Chapter 7
The waiting lounge fell into a dead silence.
All eyes were fixed on me and Leo.
When Leo saw Aubrie being dragged away, he panicked.
He stormed up to me, his eyes glaring with fury.
“Gloria! Don’t think that a little power gives you the right to do whatever you want!”
“A nobody like you, from an insignificant family, dares to provoke the Tanke family. You must have a death wish!”
With that, he pulled out his phone and made a call.
The moment the call connected, his tone shifted from icy disdain directed at me to one of slight appeasement.
“Hello? Dad?”
On the other end of the line came the steady voice of a middle-aged man, faintly asking about the situation with me.
Leo shot me a sidelong glare, then let out a cold snort before starting his tirade.
“Dad, I was just about to tell you about this woman! Who did you even arrange for me to meet?”
“She just had Aubrie detained! All because Aubrie wanted to use her so-called exclusive passageway…”
“What?!” Kane Tanke’s voice sharpened abruptly. “You sent Aubrie to take over her exclusive passageway?”
“What’s the big deal?” Leo dismissed his father’s reaction, oblivious, and continued to twist the facts.
He emphasized that Aubrie was merely “reasonably negotiating,” while I had acted “arrogantly.”
“Dad, blacklist her immediately, terminate all collaborations with her family, and cancel the engagement!”
On the other side of the line, there was a pause of two seconds.
Then came a thunderous roar so loud that even I, standing nearby, heard it clearly.
“Leo! Have you lost your mind? Do you even know the status and influence of the Redwood family?!”
“The Redwood family controls a third of New Rond’s shipping routes. Nearly all of our businesses rely on their support! Seventy percent of our imports and exports need their approval!”
“If anything, you should be begging her to marry you! And now you’re talking about canceling the engagement? Are you trying to destroy the entire Tanke family?!”
Kane’s sudden outburst nearly made Leo drop his phone.
Only then did he discover that his charmed, cushy life had been entirely propped up by my family’s influence. Panic finally crept into his expression.
“But… but isn’t she just some errand runner in her team…” he stammered weakly.
“Errand runner?” Kane let out a cold, incredulous laugh. “She’s the youngest commander in the Southern Military District’s Special Forces! Her grandfather is a general!”
Leo was utterly stunned by the flood of revelations. The color drained from his face as he stared at me in disbelief, his eyes filled with shock and confusion.
It was clear he had never imagined that the “insignificant” me would have such a formidable background.
Kane continued, laced with sheer fury as though it might burst through the phone, “I’m telling you, you’d better make Gloria happy! If this engagement falls through, don’t even think about coming back to the Tanke family! I won’t have such a stupid son!”
With a loud slam, the call ended abruptly.
Leo froze in place, his phone slipping from his fingers and clattering onto the floor.
The once-bustling crowd of onlookers had fallen silent, holding their breath as they watched the scene unfold in stunned disbelief.
A few seconds passed before Leo finally snapped out of his daze.
He took a deep breath, struggling to suppress the panic evident on his face, and turned stiffly toward me.
“Gloria… no, Miss Redwood,” he began, his voice faltering. “About what happened earlier… I was wrong…”
I looked at him with a faint, amused smile, saying nothing.
He avoided my gaze, his arrogance crumbling as he finally bowed his head. In a voice barely louder than a whisper, he muttered, “I’m sorry for offending you earlier. Please don’t take it to heart…”
