the corner of his mouth.
He stood there stunned, unable to understand why the slap had landed on him.
Wasn't Ethan the one who should be punished?
Vivian stood nearby, equally shocked.
Why had father and son suddenly turned on each other?
After striking Derek, Graham released his collar and hurried to Ethan.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he dropped to his knees.
"Mr. Cole! Mr. Cole, please spare me."
Graham lowered his head until his forehead touched the floor.
His voice shook.
Cold sweat ran down his temples and darkened the carpet beneath him.
"I truly didn't know my useless son had offended you. If I had known, even with a hundred lives, I would never have dared stand against you."
The scene hit the room like a physical blow.
No one had expected Graham Lowe, a man who commanded respect across Northbridge's business world, to kneel before a man in his twenties and beg like this.
"Dad, why are you kneeling to him?" Derek finally came back to himself. "He's just some pretty boy."
"Shut your mouth!"
Graham turned with bloodshot eyes.
"Pretty boy? Mr. Cole is the true power behind Lowe Group. Everything we own today, our position, our wealth, our cars, our houses, all of it exists because Mr. Cole supported us from behind the scenes."
His voice was harsh and absolute.
"Without Mr. Cole, you and I are nothing. We'd be digging through trash for food."
"What?"
Derek looked as if lightning had struck him.
He wanted to doubt it.
But his father's terror was too real to be acting.
Ethan Cole was the true controller of Lowe Group?
Vivian turned slowly toward Ethan.
The man she thought was merely handsome, skilled, and medically gifted had, without a sound, become the hidden owner behind one of Northbridge's top companies.
And judging from Graham's fear, what she saw was probably only a fraction of his true background.
The mismatch between her impression and reality made the world feel unreal.
Who would have imagined that the stranger she had pulled from the crowd would bring her surprise after surprise in one single day?
Ethan walked to the guest sofa and sat down.
He lifted both arms and rested them casually along the back of the seat.
Then he crossed one leg over the other and looked down at Graham, who immediately adjusted the direction of his kneeling body.
"Before coming here, I made a bet with Miss West," Ethan said. "I said you couldn't do anything to me, and that you would call me father on the spot."
He smiled.
"Graham Lowe, who do you think wins that bet?"
Graham's mind moved quickly.
He had survived in business for decades. He understood Ethan's meaning at once.
Without hesitation, he shuffled forward on his knees and forced a deeply flattering smile onto his face.
"Father. Of course Father wins."
For his life and his fortune, dignity was cheaper than dust.
Derek and Vivian fell silent.
The head of the Lowe family, a supposed business titan, had just bowed his head and called another man father.
"Get out," Ethan said coldly.
Graham Lowe was a low man in Ethan's eyes.
But he was capable at running a company.
Since the system had completed the one-dollar purchase and rewritten Graham's loyalty, Graham was now the perfect public manager for Lowe Group.
The system had guaranteed he could never betray Ethan.
"Thank you, Father. Thank you."
Graham knocked his forehead against the floor three times as if receiving a pardon.
Then he stood, grabbed Derek, who had lost the ability to think, and dragged him out of the office.
Soon, only Ethan and Vivian remained.
Ethan turned his head.
His gaze landed on Vivian, who had not fully recovered from what had just happened.
Vivian felt his eyes on her and instinctively looked away.
Her heartbeat quickened.
Fine sweat gathered in her palm.
At that moment, Ethan gave her a sense of pressure she had never felt before.
She had the uncomfortable feeling that she had provoked someone terrifying.
"What?" she said at last, unable to bear the silence.
"I remember Miss West said a promise was a promise."
Ethan rose from the sofa and walked toward her.
When they stood face to face, Vivian had nowhere to retreat.
"I did what I said I would do. Shouldn't you honor your promise?"
Vivian remembered the bet.
Heat rushed from her ears down to her neck.
"Don't go too far."
Her voice did not sound very confident.
After all, she had proposed the wager herself.
"A woman of Miss West's status going back on her word?"
Ethan placed one hand beside her on the wall and leaned slightly closer.
The distance between them was less than a fist.
"Say it."
Vivian pressed her lips together.
Her eyes moved quickly.
"Daddy..."
She closed her eyes and turned her face aside as she said it.
The word was softer than a whisper, as if it had drained all her strength.
Author's Note:
This story will continue updating here.
If you want to read the full story without waiting, you can unlock it here:
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Thank you for reading.