Chapter 6

“You… Why are you here?” Xyla Quest asked in a panicked tone while she turned the engine on.

Stanley Batton was slightly surprised to see her here so coincidentally.

“Stop talking! Drive!” He said in a demanding tone.

As he spoke, he stepped on the accelerator with his foot…

Within a second, the sports car dashed forward. Xyla immediately grabbed the steering wheel before kicking his foot away to step on the accelerator herself.

“Go to the nearest hospital,” he commanded.

Xyla nodded before flooring on the accelerator.

***

Once they arrived at the hospital, Xyla Quest was shocked to find that the man had three gunshot wounds on his body, with two on his chest and one on his abdomen.

After staying with him while the doctors tended to his wound, she pushed him into his ward.

Despite being covered in blood, his good looks and charm could not be hidden.

Carefully, Xyla helped him to get into bed. “Get your family to come and look after you. I have something else to do, and I have to leave now.”

“Thank you,” Stanley Batton said coldly.

“You’re welcome… You have good looks. Why don’t you do something else instead of being a gangster?

“Isn’t it much more comfortable to earn money by becoming a celebrity than to fight in the streets?” Xyla let the words slip out of her mouth, albeit in a gentle manner.

The man raised his brows slightly before coolly scanning her up and down.

‘What gangster is she on about?’

Did she think of him as that kind of person? What a joke.

“How much can a celebrity earn?” He asked calmly.

“If you’re popular, you can earn a lot…”

“Do you know how much I can make in a day?”

Xyla felt that she was preaching to deaf ears. Therefore, she decided to stop talking and instead, picked up her purse and left.

How much could he possibly earn as a gangster? How could it possibly be a better earning than a celebrity’s? Was it as stable as being a celebrity?

“Wait a second…”

Xyla stopped walking and turned around. “What is it?”

Stanley struggled to retrieve a cheque stained with blood from his pocket. He then folded it into the shape of a plane and threw it into her hands.

“Take this with you. Thank you again.”

Xyla silently unraveled the cheque. However, she then folded it back into a paper plane that it was earlier before she threw it back to him.

“Consider this a payment for you to keep what happened that night a secret.” Xyla turned around and left after she finished her sentence.

When she arrived at the door, she turned around to look at the man. “Remember what the doctor said. Don’t get your wounds wet. Also, don’t smoke or drink alcohol.”

Her eyes glimmered like a pool of water.

“What is your name?” Stanley asked.

Without answering him, Xyla chuckled and walked away…

Since they were only strangers to each other, there was no reason to tell him her name.

Once Xyla had disappeared from his sight, the man mumbled to himself, “What an interesting woman.”

After that, he made a call on his phone. “Send someone over to the municipal hospital. Also, find out more information about the woman who sent me here.”

“Fifth Master, are you injured?”

“Zack Cassidy, do I look like a gangster?”

“Eh? You are noble and charismatic. Why would you look like a gangster?”

“…”

***

The next morning, at eight o’clock, news of Josh Batton being signed onto X Entertainment became the most popular topic on the internet.

Very soon, Weibo crashed.

Weibo’s technicians hurriedly worked to recover its system.

However, within two minutes, the application crashed yet again.

After that, it was a cycle of crashing and recovering.

Eventually, Xyla Quest was woken up by messages Georgie Clementine sent her on WeChat.

Still feeling sleepy, Xyla rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms before opening WeChat only to find that Georgie had sent her several messages.

“Good news, President Xyla.

“After announcing that Josh Batton would join us, our stock price has increased significantly.

“Within an hour, our stock price has increased by twenty percent.”

This was as Xyla had expected. Smiling calmly, Xyla typed a simple ‘okay’ in response.

Closely after that, another message came. “Last night, I arranged a welcoming dinner party for Josh Batton at Dreamland Hotel’s Rainforest Windy Night room. Will you be there?”

“Yes…” Xyla responded.

As the owner of the company, Xyla definitely needed to be at such an event.

Georgie followed up with a call right after.

“Oh, right, President Xyla. Regarding the news of Tom Sullivan cheating, it has remained one of the top three most popular topics.

“The Sullivan family offered money to remove the search results. However, it was completely out of their control. Angry internet users would not let Tom Sullivan off the hook.

“As soon as a new post is made, everyone would comment on it and demand Tom Sullivan to be prosecuted.

“In the end, the Sullivan family gave up on trying to control the damage.

“Apart from that, the Sullivan family’s food brands are all boycotted by internet users. By noon, the Sullivan family’s stock index had fallen by eight percent. Nearly twenty billion of their market value is gone.

“Also, I received news that the Sullivan family’s rival company has also participated in this massive attack.

“Everything is going according to your plan,” Georgie continued. “This time, Tom Sullivan has dragged the Sullivan family into a deep mess. If he makes any other mistake, he would very possibly lose his position as the heir. After all, he is not the only son in the Sullivan family.”

Xyla smiled. “I understand.”

After that, she opened Weibo to look at the most popular topic on the internet.

Right then, the hashtag ‘#TomSullivanCheats#’ is the second most popular topic on the internet. Meanwhile, ‘#JoshStewartSignedWithXEntertainment#’ remained at the top of the list.

After clicking into the news about Tom Sullivan, Xyla could see that internet users were all cursing him.

Now that things had spiraled out of control, Xyla knew without a doubt that the Sullivan family must be in a mess. Moreover, Tom Sullivan was definitely being reprimanded by his family.

However, it was still not enough for Xyla.

***

After putting on some light make-up, Xyla Quest pulled her naturally curly hair into a ponytail with a black ribbon.

She then changed into a white turtleneck sweater, a camel-colored woolen coat, and a pair of light blue jeans before she walked out of her room.

Xyla was getting ready to head to the shopping mall to buy some clothes for the current season.

This time, she had returned to the country in haste and left a lot of her clothes behind. Most of her existing clothes at home were far too big for her.

Although she was wearing hipster brands, she made the clothes appear as if they belonged to international designer brands.

As soon as she arrived downstairs, she saw Tom Sullivan and Jeremy Quest sitting in the living room.

Right then, Tom had his head lowered as he apologized to Jeremy. “Uncle, I am very sorry for the pain I have inflicted upon Xyla and the entire Quest family. I am deeply sorry.”

“Do you think the damage you have done to my eldest daughter can be resolved with a simple apology? If not for the fact that you and Emily are already engaged, I would definitely not have allowed her to continue staying with someone like you,” Jeremy snarled.

Xyla felt a warm sensation in her heart after hearing what Jeremy said.

However, she did not intend to interrupt the conversation. She walked elegantly over to Jeremy. “Dad, I’m going out.”

Jeremy nodded slightly.

After that, Xyla turned around and walked away without even looking at Tom. Her cold attitude made Tom feel extremely annoyed.

However, the more coldly she treated her, the more he wanted to approach her. This was perhaps human nature.

Once Xyla had walked out of the door, she retrieved her car key and unlocked her red Maserati with the controller.

“Xyla…”

She was about to get into the car when she heard Tom’s voice behind her.