Not a hint of light entered the dark, spacious room in the Hill Residence.
As soon as the door was pushed open from the outside, the light from the corridor illuminated the floor
beside the door, and the vague silhouettes of various furniture in the room could be seen.
A pair of men’s leather shoes appeared across the path and came to a stop in front of the French
window.
The next second, the curtains were suddenly pulled open, and the blazing sunlight instantly lit up the
whole room.
Tiana stayed huddled in the corner with a blanket wrapped around her head.
She had a terrified expression on as her unfocused eyes looked at nothing in particular.
"Just look at you.You are scared to show your face only after one failed attempt.This is not the radiant
Tiana Hill I laid my eyes on."
As though Owen was superior to her, he looked at her condescendingly and spoke with his voice full of
contempt.
"I am a joke in the whole of Cittadel.Everyone is making fun of me.They are making fun of me! Get
out.All of you!"
Tiana frantically roared.
Even though she seemed as if she had been possessed, a relieved expression appeared on Owen's
face as he looked at her and hummed, "No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness"
He then slowly squatted and reached out toward her.
"Come, I will help you.You are a clever woman.Don't ever waste your god-given talents.Give me your
hand, and I will give you a new identity.Let me save you."
In the afternoon one fine day, Elise received a message from Joseph saying that he had found an
underground casino in Salt Stone City.
A large number of Peculiar Jadeite had supposedly been seen at that place.
Following the address Joseph sent, Elise and Alexander immediately rushed to the casino, where they
were greeted by the sight of those gems as soon as they entered the building.
The amount of Peculiar Jadeite they saw there was indescribable.It seemed like all the chips used at
the casino were made of the rare gemstone.
The two of them found a casino employee and without beating around the bush, they said, "Hello,
please inform the manager of this casino that we would like to meet them."
"I apologize.Our manager will not have direct contact with customers unless it is necessary.You are
free to gamble at any amount you like here.Please have a good time playing a game or two."
Even though the attendant was polite, he had seemingly created a wall between him and the duo,
making it hard for them to try and get closer.
Noticing this, Elise and Alexander exchanged knowing glances.
It seemed like they would have to do things the hard way instead.
They proceeded to divide the chips into two before they sat at two adjacent betting tables.
After they went all in and finalized their bets, they both won.
However, Elise and Alexander didn't stop until they won 12 consecutive rounds.
The dealers at both tables started breaking out in cold sweat at the same time by their twelveth win.
The manager finally made an appearance at this point, and he shuffled toward Elise while he
respectfully murmured, "Mister and Miss, I implore you to please have mercy on us."
"We want to see the boss."
Elise made herself clear.
Upon hearing this, the manager stood up straight.
Elise wasn't worried at all by the manager's unperturbed stance.She only continued to shove at the
chips in front of her as she announced, "Another round, then!"
Alexander placed another all-in bet as well.If they won this round again, the casino's income for half a
year would be going into Elise and Alexander's pockets instead.
The manager pondered over it again and again, but he finally let out a breath as he turned around and
gestured, inviting her to follow after him.
"Please follow me to the VIP room for a breather, Miss."
Elise and Alexander immediately got up and entered the VIP room.
As soon as they had sat down, the manager asked someone to bring in two cases of cash and
presented it to them.
"This is your prize you have won tonight.We have added an extra two million in the cases.Our boss is
not here, and he doesn't meet anyone who is not a woman, The only thing I can do is extend my
apology," the manager respectfully mentioned, his tone much firmer than before.
Ellie went on and grabbed a wad of cash as she fiddled with the pieces of paper, and she asked
casually, "What do I have to do to see him?"
"I am afraid I do not know.I am just a manager.I am not qualified to meet the big boss.In fact, no one
here has seen him"
"If that is the case, you will have to bid farewell to this establishment of yours."
Alexander, who had been quiet all this while, said as he stood up and leisurely arranged his clothes.
"Are you thinking of forcing your way?"
The manager squinted as a hint of shrewdness flashed across his eyes.He didn't seem afraid at all.
"Sir, I advise you to think this through.This is a casino, after all.We've had tons of people who try to
cause trouble here.However, as you saw outside, our business is still flourishing regardless.No one can
mess up the balance here and the two of you are no exception."
"We have to do this the hard way, then."
Elise shut the case close and started walking out with it in her hand.
"There is no reason a casino doesn't allow its gamblers to win money, yeah? Let's see if your casino is
strong enough to still stand tall against our ‘hard way’"
Reputation was the one thing that casinos were most sensitive about.
No one would dare step foot in here anymore if word was to get out that they only wanted people to
lose without winning money.
Watching Elise and Alexander open the door of the VIP room, the manager eventually called out to
them, "Please leave your contact information.I will give you a favorable reply within 3 days."
The duo looked at each other with a smile on their faces, and they then turned around as they dropped
the cases full of money in front of the manager.
"We wouldn't have wasted so much time if you had said this earlier."
Elise went to the hospital for a visit the next day.However, she only came into an empty ward when she
arrived.Even the bed was immaculately made.
"Nurse!" she called out to the person in charge of the ward.
"Where is the patient in bed number 3?"
"She disappeared when I came here first thing in the morning.My guess is that she ran away."
Now that the living standard was higher, people didn't bother with that bit of money they would waste if
they were to leave without going through proper discharge procedure.
The nurses were used to coming across patients that were too lazy to handle the troublesome
procedure before they directly packed up and left.
The nurse added after thinking, "Are you a friend of the patient? Remember to settle the discharge
procedures.You should be able to get quite a bit of your money back.It is still money no matter how
small an amount it may be, isn't it?"
"Got it.Thank you,"
Elise absentmindedly replied before she went out of the ward and headed downstairs to go through the
formalities.
However, something felt out of place the more she thought about it.She clearly instructed Abby not to
act without a plan by herself until the injuries were healed.
Judging from Abby's condition last night, it seemed impossible for her to have recovered so quickly.
And yet, she had now disappeared in a puff of smoke.Unfortunately, the Mellors were an influential
family in the area.It wouldn't be difficult at all for them to find someone.
Elise thought that it was all her fault for not thinking it through.She should have brought Abby back with
her to recuperate! At that thought, Elise immediately ran outside without taking the bill she needed to
settle for the discharge.
After nosing into it, she finally came to the Mellor Residence.
Even though Elise was standing some distance away from the house, she could see the thousands of
lights decorating the residence, and the compound was filled with guests who were attending a
wedding.
There was a photo of a gray-haired groom with Abby on the poster used to welcome guests at the
door.It was probably edited from a different photo.It seemed like Abby’s stepmother really couldn't wait
to chase Abby out of the house.
She didn't even let Abby recover to hold the wedding.
At the thought of it, Elise clenched her fists, and had taken two rushed steps in to grab Abby out of
there when Alexander suddenly appeared from a corner and pulled her aside.
"Alexander?" Elise said in surprise.
"Why are you here?"
"If I hadn't come and you ruined someone's wedding after stomping in like this, you would have ended
up being beaten up by everyone in there."
Alexander sounded as angry as he was helpless.
"But she is only 17! I can't turn a blind eye on this!"
Elise was willing to do anything.
People could call her a busybody or a troublemaker all they wanted, but since she was the one who
said she wanted to help, she was going to go through lengths to make sure she didn't go back on her
words.
Alexander peered in the Mellor Residence's direction, and his gaze darted back to his wife again as he
held her hand.
With natural poise, he then walked into the crowd of people who came to congratulate the bride and
groom.
"Pretend you are here with me.Act natural."
His grip on her tightened as he grabbed her hand.
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