Chapter 1: Retiring After Success
The wind whistled, and leaves fluttered.
Lucas Gray pulled his coat together and once again looked at the campground that he had long gotten familiar with, as well as the familiar faces. He clenched his jaw tightly.
“Let's go.”
Lucas turned around and stepped onto the hatch door of the helicopter that had been waiting at the side for a long time.
Behind him were teams of tall, toned, and muscular men standing uniformly in neat rows. Despite having tears in their eyes, they were standing still with their backs straight in the cold wind and raising their hands in unison to perform a standard and reverent military salute.
“Farewell from the Assault Team, Captain!”
“Farewell from the Special Forces, Captain!”
“Farewell from the Logistics Team, Captain!”
Amid the sounds of the helicopter's propeller continuously rotating, the loud yelling sounded consecutively.
It was full of enthusiasm and pride!
“Captain, can you really bear to…” Jordan muttered with reluctance in his eyes as he wiped his tears and closed the helicopter's hatch door.
The wings of the helicopter rotated, and it ascended. The familiar campground and teams were gradually turning into tiny marks on the ground.
Lucas looked away and said with a faint smile, “Everything comes to an end someday. There's no longer a need for me to continue staying here.”
He had stayed on this land for six whole years.
During these six years, Lucas was quickly promoted from a fresh recruit to a general who held great authority after various close shaves with death. The invincible Falcon Regiment under his command firmly guarded the vast territory around the state of Calico.
And Lucas became the most powerful God of War in the eyes of the tens of thousands of members of the Falcon Regiment because of his excellent command ability and combat power.
No one dared to invade Calico anymore, as it was now well fortified. Having achieved success, he could finally retire, even though he was only twenty-eight years old.
The helicopter flew south toward the nearest airport.
Lucas took out an antique pocket watch from his chest, in which was a slightly yellowed photo.
It was a photo of him and a young woman taken six years ago. Back then, he was still slightly immature.
The woman's face was beautiful, delicate, and exquisite. Her lips were pursed stubbornly, and her slanted, crystalline eyes seemed to be staring straight into Lucas's hand through the photo.
The scene that seemed like a farce at that time was still fresh and vivid in his memory.
Lucas smiled bitterly as he began to recall the events from six years ago. At that time, Cheyenne Carter, who had just graduated from college, had already established the Brilliance Corporation with her outstanding bravery and wits, thus making her a gorgeous and famous female CEO.
However, her image was soon ruined.
The young and beautiful CEO with a glamorous appearance actually had a disgraceful private life, as she had had an affair with the company's chauffeur! The media made a big deal out of it and released all sorts of malicious, speculative, and untrue reports.
Cheyenne's image was ruined overnight, and she fell to rock bottom together with her Brilliance Corporation that was thrown into jeopardy.
No one bothered to discover that the truth was that they had actually been drugged.
The masses were only interested in gossip, and the Carters just wanted to cover up the scandal.
In the end, the chauffeur married into the Carters and became her husband.
However, the marriage did not save the image of Cheyenne and the Carters. Everyone mocked and criticized the greatest beauty of Orange County, who used to be the envy of everyone, and made remarks about the penniless chauffeur who was lucky enough to marry into a wealthy family.
The penniless chauffeur was Lucas.
Both of them were well aware of the truth of their marriage.
Soon, Lucas quietly left for the military camp and vowed to make a name for himself so that he would be worthy of the woman who used to be favored by God.
Six years had passed, and he finally returned after achieving success.
Lucas looked at the woman in the photo, his emotions mixed with inexplicable remorse and apology.
He wondered how she was doing after years of being away from her.
“Finally back!” Jordan stretched his back and looked at Lucas, who had a look of nostalgia.
The two of them passed through the crowded Orange County International Airport and casually ordered some fast food at the mall outside the airport.
“Captain… No, I mean, Lucas, your hometown is in Orange County, isn't it?” Lucas casually nodded.
It had been a long time since they left Orange County, and now that they had just returned, there were many things for them to tend to.
“Mommy… I want Mommy…” All of a sudden, a puerile and crisp crying sounded near them.
Lucas stopped in his tracks.
For some reason, the tender crying was tugging at his heartstrings.
Lucas pushed aside the crowd and followed the sound.
There was a little girl standing below a billboard near him and weeping, her face stained with tears.
The girl was about four or five years old and was holding a stuffed rabbit in her arms. Her tiny face was as fine as jade, and tears were welling up in her large, dark eyes. Her small and delicate nose was sniffling because of her crying, and she looked particularly adorable and pitiful, making Lucas's heart scrunch up.
In particular, she seemed bizarrely familiar to Lucas.
At this moment, the girl saw Lucas as well, and she abruptly stopped crying. Her eyes full of surprise, she suddenly leaped toward Lucas and hugged his thigh!
“Daddy!”
Lucas was stunned speechless and at a complete loss for what to do.
“Don't spout nonsense.” Lucas was somewhat at a loss. It was the first time in his life that he had ever had a child hug his thigh trustingly and call him ‘Daddy'.
After thinking about it, he squatted down, rubbed the little girl's hair, and said softly, “I'm not your Daddy. You made a mistake. Did you wander off from your parents? I'll take you to look for them.”
Hearing this, the little girl looked at Lucas in shock and suddenly began wailing loudly. “Daddy, you're a bad guy. You don't want me anymore!” Lucas was dumbfounded and at a loss.
After some painstaking effort, he finally managed to cajole her and convince her to go to the service counter of the mall. Lucas informed the service staff about the little girl being lost and gave a thorough explanation before leaving the mall.
When he left, the little girl was bawling her eyes out, almost causing Lucas to cave in.
Unfortunately, he still had important things to deal with. Otherwise, he would have kept her company until her parents arrived.
Soon after they left, a woman hurried to the service counter of the mall and hugged the weeping little girl, extremely heartbroken.
“Amelia, I'm sorry I'm late…”
There was still some lingering fear within her.
Earlier, she had intended to just make a quick trip to the bathroom, but she ended up running into a troublesome client who pestered her for a long time before leaving.
Over the years, she had been cherishing her daughter like she was her life. If anything happened to her daughter…
She didn't dare to think about it any longer.
“Mommy, I saw Daddy just now. But he said that I had mistaken him for someone else… How could I be mistaken? He was Daddy!” the girl exclaimed, her lips pursed and on the verge of tears.
“What?!” The woman's body suddenly stiffened.
Outside the mall, eight tall and burly bodyguards with domineering auras and clad in suits walked toward Lucas and stood still in front of him.
All eyes were on them.
Remaining still, Lucas raised his eyebrows.
“Mr. Gray.” The bodyguards parted to the sides, revealing an old man and a middle-aged man behind them.
The old man, whose hair and beard were white, was around fifty to sixty years old and donning an immaculate suit. He looked smart and energetic. The middle-aged man beside him was also decked out in subtly luxurious designer apparel. It was obvious that they were wealthy.
The old man walked up to Lucas and kept his aged eyes fixed on him. All of a sudden, he bowed to Lucas.
“I'm Chad Kennedy, the chief butler of the Hutton family. I'm here to take you back to Washington DC.”
The indifferent gaze in Lucas's eyes suddenly became sharp!
The Huttons? Taking me back to DC? This must be the greatest joke ever!
He grinned contemptuously. “It's surprising that the prestigious and noble Huttons still remember me. I remember getting kicked out of the Hutton family together with my mother by you people two decades ago. You people said that I'm unworthy of being a Hutton and even warned us not to go near DC again, or else my mother and I would be taught a hard lesson.
“Where in DC are you taking me back to? Or is it that all the Huttons have dropped dead?”
Lucas's voice was full of the endless hostility and anger that he had been suppressing for years.
Kennedy was speechless.
Lucas's words were certainly aggressive and harsh, but he knew that the Huttons had indeed let him down back then.
He let out a long sigh. “No matter what, so many years have passed, and Old Mr. Hutton has gotten on in his years. He just wants to spend time with his children and grandchildren. After all, you carry the blood of the Huttons.” “My last name is Gray, not Hutton.” Lucas continued unwaveringly, “If that nonsense is all you want to say to me, pardon me, but I won't entertain you.” Lucas turned around to leave, but Kennedy hurriedly stopped him. “Mr. Lucas, wait a minute!”
He grabbed a PIN-locked briefcase from the middle-aged man behind him and handed it to Lucas respectfully with both hands.
“This is all the information and the equity transfer letter of the Stardust Corporation, which used to belong to your mother. Now, it's only right for you to take over its operations. Treat it as compensation from the Huttons.”
“Compensation?” Lucas smiled mirthlessly. “The Stardust Corporation belongs to my mother in the first place. The Huttons forcefully snatched it away from her and encroached on it. Even if you didn't return it, I'd snatch it back on my own!
“You snatched someone else's asset, and now you're acting like you're giving it to me out of kindness. Are you still expecting me to be grateful too? How thickskinned! Let me warn you, don't treat me like a fool, and don't provoke me ever again. Or else I'll tear your family apart!”
Lucas pushed the bodyguards away and left with the briefcase.
Staring at his taut back, Kennedy shook his head and sighed. “Ah, he's still as hot-tempered as ever.”
As the chief butler of the Hutton family, Chad Kennedy was well aware that the Huttons had indeed gone overboard back then. However, the situation in Washington DC now was unfavorable, and he had no choice but to think of a way to repair the relationship between Lucas and the Huttons.
Kennedy patted the middle-aged man on his shoulder. “Ethan Sawyer, you're now one of the most prominent figures in Orange County. You ought to do something about the matter regarding Mr. Gray.”
The middle-aged man nodded respectfully. “I managed to achieve what I have today, all thanks to you and the Hutton family. It's only right for me to do this.
Don't worry. I will definitely do my best to help Mr. Gray.”
If there were people who knew the middle-aged man and saw him being very polite and respectful toward Kennedy, they would have definitely been astonished.
Well, because he was Ethan Sawyer, the wealthiest man in Orange County and the business tycoon who owned businesses in several states!
Back then, he was called a bastard and an illegitimate child at a tender age, and got chased out of his home together with his mother, whose assets and valuables were all seized. He had a high, persistent fever at the time. And while holding him in her arms, his mother knelt by the Huttons' doorstep and pleaded for help, only to hear them say coldly,
“We don't care about the lives of those who are not one of the Huttons.”
Afterward, his mother moved around and brought him to Orange County, where she worked hard to make ends meet. Although life was tough, she managed to raise him to adulthood. However, his mother developed an illness and collapsed after years of toiling and living a strenuous life.
At that time, Lucas had just graduated from college, and his meager wage was a drop in the bucket compared to the hefty medical bills. He swallowed his pride and tried to seek help from the Huttons, only to receive a heartless rejection and harsh mockery and criticism, which made him feel hopeless and resentful toward the Huttons.
Shortly after, he and Cheyenne were drugged, thus resulting in the scandal that spread like wildfire in the entire county. The Carters requested that he marry into their family.
He agreed on the condition that the Carters would lend him fifty thousand dollars for his mother's treatment.
However, by the time he rushed to the hospital with the money, his mother had already passed away.
At that time, Lucas was devastated and felt like a complete failure in life. He failed to save his mother and wasn't worthy of an outstanding girl like Cheyenne either.
To make matters worse, the Carters often mocked him in the past. Lucas decided to leave the Carters and join the military. He swore to make a name for himself so that he could stand proudly beside Cheyenne.
Now, he had returned.
The car sped along the road, and he soon arrived at the Carter residence. Lucas stood outside the courtyard gate that he was familiar with and seemed rather nervous about returning home.
Years ago, he left without saying goodbye, and he didn't know what Cheyenne thought of him now.
Just as he was about to go up and knock on the door, he heard some boisterous laughter coming from outside.
“Mr. Miller, since you're so sincere about Cheyenne, we shall be straightforward. Let's just settle on a date.”
Lucas was stunned. He reckoned that the voice belonged to Karen, his motherin-law and Cheyenne's mother.
“Missus—Karen, you're being too polite. Since we're going to be a family in the future, don't be so formal. Just call me by my name.”
“Sure, sure, you're so young and eloquent. Cheyenne is so lucky to have met you! As her parents, we can rest assured now!”
“However, I heard her former…”
“You mean that good-for-nothing? It's alright. The law states that a missing person can be declared dead after being missing for four years. He's already disappeared for more than six years, so he must have died in some hellhole! If you're still worried, let's go to the court and get a certificate.”
“In my opinion, Cheyenne is brilliant in all aspects, except that her husband, my brother-in-law, is a good-for-nothing.”
“That piece of trash isn't your brother-in-law. From now on, your brother-in-law is Mr. Miller.”
When Lucas heard this, his face turned incredibly gloomy, and he couldn't tolerate it any longer.
He had come back for Cheyenne, and yet he heard her family talking about her remarriage. No matter what, he had to see her to clarify.
Bang! Bang! He knocked on the door.
“Who is it? Coming.” Having settled her eldest daughter's marriage with a wealthy man, Karen was in a good mood, and she opened the door with a gleeful grin.
However, her expression changed dramatically when she saw the person at the door.
“You… you're not dead?” Shock was written all over her face, which seemed to have paled all of a sudden. Her expression was now full of disgust and disdain. This good-for-nothing is back!
Although Lucas's appearance had changed over the years, she could still recognize him, as she would curse him in her head dozens of times each day! “I'm back, Karen,” Lucas said calmly.
“How could you have the cheek to come back, you wastrel?! Don't act so close to me! It's Mrs Carter. Didn't your dead mother teach you any manners!” Karen hollered, her brows furrowed and her hands on her waist. Her saliva almost landed on Lucas's face.
Lucas's heart was suddenly full of fury!
His mother's death would forever be a sore spot in his heart and the reason for his rebellion!
He clenched his fists and repeatedly warned himself not to get physical because the woman in front of him was Cheyenne's biological mother. “What? Do you want to hit me? You're such a jinx. Of all times, you had to come back now. I bet you're bent on making life hard for us!”
“Who's out there?” When Cheyenne's father heard the ruckus, he walked out of the living room too.
When he saw Lucas's face, his eyes widened immediately, and he charged forward with a furious expression in a bid to punch Lucas!
“Bastard, how dare you come back?! Why didn't you die outside?! Huh?” Just as his fist was about to land on Lucas's face, a hand that was as strong as an iron clamp pinched his tightly.
“Old man, you must be tired of living! How dare you try to hit Lucas…” Jordan had been Lucas's subordinate for years and had long treated him as his closest kin. How could he stand by and watch him get humiliated by others?
With an icy-cold gaze in his eyes, he emitted a murderous aura that frightened Cheyenne's father to the point that he turned as pale as a sheet!
The wind whistled, and leaves fluttered.
Lucas Gray pulled his coat together and once again looked at the campground that he had long gotten familiar with, as well as the familiar faces. He clenched his jaw tightly.
“Let's go.”
Lucas turned around and stepped onto the hatch door of the helicopter that had been waiting at the side for a long time.
Behind him were teams of tall, toned, and muscular men standing uniformly in neat rows. Despite having tears in their eyes, they were standing still with their backs straight in the cold wind and raising their hands in unison to perform a standard and reverent military salute.
“Farewell from the Assault Team, Captain!”
“Farewell from the Special Forces, Captain!”
“Farewell from the Logistics Team, Captain!”
Amid the sounds of the helicopter's propeller continuously rotating, the loud yelling sounded consecutively.
It was full of enthusiasm and pride!
“Captain, can you really bear to…” Jordan muttered with reluctance in his eyes as he wiped his tears and closed the helicopter's hatch door.
The wings of the helicopter rotated, and it ascended. The familiar campground and teams were gradually turning into tiny marks on the ground.
Lucas looked away and said with a faint smile, “Everything comes to an end someday. There's no longer a need for me to continue staying here.”
He had stayed on this land for six whole years.
During these six years, Lucas was quickly promoted from a fresh recruit to a general who held great authority after various close shaves with death. The invincible Falcon Regiment under his command firmly guarded the vast territory around the state of Calico.
And Lucas became the most powerful God of War in the eyes of the tens of thousands of members of the Falcon Regiment because of his excellent command ability and combat power.
No one dared to invade Calico anymore, as it was now well fortified. Having achieved success, he could finally retire, even though he was only twenty-eight years old.
The helicopter flew south toward the nearest airport.
Lucas took out an antique pocket watch from his chest, in which was a slightly yellowed photo.
It was a photo of him and a young woman taken six years ago. Back then, he was still slightly immature.
The woman's face was beautiful, delicate, and exquisite. Her lips were pursed stubbornly, and her slanted, crystalline eyes seemed to be staring straight into Lucas's hand through the photo.
The scene that seemed like a farce at that time was still fresh and vivid in his memory.
Lucas smiled bitterly as he began to recall the events from six years ago. At that time, Cheyenne Carter, who had just graduated from college, had already established the Brilliance Corporation with her outstanding bravery and wits, thus making her a gorgeous and famous female CEO.
However, her image was soon ruined.
The young and beautiful CEO with a glamorous appearance actually had a disgraceful private life, as she had had an affair with the company's chauffeur! The media made a big deal out of it and released all sorts of malicious, speculative, and untrue reports.
Cheyenne's image was ruined overnight, and she fell to rock bottom together with her Brilliance Corporation that was thrown into jeopardy.
No one bothered to discover that the truth was that they had actually been drugged.
The masses were only interested in gossip, and the Carters just wanted to cover up the scandal.
In the end, the chauffeur married into the Carters and became her husband.
However, the marriage did not save the image of Cheyenne and the Carters. Everyone mocked and criticized the greatest beauty of Orange County, who used to be the envy of everyone, and made remarks about the penniless chauffeur who was lucky enough to marry into a wealthy family.
The penniless chauffeur was Lucas.
Both of them were well aware of the truth of their marriage.
Soon, Lucas quietly left for the military camp and vowed to make a name for himself so that he would be worthy of the woman who used to be favored by God.
Six years had passed, and he finally returned after achieving success.
Lucas looked at the woman in the photo, his emotions mixed with inexplicable remorse and apology.
He wondered how she was doing after years of being away from her.
“Finally back!” Jordan stretched his back and looked at Lucas, who had a look of nostalgia.
The two of them passed through the crowded Orange County International Airport and casually ordered some fast food at the mall outside the airport.
“Captain… No, I mean, Lucas, your hometown is in Orange County, isn't it?” Lucas casually nodded.
It had been a long time since they left Orange County, and now that they had just returned, there were many things for them to tend to.
“Mommy… I want Mommy…” All of a sudden, a puerile and crisp crying sounded near them.
Lucas stopped in his tracks.
For some reason, the tender crying was tugging at his heartstrings.
Lucas pushed aside the crowd and followed the sound.
There was a little girl standing below a billboard near him and weeping, her face stained with tears.
The girl was about four or five years old and was holding a stuffed rabbit in her arms. Her tiny face was as fine as jade, and tears were welling up in her large, dark eyes. Her small and delicate nose was sniffling because of her crying, and she looked particularly adorable and pitiful, making Lucas's heart scrunch up.
In particular, she seemed bizarrely familiar to Lucas.
At this moment, the girl saw Lucas as well, and she abruptly stopped crying. Her eyes full of surprise, she suddenly leaped toward Lucas and hugged his thigh!
“Daddy!”
Lucas was stunned speechless and at a complete loss for what to do.
Chapter 2: Take You Back to Washington DC
At the side, Jordan blinked and exclaimed, “Lucas, this kid really looks like you. Since when do you have a daughter? We've never heard you mention anything about it before!”“Don't spout nonsense.” Lucas was somewhat at a loss. It was the first time in his life that he had ever had a child hug his thigh trustingly and call him ‘Daddy'.
After thinking about it, he squatted down, rubbed the little girl's hair, and said softly, “I'm not your Daddy. You made a mistake. Did you wander off from your parents? I'll take you to look for them.”
Hearing this, the little girl looked at Lucas in shock and suddenly began wailing loudly. “Daddy, you're a bad guy. You don't want me anymore!” Lucas was dumbfounded and at a loss.
After some painstaking effort, he finally managed to cajole her and convince her to go to the service counter of the mall. Lucas informed the service staff about the little girl being lost and gave a thorough explanation before leaving the mall.
When he left, the little girl was bawling her eyes out, almost causing Lucas to cave in.
Unfortunately, he still had important things to deal with. Otherwise, he would have kept her company until her parents arrived.
Soon after they left, a woman hurried to the service counter of the mall and hugged the weeping little girl, extremely heartbroken.
“Amelia, I'm sorry I'm late…”
There was still some lingering fear within her.
Earlier, she had intended to just make a quick trip to the bathroom, but she ended up running into a troublesome client who pestered her for a long time before leaving.
Over the years, she had been cherishing her daughter like she was her life. If anything happened to her daughter…
She didn't dare to think about it any longer.
“Mommy, I saw Daddy just now. But he said that I had mistaken him for someone else… How could I be mistaken? He was Daddy!” the girl exclaimed, her lips pursed and on the verge of tears.
“What?!” The woman's body suddenly stiffened.
Outside the mall, eight tall and burly bodyguards with domineering auras and clad in suits walked toward Lucas and stood still in front of him.
All eyes were on them.
Remaining still, Lucas raised his eyebrows.
“Mr. Gray.” The bodyguards parted to the sides, revealing an old man and a middle-aged man behind them.
The old man, whose hair and beard were white, was around fifty to sixty years old and donning an immaculate suit. He looked smart and energetic. The middle-aged man beside him was also decked out in subtly luxurious designer apparel. It was obvious that they were wealthy.
The old man walked up to Lucas and kept his aged eyes fixed on him. All of a sudden, he bowed to Lucas.
“I'm Chad Kennedy, the chief butler of the Hutton family. I'm here to take you back to Washington DC.”
The indifferent gaze in Lucas's eyes suddenly became sharp!
The Huttons? Taking me back to DC? This must be the greatest joke ever!
He grinned contemptuously. “It's surprising that the prestigious and noble Huttons still remember me. I remember getting kicked out of the Hutton family together with my mother by you people two decades ago. You people said that I'm unworthy of being a Hutton and even warned us not to go near DC again, or else my mother and I would be taught a hard lesson.
“Where in DC are you taking me back to? Or is it that all the Huttons have dropped dead?”
Lucas's voice was full of the endless hostility and anger that he had been suppressing for years.
Kennedy was speechless.
Lucas's words were certainly aggressive and harsh, but he knew that the Huttons had indeed let him down back then.
He let out a long sigh. “No matter what, so many years have passed, and Old Mr. Hutton has gotten on in his years. He just wants to spend time with his children and grandchildren. After all, you carry the blood of the Huttons.” “My last name is Gray, not Hutton.” Lucas continued unwaveringly, “If that nonsense is all you want to say to me, pardon me, but I won't entertain you.” Lucas turned around to leave, but Kennedy hurriedly stopped him. “Mr. Lucas, wait a minute!”
He grabbed a PIN-locked briefcase from the middle-aged man behind him and handed it to Lucas respectfully with both hands.
“This is all the information and the equity transfer letter of the Stardust Corporation, which used to belong to your mother. Now, it's only right for you to take over its operations. Treat it as compensation from the Huttons.”
“Compensation?” Lucas smiled mirthlessly. “The Stardust Corporation belongs to my mother in the first place. The Huttons forcefully snatched it away from her and encroached on it. Even if you didn't return it, I'd snatch it back on my own!
“You snatched someone else's asset, and now you're acting like you're giving it to me out of kindness. Are you still expecting me to be grateful too? How thickskinned! Let me warn you, don't treat me like a fool, and don't provoke me ever again. Or else I'll tear your family apart!”
Lucas pushed the bodyguards away and left with the briefcase.
Staring at his taut back, Kennedy shook his head and sighed. “Ah, he's still as hot-tempered as ever.”
As the chief butler of the Hutton family, Chad Kennedy was well aware that the Huttons had indeed gone overboard back then. However, the situation in Washington DC now was unfavorable, and he had no choice but to think of a way to repair the relationship between Lucas and the Huttons.
Kennedy patted the middle-aged man on his shoulder. “Ethan Sawyer, you're now one of the most prominent figures in Orange County. You ought to do something about the matter regarding Mr. Gray.”
The middle-aged man nodded respectfully. “I managed to achieve what I have today, all thanks to you and the Hutton family. It's only right for me to do this.
Don't worry. I will definitely do my best to help Mr. Gray.”
If there were people who knew the middle-aged man and saw him being very polite and respectful toward Kennedy, they would have definitely been astonished.
Well, because he was Ethan Sawyer, the wealthiest man in Orange County and the business tycoon who owned businesses in several states!
Chapter 3: I'm Back
Lucas was sitting in the backseat of a car with a sullen expression. Kennedy's appearance reminded him of the past that he didn't want to remember.Back then, he was called a bastard and an illegitimate child at a tender age, and got chased out of his home together with his mother, whose assets and valuables were all seized. He had a high, persistent fever at the time. And while holding him in her arms, his mother knelt by the Huttons' doorstep and pleaded for help, only to hear them say coldly,
“We don't care about the lives of those who are not one of the Huttons.”
Afterward, his mother moved around and brought him to Orange County, where she worked hard to make ends meet. Although life was tough, she managed to raise him to adulthood. However, his mother developed an illness and collapsed after years of toiling and living a strenuous life.
At that time, Lucas had just graduated from college, and his meager wage was a drop in the bucket compared to the hefty medical bills. He swallowed his pride and tried to seek help from the Huttons, only to receive a heartless rejection and harsh mockery and criticism, which made him feel hopeless and resentful toward the Huttons.
Shortly after, he and Cheyenne were drugged, thus resulting in the scandal that spread like wildfire in the entire county. The Carters requested that he marry into their family.
He agreed on the condition that the Carters would lend him fifty thousand dollars for his mother's treatment.
However, by the time he rushed to the hospital with the money, his mother had already passed away.
At that time, Lucas was devastated and felt like a complete failure in life. He failed to save his mother and wasn't worthy of an outstanding girl like Cheyenne either.
To make matters worse, the Carters often mocked him in the past. Lucas decided to leave the Carters and join the military. He swore to make a name for himself so that he could stand proudly beside Cheyenne.
Now, he had returned.
The car sped along the road, and he soon arrived at the Carter residence. Lucas stood outside the courtyard gate that he was familiar with and seemed rather nervous about returning home.
Years ago, he left without saying goodbye, and he didn't know what Cheyenne thought of him now.
Just as he was about to go up and knock on the door, he heard some boisterous laughter coming from outside.
“Mr. Miller, since you're so sincere about Cheyenne, we shall be straightforward. Let's just settle on a date.”
Lucas was stunned. He reckoned that the voice belonged to Karen, his motherin-law and Cheyenne's mother.
“Missus—Karen, you're being too polite. Since we're going to be a family in the future, don't be so formal. Just call me by my name.”
“Sure, sure, you're so young and eloquent. Cheyenne is so lucky to have met you! As her parents, we can rest assured now!”
“However, I heard her former…”
“You mean that good-for-nothing? It's alright. The law states that a missing person can be declared dead after being missing for four years. He's already disappeared for more than six years, so he must have died in some hellhole! If you're still worried, let's go to the court and get a certificate.”
“In my opinion, Cheyenne is brilliant in all aspects, except that her husband, my brother-in-law, is a good-for-nothing.”
“That piece of trash isn't your brother-in-law. From now on, your brother-in-law is Mr. Miller.”
When Lucas heard this, his face turned incredibly gloomy, and he couldn't tolerate it any longer.
He had come back for Cheyenne, and yet he heard her family talking about her remarriage. No matter what, he had to see her to clarify.
Bang! Bang! He knocked on the door.
“Who is it? Coming.” Having settled her eldest daughter's marriage with a wealthy man, Karen was in a good mood, and she opened the door with a gleeful grin.
However, her expression changed dramatically when she saw the person at the door.
“You… you're not dead?” Shock was written all over her face, which seemed to have paled all of a sudden. Her expression was now full of disgust and disdain. This good-for-nothing is back!
Although Lucas's appearance had changed over the years, she could still recognize him, as she would curse him in her head dozens of times each day! “I'm back, Karen,” Lucas said calmly.
“How could you have the cheek to come back, you wastrel?! Don't act so close to me! It's Mrs Carter. Didn't your dead mother teach you any manners!” Karen hollered, her brows furrowed and her hands on her waist. Her saliva almost landed on Lucas's face.
Lucas's heart was suddenly full of fury!
His mother's death would forever be a sore spot in his heart and the reason for his rebellion!
He clenched his fists and repeatedly warned himself not to get physical because the woman in front of him was Cheyenne's biological mother. “What? Do you want to hit me? You're such a jinx. Of all times, you had to come back now. I bet you're bent on making life hard for us!”
“Who's out there?” When Cheyenne's father heard the ruckus, he walked out of the living room too.
When he saw Lucas's face, his eyes widened immediately, and he charged forward with a furious expression in a bid to punch Lucas!
“Bastard, how dare you come back?! Why didn't you die outside?! Huh?” Just as his fist was about to land on Lucas's face, a hand that was as strong as an iron clamp pinched his tightly.
“Old man, you must be tired of living! How dare you try to hit Lucas…” Jordan had been Lucas's subordinate for years and had long treated him as his closest kin. How could he stand by and watch him get humiliated by others?
With an icy-cold gaze in his eyes, he emitted a murderous aura that frightened Cheyenne's father to the point that he turned as pale as a sheet!
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