Chapter 3

The supervisor shot Tiana a cold glance. "All the vehicles are registered under Mrs. Huber's name. Mr. Huber merely had the right to use them, and that's now been revoked. Please don't interfere with our official business."

Isaac collapsed onto the floor, his legs giving out.

He finally realized I wasn't joking. This was for real.

With no car, they ended up hailing a cab back to their apartment at Cloudnine Residency.

Tiana spent the whole ride complaining, saying I was heartless and ruthless, and that Isaac was completely useless.

Isaac stayed silent, his face as pale as a ghost.

When they finally dragged themselves back to the apartment building, the security guard stopped them.

"Mr. Huber, sorry, your access card doesn't work anymore," the guard said.

"What?" Isaac blurted out.

The guard explained, "Mrs. Huber's assistant just came by. The apartment's been taken back. Your personal stuff will be packed up and sent wherever Mrs. Huber wants. You can't go in now."

Isaac shouted, "My stuff is still in there!"

"We'll take care of it," the guard replied, his face completely expressionless.

Tiana completely lost it. "Isaac! You're such a loser! You lost the car, you lost the apartment! So much for being a rich kid! I must've been out of my mind to ever fall for you!"

She turned and walked away without even looking back.

Isaac tried to chase after her, but the security guard stopped him.

He could only stand there, powerless, as Tiana vanished into the night. Like a kicked-out stray, he was forced from the home he'd lived in for five years.

Late at night, Isaac found himself out on the streets. He was flat broke and homeless.

Isaac finally tasted what it was like to crash from the heights straight into the gutter.

He tried calling me again, but I immediately declined the call.

Then he started flooding my phone with messages, one after another.

[Mom, I messed up.]

[Mom, please don't be angry. I'll break up with her, okay?]

[Mom, it's so cold out here. I don't have anywhere to go.]

[Mom, do you really not want me anymore?]

I looked at his messages, not a flicker of emotion in my eyes.

Now he realized he screwed up? Too late. Those crocodile tears meant nothing to me. I didn't believe a word of it.

I picked up my phone and sent a message to Rueben. [Send me another copy of the detailed profile for that kid, Ryan Maddox, from Plan A.]

Ryan Maddox. A name I'd never heard before.

According to the file, he was the grandson of a distant uncle on William's side.

That uncle had a falling out with the family years ago and went off on his own. Their luck ran out, and they ended up living in poverty.

Ryan's parents died in a car accident, so he was raised by his aging grandparents. Thanks to scholarships and working part-time while studying, he managed to get into the prestigious finance program at Tessara University.

In the photo, Ryan looked about eighteen or nineteen, with clean-cut features and a maturity in his eyes that didn't match his age. There was a quiet toughness there, too.

He was wearing a worn-out T-shirt, standing in front of the school library, with patchy sunlight filtering through the trees behind him.

It was not like Isaac, whose photos always had either some famous tourist spot or a fancy party in the background.

Ryan had potential, definitely a good seed. But who knew what he was really like inside?

I told Rueben, "Make the arrangements. I want to meet him myself."

Rueben asked, "Mrs. Huber, should we just invite him for an interview at the office?"

"No." I shook my head. "That's too deliberate. Organize a charity scholarship event at his school on behalf of Huber Group. I want to observe him in his natural environment."

"Understood," Rueben replied.

Meanwhile, Isaac roamed the streets all night, nowhere to go.

The next morning, with massive dark circles under his eyes, he dragged himself to the front doors of Huber Group.

He tried to walk in, but the security guard blocked his way.

"Sorry, no appointment, no entry," the guard said.

"I'm Isaac Huber! I'm Victoria Huber's son!" Isaac yelled, desperate and furious.

The security captain walked over, his face blank. "Mrs. Huber made it clear. You're no longer with the company. Please leave and don't disrupt our operations."

Employees came and went, pointing fingers and gossiping about him.

The same colleagues who used to bow and scrape to him now looked at him with pure contempt, smirking and enjoying the show.

"Isn't that Isaac Huber? Why's he stuck at the door?"

"Heard Mrs. Huber kicked him out and stripped him of his inheritance rights."

"Serves him right. He never took anything seriously, just messing around with women all day. And now he wants to hand the company over to some outsider?"

Each remark pierced Isaac like a needle.

Isaac's face flushed red, mortified and furious.

He thought about those so-called friends of his. He immediately started calling up the trust fund kids he used to party with.

"Hey, Ian, I'm a little short right now. Can you spot me sixty grand for a bit?" Isaac asked.