To my utmost surprise, I saw that a limousine had been parked outside my house, in the front. After parking my Toyota in the garage and letting my passengers out, I saw the people waiting inside the limousine disembark and approach us in what seemed like an aggressive manner.
Aside from the usual bodyguards in suits and sunglasses, the main people present were a middle-aged couple. Or rather, an elderly couple in their late fifties or early to mid-sixties. A handsome, patrician man with a neatly trimmed mustache and beard as well as greying hair, and a dignified lady in an elegant cheongsam dress, her beautiful features lined with wrinkles. She carried an expensive handbag that had been woven in an oriental fashion.
"Who…?" I began, but they didn't give me a chance to complete my question. Instead, they rounded on Lily Ling for some reason.
"This is all your fault!" The lady snapped at Lily, jabbing a finger at her. "If it wasn't for you, my son wouldn't have died!"
"And who is your son?" I asked, crossed. The elderly man turned to regard me grimly, his aged face scowling.
"I am Ricardo Rong, and this is my wife, Rafaela Rou. We are the parents of Riley Rong."
"And you think that my wife is responsible for your son's death?" I asked in exasperation, already getting an idea of what they were here for.
"It's the truth!" Rafaela Rou shouted. "If this slut hadn't seduced my son, he wouldn't have died!"
I slapped her so hard that she fell. Her husband had to grab her before she hit the ground, and both of them stared at me in shock. I wiped my hand with a handkerchief and waved at them.
"Get lost. Now."
"You…!" Rafaela Rou snarled, but I glared at her.
"Before running around and insulting other people, you should get your bloody facts right first. Your fucking son harassed and stalked my wife, even though she refused his advances and repeatedly told him that she was already married. Even I told him to stop, but he refused and continued to stalk and harry my wife, trying to force her to divorce me and marry him instead. And this time, your son was the target of the missile attack. Did you know that? It's his fault that so many people got killed. He got all his fans involved and blown up. He dragged us into his fucking mess. If he hadn't been stalking my wife, we wouldn't even be in the vicinity when they fired the stupid missile at him. And now you show up in my house, accusing and insulting my wife when she is the victim? Get the fuck out of here."
I turned and nodded at Alan Shou and Brad Biao. The ex-special forces guards were already preparing to escort them off my house.
"You can't do this to us!" Rafaela Rou shouted. "We will see you in court! You will pay for murdering my son!"
"Lady, if I wanted to kill Riley Rou, I wouldn't launch a missile at him while my car was still in the vicinity and put myself, my wife and my staff at risk. Use your brain."
"Not you!" The elderly lady was ranting now. "Your slut of a wife! She seduced my son…!"
I slapped her again, and her husband had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop her from rambling more while she frothed at the mouth to yell at me. I then turned to Ricardo Rong, frowning in puzzlement.
"Why the fuck is your idiot of a wife blaming my wife? How the hell does she even come to the conclusion that Lily is responsible for your son's death? Even if the seduction thing – which is blatantly false – is in place, how does that lead to the murder of Riley Rong? That makes no bloody sense whatsoever."
"No, it's just that…Lily Ling is the female lead. That's more than enough reason for my wife or all the other female characters to blame her. Whenever something bad happens, they automatically blame the female lead, as if the world revolves around her alone."
"Huh?" I gaped at Ricardo Rong. He shrugged.
"Haven't you read CEO stories? That's how it is. The female antagonists always blame the female lead for everything. For stealing the male lead who supposedly belong to them in the first place. For causing them to be imprisoned in jail even though they were the ones who committed the crime and tried to get the female lead raped or assassinated. Or the typical mother-in-law blaming the female lead for leading the male lead down the wrong path and estranging him from his family. Nothing is ever their fault or the fault of the male lead. It must be the female lead. It's to create drama and contrived conflict and set up a silly scenario where the abused female lead will take revenge and slap their faces later, after foiling their new plans of sabotage or assassination."
"Dude, I don't even know what the hell you are talking about now." I covered my face with my palm. "And if you know all this, then why didn't you stop your wife from coming here and kicking a fuss?"
"Because…it's part of the CEO story. We need all these drama scenes so that the readers can condemn my wife and side with the female lead."
"Okay, stop. Just stop." I held up my hands. "Breaking the fourth wall was funny at first, but right now you sound like you've just escaped from a mental asylum. Stop confusing reality with fiction."
"All right, sorry." Ricardo Rong led his wife away, placing a hand on her shoulder to restrain her. "We'll see you in court. My lawyer will contact yours for more details."
"…huh? What? You're really suing us?"
"Yeah, my wife is adamant about this. She wants to seek justice for our son. She won't rest until your wife is ruined and imprisoned."
"What exactly are you suing Lily for?" I threw my hands up in despair. The world was going crazy. "What exactly are the charges you're pressing?"
For a moment, the elderly couple exchanged glances. Ricardo Rong frantically made a phone call, most likely to his lawyer. He tried to explain the situation to them for a few moments, and then he listened. After a while, he hung up and shook his head.
"Uh…there are no charges we can press against you."
"What?!" Rafaela Rou shrieked. "What did the lawyer say!?"
"He said our case won't even make it to court. The other party didn't even do anything. There is overwhelming evidence that Riley was the one in the wrong. Furthermore, the target of the assassination was Riley, not them…so we will most likely get countersued and have to pay exorbitant amounts of damage for involving them in the mess to begin with."
Evidently, they had already discussed this with their lawyer beforehand and he had done his research and gotten the necessary information. Good. That made things a lot simpler.
"But that's impossible!" Rafaela Rou insisted stubbornly." Riley is such a good boy! This can't be his fault! It's all because of that slut that he…"
Ricardo Rong clamped a hand over her mouth before I could slap her again. "Stop calling her that," he hissed. "We are already in trouble…if they sue us for slander, it'll be over!"
"But…but I'm just saying the truth!"
"It's not the truth!" Ricardo Rong looked as if he had a headache. "Our son publicized his pursuit of her and posted all over social media. She very clearly rejected him, telling him that she already has a husband and told him to give up and stay away, but he refused! Already he can be sued for stalking and harassment if he was alive…and I think they can still sue our family in place of him after his death! And our stupid son was the one who insisted that she divorce her 'trash of a husband' and marry him instead! In fucking public!"
"No way! Riley is such a good and considerate boy! He will never do anything like that!"
The lady was in complete denial. I didn't know what to say. But there was no point speaking to a deluded bitch like her, so I treated her like air.
"I know!" Rafaela Rou turned on me, jabbing a finger in my direction. "You ordered an assassination on him because he was trying to steal your wife. You trash!"
"I did not," I said, even though I knew she would never believe me.
"Who else would have done it?!" Rafaela Rou demanded fiercely. "You are the only one with a motive! It's you! How are you murder my son?! I will kill you!"
She lunged at me, only for Alan Shou and Brad Biao to step in and point their guns at her. She immediately turned pale, but held her ground.
"How dare you stand in my way of getting justice for my son?! Do you have no conscience?! How can you let a murderer walk free?!"
"Lady, our employer is not a murderer. If anything, he's a victim as well. He did not order any assassination on your son." Brad Biao's lip curled. "Your son has many enemies, it's most likely a group of them working together."
"Nonsense! Riley is such a perfect and good boy! He never offended anybody! Except…except that bastard over there! Why would anyone else want to kill him?!"
"Are you really in denial over what your son did?" I asked in disbelief. "Do you really not know what he has been doing in the business world?"
"What are you talking about? Riley was just making an honest living! He was so nice! Everybody loved him! And he's smart! Of course he'll be able to make billions!"
I turned to Ricardo Rong, who looked uncomfortable. "Does your wife not know about the hostile takeovers of rival companies, the mass firing of employees over trivial offences and his bankrupting of entire families over a woman?"
"Well, Rafaela has heard about them, but…"
"Lies! Those are all lies! My son is an honest and good boy! He will never do anything as despicable as that!"
I got my answer. She refused to believe anything bad about her son. She was in complete denial.
Shaking my head, I pointed toward their limousine and lowered my tone until each of my words was icy cold.
"The two of you should leave right now. Otherwise I'll do the same thing as your son in the past and sue your Rong family until you get bankrupted. With all the nonsense your son did to my wife, and how his idiocy dragged us into this missile attack, I have plenty of material and evidence to claim damages from your family – more than enough to drain you of your family fortune."
"You dare?!" Rafaela Rou stormed at me. I met her gaze evenly.
"If your son dared to do it, why can't others?" I turned away to return to my house. Before I shut the door in their faces (after waving Lily and my two guards in), I left one last parting sentence. "It's high time your son paid for every ruthless deed he had done in the past."