Bride of Retribution: Aloof Billionaire's Dominant Game

”Got it. You really have become all jittery now, huh.” Avery Jane glanced at him. Today he was dressed much more casually, and the two of them together actually looked a bit odd, didn’t they? Maybe their rhythms just didn’t match?

The two of them hurried into the elevator and went downstairs. After Joshua Hughes instructed the two bodyguards to follow carefully, he and Cora Jane split up to take care of their own business.

People from Chaozhou like to sip tea while talking business. When Joshua Hughes went to visit Tiger Geogre in Las Vegas and learned that bit of the past from his mouth, even he felt a little frightened and regretful. After all, Luke Harringtons and his wife did have some connection with the Hughes Family; to end up like that really was pitiful.

The fragrance of tea drifted, the past vivid before his eyes: ”If he could produce twice the amount of the gambling debt, then the matter would be considered settled. But if he couldn’t, then according to the rules, he’d be at their mercy. At that time, Miss Wood said to give her two days, she needed to go home to get the money. Nobody believed it then—that was an astronomical sum; how could a woman like her possibly come up with it? But Big Head Geogre still let her go back, only setting one condition: if she couldn’t bring back the money, then two days later she had to spend one night with him. Luke Harringtons kept staring at her, kept shaking his head, but that woman nodded and left. As for what happened later, Young Master Hughes, you can probably guess. Two days later, she came back as promised. She hadn’t managed to get a single cent, and walked alone into Big Head Geogre’s room, closing the door behind her. She did what a woman could do—maybe her body was the only thing that could save her husband’s life. In the middle of the night, she was carried out naked, her body without a single patch of unbroken skin, bitten until she was covered in blood, completely unconscious. Seeing her like that, Luke Harringtons went mad on the spot, screaming, trying to throw himself at them. Big Head Geogre spoke up; he respected Miss Wood as a woman of deep feeling and loyalty, so he only wanted three of his fingers. The hand he’d used to cheat at cards had three fingers cut clean off, and then he was kicked out. That night, he carried Miss Wood and wandered around Las Vegas, his severed fingers dripping blood all along the way. At dawn they went to the pier, left Las Vegas, and were never seen again....” When Tiger Geogre finished this history, his eyes were faintly moist.

Luke Harringtons had been a genius in his youth, but because he fell in love with someone and wanted to risk it all, he cheated at cards in a casino and was caught on the spot, ruining his life from then on...

”Master Tiger, do you have any photos of him? Or anything else?” Joshua Hughes rubbed at his aching head. The man had changed his name and identity, and more than twenty years ago there had been no computerized records; now it was hard to investigate. Many places had already been torn down, and even the files in the archives had vanished who knew where. Looking for someone like this was like searching for a needle in the ocean.

”I don’t have any here, but there might be a place that still does. Young Master Hughes, you can go have a look.” Tiger Geogre pondered for a moment; there really was such a place that might still have their photos.

”Where is it?” A streak of light flashed across Joshua Hughes’s ink-dark eyes. As long as he knew what they looked like, finding them would be much easier.

”Back in the old street behind here, there used to be a photo studio, but it’s been closed for several years now. A few years back you could still see it. That’s where Luke Harringtons and his wife took their wedding photos. They really were a perfect couple. Extremely beautiful—the photo was framed and had always been displayed in the shop window, never taken down. It’s just, I don’t know if it’s been thrown away. The old man who ran that social photo studio is dead now; his son opened a café there. I’ve never gone in. Young Master Hughes, you can go ask and see if it’s still there.” The things young people like nowadays didn’t appeal to him; only drinking tea made him feel at ease and grounded.

”Today I truly owe you, Master Tiger. If someday there’s anything you need from me, don’t stand on ceremony.” Joshua Hughes sat in the chair, the light from outside pouring in, his presence like that of a king ruling over the world.

”Then I’ll thank you in advance, Young Master Hughes. But if something requires your personal intervention, it definitely won’t be a small matter. I hope no such trouble comes knocking on my door.” Tiger Geogre laughed heartily. He liked this Joshua Hughes; as expected of the man in charge of the greatest wealth—measured in his advance and retreat, overwhelming in aura, a real character.

Back at the hotel’s royal suite

The nights in the gambling city were the most beautiful. Neon lights dressed up this small city until it looked like a fashionable, fully international metropolis; the transparent glass reflected the entwined silhouettes inside the room.....

”Don’t........ mm......” Avery Jane shook her head, unable to bear it, her whole body like a boneless soft creature, collapsing weakly onto the sofa........

The man turned a deaf ear to the woman’s pleas. Her mood had plummeted to rock bottom over the past few days, so he hadn’t really wanted to force her. These past few days had already been the limit of his restraint; tonight he was going to savor her thoroughly.

The belt of the wide white bathrobe came loose, the robe hanging slackly from her body, which only made the man’s eyes burn blood-red......

Maybe because he always had that constant sense of gain-and-loss in his heart, he couldn’t control himself, only wanting to swallow her down, devour her......