Chapter 237

This wasn't the first time - at the flower shop, Marco had also been lost in thought.

This state was truly unexpected for Marco. Elena gently called out: "Marco? Marco?"

It took two calls before Marco snapped back to reality.

Elena laughed at him: "What are you thinking about? You're so absorbed."

"Sorry." Marco took a breath of cold air, forcing himself to be more alert, and also crouched down to say a few words to the tombstone.

Back in the car, Elena couldn't help but speak up: "Your condition is very off. If it were just once, that would be fine, but it's been going on for a while, and ever since you suddenly went out, you've been like this. Do you need to talk to me about it?"

Marco clenched his fists, remaining silent, then finally asked: "If someone takes ten whole years to truly realize their feelings, is that too foolish?"

Ten years?

Elena leaned her head against the seat back, suddenly thinking of Dante, who took five years to realize, but once he did, it was worse than not realizing at all, because everything had already changed.

"It depends on the situation. If there's room for redemption, it's not too late."

"Redemption?" Marco smiled bitterly, "Then it seems it's too late."

Elena began to understand, looking at Marco in surprise: "You have someone you like? Who?"

Afraid that further inquiry would make Elena suspicious, Marco laughed it off: "You don't know her, but it doesn't matter. She already has a boyfriend. By the way..."

He changed the subject: "Since you have time, will you attend the DeLuca family banquet next week?"

"What's the occasion?"

"My older brother is getting married."

Marco's older brother was Joshua, his half-brother who hadn't appeared for twenty years but suddenly returned to the DeLuca family after turning twenty, breaking Marco's status as the only son.

Joshua's mother was an unknown outsider, but she was also Andre's first love. Joshua's appearance filled Andre with guilt, and despite Marco's outstanding abilities, the inheritance gradually shifted toward Joshua. This banquet was probably not just about a simple wedding.

Elena paused, "I'll go."

No matter what, she couldn't let Marco face this alone. Even as a friend, she had to attend. She had already been so high-profile; she didn't mind being high-profile once more.

Marco gave her the invitation, which clearly stated the time - next Tuesday, only four days away.

To make time, Elena went back and intensively studied the tourism industry and geographical layout. However, the new district was in a remote location, essentially a desolate "backwater." To develop it, the first step would be to build roads.

This couldn't be accomplished with money alone; she needed to negotiate with the authorities. It would be even better if she didn't need to provide the funding herself.

Elena planned to personally submit the documents. Unable to get a taxi and pressed for time, she took a car from the garage. Despite driving very carefully, she still had an intimate encounter with another car on the road, leaving a dent in the rear bumper.

Both cars pulled over. As soon as Elena got out, a burly man from the other car approached, pointing at Elena's nose and angrily scolding: "Do you even know how to drive? Stopping suddenly without giving others any time to react - look what you did to my car!"

Elena looked at the back of her car, then at the front of the man's car, frowning tightly. Setting aside the fact that she had to stop at a red light, given her slow speed, he was obviously following too closely, beyond regulation distance, which caused the collision.

Yet this man was trying to blame her.

"Excuse me, you were following too closely, which is why you hit me, right?" Elena's expression was displeased, and her tone was equally impolite. "When the car in front stops, I naturally have to stop too. Weren't you less than a meter away from me, which is why you hit me?"

"What nonsense are you spouting, woman!" A woman holding a child got out of the passenger seat angrily. "We were far from you. It was clearly you who suddenly stopped, causing us to crash into you!"

Elena pursed her lips, glancing at both of them. Were these two trying to frame her?

She couldn't help but sneer: "Don't you think what you're saying is contradictory? You say you were far from me, so if I suddenly stopped, wouldn't you have had time to react? The speed wasn't that fast - why would you crash into me?"

"You—" The woman was speechless.

The man glared at the woman, then shouted: "Don't try to twist logic with me. Stopping suddenly was your fault. Now you've damaged our newly bought car like this - compensate us! You're not leaving without compensation!"

"Right!" The woman quickly chimed in, "You must compensate!"

If this were before, she definitely wouldn't let these people get their way. She'd rather waste half a day calling the police and checking surveillance footage to make these people suffer.

But today she was rushing to submit documents, and they'd close at five. It was already 4:30, and she really didn't have time to wait for police to handle this.

Elena took a deep breath: "How about this - I'll leave my phone number with you. You go get your car repaired first, and we'll handle the rest after I finish my business. Is that okay?"

"Who has time to wait for you?" The man's flesh quivered, flexing his muscular arms with impatience. "Let me tell you, if you don't pay today, don't even think about leaving!"

"Pay?" Elena couldn't help but get angry, saying in a low voice: "You crashed into me. I'm being polite by not demanding compensation from you!"

The woman beside them seemed to sense Elena was in a hurry and pushed the man aside, raising her voice: "When all is said and done, isn't it all because you stopped randomly that this happened! If you're so capable, let's call the police right now and have them check the surveillance! If the surveillance shows we're at fault, we'll compensate you ten times over!"

Elena was extremely anxious. She watched the clock on her wrist ticking forward and said: "How much?"

"What?"

"Compensation." Elena's expression darkened. Getting entangled with people like this would take hours to resolve. She was just unlucky.

Both the man and woman couldn't help but smirk. Coming back to his senses, the man looked at his car's front end and said: "This car of mine is a BMW, bought for over 700,000. You damaged my front bumper, and I'll need to repaint it. You should compensate at least 200,000!"