Chapter 5
Once his sharp tongue came out, no one survived.
“I didn’t expect Mr. Castillo’s eyesight prescription to rise along with his net worth,” Audrey snorted. “As for what kind of bean I am, you don’t need to worry. Either way, it’s not your turn.”
Phoenix’s smile was almost a smile.
Her mouth was still so sharp.
Audrey turned her face toward the window and thought about beanpoles.
In sophomore year, she had come back and complained that her roommates laughed at her for being one. He said he would help her develop again, then took her to a beautiful hillside.
That was where they first lost control.
There was a beautiful ginkgo tree on the hill and a sky full of stars.
She had cried from the pain. He had coaxed her for two days.
That place became where they bound themselves to each other. In the first two years after the divorce, she would go there on the anniversary.
Later, a mysterious wealthy businessman bought the land and built a private villa there. The area was fenced off, and she could no longer get in.
She could only look from far away.
The ginkgo tree was still there.
...
Phoenix took a dazzling necklace from his pocket and suddenly leaned toward her.
His custom-blended scent swept over her, throwing Audrey’s mind into panic. It was the scent she had loved most in the past.
“Mr. Castillo, please behave.”
“Put the necklace on. Don’t embarrass me.” As he spoke, he moved to fasten it around her neck.
Audrey’s throat tightened. Her eyes shrank.
It was the necklace she had picked up that afternoon. Worth fifty-two million. How would she dare wear it?
If she damaged it, she would become his slave for life and never be free again.
For some reason, she suddenly remembered that classic school story, “The Necklace.”
“Mr. Castillo, this is too valuable. I can’t wear it. If it gets damaged, I can’t afford to pay...”
She brought out the same posture people used when relatives tried to press cash into their hands and they desperately pushed it back.
“As long as it isn’t damaged on purpose, you don’t have to pay.” He gave her a disdainful look. “My date is dressed this poorly. Do I not have a reputation?”
Audrey paused.
Fine.
She was poor. She could not afford current-season haute couture. This gown was from last year, bought through clenched teeth for a dinner with her former boss. More than eighty thousand dollars, worn only once.
“Then I’ll return it after the dinner.” Audrey did not dare keep arguing. This involved his reputation, after all.
Phoenix leaned over again and fastened the necklace for her. His warm breath fell against her neck. His fingertips brushed her skin, deliberately or not, making her shiver.
Phoenix looked at the faint red at the base of her ear and suddenly said, “Audrey Mitchell, these past few years, you haven’t still been thinking about me, have you?”
“What is there to think about in a heartless ex-husband?” Audrey glanced at him.
God knew she had gone on seventeen blind dates and liked none of them.
His damage to her life was far-reaching and deeply poisonous.
“Your tone carries personal emotion. Clearly, you still have feelings for me.” Phoenix knew exactly how to make her angry.
“Mr. Castillo, don’t flatter yourself. Do you know how to be a qualified ex-husband?”
Pretend you’re dead.
“With Mr. Castillo’s current net worth, there should be plenty of women lining up to throw themselves at you, right?”
She sneered at that face, dead handsome enough to ruin public order.
“Do you need to take a number? I’ll give you priority.”
She glared at him. “I don’t have the habit of climbing into my boss’s bed. You don’t foul your own nest.”
He asked, “Then what do you do when you have needs? Use your hand?”
Audrey: ?
Was their current relationship suitable for this topic?
Audrey clenched her teeth and answered, “Find someone temporary. Good stamina. Lots of tricks.”
“Ms. Mitchell. Quite adventurous.”
Phoenix looked at her soft red lips and realized he had not tasted her in a very long time.
“Not as adventurous as Mr. Castillo, who disappeared for three days and nights to play around,” Audrey said flatly.
Ha. Digging up old accounts?
Amusement colored Phoenix’s eyes. “Want to play with your ex?”
Audrey: ...
Phoenix’s large hand suddenly reached over, gripped the back of her neck, pulled her closer, and kissed her sexy red lips.
“Mmph.” Audrey panicked under the sudden kiss.
Both her hands pushed at his chest, but he trapped them with his other hand.
He pried her mouth open with commanding force and took over completely.
“Cast...”
Her protest dissolved under his mouth.
He robbed the air from her lungs. One heavy hand pressed against her chest, seeming aimless, but the pads of his fingers were quietly feeling the softness beneath.
Four years.
The driver swiftly raised the privacy partition.
At that moment, he wished he had been born deaf and blind.
Audrey’s pulse jumped. She bit down hard. The taste of blood filled her mouth.
Phoenix finally released her.
“Phoenix Castillo, you’re shameless.”
Phoenix curved his mouth in victory. “You seemed to enjoy it too.”
Audrey: ...
She refused to engage with this bastard any longer.
Twenty minutes later, the Rolls-Royce stopped in front of the five-star Royal Hotel.
The moment the car stopped, Nicholas Peterson, president of the Westbrook Business Association, hurried over first and personally opened the door.
Phoenix Castillo’s forceful return to Westbrook after acquiring Zenith Group was a major event across Westbrook’s elite circles.
The point was not Zenith.
The point was Phoenix Castillo himself.
The PhiAu Capital he founded overseas was a financial behemoth worth hundreds of billions. Every project it invested in made money hand over fist.
Tonight, every entrepreneur in Westbrook wanted to do whatever it took to stay on Phoenix’s radar.
Westbrook had once had four leading old-money families: the Webbs, the Simpsons, the Snyders, and the Robertses. After the Roberts family moved overseas, only three remained.
Now Phoenix Castillo had returned and claimed a seat of his own.
Financial magazines had published his current net worth at $184 billion. People called him the Black Reaper of the markets, the man who could bankrupt you by midnight and would not wait until dawn.
Any company he set his sights on either soared or was destroyed.
There was no third possibility.
From the moment he stepped back into Westbrook, the business world shook. A large number of quality startups returned from overseas.
From now on, Westbrook answered to the Castillo name.
After getting out of the car, Phoenix suddenly offered Audrey his arm.
Audrey’s stomach tightened. She did not move.
“Ms. Mitchell. Professionalism.”
