Chapter 226 Winner and Loser
Backstage Lounge
When Stefan pushed the door open, Cecilia was sitting at the makeup mirror removing her makeup.
In the mirror, Cecilia looked tired with faint dark circles under her eyes, but her whole being radiated a sense of relief.
"Congratulations." Stefan leaned against the doorframe, swirling a glass of champagne he'd snagged from somewhere.
"Not only did you win the championship, you nearly made the famous Mr. Chapman of Harmony City cough up blood on stage. That was a beautiful victory."
Cecilia paused with her makeup remover pad and looked at him through the mirror.
"If it weren't for your additional penalty clause, Rufus might not have given in."
"That was his own greed." Stefan walked over and handed her the champagne.
"He was too eager to claim ownership of you in front of everyone online, too eager to one-up me. The heavier his greed, the bigger his opening."
Cecilia took the glass but didn't drink.
She just stared at the fine bubbles continuously rising in the glass, somewhat lost in thought.
"What? Having second thoughts?" Stefan raised an eyebrow.
"No."
Cecilia shook her head, a bitter smile forming at the corner of her mouth.
"I was just thinking, Grandpa can finally go home."
"He's been in that cold cemetery for too long. He must miss the cherry trees in Shadow City."
Stefan watched her quietly.
He didn't speak, just reached out and gently placed his hand over hers on the glass.
"Leave what comes next to me." Stefan's voice was low and certain. "I'll send the most professional team to handle the grave relocation. I'll oversee everything personally—Rufus won't get a chance to interfere."
Cecilia turned her hand to grasp Stefan's, her fingers pressing hard, as if trying to absorb that warmth into her bones.
"Thank you."
"Between us, there's no need for that."
Stefan smiled, a hint of mischief flashing in his eyes.
"But since I've helped you out so much, shouldn't you, as champion, grant this 'fake investor' a small wish?"
Cecilia was taken aback. "What?"
"That dinner at Skyline Tower..."
Stefan leaned in closer, his crisp cedarwood scent enveloping her.
"Although Rufus ruined it, I've reserved a table at a little place around the corner. No expensive buyout, just two bowls of hot clam chowder. Will you join me?"
Cecilia looked into his eyes, so close to hers.
Those deep pupils held no calculation, no madness—only pure, warm laughter.
The desolation in her heart from seeking revenge seemed to dissipate a little in that warmth.
"Okay." She nodded with a smile. "But this one's on me. I just won prize money—I've got a bit of cash now."
---
# The Chapman Group, Top Floor Office
Late at night, the lights were still blazing here, the air so oppressive you could wring water from it.
An antique vase crashed against the wall with a sharp, piercing shatter.
Everything on the desk—documents, computer, decorative items—was violently swept to the floor.
Rufus paced back and forth through the debris, his tie askew, the top button of his shirt long since popped open, his chest heaving with rapid breaths.
"A con! It was all a con!"
He braced his hands on the desk edge, his eyeballs crawling with vicious red veins.
Thinking of how Cecilia had looked at him on stage—that calm, distant gaze—made him feel like a clown stripped naked and put on public display.
She was no longer the little girl who used to follow behind him, looking up at him.
She had become a knife.
A knife designed specifically to pierce his heart.
"Mr. Chapman..."
Assistant Louis cowered in the corner, wishing he could become wallpaper, his voice trembling.
"PR is already handling public opinion, but... netizens are reacting very strongly to the grave relocation issue. If we move too slowly, I'm afraid the group's reputation..."
"Then relocate it!"
Rufus whipped around, cutting him off with a roar.
"Dig up that bastard Patrick's ashes! Send them away! Right now!"
He gasped for breath, his eyes filled with undisguised madness.
"She wants Patrick to go home? Fine! I'll make it happen!"
"What's a dead man? She's still alive—that's what matters!"
Rufus suddenly began laughing with a neurotic edge.
The laughter was low and hoarse, echoing through the empty office with a sick obsession.
"Cecilia, you think taking the ashes means you can completely escape me?"
He walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the brilliant Harmony City nightscape below, the cold glass reflecting his twisted, grim face.
"Dream on."
Since she scorned his tender scenes.
Since she treated his self-important devotion as a joke.
Then he couldn't blame himself for completely tearing off all pretense.
"Investigate Robert and Mabel's recent activities, every detail."
"Also, notify the board—initiate a level-one commercial strike plan against the Hensley Group. Spare no expense. I want Stefan on his knees begging me!"
Rufus extended his hand, his fingers slowly tracing across the cold glass.
"Cecilia, the game has just begun."
"I'll break your proud bones, pull out your claws, and lock you in a cage only I can see."
"Then let's see how you'll escape!"
---
# Corner Restaurant
The small restaurant still glowed with warm orange light.
Cecilia and Stefan sat by the window, two bowls of steaming clam chowder before them, the surface dotted with fresh parsley and delicate white cream, adding a touch of freshness.
Compared to the glamorous award ceremony not long ago, the everyday atmosphere here felt especially real.
"About my mother."
Stefan suddenly spoke, breaking the quiet between them.
Cecilia's chewing slowed as she looked up at him.
"What she said at the family dinner—I apologize again."
His expression was very serious, without any hint of being perfunctory.
"I'm not saying this to defend her, much less hoping for your forgiveness. I just... forget it, let me start from the beginning."
Stefan lowered his eyes, looking at the rippling soup in his bowl, his voice deeper than usual.
"You've probably heard about some of her past."
"When she was young, she fell in love with a man—a man from poverty with nothing to his name."
Cecilia listened quietly without interrupting.
"She thought it was love. She broke with her family for him, gave up everything. As it turned out, that man treated her like merchandise and sold her."
Stefan's tone was flat, yet it made Cecilia's heart clench.
"Later, my father found her. When she was imprisoned, tortured, her spirit nearly broken, he brought her back."
"My father had loved her for many years, since she was still a socialite of the Saunders family. Thinking her heart belonged to another, he silently protected her until she fell into desperation. Only then did he risk everything to rescue her, using all his energy to help her gradually emerge from that dark period."
The steam from the clam chowder blurred Stefan's features, bringing a rare vulnerability to his usually composed face.
"Their relationship was always good. But when I was a teenager, my father... died from overwork and illness."
"At that time, the Hensley family faced internal and external troubles. Many so-called relatives eyed the position of Hensley Group head, waiting to see this 'crazy woman,' my mother, become a laughingstock, waiting to divide up the Hensley family assets."
"She had no choice but to armor herself, facing everyone in the harshest, most cutting way, holding up the entire family until I could take over the Hensley Group."
Stefan finished speaking, raised his head, and looked at Cecilia again.
"Her past experiences gave her a pathological stress reaction and hatred toward anyone trying to climb up from the bottom. She can't distinguish who's sincere and who's a fraud. In her eyes, commoners all carry the same dirty motives."
"Of course," he paused, adding very seriously, "I don't think her logic is right. Her trauma can't be a reason to hurt you."
"I just hope, or rather... I'm asking you to give me some time."
"I'll handle this properly."