Semua Bab The Ace at the Apex: Bab 771 - Bab 780

On the other hand, Javier had already gone to see Herschel. After Herschel’s questioning last night, the middle-aged man had no idea what had gone on. He had just seen Iseult sitting alone and tried to pick a girl up by showing off his B

Javier had gone out of his way to shop at a boutique to avoid familiar faces, but he had not expected to still run into Grace. What felt more like a coincidence was that…they went to the hotel and booked a room—either because Grace was moved or thoroughly won over.What happened could not simply end in a rush, of course, especially when this was a beautiful woman like Grace.Hence, it was already past 5 p.m. when they left the hotel. Grace walked with an awkward gait but she was radiant, while Javier was the exact opposite. He had a good posture but he was not looking too great. He was completely spent.He basically had done nothing during the day except f*ck Bella and Grace. The two women were nothing less than enchantresses.In spite of this, Javier still had to get back to his task. He had not bought that underwear to hook up with Iseult.After having dinner with Grace, he took the girl back and headed for his third shopping attempt. He gave up on the mall and lingerie boutique

The trust-fund kid was convinced some misunderstanding had taken place, but Javier disputed that. Sure, a misunderstanding had occurred, but did it matter? No. It mattered not a whit. He had given the trust-fund kid time to leave, but he had wasted that chance. A bit too late for regrets now, wasn’t it? A wrongdoer had to be punished, so Javier beat him up until he had to crawl under the desk. The poor man shrieked and wailed like a banshee under the desk as Javier brutalized him.By the time Javier was finished, Iseult had returned with black eyes. No one else followed her. She seemed to have come back alone. Shortly after she had left, she had rounded a corner and found her path blocked by Herschel. The two of them had immediately gotten into a fight. It was technically a one-sided fight more than anything. Iseult had been the one pommeled, it seemed, which would explain her injuries. Javier looked at her wounds and laughed. “Didn’t know you were into smokey eye make-up!”Iseul

Conviction maketh man, they said. But conviction, especially faith, could also bring a man to ruin. Such was its nature as a double-edged sword. People who gathered over shared interests would sooner break away than people who gathered for the same cause. A shared conviction would turn them into a force of terror shaped by the singularity of their minds, with nothing as momentary as interests to distract them. They marched in a single direction in unison, unbreakable and unwavering. If the conviction was good, then such a force would also be good. But the Raiders’ cause was not. Building their own empire was just a means to an end, and one could tell because nothing seemed beyond the pale for them. What they—or what the leader of the Raiders—really wanted was to be the ruler of the world. It was a mortifying thought in an age when most wars could be fought on a technological front. A megalomaniac madman could bring the whole world down with him. The number of a-bombs in the entir

It was now or never. She had to do this right now. It was her only chance. She reached out toward him under a casual pretense, when Javier suddenly opened his eyes. He met hers directly. Iseult felt fear surging into her bloodstream. She had not expected him to open his eyes at that moment, which was why the suddenness of it all chilled her. It felt as though the thoughts in her head were clear to him—a possibility that made her shudder. What he said surprised her, though.“Hey, now. You need to sleep under the covers. The night’s windy and cold. Goodnight.” He turned his back to her before falling back into a slumber as though he trusted her not to stab him in the back. Iseult was so baffled that she suddenly did not know what to do next. What he’d said had been very unremarkable and quotidian, and yet for some reason, it made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. She had not been subjected to that sort of care for at least…well, 20-odd years. Since the day she had been abandoned