I'd just returned from managing our overseas operations when I got a call from Grandma saying she'd arranged an engagement for me. The woman was Victoria Quinn, daughter of New York's wealthiest family. According to Grandma, she was beautiful and well-mannered. I'd been worrying whether taking one of our custom Rolls-Royces would be too flashy when Victoria's people said they'd send a car. I agreed and got in. Halfway there, the driver suddenly pulled over and killed the engine. He stepped out and locked me inside. The temperature outside was at least 104癋. The sealed car turned into an oven, and within minutes I was drenched in sweat, my breathing labored. After thirty minutes with no sign of the driver, I didn't hesitate anymore. I wrapped the clothes around my fist and punched through the window to save myself. I'd just bought a bottle of water and hadn't even opened it when someone knocked it from my hand to the ground. The driver had returned and started cursing at me. "You broke the window? You piece of trash! Do you know how much this car costs?" I forced down my anger. "No amount of money is worth more than a human life." "If you hadn't locked me in the car in this heat, I wouldn't have needed to break the window to save myself." Faced with my accusation, he remained arrogant. "Your worthless life isn't worth the cost of a tire." "Quinn Enterprises owns this entire city. Even if you'd been cooked to death in there today, nobody would've cared!" I froze for a moment, then pulled out my phone and called my fianc閑. "I heard your family can commit murder in New York without consequences. Is that true?" ...... I made this call purely to confirm whether this was the driver acting on his own or on my fianc閑's orders. If it was the former, I could reluctantly continue with the engagement. It would honor for my grandmother and her good intentions. Victoria's cold voice came through the phone. "You're ten minutes past our agreed meeting time. I don't tolerate tardiness from anyone, Mr. Cross!" The words caught in my throat. It took me a long time to recover, and I was about to explain why I was late. "Beep beep..." A busy signal came from the other end. She'd clearly hung up. I was stunned again. This was the gentle, well-mannered woman Grandma had described?!
Seeing this, the man across from me became even more arrogant. His mocking smile stretched practically to his ears. "I thought you were someone special to Ms. Quinn. Turns out she doesn't care about you at all." The man pointed at the shattered window. "I suggest you pay up now. If Ms. Quinn finds out you broke her car, I'm afraid you won't live to see tomorrow." To avoid putting pressure on the woman, I'd specifically worn casual clothes today and removed anything that showed my status. Now it had become their reason to look down on me. I stared at him directly. "I'll pay for the damage, but first you need to apologize to me." Being locked in a car in this heat for nearly thirty minutes-if it had been an ordinary person without training, they might have died on the spot. I was only asking for an apology. That was already merciful. The man pointed at me and laughed. "Ha ha... Did I hear that right? You're asking me to apologize?" "Do you know who I am?!" He leaned closer, his tone smug. "Listen carefully, you nobody. I'm the personal assistant to the one and only Victoria Quinn of Quinn Enterprises!" The moment he finished speaking, the surrounding crowd gasped. They looked at me with sympathy. "This guy's having the worst day. Of all people to offend, he had to offend someone from Quinn Enterprises!" "Anyone who runs into Ms. Quinn's people can only bow and scrape. He's actually demanding an apology-he has no idea what he's up against!" I frowned. So he was just a assistant. Given his arrogant attitude, I'd thought he was the Quinn family head. At the same time, I noted to myself that just hearing the Quinn name made people this afraid. They were clearly more than just a business company. It seemed very necessary to have someone investigate them thoroughly. Meanwhile, the man kept yelling at me to pay for the window. I maintained my position. "You apologize first, then I'll consider paying." I pointed at a security camera nearby. "If you won't apologize, I'll just call the police." I pulled out my phone and started dialing. For what he'd just done, charging him with attempted murder would be completely justified. The man suddenly swung his hand at my phone, his eyes vicious. "You wouldn't dare!" Out of defensive instinct, the moment his hand touched my phone, I grabbed his wrist first and twisted. "Ow!" The man cried out in pain. "You nobody! You actually dare lay hands on me!" I snorted coldly. "You call that laying hands? If I wasn't concerned about proper conduct, your arm would already be broken." The onlookers gasped again. "My God, has this guy lost his mind? He actually dared to attack Ms. Quinn's assistant." "If it were me, I'd be on my knees begging for mercy right now. Maybe he could save his life. Otherwise he's in for serious trouble." The man had been somewhat wary of my skills and hesitated to fight back. But hearing the crowd's comments, he suddenly gained confidence. He grabbed a stone from the ground and hurled it at me. "I'll beat you to death today, you piece of trash!" Suddenly, a sharp voice came from behind. "Stop!" Surrounded by security guards, an elegant woman with a graceful figure and beautiful face walked over. She first approached the man, her tone annoyed. "Derek, what's going on? I sent you to pick someone up and you're getting into a fight?" Then she turned to look at me, lifting her delicate chin. "You're Ethan Cross?" Her voice was melodious, but her tone was cold. I smiled and extended my hand toward her. "Hello, I'm Ethan Cross. Very pleased to meet..." Before I could finish, she impatiently cut me off. "Enough. I don't have time for your nonsense." "I'm here to tell you that our engagement is canceled."
I froze instantly. As far as I knew, this engagement had cost the Quinn family significant effort-old Mr. Quinn himself had sent an elaborate collection of heirloom jewelry to my family. Of course, everything had been returned, but it showed the Quinn family's sincerity. For her to cancel it now so casually-wasn't that a bit rash? I looked into Victoria's cold eyes. "Cancelling an engagement isn't a small matter. Does your grandfather know about this?" Hearing me mention her grandfather, Victoria's already impatient face grew even uglier. "You think bringing up my grandfather will make me back down?" "Let me tell you something, Ethan Cross. I will never marry a nobody like you." "I suggest you drop these ridiculous delusions and go back to wherever you came from!" I was instantly amused by anger. What a Quinn family heiress-truly arrogant enough. "Since Ms. Quinn looks down on me, then this engagement is over. I just hope you won't regret it." After all, this engagement benefited the Quinn family most. With my family's status, marrying her was practically charity. Hearing my words, Victoria looked like she'd heard the funniest joke in the world and laughed until she shook. "Did I hear you correctly? I'll regret it?" "Regret not marrying a nobody like you? Ha ha ha..." Mocking laughter erupted from the crowd as well. "Where does this nobody get the confidence to think he's worthy of Quinn Enterprises' CEO? What a joke." "Exactly. Ms. Quinn is the goddess of every man in New York. If she actually married this nobody, I'd be the first to object." Derek also jumped out to mock me. "Shameless nobody, get out of here. Stop being an eyesore to Ms. Quinn." As he spoke, he reached out and touched Victoria's back. "Ms. Quinn, don't be angry. Don't stoop to the level of these lowlifes." Faced with Derek's sleazy behavior, Victoria not only wasn't angry but gave him a sweet smile. "Don't worry. I won't waste my energy on garbage like him." Watching their intimate exchange, I felt a wave of disgust and immediately realized the whole locked-in-car scenario was Victoria's deliberate power play to force me to cancel the engagement myself. It seemed she never intended to go through with this marriage from the start, and here I'd come to meet her in good faith. At the same time, I felt secretly relieved. At least I'd seen her true colors early-it was damage control. Otherwise, with my real identity and family background, if I'd regretted it after we were actually married, getting rid of her wouldn't be so easy. I looked directly at Victoria. "Fine. I agree to cancel the engagement." Victoria lifted her chin proudly. "Smart choice." She turned to leave. "Wait." I stopped her. "Since the engagement's off, shouldn't you return the betrothal gifts?" Victoria looked confused. "Betrothal gifts? What betrothal gifts?" A moment later, something seemed to occur to her. She opened her Herm鑣 bag and pulled something out, holding it toward me. "Here. Your junk. Take it back." Her lips curved in a mocking smile, her elegant face full of contempt. I clenched my fists, staring at what she called "junk" in her hand, my breathing growing heavy. I hadn't expected the dignified CEO of Quinn Enterprises to be so ignorant, treating such a precious item like garbage. I could only hope that when she learned the truth later, she wouldn't regret it. I took a deep breath, forcing down the rage inside, and reached out to take it. "Oops!" Victoria's hand suddenly loosened, and the item fell to the ground, rolling into a storm drain nearby. My breathing stopped. I looked up at her in fury. "You!" "Sorry about that. My hand slipped." Victoria raised an eyebrow at me carelessly, her bright eyes full of mockery and satisfaction. Without bothering to argue with her, I ran frantically to the drain and dropped to my knees, reaching into the dark, filthy opening, feeling around desperately. But dirty water kept flowing in. I scraped all ten fingers raw, but still couldn't find it. Clearly, Victoria still didn't realize the severity of what she'd done. She laughed and pulled out several hundred-dollar bills from her bag. "Here, take this money and buy another one." "Keep the change. Consider it my compensation to you." Hearing this, my anger surged again. I shot to my feet and knocked the bills from her hand. "Do you have any idea how important that was to me? Its value can't be measured in money." "Even if you gave me all of Quinn Enterprises, it wouldn't be enough to replace it!" My eyes were bloodshot, my clenched fists white at the knuckles, cracking audibly. Before Victoria could react, the people around us were already dying of laughter. "Calling him a nobody was right. That piece of junk-I could buy a whole bag of them for ten bucks online. He treats it like treasure. Pathetic." "Exactly. Ms. Quinn giving him that much money is basically charity. He actually refused it-so ungrateful!" Derek stuck his finger right in my face. "You've got some nerve! You want all of Quinn Enterprises? And you claim you're not after money?!" Seeing I wouldn't back down, Victoria lost her temper too. "It's just a piece of junk. Is it really worth this fuss? Look at your disgusting, aggressive face." She opened her Herm鑣 bag again and pulled out twice as much cash as before, throwing it in my face. "Wasn't that enough? This should definitely cover it!" She even spat on the ground. "Ptui! Greedy, shameless trash. Absolutely revolting!" At this point, I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed Victoria's arm, my voice harsh. "Do you know what you just threw away?" "That was my grandfather's heirloom pocket watch-it represents our family's highest honor!"
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