Chapter 1

I was getting my car serviced at my cousin's luxury auto club. When the technicians finished, I casually told the front desk staff, "Just put it on Kevin's tab."

The employee nodded and reached for the terminal, but an unfamiliar female manager stepped in and blocked him.

"We don't do tabs here," she sneered. "Payment is due immediately on-site."

With a loud "thwack", she slapped an itemized bill right in front of my face.

"Supreme Micro-Diagnostic Fee: $80,000"

"Exhaust Acoustic Resonance Tuning: $100,000"

"Engine Spiritual Dynamic Balance Calibration: $100,000"

"Total: $280,000."

I almost laughed out loud from sheer disbelief. When the hell did my cousin turn his garage into a highway robbery joint?

The manager crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing me with naked disgust.

"Always using the owner's name to freeload. I've seen plenty of broke relatives like you. If you don't have the cash, stop pretending to be a big shot."

Without a word, I pulled out my phone and dialed my cousin Kevin.

"You have ten minutes to fire this woman," I said the second he picked up. "Otherwise, you don't need to keep this shop open anymore."

"Cousin Marcus... is there... some kind of misunderstanding?"

Over the line, Kevin's voice sounded guilty and flustered.

"A misunderstanding?"

My voice dropped to absolute zero.

"Do I look like someone who stirs up drama for fun? I didn't call to negotiate with you. I called to inform you: deal with your employee. Right here, right now."

Kevin seemed intimidated by my tone. He quickly tried to smooth things over. "Don't be mad, Marcus. Please, hand the phone to Manager Clark. Let me ask her what's going on myself."

I let out a cold scoff and shoved my phone toward the manager, Chloe Clark.

She curled her lip in annoyance and took it reluctantly.

"Babe, haven't I told you a million times already? Cut ties with these broke freeloading relatives of yours! All they do is throw your name around to get free perks. This guy is even worse—he gets top-tier service and now he's trying to skip out on the bill!"

Kevin seemed to be frantically explaining something on the other end, but Chloe didn't even give him a chance to finish.

"Save it! I know you're soft-hearted and care too much about family ties. You never have the guts to put your foot down, so I'll be the bad guy today!"

With that, she hung up, tossed my phone back onto the counter, and thrust her chin into the air.

"Did you hear that? Kevin doesn't want to deal with your nonsense. Quit stalling. The total is two hundred eighty thousand and five hundred dollars. I'll waive the five hundred for you—two hundred and eighty grand flat!"

"Cash, card, or wire transfer? Make up your mind, or I'm calling security to escort you out!"

She dragged out the word "escort," her eyes dripping with malice.

I was honestly amused by her sheer stupidity.

In all these years, no one had ever dared to act this arrogant in front of me.

Right then, the VIP lounge door was shoved open, and Kevin came rushing in.

He jogged over, his face plastered with an awkward, strained smile.

"Hey, Marcus, look at this mess... Chloe just takes her job a little too seriously, you know? Don't take it to heart."

Before I could say a word, Chloe bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Kevin! I'm doing this for your own good! Are you really going to let every random scrub freeload off your name until the club goes bankrupt?"

She grabbed Kevin's arm, swaying it playfully while shooting me a smug, triumphant glare.

Looking at them, I would have had to be an idiot not to understand what was going on.

No wonder a mere store manager felt entitled to act like an untouchable tyrant. She had the boss backing her up.

As if confirming my thoughts, Kevin squeezed out a greasy smile and tried to play the family card.

"Marcus, Chloe is my girlfriend. We're getting engaged next month. We're going to be family anyway, and we'll be seeing each other all the time. Tell you what, I'll cover this bill myself, okay?"

"No need," I cut him off coldly.

Kevin's spineless behavior made my blood run cold. If I hadn't taken pity on him out of family loyalty back then, he would still be standing in line at local job fairs handing out resumes.

The architectural design of this club, the interior decor, the operational plans, the elite network, and even the entire startup capital—which part of it hadn't come directly from me?

I just hadn't wanted to bruise his fragile male ego back then, so I chose to stay behind the scenes. He had no clue that I was the real owner pulling all the strings.

And now, for the sake of a shortsighted, gold-digging woman, he was ready to turn against me.

Fine. If that was how he wanted to play it, I didn't need to show any mercy either.