Jane even doubted a little that Patrick’s proposal to gamble on stones was also because of Troy.
“Actually, I saw your chat,” Patrick admitted truthfully, but his expression had become somewhat subtle.
“I didn’t expect you to know him.”
At first, when Patrick saw Jane’s chat, he didn’t think in that direction. It was only now that Jane mentioned it that he thought of this possibility.
But Patrick really didn’t expect Jane to know Troy.
And the Troy they were talking about wasn’t just anyone; he was the head of the Maltz family and Katherine’s grandfather – a true master at gambling on stones who single-handedly brought the Maltz family to its current position.
“Speaking of which, my acquaintance with Troy is quite strange,” Jane recalled with a hint of helplessness in her smile.
In fact, it all started with her awesome grandpa who had introduced her to Troy when she was young and let her pick out some stones for fun. She randomly picked one and luckily found something good inside it – so good that Troy kept insisting on taking her as his apprentice.
Afterwards, Jane was taken by her grandfather to live in the countryside. One day, she anonymously swindled a very good-quality jade during an online trading event at Prosperous Jade Bar, which almost made Troy furious.
When Jane helped Patrick gamble on stones this time, she secretly asked Troy for some methods of selecting stones, but Katherine beat her to it.
However, when Troy found out that Jane was betting against Katherine, he directly told her that there was a treasure in that stone.
At first, Jane had doubts when she saw the dusty stone, but Troy assured her that he had it appraised, which made Jane believe him.
However, only Troy would be capable of throwing such a treasure in a corner like that.
“So, Troy asked you to choose that stone?” Patrick listened but still couldn’t fully understand. After all, Katherine was Troy’s own granddaughter, and even if Troy liked Jane, there was no need for him to do this.
“Yes, and Troy intentionally let me win against Katherine,” Jane said seriously.
“Troy said that Katherine has great talent, but because of that, she has become too arrogant. Troy is worried that she might ruin herself, so he asked me to give her a little lesson.”
Jane was just an amateur gambler compared to Katherine. Even if Jane got lucky, it would greatly undermine Katherine’s confidence.
After all, Katherine couldn’t find something better despite it being right in front of her. For someone with such a strong desire to win, it would be difficult for her to accept.
However, Jane didn’t have any good feelings towards Katherine.
If it wasn’t for Troy’s sake, she would have mercilessly confronted Katherine.
“You always give me new surprises,” Patrick looked at Jane with a soft gaze, filled with tenderness and affection.
Jane smiled and hugged Patrick’s neck, getting closer. “So, you better treat me better, so I won’t run away with someone else.”
She jokingly said that, but she didn’t expect Patrick’s eyes to flicker slightly. His arm around her waist tightened, pulling them closer.
“Who do you want to run away with?”
Patrick whispered in Jane’s ear. His tone was gentle, but it gave off a strong sense of threat.
Jane tilted her head, and her slightly cool fingertips touched Patrick’s lips, but before she could say anything, Patrick’s kiss landed on her.
The kiss was filled with possessiveness, almost as if Patrick wanted to imprint Jane into his very bones.
Jane squinted her eyes and pushed Patrick’s chest with her hand.
“We’re in the car,” she said, even though there was a partition between the backseat and the driver, Jane still felt a bit embarrassed.
Her coquettish behavior only made Patrick love her more. “You brought this upon yourself.”
Saying that, Patrick buried his cheek in the crook of Jane’s neck, whispering with a hint of fondness, “I love you…”
Hearing those words, Jane gave Patrick a hug. “I love you too.”
However, just as the two of them were being affectionate, Jane’s phone rang. She turned her head and saw that it was Maria’s agent calling.
And the reason Maria’s agent was calling now was because of what happened in the parking lot.
“What did you say?” Jane’s face slightly darkened. “Where are you now?”
“We’ve already returned to the company,” the agent said in a hurry.
“Okay, wait for me there. I’ll be back soon.” After giving a few more instructions, Jane finally ended the call.
Patrick noticed the change and looked at her.
Jane proceeded to tell Patrick everything about what happened to Maria.
“I’ll investigate for you,” Patrick said solemnly.
“Thank you,” Jane nodded, her forehead furrowing involuntarily. She originally thought it was just a simple case of paparazzi taking photos, but she didn’t expect it to be something like this.
…
Jane rushed back to Star Entertainment immediately. Because she had informed them in advance, both Maria and her agent were waiting in Jane’s office.
As soon as she entered, Jane looked directly at Maria. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I ran away immediately, and they seemed afraid of being recognized, so they didn’t chase after me.” Maria shook her head, but the memory of the incident still made her heart race.
Jane tapped her fingers lightly on the desk, her expression serious. “I never expected something like this to happen.”
With these thoughts, a cold smile formed in Jane’s heart.
It seemed that she had been too immersed in her role as the behind-the-scenes operator for too long, to the point that she hadn’t noticed such problems within the company.
Now Jane was curious about the person behind all of this.
However, not far from Star Entertainment, in a café, Florence looked at the photos in her hand with a dissatisfied expression.
“Is this all?”
She placed the photos on the table and took a sip of her coffee.
“It wasn’t easy for me to infiltrate Star Entertainment and capture these photos,” said the paparazzo sitting across from Florence.
“Aren’t there people on your side in Star Entertainment? Why are you telling me now that it’s difficult?”
There was a hint of mockery in Florence’s eyes. “If this is how you do things, I can only deduct your payment.”
“How can you?”
The paparazzo slammed the table, seeming to realize that someone nearby was looking at them, he quickly lowered his voice. “You can’t do this!”
“I just want to get satisfactory results, that’s all. Since I’ve paid you, you should understand that it’s not something you can just fool around with, do you understand?”
As Florence spoke, she put on her sunglasses.
“I’ll give you three more days. If the results still don’t satisfy me, don’t blame me.”
After saying that, she clenched her purse and left the café.
The paparazzo clenched his teeth, his hand on the table tightly balled into a fist.