Chapter 223: Resignation

Celine walked into the building Ryan had texted her to go, the whole place was dark where she couldn’t even see her own shadow as she walked in. The building was sitting on top of a hill at the far back of the city.

Celine stepped into the dark building, its interior a mystery to her, while the sound of her footsteps rang out stark and loud against the floor.

She had come alone because Ryan had insisted she come alone, Natalia who had hurried over to comfort her immediately she heard about the news had insisted on coming with her, but Celine had refused, she had even insisted to follow her stealthily so Ryan wouldn’t come to know about her presence but Celine didn’t want to take any risk, so she had asked Natalia to stay back, she wasn’t afraid of Ryan, though she had fallen into his trap once before, she would make sure it never happened again, for her children’s sake.

However, the lights in the building suddenly came on blinding Celine’s sight momentarily she had to shut her eyes for a second and open it hesitantly, but when her sight focused on her surroundings, she looked around with a frown on her face at the familiar setting.

Romance drenched every corner of the room, red roses draped the walls and spilled from baskets, their presence wrapping the space in quiet intensity.

Bright lights splashed color across the room, but they did nothing to ease the knot in her chest. Her eyes locked on the platform ahead, a bed shrouded in sheer curtains, ringed by red roses, staged, like a beautiful trap.

Celine frowned even deeper, what the hell was all of this?

Seeing how the place was decorated, it looked almost similar to how the hall looked when Tristan had proposed to her, what stood out, however, was the bed raised on a platform. It looked like a stage, but with a romantic air, as though it were meant for a wedding ceremony.

A familiar voice suddenly rang with a loud echo all over the place,

“Welcome darling, I heard this is how my cousin proposed to you, do tell me you prefer this one than what my lame cousin prepared, I’m more of a romantic man than him after all.” Ryan’s voice rang from a booming speaker, “Please, do make yourself free my lady, do not hold back, all of this is for you.”

Celine looked around but couldn’t see Ryan anywhere, all she could hear was his voice, “Where are my children Ryan?”

“Patience my love,” he paused before saying, “You do not mind me calling you that do you? Of course you don’t, I have your beloved little angels in my hands after all.”

“Quit hiding Ryan and face me, tell me where you’ve kept my kids, I’m here now aren’t I? Now tell me where they are!”

“Oh, I did promise to tell you where they are didn’t I? But… You being here Is just my second demand, there’s still two other demands your husband hasn’t fulfilled yet, although, I’m doubting he’ll be able to fulfill the third demand since the Blakewood family is in the hands of our dearest Grandfather, I’m sure that man won’t give him Blakewood Groups just to set his children free, the old man is very cunning, so you see my love… This is a hopeless case for you, even I can’t guarantee the safety of your little angels anymore.”

“Don’t you dare hurt them Ryan! Apart from the fact that you’re a coward who can’t even face me, you even went back on your words, you promised to tell me where they are if I came here alone!”

“Oh, is my baby impatient to see me? Don’t get eager, I’ll definitely show myself to you pretty soon, and…” He lowered his voice to sound sad as he said, “It breaks my heart that you think I’m an unreliable person, now you won’t want to believe in my words anymore. How about this? I’ll offer you an even juicier deal, this time, I promise, that you’ll get to see your kids.”

Celine remained silent, she had known it was a bad idea to trust him in the first place, but she had still decided to take her chances, and now he was doing nothing but playing with her.

Regardless of her silence, Ryan continued to speak, “See that beautiful bed over there my love? Romantic isn’t it?”

Celine once more gazed at the bed, disdain surfacing in her eyes, “More like the pathetic attempts of a bitter psychotic bastard!” Celine spat.

“Ouch my love, that’s really harsh, but I’m sure the decorator wouldn’t mind your harsh words to him.” Ryan said in an unbothered manner,

“Now, you want to see your children am I right?”

He asked but Celine didn’t give him a reply, he continued,

“I have only one simple task for you, you will walk, step by step towards that bed, and then…” He chuckled, “Slowly, and sexily, you will strip every single piece of clothing you have on, then you’ll lay on that bed, and you will pleasure yourself…”

Celine scrunched her brows at his words.

“…but, you can only call my name, you will think of me, pine for me to have you and when I’m satisfied with how desperately you seem to want me, I’ll show myself to you, and finally, I’ll give you the greatest type of pleasure you’ve ever had in your life, I’m sure even my cousin won’t be able to give you that experience believe me.” His voice sounded disgustingly lecherous.

“You’re pathetically disgusting Ryan, I knew this fact from the beginning, but I never knew to what extent, you’ve proved to me that you’re even more of a loser than I thought you were!” With anger blazing in her blue eyes she yelled, though his lecherous demands weren’t unexpected, but every word he said sounded utterly disgusting to her ears.

Ryan fell silent, there was no telling what reaction he would be having at this moment, but after a while, his voice suddenly sounded again,

“Hahaha!!!” His laughter tore into the silence sharply.

“Me? A loser? Hahahah!” He laughed as if it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard before, “Will a loser be able to get you to come here?” He asked, his laughter abruptly stopping and his voice turning darker. Traces of anger he was trying to hold back could be heard.

“You came all the way here on my demands because you needed something from me, you need me Celine, and you can’t deny it, without me, you’ll never be able to find your kids I assure you that!”

Celine didn’t reply and waited silently until he spoke again,

“But don’t worry, I’ll eventually have you anyway, it’s only a matter of time, you will give in to me, or I’ll take you by force.”

Celine glared at the direction of the speakers as if she was looking at Ryan himself, rage filling her she clenched her fists tightly.

“Oh, and you might want to sit if you will since you’ll be here for some time, and… Would you like some entertainment my love? No worries.”

All of a sudden, on the other side of the wall, a bright light turned on and it changed into moving images, Celine realized it wasn’t a wall at all but a screen.

The screen showed a large hall room with so many reporters all holding their cameras and mics eagerly waiting for a juicy news, a press conference. Celine realized.

Ryan’s voice spoke again, “It seems like my dear cousin is finally about to give in to my first demand, very soon, Grayson Corp will be mine!”

Celine looked at the screen with astonishment in her eyes, she seemed to be unable to believe what she was seeing on the screen.

“Tristan?” She mumbled in disbelief still staring at the screen shocked.

Ryan’s laughter sounded again, “What is it my love? You can’t believe what you’re seeing?” He asked as a tall figure was shown on the screen walking into the large press conference hall. With his back view, everyone who knew him would be certain it was Tristan, stepping up the platform he turned around to face the crowd of reporters present, his face stoic and cold.

Celine kept on looking in disbelief.

“Would you look at that my love, your beloved fiance, knowing you’re here with me still went on to the press conference, I’m sure he must be mad at you for coming here, maybe he doesn’t even care about you anymore and just wants to save his children, or perhaps…” Ryan said provocative words and paused a bit for effect, “… perhaps, he wants you to be here to fulfill my second demand, I’m sure he must know my intentions for you, but he still didn’t care… Tsk Celine, are you sure he cares about you at all?”

Tears gleamed in her eyes as she stared at the screen, but she didn’t reply to Ryan’s taunts, instead she focused on Tristan’s image on the screen as he began to speak to the public.

“Thanks to everyone for coming on such short notice, I won’t waste anybody’s time and will just cut straight to the point.” Tristan began with a straightforward tone, “I called for this press conference today to officially make an announcement.” Saying this he paused as the whole hall was filled with loud murmurs from the surprised public.

He was a successful businessman who was idolized by a lot of people, so anything related to him would cause a huge buzz. Tristan continued,

“I’d like to announce that… I’ve decided to officially resign from my position as owner and CEO of Grayson Corp.”

With those words, the hall was filled with loud voices as everyone was shocked as well as surprised by his sudden decision, everyone started to murmur amongst each other questions of why and how he would suddenly make this decision arose.

“Along with that…” Tristan continued, as his voice spoke everyone once again went quiet to await another huge shock that would be dropped on them.

“Along with that, I’d like to announce my handover of Grayson Corp to someone more capable.”

Everyone eagerly listened, this was the most unexpected news that could suddenly happen. Even the news of him having children who are five years old when no one had known about them for all that time was not as shocking as this.

“I will be handing over the Grayson Corp to my cousin Ryan Blakewood!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep