Page 161 of Ruthless Kings of Havoc

I hate seeing her cry because I make it my mission to hurt anyone who dares make her shed a tear.

Now, I’m the perpetrator who made her shed a tear.

Is this my punishment?

“Does it trigger anything when you have them?” Ares promptly asks.

I take a peek over my shoulder, noticing how his attention is solely on her and how his hands cup her cheeks, wiping away her tears.

It’s the first time I’ve seen him so hyper-focused on anyone.

No. It’s the second time.

The first time was during that photoshoot.

When he looked at Verena like she was his world.

“Immense sadness and initial fright,” she tosses back almost jokingly, if her voice wasn’t still filled with this heavy sadness. “No, I’m fine. It must be with exam week coming up. Plus, I’ve been anxiously waiting for the results of whether I got into the fight club. Oddly enough, a few other Maidens applied as if it’s some sort of competition, so it’s made me a bit anxious. I should hear about it by the end of the week from what Coach Hennessy mentioned today.”

“Coach is begging to see you in action. He’ll move mountains for you,” Ares groans.

“How do you know that?”

“Zander and Matteo have been mentioning him talking about it and that he’s excited to have a set of women who can pack a punch and not spend the entire session taking selfies to flaunt their fake punches and anxious squeals when they break a nail.”

That gets Verena snickering.

“You know, that’s kind of funny. I hope to see that.”

“If it brings a bigger smile to your face, we can pass by the gym right now and go kickboxing hunt for social media influencers.”

“God, no!” Now she’s laughing. “Let’s do something more appealing.”

“I have something that would cheer my Sweet Canary up,” Ares suggests. “In fact, that’s why I was on the phone.”

“Hmm? Really?”

“Just secured a gig at a luxury arcade. Luxury as in, it costs millions to get in. They have some of the best vintage games in the world. The machines have been imported and preserved there. They’re maintained well enough that they’re still functional, and those who are invited get to play them for as long as they want.”

“You’re doing a photoshoot there?” Verena gasps in surprise. “Wait. This isn’t the one near Shang Rosé Avenue and 20th? The one with multiple private entrances? You get to use the premium highway to get there.”

“Mhmm!” Ares is grinning bigger and bigger by the second. “And I get to bring two other people.”

“Shut up! Wait. Are we going to be a part of it?”

“If that’s what you want. My manager loved the results from the Forbes mag. I’m sure he’d love for you to make another debut,” Ares encourages and pulls out his phone. “But I have to make sure they’ll compensate and pay you properly. I’m sure if I tell Matteo, he can get them to do his bidding like how he did the Forbes shoot.”

“Right!” Verena gasps. “Bunny Stalker was the one who approved of the Forbes photos. So, that was Matteo.”

“Their favorite rich billionaire,” Ares praises with a huff. “Now, they better not ask for him to be in the shoot, or I’m losing my career.”

“They wouldn’t replace you,” Verena huffs, but she giggles. “Okay, actually. I don’t know.”

“Verena. You’re hurting my pride here.”

She laughs a bit harder now.

“Sorry, sorry. At least we’re not comparing cocks, okay?”

---