DRAMA NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 133
Chapter 133 Why Should I Pay Back The Money?
“Who are you?” Queenie demanded, annoyed at this unknown person unceremoniously barging into her office without so much as a by-your-leave.
“Take a good look, Queenie. You ought to recognize me.” Lucian folded his arms, his gaze fixed intently on her.
Queenie stared at Lucian for a good minute. He seemed familiar somehow. Abruptly, an old memory resurfaced in her mind, and she blinked. “Wait a minute…Lucian? Lucian Gray? Is that really you?”
“Yes.” Lucian felt no pleasure at her recognition of him; in fact, he felt himself getting a little
angry.
At the door earlier, he had overheard Queenie talking on the phone and was deeply shocked at how salacious and vulgar the entire conversation was. It left him feeling disgusted. He had never dreamed that his old friend would become someone like this; they had even started a business together during their summer vacation back in their university days.
Queenie had turned into a calculating woman who sold her body and her charms for the sake of money. She was a totally different person now.
“Everett, a friend just showed up. I need to go. We’ll chat again when I’m free, okay?”
Queenie ended the call, then turned her eyes to Lucian once more. Her gaze was detached, aloof, and slightly contemptuous. She studied her impeccably manicured nails, then said abruptly, “I haven’t seen you for years. Honestly, I thought you’d be dead by now.”
Lucian was momentarily taken aback. This was not something he had expected to hear from her. “That’s an odd way to greet an old acquaintance, Queenie,” he replied curtly.
“Heh.” Queenie gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, then looked up from her nails, smiling prettily. “Even if you’re not dead yet, you will be soon anyway. After offending the Staleridge War Go d, do you think he’s going to let you off the h ook? You tell me, how should I greet someone who’s going to die? Am I supposed to buy a wreath and present it to you?”
Her cold, unfeeling words stopped Lucian cold. Even a complete stranger would not use that tone of voice or say something like that. He stared at Queenie steadily and did not reply.
Queenie lit a cigarette with a practiced hand and leaned back in her chair, lazily watching Lucian. “I doubt you came here to ask me for help, did you? What sort of international joke are you trying to make of yourself, Lucian? Right now, you’ve offended the Staleridge War Go d, the entire Gray family, the Big Five, Oscar Blue, and Go d knows who else; that’s tantamount to a death sentence. Even if you’re able to call down Go d himself, you’ll find it hard to get out of this with a whole skin. You have some nerve coming here before you die, you jinx!”
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“We’ve been friends for a long time, Queenie. How can you stoop to calling me a jinx?” Lucian never took his eyes off Queenie as he replied.
“Who the hell said we’ve been friends for a long time?” This irritated Queenie. Shooting Lucian an annoyed look, she snapped, “Stop talking nonsense. I don’t know you at all right now. Back then, I only hung around you because your dad was someone. But he’s been dead for seven years, and the Skypride Group has fallen apart completely, so what use are you to me now? Seems to me you’re nothing more than a beggar. Get lost; I don’t want the Staleridge War Go d to know you’ve been here. I’m living the good life finally, and I’m not about to risk it all for a sorry punk like you. I’m not in a good mood either, so if you’re not out of here in three minutes, I’ll have security escort you out.”
Queenie had seen the news about the Staleridge War Go d and Lucian this morning when she woke up. Right now, those two were mortal enemies. She was certainly not going to acknowledge any sort of connection to Lucian, otherwise, there was no telling what fate awaited her.
Apparently, his old friend was now a craven cur as well! Lucian had more or less expected this, however. On the way over, he had ordered an investigation into what Queenie had been up to for the last few years. Once he discovered all the unsavory things she had done, he knew that working in such a materialistic world had changed her completely; she was no longer the Queenie Dupont he had known.
He tossed the IOU from Gabriel onto the table. “I don’t care if you don’t acknowledge we’ve ever been friends, but you should at least acknowledge your debts, right? You borrowed a total of 5.3 million from my father nine years ago. After so long, based on the principal plus the interest agreed upon in the IOU, you owe me 10 million.”
“Wait, you’re here as a debt collector?” Queenie eyed the IOU on the table, then burst into a derisive laugh. Picking it up, she looked it over and tut-tutted. “Goodness, if you hadn’t brought this out, I would have completely forgotten about paying back the money.”
“Just hand over what you owe, and I’ll leave without any further trouble.” Lucian’s tone was steely and completely devoid of any warmth.
“Why should I pay you back money that I borrowed on my own merit?” Queenie crumpled the IOU and tossed it into the trash can. Airily, she said, “Anyway, I borrowed the money from your father, Alexander Gray. If you want it back, ask him to come and see me personally. I’m not paying anyone else a single cent of it.’
It was obvious she was behaving like a hooligan and relishing it.
Lucian’s temper was already rising. Blandly, he asked, “So you’re planning to default on what you owe?”
“Pooh!” Queenie cast a contemptuous look at Lucian; it was evident that she did not hold him in any great awe. “Yes. I’m not going to pay you back a single cent. Do you think you can force me to give up the money? The last person who tried to collect a debt from me ended up nearly cri ppled
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for life. I guess you’re looking for more of the same.”
“If that’s your game, don’t blame me for not playing by the rules.” Lucian started toward Queenie with clenched fists. This woman had really gotten under his skin. He had seen shameless scoundrels before, but never one this shameless.
A debt had to be paid off; that was obligatory. Queenie merely refusing to pay back what she owed was one thing, but now she was acting as if she had done nothing wrong.
People like this needed to be taught a lesson.
“Oh, so you’re even trying to lay hands on me now?” Queenie immediately grabbed her phone and hit the emergency dial button.
A minute or so later, three hulking, brawny security guards burst into the office and surrounded Lucian. One of them said, “Sir, Ms. Dupont doesn’t want you here. Please leave right away, or
else…”
“Or else what?” Lucian shot a glance at Queenie, who was lounging on the couch with her legs crossed, then returned his gaze to the security guards.
“Or else we’ll have to use force,” the guard replied sternly.
“Aren’t you afraid heaven is going to strike you down, working for such a ruthless, heartless woman?”
Queenie’s face twisted into an expression of vindictive malevolence; for a moment, she looked hideous. In a rage, she jumped up and stalked toward the security guards, shrieking, “Get rid of this ba stard! I’ll pay you 10 thousand dollars each! Don’t worry about repercussions, I’ll deal with that!”
To the three security guards, 10 thousand dollars was a massive amount of money. They glanced at each other, bloodlust flickering in their eyes, then turned as one and charged at Lucian.
“Pah! Useless du mb a ss.” Queenie turned and went back to the couch, settling onto it and lighting another cigarette. She was looking forward to watching the security guards cri pple Lucian and beat him up within an inch of his life before throwing him out onto the street. Derisively, she sneered, “You have the nerve to show up at my company, asking me for money? Let’s see what sort of stuff you’re made of!”
Three dull thuds abruptly assailed Queenie’s ears. Startled, she turned. The scene that greeted her stunned her so much that she sat as if turned to stone, unable to believe her eyes.