No longer a pushover

Raymond shot a glance at the man standing next to Noelle. He had heard the two had already broken up. In response to Raymond's reply, Noelle nodded politely and walked past Cedric without hesitation.

However, Cedric's eyes darkened as he watched Raymond approach. His voice was low and carried a hint of threat. "Stay away from her."

"But didn't you two break up?" Raymond raised a brow.

"I haven't agreed to it yet," Cedric replied coldly, his lips tightening. He narrowed his eyes and added, "You'd better not do anything you'll regret."

Raymond did not respond, but his gaze held a clear challenge. He did not even bother to finish his cigarette before turning around and heading back into the private lounge.

Cedric clicked his tongue softly. He could not believe he had just warned some clueless kid. The feeling that washed over him was hard to describe.

...

Meanwhile, Noelle had just come out of the restroom after splashing cold water on her face. As she walked back down the hallway, she saw Cedric still standing there. She took a deep breath and made her way over to him.

Without looking directly at him, she passed by, but Cedric spoke up. "There's a dinner tonight for the Al project. Want to come? There's a new development coming up-something to do with prosthetics."

a second when she heard the word "prosthetics," as it reminded her

mentioned the idea to Cedric once, but apparently, he had moved fast. Then again, with Maple Enterprise backed by Alfred and Cedric, money and resources were never

her phone to text Grace, telling her to go ahead and eat without her. Then, she

they walked in, she noticed Laura was there, too. The air in the room shifted,

present knew about Laura and Cedric's history, so when Cedric walked in with a

Noelle with a sweet but

wealthy heir

already here, and you go off

feeding the tension in the room. Laura's

at Noelle, clearly feeling

smile grew just as bright. "Maybe I came

venet

clench. Right now, he absolutely did not

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