A Graduation Gift

Amanda's chest tightened the moment she heard her father's warning. It was quite obvious to her that her father wasn't really fond of Clark. Unfortunately, she had already made a deal with the devil, and it would be a gargantuan task getting herself out of that hellhole.

"Yes, I know that full well. But I insist that you eat the soup soon, Father. It's probably getting cold already."

After giving him a sense of assurance, Amanda urged her father to eat the soup while it was still warm. Be that as it might, she had some plans of her own.

A smile crept up on Charlie's face upon hearing her response. Moving the bowl of soup a little closer, he leisurely enjoyed eating it. The soup not only make him feel warm, but it was actually quite delicious as well.

"Amanda, at this point in my life, there's not a lot of things or people that I have to worry about anymore. My only wish is for my dearest daughter to keep smiling and of course, for her to always be safe and sound. You have to learn to take good care of yourself and remember to keep yourself out of harm's way. Try not to get yourself too exhausted from taking care of lots of things. Could you please promise me that?"

Charlie implored her, placing the empty bowl on the desk after he was done. Because he had Amanda in his late adulthood, she had always been the most precious thing to him. If there was one thing in the world that he cared about the most, that would be Amanda.

"Yes, I swear I will, Father. Concentrate on doing your work for now. I'm heading out in a while."

Grabbing the empty bowl from her father's desk, Amanda exited the study. The instant she walked out the door, the obedient look she had on her face was replaced by a grim one.

She had just confirmed that her father's opinion of Clark was already dyed-in-the-wool. That meant the information Clark gave her could possibly be true, that Charlie was planning to give Rufus a hand in replacing him to take over the Dark Night Group. Just how on earth could she prevent that from happening?

as a result, she would be able to protect Rufus from getting in danger. Her main problem now was how to do it.

let out a

in his chair. He closed his eyes and leaned back, with his mind drifting somewhere far

all his life to keeping the Dark Night Group standing tall. What could he do to make Clark hand it over to Rufus without incident? He didn't want to get

inside a restaurant, in a corner that had been consigned to oblivion, Lionel and Ivy were

already wired the money to your account. And with that, we're clear from

that to the woman sitting in front of him, Lionel seemed to have somewhat felt at ease. He had just transferred the fifty million Ivy had asked for into her bank account, and he just couldn't help wallowing at the thought that this could very well be the last time he would be

have quite the deep pockets, don't you? Fifty million! And you made it just like that?

eyes fixated on her oh-so-pretty nails, she revelled on her epic mani

an understatement. It would all be thanks to Lionel. After all, how else could she get

We'll put an end to this here. Coming up with that large

had just received her final payment, so he panicked, thinking that she might start asking for

of Lionel tensing up so

does it matter? Rufus is far more complex than you're making him out to be. Oh, what the heck. I'll let you in on a little secret. He's actually hiding things. A lot

one might expect, she really