She is just a little girl; why is such an excellent man willing to be with her?’
While Joyce was in a daze, Jared’s eyes landed on her.
He had just glanced at her, but Joyce’s heart pounded uncontrollably. Her heart skipped a beat when
she saw the frosty look in his eyes.
“Why did he look at me like that?’ Joyce was too frightened to utter a sound.
Then Jared said in an icy voice, “This is my café. Anyone who offends my girlfriend is not welcome
here. You are not welcome here next time.”
His knifelike words pierced into her heart. Joyce felt a chill running up her spine, and she could not find
a word to respond.
Jared did not look at Martin at all as she brought Nicole straight to where they used to sit. Before
leaving, she politely nodded at Martin. Only then did she go without looking back again. After all, they
were not that close to each other.
All Martin wanted was to meet Nicole, not expecting that she would follow Jared away after he had just
seen her for a few seconds.
His heart sank watching the two of them sit down together, all his anticipation and excitement
dissipating at once. He was left with the feeling of suffocation as if a large rock was pressing against
his chest. Martin could no longer stand it. He spun around and left the café at once.
“Martin.” Joyce came to her senses and immediately ran after him.
Silence finally returned in the café.
Jared was grinding the coffee and looking on as Martin and Joyce left. He then casually asked, “Did
that guy come to see you?”
Nicole frowned. “No. I didn’t know they were here.” The last thing she wanted was to see Joyce.
“Oh, yeah?” Jared’s eyes darkened,
His café was not on a thoroughfare, so he wondered why anyone would come to his café, which was
across the street from the Royal Creek Institute. ‘Martin must be up to something.’
Meanwhile, Nicole had Joyce in mind at this point. “Could you please check out for me what project the
McCarthy family has been eyeing recently?”
She found out yesterday that the McCarthy family wanted to work with the Riddle family, but it was not
clear what the project was. As Joyce and Martin seemed to be close, Joyce could lobby Martin, who
would influence Sebastian, then it would inevitably affect Sebastian’s decision.
So Nicole figured she had better discuss it with her parents to see if the Riddle family really wanted the
project. If the Riddle family was going for it, she would fight for it.
She trusted that Stanley and Steve had the capability and would not embarrass Sebastian.
“What is the project that the McCarthy family is after?” Jared pondered for a moment and then
remembered something.
“It’s a big order from Mecrounia, a new energy project. If they can get the project, they would recoup
the loss of the land they lost before.”
Nicole’s eyes darkened. “I didn’t know that they were after this.”
“Well, it’s a shame that almost no domestic company can handle this massive project alone. Yet the
McCarthy family is eyeing it, they are biting off more than they can chew.” Jared smirked, not taking the
McCarthy family seriously.
Nicole looked at him and whispered, “So, Joyce came to me yesterday on behalf of the McCarthy
family because she thought of working with the Riddle family to take on this mega project.”
Jared paused what he was doing for a second and then smiled. “Interestingly, the McCarthy family is
willing to come to terms with the Riddle family for the sake of the project.”
Nicole’s eyes darkened even further. “My dad once said the McCarthy family was narrow-minded. So
I’m afraid that their willingness to come to terms with us is probably just a deception.”
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda