Heart Hunting

"When did I piss you off? Look at your old face. The wrinkles spoil my appetite. Ladies outside have a hundred times better temper than you, not to mention their younger age." Marvin retorts haughtily and glares at her with disgust. "You... you asshole!" Vita lunges at him.

Bryant and Hilda, who just enter the door, aren't surprised at all, after seeing their fight. The couple ignores them and moves toward the sofa.

Vita doesn't spare the couple a glance. Instead, she drags her husband and continues scolding.

At the moment, the temperature in the living room plummets. A man goes down from the second floor under afterglow, casting the shadow and decoloring the glow in each step, and pockets his hand with sharp and frigid eyes and a serious look.

He is the youngest son of Sanches Family-Karlous, who is in charge of the whole Sanches Group now after Jacob retired.

Watching him going downstairs, Marvin and Vita keep quite instantly, but Vita is still reluctant to lose her grasp on Marvin.

Karlos ignores their quarrel and moves toward the sofa coldly, where Hilda and Bryant sit seriously with fear in their eyes.

His cold eyes land on Bryant like X-ray, which makes Bryant shudder. "Father lets you go to the study."

"Okay." Bryant nods obediently and walks toward the study on the second floor.

Karlos moves calmly and sits on the sofa. His tall figure is like a towering mountain, situated next to Hilda and, and a feeling of pressure is looming to her.

Even Marvin, the eldest brother who was brazen just now, is kind of afraid of Karlos, thus throwing his wife's hand away and leaving quickly.

However, Vita is still annoyed and follows him. The breezes carry her curse. "Marvin, you can try and leave..."

With their departure, the living room falls into silence. The cold and condensed air makes the people breathless. Karlos, who is sitting there, picks up a teacup and drinks slowly.

Hilda can't resist the temptation to ask him tentatively, "What's the matter? Why does father summon us?"

Actually, she knows the reason, but she's afraid of the deeper one her father will intervene in the Greens for Bryant's mismanagement.

The tea aroma floats in the air, carrying the freshness of Karlos. He's indifferent and silent, as if not hearing Hilda's question.

To be honest, Hilda is sort of scared of him. Although he's a love child, gloomy and frigid unlike a human since he was a child, he is more capable of business management than his father, thus the Sanches Group is taken over by him, instead of the eldest son, Marvin. It takes a long time before she repeats the question.

He puts down the teacup and glances at her without any emotion. "Don't you know?"

Being frightened by his eyes, she doesn't dare to ask more. She guesses it must be the recent matter of the company. Besides, she's afraid that she can't worm something important out of him.

In the study, the refreshing scent of sandalwood fills the air, rendering a feeling of tranquility and peace.

Bryant, who pushes the door in carefully, forces a smile and looks at Jacob sitting in a chair.

Jacob sits in a chair behind a table with a cane in his hand. His old face looks fierce and evil and his sharp eyes, even after long years of hardship, still harbor malevolence.

"Father!" Bryant moves forward with fear.

"Sit!" Jacob glances at the chair nearby.

Bryant keeps his spirit up and doesn't dare to relax.

"The Greens is not going well recently?" Jacob asks lightly, but what he says frightens Bryant.

"Yes, it's a little trouble, but..."

"Is it a little trouble? Bryant, do you think I'm old enough to be fooled around? The Greens has lost the core client of Dakings Group, and the domino effect is that many clients, major or minor, will cancel their cooperation with the Greens. Can't you count the loss?" Jacob reprimands him loudly and firmly. "Father, I... It's my oversight." Bryant is desperate in his mind, not expecting Jacob knows so much.

Jacob doesn't release his anger after hearing that, but with a frown. "Do you also lose the G.I project, which you said you can certainly take it?"

"I... Something went wrong. I'll dig into it." Bryant doesn't know how to explain, and he has been dreading for it for a long while.

"A word 'mistake' can erase your uselessness? I think the performance in the second half of the year is going to be a joke."

"Father, there are indeed quite a few problems in the company recently, but I'll definitely solve them one by one." Bryant has nothing to explain, but only finding remedies now.

"In terms of the G.I project, I think there must be an inside man in the company, as the X Company's bid is similar to ours..."

"I don't want to hear the process, but the result. What can you do, since you notice the inside man until now? Can you get the project back?" In Jacob's opinion, others are able to take advantage because of Bryant's incapability.

"Bryant, although I'm Hilda's father, I can assure you that I'm not a philanthropist at work. Instead, I'm a businessman, not doing trade at a loss. If you are unable to manage the Greens, you must retire and it'll be merged into the Sanches Group, taken over by Karlos." Hearing it, Bryant goes wan. "Father, I'll absolutely handle the crisis well and show you my grades."

Jacob's words put him under great pressure. If the company is merged, he'll have nothing.

"Don't make empty promises in front of me. Show me what you're capable of. If it wasn't Hilda had your child, you weren't eligible to be my son-in-law. For my daughter's face and your future life, I provided you with funds to set up the Greens. But if you aren't competent for this job, you know what I'll do..."

Compared to the dilemma upstairs, the frigidness downstairs makes one freeze. Watching the passage of time, Hilda notices the silence upstairs and becomes more uneasy.

Karlos, next to her, is as still as a sculpture. If it isn't because he drinks tea occasionally, he really gives others an illusion of statue. No one dares to talk to him since he looks alienated from the whole body. Therefore, Hilda won't talk to him at the risk of being ignored. After half of an hour, Bryant goes down from the study with an extremely terrible look, as if his face is covered the powder.

Hilda approaches him immediately. "How's it going? What did my father say?"

"Nothing. Let's go home." Bryant pretends to be cool. He doesn't dare to show his feeling since they are in the Sanches House.

A servant steps forward, and asks carefully, "Mr. and Mrs. Green, will you stay for dinner?"

"No, we're going home now." Seeing Bryant striding away, Hilda catches up quickly.

Karlos still sits on the sofa and watches them leave from his eye corner with a meaningful smile.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐