Chapter 106
Chapter 106
As Byron’s tone softened, Sylvia also let out a slight sigh of relief.
After all these years of living together, she knew Byron’s personality like the back of her hand.
He was a typical alpha male who always thought he was right, but he also responded better to gentle persuasion. Sometimes, it was better to go along with him instead of arguing.
Sylvia thought, ‘Just have to go along with him? Please, that’s a piece of cake!‘
“Byron, let me make this crystal clear. If you go abroad, I’m taking Ruby with me.” Sylvia’s tone turned steely.
“Unless you tell Ruby to her face that you’re not her dad, she’ll cry her eyes out every single day after you’re gone,” she warned.
Although she was going along with him and carefully choosing words Byron would like to hear, Sylvia certainly didn’t want him to get the wrong idea that she couldn’t bear to be apart from him.
Byron kept his gaze locked on Sylvia, feeling his heart race as a smug, self–satisfied gleam flashed in his eyes.
Byron thought smugly, ‘What a transparent excuse. She’s clearly heartbroken about me going abroad, but she’s pinning it all on Ruby.
A surge of inexplicable delight flooded Byron’s heart. ‘So she really can’t live without me,‘ he thought smugly, finally seeing Sylvia’s dependence and reluctance to let him go.
Byron gazed thoughtfully at Sylvia and said gently, “I’ll seriously consider whether or not to go abroad. After all, the one I love is still here. I can’t be so
selfish.”
Sylvia folled her eyes and thought, ‘There he goes again. This alpha male is on another wild tangent!‘
Joanna was furious on the sidelines. She was sure that after seeing Sylvia with Dillan, Byron would be heartbroken and go abroad, cutting ties with Sylvia. But to her shock, he changed his mind all for Sylvia.
Just then, Byron’s phone rang. It was a call from the business department, asking him to personally negotiate a contract.
Byron said, “Sylvia, I’m heading to the office now. About this matter between you and Dillan. I expect your explanation soon.”
Byron was in a much better mood. Now that he felt Sylvia still cared about him, he looked her straight in the eye and said bluntly, “Let me be clear. I don’t want you to be with Dillan. That’s my bottom line.”
With that, he strode downstairs.
Downstairs, a couple of black luxury cars were parked in a row. Men in sharp suits stood at attention beside them. As Byron approached, they all called out in unison, “Mr. Blair.”
With a stone face, Byron slid into the back seat of his car. As his car pulled away, the rest of the sleek black convoy quickly followed, heading straight for
the negotiation venue.
Joanna said, “Sylvia, why are you lying to Byron? Haven’t you always had feelings for Dillan? Why not just come clean with Byron today?”
Joanna sidled up to Sylvia, putting on a show of concern. “Sylvia, don’t worry about Byron getting upset. I’ll bet want you and Dillan to be happy together.”
Sylvia lowered her eyes, catching sight of Joanna quietly turning on the voice recorder on her phone inside her purse.
Sylvia saw what Joanna was doing. Now she knew for sure Joanna had set up Dillan.
She schemed to use Dillan as a pawn to turn Byron against Sylvia, even hoping he would take Zack and go abroad.
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o comfort him. Honestly, I just
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Chapter 106
Sylvia shot Joanna a disdainful look and snapped, “Out of my way, bitch!”
Sylvia scoffed at Joanha’s petty schemes. She thought, ‘If Byron wants to go abroad alone, fine. But if he tries to take Zack with him, no way to be le that happen!
‘There’s no way I’m letting Joanna’s schemes succeed either.’
Joanna was stunned by how blunt Sylvia was. Sylvia actually called her a bitch. Joanna’s face turned deathly pale with raga.
Seeing that Joanna still wouldn’t move, Sylvia gave her a sharp shove, sending her stumbling back several steps and nearly toppling over.
Sylvia jabbed the elevator button, strode out of the office building without a backward glance, and drove straight home.
As soon as she got home, she wasted no time. She fired up her computer and started searching.
Dillan owned a brokerage firm in Silverton worth several hundred thousand dollars.
Dillan wouldn’t have made it in the business world if it weren’t for her initial support.
But now that Sylvia had changed her mind. Since Dillan was willing to be Joanna’s pawn, she was determined to take back every single favor she’d ever done for him.
She thought, ‘Doesn’t Dillan want me to set up a company in Silverton? How generous of him, offering to front the rent for me.
‘This is the perfect opportunity. I’ll make sure all of Dillan’s efforts are for nothing. He’ll end up empty–handed and worse off than before.
‘And it’s not just Dillan. Joanna is on my list too.
‘I’ll just use their money to start my own company.’
Dillan, clueless about Sylvia’s real plans, was thrilled as he scrambled to gather funds. He drained his savings and took out online loans until he finally scraped together 650 thousand dollars for her rent deposit.
The next morning, Dillan couldn’t wait to call Sylvia.
Dillan said excitedly, “Hey Sylvia, I’ve already leased that commercial space on the fifth floor. When can you come and take a look?”
“Be right there,” Sylvia replied, a cold smirk curling at her lips as she swiftly drove to the fifth floor of the downtown commercial building.
As soon as Dillan spotted Sylvia, he hurried over and thrust the lease agreement into her hands, his face full of eager anticipation.
Sylvia shot Dillan a displeased look and said, “Weren’t you supposed to pay the rent for me? So why is the lease in your name instead of mine?”
Dillan was taken aback. ‘I paid the rent. Of course, the lease is in my name. Why would it be under Sylvia’s?‘ he thought.
Sylvia said, “Go change the lease to my name. Or do you not want me to pay you back for the rent later?”
Sylvia glanced at Dillan’s bewildered expression and softened her tone a bit. “Of course, if you want to lease this place for your own business venture, you can put your name on the contract.”
Dillan instantly panicked. “No, no. I’ll go change the name on the lease right now.”
He thought, ‘I’m not stupid, Spending 650 thousand dollars just to rent a shop. How long would it take to get that back?‘
Dillan rushed to the property management office. After some tedious paperwork, he finally got the name on the lease changed to Sylvia’s.
Sylvia waited calmly on the fifth floor. As he brought over the lease agreement, she casually slipped it into her bag without a second glance.
“Well, since this place is officially ours now,” Sylvia said airily, “you can take care of the whole renovation process. I trust you with it.
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Chapter 106
Dillan’s heart leaped with joy. ‘Renovation projects are a goldmine for kickbacks. Just skimming a bit off the workers‘ pay could make a no profa) thought. But he quickly snapped back to reality and reached out his hand to Sylvia.
“Sylvia, I’m flat broke right now. Why don’t you pay me back 650 thousand dollars for the rent first? Then I’ll go negotiate with the renovation companies.”
Sylvia snapped impatiently, “Dillan, why are you so hung up on money? You weren’t like this when I was helping you out. Just go talk to the contractors first, We’ll deal with the money after you’ve sorted things out.”
Dillan suddenly felt shortchanged. But then, when he found out Sylvia’s vast overseas assets, he thought 550 thousand dollars was pocket change for her and saw an opportunity. He thought, ‘No rush to collect this debt. First, keep her hooked.
“Alright, I’ll go find a renovation company right now,” Dillan said hastily and then rushed off.
With a cold smirk curling her lips, Sylvia turned around and attended to more pressing matters.
Sylvia returned to the set to check on the filming progress.
‘Since Dillan is so eager to help me set up a company here, I might as well play along. Besides, I’ve been wanting to open a film production company here anyway to make shooting more convenient for myself,‘ she thought.
Meanwhile, Byron was in his lavish office when his phone rang.
“Mr. Blair, I’ve had someone tailing Dillan. He met with Ms. Sullivan again this morning, and she instructed him to contact renovation companies.
Byron’s face darkened. Realizing Sylvia had lied and was still in touch with Dillan, he said to the phone coldly, “Tell all the renovation companies. They’re not allowed to work with Dillan.”
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