"So what you’re saying is, if we don’t sell, you plan on just taking it by force?" Nolan Winslow’s face darkened the moment he heard Eugene Aldridge speak.

Eugene Aldridge chuckled and clapped his hands. Instantly, several thugs appeared and surrounded Grace Winslow and her group.

The onlookers disapproved, but no one dared to say a word.

Eugene Aldridge had powerful backers. They didn’t dare to cross him.

"No need to make it sound so ugly. I’m sincerely trying to do business with you. I’ll repeat my offer: one hundred thousand, and the stone is mine. You don’t even have to cut the rest. I’ll buy back all the stones you purchased for the same price you paid. And if you want to come back and try your luck again in the future, you’re always welcome."

"Agree to this, and we can all be good friends. If you have anything else valuable to sell down the line, you can always come to me." Eugene Aldridge walked up to Nolan Winslow with a smile and reached out to adjust his clothes.

Nolan Winslow slapped his hand away and snapped, "Get your filthy hands off me."

"I’m not making a deal with you. There’s no way we’re selling the stone today."

"If you’re going to make a move on us, you’d better think carefully about whether you can afford the consequences. Did you really think we’d dare to come here without any backing of our own?"

Eugene Aldridge narrowed his eyes at Nolan Winslow’s words, then smirked. "In Coronet, no one dares to cross me. I don’t care who you have backing you. The moment they hear the name Eugene Aldridge, they know to show some respect."

"Trying to scare me? Heh. How naive. Do you think I’m that easily frightened?"

Seeing that his bluff hadn’t worked on Eugene Aldridge, Nolan Winslow and Brandon Winslow exchanged a subtle look.

If it were just the two of them, it wouldn’t be a big deal. They could both fight. Getting a little banged up wouldn’t be the end of the world; they could find a way to escape.

But they had four women with them.

They couldn’t let anything happen to Grace and the others.

"You want to buy my stone?" At that moment, Grace Winslow, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.

Eugene Aldridge’s gaze landed on Grace Winslow’s face, a glimmer of admiration in his eyes. He ambled toward her with a chuckle. "You’re the one calling the shots for this stone? How about it? One hundred thousand."

"One hundred thousand is too little. Two hundred thousand, and it’s yours. But you can’t have the rest of the stones. We’re taking those with us." Grace Winslow shook her head, holding up two fingers.

Nolan Winslow frowned, but he trusted Grace, so he kept quiet, standing to the side and watching warily.

Eugene Aldridge considered it for a moment before nodding with a smile. "Fine. If the pretty lady says two hundred thousand, then two hundred thousand it is. I’ll have my men escort you to the bank for the transfer. How does that sound?"

"Fine. Let’s go now," Grace Winslow agreed readily.

She knew that confronting Eugene Aldridge here would do them no good.

There were six of them, and the four women couldn’t fight. It would be nearly impossible for Nolan Winslow and Brandon Winslow alone to protect everyone and get them out of there unscathed.

So she needed to play along, at least until she could get everyone else away from here safely.

Just then, a Jeep was heading in their direction.

In the car, Byron Sinclair was grinning from ear to ear, boasting to Archer Rhys, who sat beside him. "I’m telling you, I had to pull a lot of strings to get in with this Eugene Aldridge. I hear he’s got a batch of raw stones from overseas—top quality, all old-mine jadeite. If we can land this deal, we could make at least ten, even twenty times our investment."

"Are you sure you don’t want to partner with me on this? You’ve saved up a good amount over the years, not to mention the money your parents left you. If you’d just invested with me, your money would have compounded countless times by now."

Archer Rhys’s expression remained impassive. "Not interested. That’s my marriage fund. Don’t even think about touching it."

Byron Sinclair rolled his eyes. "You call it a marriage fund, but who knows where your future wife even is. It’s been almost a year, hasn’t it? Have you made any progress with her?"

Archer Rhys shot him a look. "You have to be patient when you’re courting a woman. I’m in this for a lifetime with her, not just for some fleeting pleasure. I have all the patience in the world to wait for her to say yes."

Byron Sinclair offered no comment.

After all, they had different philosophies when it came to love.

They pulled up outside the stone gambling event. Byron Sinclair parked, but when he went to go inside, he found the gate was locked.

He was taken aback. "That’s weird. Isn’t the stone gambling event today? Why would it be closed so early? Don’t tell me we’re late."

"No, that can’t be right. It’s only ten o’clock. It should have just gotten started. Did something happen?"

Archer Rhys said nothing, but he sensed something was off.

He glanced around, found a corner, and vaulted over the wall into the compound.

Lacking such agility, Byron Sinclair could only pace back and forth in frustration.

Once inside, Archer Rhys saw that all the customers were gathered in one spot. It looked like they were watching a stone being cut, but it was highly unusual that not a single person was browsing the other stones.

He moved toward the crowd without drawing attention to himself and heard a familiar voice. "Let’s go. I’ll accompany you to the bank for the transfer. The stone is yours, but you must guarantee the safety of my brothers and my friends."

Archer Rhys’s expression flickered, and he quickened his pace.

The guests nearby were murmuring among themselves.

Archer Rhys overheard their whispers.

He quickly pieced together what had happened: Grace Winslow had come to the event with Nolan Winslow’s group today. She’d gotten lucky and cut open a massive piece of Imperial Green jadeite, but the event’s host, Eugene Aldridge, was now trying to cheat her, refusing to let them leave with the stone and instead trying to force them to sell it to him for a pittance.

His expression turned thunderous.

Just then, Grace Winslow was following Eugene Aldridge, supposedly on her way to the bank. Four thugs trailed behind them, their gazes filled with malice.

Archer Rhys strode forward and blocked their path.

Grace was stunned for a moment when she saw Archer Rhys, but she didn’t acknowledge him, afraid of dragging him into her troubles.

After all, this Eugene Aldridge clearly had powerful connections. The fact that no one in the entire crowd dared to cross him was proof enough of how strong his backing was.

"Who the hell are you? You have the guts to block my path, you..." Eugene Aldridge flew into a rage when he saw someone blocking his path.

But before he could finish, a shadow blurred in front of him. The next instant, a fist slammed viciously into his jaw, knocking out several teeth and sending him sprawling to the ground, his mouth filled with blood.

The thugs behind him hadn’t even processed what happened.

"Find somewhere safe and hide," Archer Rhys told Grace in a rush.

Grace understood instantly. She turned, grabbed Joanne Chase, Hayley, and Lily Callahan, and pushed her way into the thickest part of the crowd.

Even if the thugs wanted to go after them, they’d have to hesitate. Could they risk offending all the wealthy patrons who had come for the event?

If they antagonized every customer there, it was hard to say if anyone would ever be willing to do business with Eugene Aldridge again.

"Get... get ’im..." Two of Eugene Aldridge’s front teeth were gone, making him lisp as he spoke. He cursed, furious and enraged, pointing a trembling finger at Archer Rhys, his eyes filled with murderous intent.