Chapter 313

The servant smirked ominously. "You'll win this."

"Oh?"

"When two tigers fight, the hunter profits. No matter how powerful Mr. Xavier is, age has weakened him. Adrian may be young, but his methods are ruthless. If these two clash..." The servant drew a finger across his throat. "Once they've destroyed each other, the entire empire will be yours."

Grant Rubenstein swirled his glass, eyes glinting. "I tested Adrian earlier. He truly remembers nothing."

"Mr. Grant..."

"Speak."

The servant lowered his voice. "Severe illness requires strong medicine."

Grant's pupils contracted sharply as a long-buried secret surfaced.

He drained his glass in one gulp, the distorted reflection grinning back at him. "Stella Valentine... soon your 'Mr. Alistair' will return."

The villa dining room was thick with suffocating tension.

Adrian set down his chopsticks. "Uncle Xavier, I have two questions."

The old man dabbed his mouth. "Company matters?"

"First—were all my waterlogged sports cars really scrapped?"

Xavier's chopsticks hesitated mid-air. "Sent to the junkyard. Buy new ones if you miss them."

"Not a single one preserved?"

"None." Xavier frowned. "Why ask now?"

Adrian smiled faintly. "Sentimental value."

"Sentimentality is for cowards." Xavier pushed his bowl away. "Your second question?"

"About my parents' car accident." Adrian's gaze sharpened. "I suspect there's more to it."

Xavier coughed violently. "Didn't Lily Savigny confess? She's still imprisoned."

"Been too busy to follow up."

"Leave such trifles to me." Xavier waved dismissively. "Grant will handle it."

Adrian tapped the table lightly. "I have unanswered questions for her."

"What could a dying woman possibly tell you?" Xavier's voice rose before he forcibly steadied it. "Let the law punish her."

Adrian's eyes narrowed.

Two lies.

Not just lies—but eagerness to silence witnesses.

His parents' deaths were no accident.

"Uncle Xavier, when did you choose me as your successor?"

"Remember when you resolved New Frontier's financial crisis at twenty?"

That battle had first revealed his brilliance—retrieving every penny after his father's jade scam nearly bankrupted them.

"That early?"

"I observed you for three years." Xavier's gaze turned distant. "At twenty-three, I knew—no one else could inherit my empire."

Adrian's fingers clenched.

Twenty-three.

The year his parents died. The year he cut ties with Stella. The year Lily appeared.

Too convenient.

"Did you know Lily Savigny?"

"That gutter trash?"

"Then why ignore her back then, yet treat Stella like a threat now?"

Xavier slammed the table. "Because Lily couldn't sway you! Stella can!"

China rattled violently.

"In other words, you'd choose business over Lily. But with Stella..." Xavier sneered. "I can't take that gamble."

Adrian calmly retrieved fallen chopsticks, wiping them clean. "So anyone but Stella is acceptable?"

"Correct."

"What if I could have both Stella and the empire?"

Xavier erupted. "Have you lost your mind?! Abandon everything for a woman who loves another man?!"

Adrian placed the polished chopsticks before him. "Just a hypothetical. Don't upset yourself."

"Then what are your true feelings for Stella now?" Xavier's stare burned. "An act... or have you fallen for her again?"