"Nothing goodsts forever. It''s a path everyone must walk." Old Mr. Burton said.


    Sellers'' voice cut through Ste''s thoughts.


    "Ste, the old man treated you like gold, giving you such a vital core asset. It would


    be one thing if you didn''t repay him, but to use the Burton family''s resources to snatch our own partners? Is there anyone in this world as treacherous and ungrateful as you?"


    Ste snapped back to the present, her voice calm. "Sellers, have you ever considered that maybe Old Mr. Burton gave me these things precisely to leave a safety for The Burton Group and your former partners? He''s a man who values rtionships deeply; he wouldn''t want the entire corporation to run on cold, hard profit without a shred of humanity. In your hands, this asset would just be another tool for cold calction. Is that why he never handed it over to you?"


    Sellers stared at her with disgust. "I don''t know what tricks you used to wheedle these resources out of him. But at the end of the day, we''re the ones connected by blood. You... you''re just an outsider!"


    Ste replied slowly, "Family or outsider, it doesn''t matter. If you think you can talk me into returning these assets with nothing but a silver tongue, you''re dreaming. Of course, if Old Mr. Burton himself asked for them back, I would dly return them."


    The mention of this made Sellers'' gaze turn even colder. "You''re a cunning one, Ste. Sending the old man off to a private ind for a ''vacation'' so we deliberately can''t find him!"


    The day after Ste and Old Mr. Burton met, he had packed his bags and left. As he put it, he didn''t want to listen to the Burtons whining at him every day. He didn''t do things by halves and simply vanished. Now, even if Sellers wanted to find him, he couldn''t.


    His visit today wasn''t just to


    confront Ste. He had also hoped to shame her with his words, to make her voluntarily return the assets. But looking at her current attitude, Sellers knew it was impossible. Ste wasn''t the easy target she used to be.


    Still, he couldn''t stomach the defeat. "People who bite the hand that feeds them always get what''sing to them, Ste," he said coldly.


    Ste gave a softugh. "Sellers, people who only care about profit end up with nothing."


    Sellers gave her onest look before turning and leaving.


    Not long after he left, Abby arrived. "Star, what did that weasel Sellers want?"


    Ste said tly, "Probably wanted to get something for nothing. He thought his eloquence could make me feel ashamed enough to hand back all the resources Old Mr. Burton gave me."


    Abbyughed in disbelief. "My god, not only are they shameless, but they''re also not very bright. They''ve been backed into a corner, and they still look down on you?"


    It was true. Setters had


    Setters


    underestimated Ste. He''d been so fixated on investigating Joshua, convinced Ste couldn''t do any real damage, that he looked everywhere but found nothing unusual so he just figured Joshua had worked some new magic behind the scenes.


    he


    It made sense, Joshua was infuriatingly unpredictable. He could use brute force, cunning schemes or just throw absurd amounts of money at a problem. His


    unconventional methods made Selfers extremely wary of him. He had finally managed to drive Joshua away from Ste, thinking he could then deal with her, only to be outmaneuvered by Ste herself.