“Don’t breathe it in,” came a low voice from behind her. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Cobra.
“Come here.” Ryan, who was walking ahead, didn’t look back as he coldly commanded.
Echo shook off her dizziness and quickly caught up. Ryan grabbed her head and pressed it against his shoulder, leading her forward.
With her eyes and nose buried in Ryan’s shoulder, the dizziness began to fade, though she felt stifled. Echo tried to match Ryan’s pace while attempting to lift her head to get another look at the flowers. However, Ryan held her head firmly in place, giving her no chance to see anything as they hurried through the flower field and into a glass building, where he finally let her go.
“Mr. Ryan, this business is very profitable. Destroying it would be a waste. If you’re not interested in running it, maybe you could let us take over? We’d pay Dark Family a fixed amount every year. What do you think?”
Echo heard the middle-aged man speak urgently as Ryan sat down. She hadn’t even made it to Ryan’s side before the man started talking. He seemed desperate.
“You want to take it over?” Ryan asked coldly, leaning back on the sofa and fixing the man with an icy stare.
The man quickly nodded, “We can negotiate the percentage we pay. Mr. Ryan, name your price.”
Ryan let out a cruel laugh and slowly replied, “Negotiate? You think you’re in a position to negotiate with me?”
When Echo saw the middle-aged man’s face turn ashen, she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Ryan was seriously arrogant, not giving an inch of respect, but then again, as the head of the Dark Family, he had the power to back it up. She felt a bit of sympathy for the man, someone who was in the same position as her-being threatened and ignored.
“I didn’t mean to, Mr. Ryan. It was my mistake to use the wrong words. This business is crucial for making money in Southeast Asia. You can’t just destroy it with one word. We have countless people relying on it, Mr. Ryan…”
Echo watched the furious but groveling middle-aged man and glanced sideways at the small sofa nearby. The boring conversation was putting her to sleep, especially since she hadn’t slept well last night. She wanted to nap.
Seeing Ryan’s back turned toward her, Echo quietly sneaked over to the small sofa. She ignored Hawk and Cobra’s warning glares, smiling to herself-they weren’t worth worrying about.
She silently curled up on the small sofa, found a comfortable position, and closed her eyes, ready to drift off. After all, the only person who came in was the middle-aged man, and he couldn’t see her. It was a rare chance to rest.
Just as she closed her eyes, the earring she was wearing started to vibrate softly. Echo’s eyes snapped open, and her right hand went to the earring. This seemingly ordinary piece of jewelry was something she had specially modified-it could be used for communication and could detect nearby frequencies. Echo began to adjust the channels slowly but found nothing.
Echo quickly sat up. It was unusual for her not to pick up on any standard frequencies. Could it be magnetic resonance or a highly classified frequency? If that was the case, it could be something dangerous.
As she sat up, the vibration in her ear stopped. When she sat back down, it started again. Echo crouched down, using the vibrations to guide her towards the source.
She circled a potted plant in the corner of the room that looked completely unremarkable. After carefully inspecting it, she noticed a tiny beetle-shaped ring near the roots, hidden in the soil. Attached to it was a thin wire, the same color as the tree, almost invisible.
The vibrations in her earring grew stronger, and Echo’s expression darkened. This was a computer-controlled tremor device.
She studied the small ring for a while, then touched her forehead and stood up. Turning around, she looked at Ryan, who was still speaking coldly with his back to her. How many enemies did this man have? No matter where he went, there seemed to be something dangerous lurking.
Echo couldn’t help but feel a bit speechless-was this still the same feared and respected crime lord who dominated the underworld in Europe and America?
Save him or not?
If she saved him, she’d be doing it reluctantly. But if she didn’t, Skye was still in his hands.
Echo glared at the back in front of her, grinding her teeth for a while before slowly walking over.
Did she have a choice?
Hawk was right-they were in this together now, like insects tied to the same string. In Southeast Asia, it was safer to stick with Ryan than to go solo.
“Mr. Ryan, can’t you just give us a way out?” Echo hadn’t even reached Ryan yet when she saw the middle-aged man looking at him with despair and anger. His hand under the table was clenched into a tight fist.
Ryan didn’t say a word, but the killing intent around him was so intense that even Echo, who wasn’t usually sensitive to that sort of thing, could feel it.
She saw the middle-aged man clench his teeth and reach for a button on his sleeve with his hand under the table, trying to be subtle.
Echo’s face went stiff. In one quick motion, she rushed over with a bright smile and said, “Come on now, we can talk this out. It’s not like we can’t find a solution.” As she spoke, she swiftly moved around the sofa and sat right down on Ryan’s lap.
Ryan frowned, his face full of menace, as he stared at the grinning Echo on his lap.
The middle-aged man, momentarily stunned, asked, “What are you trying to do?”
Echo shot him a glance before turning back to Ryan, wrapping her arms around his neck with a playful smile. “Money’s never a bad thing. If there’s profit to be made, why turn it down? If you don’t want to do it, then let me take over. After all, I do have that tiny share, don’t I? I’m not afraid of having too much money.”
Ryan’s eyes went cold as he looked at the charming Echo in his arms. Sensing something unusual on his back, a cautious look briefly crossed his bloodthirsty eyes. He slowly wrapped his arm around Echo’s waist, his gaze fixed on her while scanning the surroundings out of the corner of his eye.
Ryan said slowly, “If you want to handle this business, it’s not out of the question.”
Echo’s eyes lit up with a smile as she replied, “In that case, it’s settled. You don’t get to decide for me. Who I pick to work with is entirely up to me.”
Hearing Echo and Ryan’s exchange, the middle-aged man’s face broke into a relieved smile as he looked at Echo. “Mrs. Ryan, maybe you could consider working with us. We’ve been in this business for a long time; the channels and everything are all set up. It’s definitely a profitable venture. Mrs. Ryan, we won’t let you down.”
Echo shot a frustrated look at Ryan.
Mrs. Ryan? Who the hell is Mrs. Ryan? She was still a single woman, and now suddenly she was Mrs. Ryan?
But she kept smiling and said, “I might consider it, but your attitude towards my Ryan earlier wasn’t great. In our line of work, that kind of attitude…”
She left the sentence hanging, her face still smiling, though a hint of anger flashed in her eyes. Internally, she was trying not to gag. “Mrs. Ryan” was bad enough, but “my Ryan”? That was just over the top.
The middle-aged man, understanding her implication, quickly stood up in fear and bowed to Ryan. “Mr. Ryan, Mrs. Ryan, I…”
He barely got the words out before Hawk and Cobra, who had been standing behind Ryan, suddenly sprang into action. They moved like lightning, each grabbing one of the man’s arms. With a sickening crack, they dislocated both of his shoulders.
“What are you doing… Ouch!” the middle-aged man screamed in shock and anger, only to have Hawk grab his jaw and twist, dislocating that too.