Chapter 247: Chapter 247

The three cousins blushed bright red, fisting their hands as if preparing to attack Ian, which was ridiculous considering their differences in size. Ian was that thick, tall giant of a man who made these three cousins look like ants before him. One would wonder if they, thinking of hitting Ian, were to hurt themselves or to hurt Ian.

As if on cue, an elegant-looking woman rushed through the small crowd,

"My baby boys, are you okay?"

A few more sniffled laughter was heard, but the woman did not heed them.

Ian could not be bothered with them and turned towards where he knew his wife was.

"What did you do to us?" Brad stopped in the lobby and turned to whoever had posed this question to him. Brad was the last in his family to arrive at the wine-tasting soiree that late afternoon.

He had been in a very good mood, strolling casually as if he cared nothing about the world. All the little bows thrown his way had been ignored until those words. No one dared to stop a Thronston in anything, but Brad knew the people who had the guts to do that, and it was none other than his three friends, whom he had gotten back to a few days prior.

After that fateful day in his room, the three friends, Mark, Luis, and Jay, could not comprehend what had happened. After sharing their thoughts, they all came to one conclusion: They had gone to Brad’s place, talked briefly with him, and heard the most beautiful melody ever.

They could not remember who sang that melody, but then they had somehow conveniently given Brad a whole lot of money and other things, which all three of them could not remember doing.

"Hello to you too, Mark and Jay," Brad casually tossed over the words, conveniently not seeing that the two were seething in anger.

The two mirrored their expressions, and their jaws were clenched tightly. Brad behaved as if he had not heard anything from them as he added,

"Good to see you today. Let’s enjoy some great wine together. We can even han-"

"You did not answer my question, Brad."

"... and what question was that?" Brad added as the playful smile dropped off him. Brad stood to his full height and stared down at the two.

Brad was not as tall as his brother, but he towered over most of the people around him. He also looked to be the more approachable between him and Ian. However, most people did not know that that was only when Brad was willing to.

An underlying layer of danger surrounded him, and a few people knew about it. Mark and Jay, who had been used to Brad’s carefree and jovial manner, felt their anger drop off instantaneously in response to that.

The two exchanged glances, and then Mark said,

"I asked, why you did that to us?"

"What did I do to you exactly? Please explain."

"You took so much money f-"

"Wait a minute-" Brad raised his hand to stop Mark in his tracks. He looked around and noticed that the people who were supposed to be at work looked have found their conversation very interesting.

Brad was unsurprised that they were. He had just stepped out of his Lambo and into the lobby of their company’s premises when these two idiots stopped him.

’Are they trying to embarrass themselves or me?’ Brad asked himself, noting that the few people behind the front desk had started whispering among themselves. Brad could picture the next day’s headlines: ’Brad Thornston, the second son of the T-Vino Winery, bullies and takes money from people despite all his wealth....’

"and such nonsense like that," Brad whispered under his breath and then narrowed his eyes with a cold glint,

"When did I take anything from you? I don’t appreciate such slander."

"But you took those monies-"

"That you owed me. Do not selectively say what you want. Anyone listening might think that I, Brad, am so shameless that I would take my friends’ money. Tell me, do I lack any money so much that I would stoop so low as to take monies from you for no obvious reason?"

Brad intentionally raised his voice just by a notch to reach the curious ears around them.

"Oh my! For a moment, I nearly believed the unfinished words of that young master. I forgot that this was Brad Thornston. Of what use will he have to swindle people out of money?"

"Yh, me too! I feel so bad for having such thoughts."

"Whatever!" The third person in the listening crowd rolled her eyes. She did not believe that things were as simple as they looked. She crossed her arms and continued watching the spectacle unfold around them. She knew that it was neither the time nor the place for such a ’conversation,’ but whatever rocked their boats was for them to do as they wished.

"You!" Jay made a move as if to grab Brad, making Brad shake his head in disappointment.

"What vulgarities is this?"

"You ask of vulgarities when you made Luis’s family almost go bankrupt? No exaggeration here, but why would Luis, in his right mind, give you all the liquidated capital at hand in his family’s vineyard to you?"

"Why would he? Why are you asking me that? Can’t you ask Luis why he did that? I believe that I would never understand his reasoning. He only paid me what was due me. As to what he did to get that sum of money, I believe it has nothing to do with me."

Brad shrugged as if he said the most casual of things.

Mark shouted, heaving up and down. His eyes were red because they knew best what Luis was going through. The three, as well as Brad, had spent the best time of their lives just playing around.

However, that very week, Luis had been brought in on his family’s business, and the very first major decision Luis had supposedly made was to sign away all the liquidated assets. That made no sense, considering how level-headed Luis usually was.

Brad picked his ears with his index finger as if it was itchy or dirty and frowned. He behaved as if he had no idea of why Mark and Jay were like that but Brad despite his playful demeanor, was very abreast with the financial news just like his dad and elder brother.

"I am right here... do you have to shout that loud?" Brad retorted, getting annoyed.

"What is the meaning of this? Is this how you treat friends?"

At that, the slight whispers that had been going on alongside this interesting conversation halted.

"Friends? Hahahaahahaaaaa....." Brad smiled. A cold smile that made people question whether he had really laughed, or it had only been an illusion.

"You use that word only when it favours you."

"Tell me, how can Luis owe a friend so much to the tune of a sum that can break his family’s business?"

"Is that how friends behave?" Brad pressed on, not letting the two have a chance to speak.

"You stand here like the spokesperson of you three. What of you? How much did you owe this friend of yours that you feel no remorse or anything standing here and dragging through the mud."

"Hahhahahaa.... you want to say that it’s not like that? What is it like, Mark? Does it not work for you now? Do you want to see this yourself? Did you bother to check your bank records? Who did the transaction?"

"I did it... I mean no, I did not... but..."

"You either did it or not. So, what is it going to be?"

"I don’t remember doing that!"

"Ha.. ha! Does that erase the fact that you paid back what you owed? Did you bother to check with Luis? He was kind enough to send a clarification email to his bank on my behalf, so please tell me again. What did I do that was not right?"

Mark opened his mouth and closed it like a fish gasping for much-needed air.

"Ridiculous!" Someone from the crowd uttered in disgust.

No other words were needed as that summed up most of their thoughts.

"Now, is there anything else you’d like from me, Mark and Jay? I am already late for the event, so if there is nothing else, I would like to take my leave."

"You-" This time, it was Jay, but he was held back by a strong arm.

"Haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough?" An older man who bore a strong resemblance to him snapped.

"Take him out of here." A couple of strong-looking men in shades and tux dragged Jay away from the scene.

’All I wanted for a direct line of relationship to Thornston, but this stupid son of mine not only lost such a large sum of money but also wanted to make an enemy out of them?’ He thought with a sigh.

"Young master Brad, I am deeply sorry for the disturbance." Jay’s father bowed and said to Brad.

"This is just a friend’s squabble. You should not make it too hard on Jay." Brad said with another smile.

Mark gritted his teeth, but he knew there was nothing he could do. All the evidence showed that they had willingly given those monies out and that they indeed owed Brad, so there really was nothing they could do.

"I’ll see you later Mark," Brad added and turned around, winking at one of the girls that he made eye contact with.

"OMG! He winked. Brad winked at me! I am going to have a blissful night today!" The girl shouted, bubbling over in excitement.

Just then, Brad caught sight of someone he least expected.

"What is she doing over there?"

Thank you so much to all for your votes and comments! I hope we can keep it up ^_^

Support the author by reading only on NovelHub :) ~Uploaded only on NovelHub by Loctovia ~