Celine returned to the car and opened the door.
At that moment, both people sitting in the front seats turned to look at her at the same time.
In their eyes was a strong, clear concern for family. That silent warmth reached deep into Celine's heart and soothed the tension she had been holding inside after all the calculating she just did.
Her heart felt warm. The tired feeling she had been forcing down seemed to fade a little. She gave them a small smile, calm and reassuring, like she had only gone downstairs to buy a drink.
"It's fine. Everything is taken care of."
As she spoke, she shook the thin slip of paper she had just pulled out from her space. It still felt warm — the fresh IOU for one hundred thousand yuan.
"Here it is. Got it."
Shenan leaned over to take it, glanced at it quickly, and the worried look on his face relaxed a little, but didn't go away completely.
He was more worried about his sister than anything else.
Mateo, sitting beside him, didn't relax at all. In fact, his eyebrows pulled together even more. He turned his face to her, his sharp eyes staring straight at Celine. His voice clearly showed confusion and even a little bit of frustration.
"Celine, I still don't get it."
He paused, like he was trying to find the right words, but then just said what was on his mind.
"Someone like Lorenzo? Just kick him out of your life and never speak to him again."
"We have money and power now. Later, when we're even stronger, we can deal with him however we want. Crushing him would be as easy as crushing an ant."
"So why even bother? Why play games with him? Why… even give him money?"
A hundred thousand wasn't a big deal to them anymore, but to Mateo, giving it to someone like Lorenzo felt totally wrong.
The little smile on Celine's face slowly disappeared as Mateo spoke. Bit by bit, it faded away and her face turned serious.
She didn't answer right away. She turned her head and looked out the window.
Her eyes looked far away, like they could see past all the cars and lights outside, into another time filled with blood and chaos.
After a few seconds, Celine slowly turned her head back to Mateo and looked at him.
"Mateo."
"You don't understand."
Her voice was soft, but it carried a heavy feeling that didn't match her age. There was also a deep coldness in it.
"What happened between me and Lorenzo isn't just a simple breakup. It's not something as easy as kicking him away."
"Between us, there is deep hatred."
"I don't want him to suffer right now. That would be too easy for him."
She leaned in a little closer. In that moment, her beautiful eyes were filled with cruelty and poison.
"I want him to climb up. Climb all the way to where he thinks is the highest point. Get everything he ever wanted."
Her voice got lower, like a whisper from a demon, echoing in the small space.
"Then I'll pull him down, slowly, piece by piece. I'll make him watch as everything he has turns into nothing. I'll make him feel what it's like to fall from the clouds into the mud."
"And in the end"
"I'll let him disappear in the ending I prepared for him."
After she finished talking, the car went completely silent.
Shenan's fingers tightened around the steering wheel without meaning to. His knuckles turned white.
Mateo looked straight into Celine's eyes. Her eyes looked like they were burning with black fire. A cold chill rushed up his spine to the top of his head.
He couldn't speak. He was shocked by the hatred in his sister's eyes.
This wasn't just anger. It was a hatred formed after going through pain like hell, mixed with despair and the desire to destroy everything.
But right after that shock hit him
A strange feeling rushed through his whole body, like electricity. It was a deep connection he couldn't explain.
He felt like he could sense the pain and heartbreak hidden behind that hatred, even across time and space.
Maybe that's what it means to share the same blood.
Mateo thought, he would always stand behind Celine.