The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 281: Double it, and the girl is yours!

As the elevator moved down, Ren was trying hard to think about her current situation. She was really tempted by this idol cover thing, but she began to have other thoughts as the pain from breaching the contract receded. She was considering her options… as if she had any.

Victor, who was obviously aware of her stupid thoughts, sighed. He realized one simple thing when he was questioning her earlier. Ren was an airhead! She was a natural super lethal airhead!

This made her somewhat easy to control if he could figure out her button layout, but at the same time, this doubled the effort needed to teach and train her to fight in a better way.

The way she was using her skills was way too stupid and wasteful! She was just discharging her power at her targets blindly. If she could fine-tune it and aim it, not only would she be able to deliver precise and maybe not-so-lethal strikes using a fraction of the mana she was wasting, she might even be able to generate a magnetic field around her to move metal objects! This loli had potential, but she was too stupid to realize that and needed a lot of training!

He needed to increase her loyalty though, and this took time and a little bit of star power.

Suddenly the elevator’s door opened. Ren wanted to dash out but Victor grabbed her and pulled her back, as two pretty women slowly stepped in.

“Ah! Young master!” Mira exclaimed as her agent Minerva nodded to him respectfully.

“Mira! What a coincidence! You are just the one I wanted to meet!” Victor lied with a big smile, Aria had already sent him Mira’s entire schedule and he came here specifically for her. Ren’s business was just a side hustle. “Are you busy now?” he asked Mira as if he didn’t know that she was.

“Ah…” Mira was at a loss, she was definitely busy, but as Victor’s servant, according to the family rule, he had to be her priority at all times!

“Miss Mira has a photo-shoot session on the 2nd floor for a magazine cover,” Minerva interjected when she noticed Mira’s hesitation. “The international photographer Mr. Kitzler would be doing the shooting! He came here on a plane just for that!” she added proudly. Mira had become a very big star thanks to Victor’s support, and although she had no idea about the family drama behind his relationship with Mira, she respected his big wallet greatly… No, she respected him!

“Then it is nothing important! I need you to come with me!” Victor interjected before turning to the frowning Minerva, “Reschedule the shooting… If anyone complained, tell them it was my call, If they make trouble, tell Aria to send the goons after them…” he said.

Minerva could only nod in response. She heard about his reputation, how he slapped their old CEO Mr.Clara to death as soon as he got here. That woman was so ashamed of herself that she committed suicide a week later. Not only her, but half of the company's directors also committed suicide during the last month. Not only that, Not only did they crack their own balls before dying! They even submitted all the dirty things they did throughout the years to the police!

“Minerva… I will be with young master Victor for the day then…” Mira said in an apologizing tune.

“It’s ok… I will handle the rest…” Minerva sighed as the elevator stopped on the second floor, she quickly walked out then gestured to Mira to service her young master well mahjong her blush.

Victor chuckled as the elevator doors closed. He really liked this agent, she would definitely have a very successful career in the future.

“Who is this cute child?” Mira suddenly asked, making Victor turn to look at the stupid loli who was standing beside him. She was frozen in place while looking at Mira in shock!

“This is Ren, she is a new Idol candidate that I found!” he said, “I plan to form an idol group of young girls,” he said before smacking Ren’s head. “Introduce yourself!” he said.

“Ah…. Ah…. hello miss Mira… I am Ren…” she said. “Can I have your autograph?”

“Yes!” Mira said as she watched Ren fumble around for a paper.

“Don’t worry about it!” Victor said, “Mira will come with us to your house, she will help me scam…. Convince your parents!” he said, making Ren open her eyes in shock as Mira smiled and nodded to hide her disappointment, she thought he wanted to take her on a date.

…

By the time the elevator reached the underground parking lot, 27 seconds later. Ren, who was still looking at Mira like a fanatic, had already forgotten any idea of resisting Victor or running away. She had fully surrendered. Anyone who was friends with Miss Mira can’t be a bad guy!

Victor didn’t care about her stupid thoughts. The moment he got her parents' signature, she would be his, whether she liked it or not!... She was already his…

Walking through the parking lot, Victor finally reached the place Margret was standing next to a new car. He had just sent her to throw the borrowed car away and get a new shiny one. It was a white White Dragon sedan. The family business-standard.

“Did you finish the tasks I gave you?” he asked as he noticed that she seemed to have changed the casual dress she was wearing earlier to an expensive suit.

Margret nodded as she threw a stack of documents at him.

“Yeah… Now you can enjoy your date,” she said as she sneaked a glance at Mira.

"You are not coming?" he asked.

“Nope!" she said, "I need to go do some shopping! So I will be taking the rest of the day off!” she said tactfully. She knew that Victor planned to propose to Mira so she planned to leave.

She had enough of his stupid causal proposals. She didn’t want to see another cringy scene where the girl gasped as Victor escaped after casually stating his intentions to marry her.

Margret was not feeling jealous…. Not at all…. Not even a little bit!

She just intended to go shopping for some nice accessories for the wedding. Maybe a couple of sexy underwear and some new toys for her wedding night!

“Do whatever you want…” Victor said with an awkward smile as if he was reading her mind, then watched as he put on a pair of gilded sunglasses, before climbing into a brand new Red FireRat car that she must have just bought.

She waved her hand at him as she drove away like a rich young lady saying goodbye to her sugar baby!

Wait, wasn't that car the one from the store they were at earlier? Did she return there to slap that woman’s face again?... Not his business!

Victor shook his head as he looked back at the frowning Ren and Mira.

“Let’s go!” he said as he climbed into the sedan’s front seat, inviting Mira to sit beside him and leaving Ren to sit in the back.

Starting the car, Victor watched as Ren fasten her seat belt in the rear mirror.

“Listen, Ren, When we meet your parents later, this is exactly what you have to say…” he began to speak…

…

Ren was utterly shocked when Victor parked the car near the apartment building she lived in with her parents. How did he know her address?

“Come on!” Victor told her as he opened the car door and then descended followed by Mira, who didn’t really know why she was there… She just wore her thick sunglasses to hide her identity.

Ren on the other hand began to realize that she might be in a big mess as she quietly followed Victor and smoothly climbed three flights of stairs to reach the apartment as if he lived there. He paused for a moment to check the apartment number before he rang the bell.

Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

A few moments later a pretty woman wearing a pink apron opened the door. Then looked strangely at Victor before noticing Ren and Mira who was behind him. She was Ren’s mother.

“Ren? What’s going on here?” she asked with a frown on her face. Did her stupid daughter cause trouble again?

“Ah… mom… I….” Ren had no idea how to respond. She totally forgot what Victor told her to say in the car… No, she didn’t forget, she was not listening to him in the first place!

“Mrs. Stinger, My name is Victor white!” Victor said, flashing his brightest smile. “I am the CEO of Horizons media. I am here because your daughter Ren had destroyed our company's car! Can I go in?” he asked. Ren wanted to deny his accusations, but she couldn’t talk at all. She just looked at him in shock.

Ren’s mother frowned wondering if he was some scammer just as Mira removed her sunglasses and showed her pretty face… OMG! It is Mira.

“Please come in!” she said quickly as she dusted her apron and opened the door to invite them in toward the living room.

Victor nodded, then quickly made himself home and inspected the house. It was not too shabby.

He casually sat on a wide couch, then dragged Mira to sit beside him as Ren’s mother dragged her daughter to the kitchen to question her.

Ren began to tell her mother how she stumbled in the road and scratched Victor’s very expensive car, and how he asked her to pay for the repairs before Mira pleaded for her, begging Victor to accept Ren in his new Idol group! telling him that she had a lot of hidden the aura of a star!

It was not Ren doing the talking though, but her illusion created by Victor. Victor didn’t trust her at all!

The real Ren heard nothing of this, she was just standing there flabbergasted as her mother scolded the broom and then began to nod to it!

She often eavesdropped when her mother scolded her father telling him that she was going to go mad if he couldn’t find a way to get more money to cover their mortgage. Ren wondered if her mother finally lost her mind…

Ren wanted to go ask her mother what was going on, but Victor grabbed her and then gestured to her to wait until her mother finished her scolding then dragged her ‘daughter’ to sit beside her, facing Victor on the couch on the other side of a coffee table.

“Master Victor… Ren just told me that you want her to work for your company, joining an idol group…”

Ren was shocked, she said nothing! She wanted to clarify some things with her mother but Victor beat her to it.

“Yes, Mira here thinks she has the potential to be a star!” Victor said looking at Ren who was sitting next to her mother and the broom.

“It is not that we are doubting you…. “ Ren’s mother said as she looked at Mira wondering if she could take a photo with her later, “But I think Ren is not really fit to be an idol!” she added with some hesitation, making her daughter look at her with a frown, “I mean, she needs to continue her studies and become a lawyer in the future… I don’t want her to stop pursuing her dreams!” she explained with a sleazy smile as she pinched the broom’s butt to force it to keep its silence.

Victor nodded as he fully understood the woman’s intentions, “Then how about we wait for your husband…”

“My husband will have no say in this!” she clarified… He truly didn’t.

“Oh, I see…. Then… ” Victor hesitated as if he was making some calculations, then took out a briefcase from under his feet and put it on the coffee table, slowly opening it to reveal a shit load of shiny cash…

“Ahhhhh…” Ren and her mother were stunned.

“This is $1.000.000 It was supposed to be Ren’s down payment for signing the contract…. I planned to pay her $5,000,000 per year… Too bad you want her to continue her education….” Victor said with a disappointed tone as he began to close the briefcase.

“DOUBLE IT, AND THE GIRL IS YOURS!” the mother quickly said as she held the briefcase open with her hands and looked at the money… Ren sighed as she saw her mother’s true nature show itself.

Victor took another bag from between his legs and put it on the table, then put a document on top of it.

“Sign this and those two briefcases containing a total of $2,000,00 will be yours... The rest would be paid throughout the year!” he said.

“I need to ask my husband….”

“The offer ends in 60 seconds!” “59…”

“I will sign it immediately!”

Ren’s mother sold her daughter in seconds then as soon as Victor got the contract, she grabbed the money bags and ran toward her room to count them, leaving the poor broom alone in the living room to face its grim fate… she left a stupified Ren too.

“Your mother is a real money grabber…” Victor said with a smirk as Mira sighed, she had seen this scenario in the industry too many times.

“Aha….” Ren, not knowing what to say, reluctantly nodded just as the apartment’s door suddenly opened and a handsome middle-aged man in a firefighter uniform and a yellow helmet under his arm walked in with a tired face.

“DADDY!” Ren ran to her father’s embrace.

“Ah, Ren…. Be careful, the tunic is dirty…. We have guests?” he asked as he looked at Victor and at Mira, whom he didn’t recognize. He was so busy being driven to earn money by his wife all year round that he didn’t have time to look at idols… He just focused on the handsome Victor who made him feel threatened.

“Yes… he is…” before Ren could explain, her mother appeared out of nowhere running into the room.

“Oh, husband! You are here!” she said, “Come with me….” she added as she dragged her stunned husband to the kitchen and closed the door while giving Victor a flattering smile.

Victor squinted his eyes as Ren nervously looked at the white kitchen door. Moments later they heard a yell.

“B*TCH YOU SOLD OUR DAUGHTER?”

“But honey……the money is…. And that guy… and that…..”

“WHAT MIRA?”

“It is that pretty…….”

“...”

“...HOW MUCH?”

“...”

“WHAT?”

“...”

“...”

“...”

Victor decided to just ignore the arguing couples and wait while hugging the embarrassed Mira. It didn’t take long for Ren's mother to rein in her husband. It was obvious what method she used from the fake tears she was wiping away as she entered the room behind him with a smug smile.

“Can I see the contract?” the man said as he sat facing Victor…

Tsht...

”AHHH...” the man screamed as the wooden broom that was resting on the couch broke under his weight then retaliated by sticking its sharp end in his ass… Thankfully he was wearing thick firefighter pants, so nothing major happened. He just stood up in a hurry and then threw the poor broom behind the couch while glaring at his stupid wife, who was wondering what was the broom doing there.

“Here you go!” Victor said, giving the contract to the man as he totally ignored what just happened.

The man sat again after rubbing his butt and making sure there was nothing else, then began to read the contract slowly. The more he read the more he liked it. It was not bad at all. This thing was prepared by Margret after all. She suffered from bad contracts from her previous life, so when she ordered the company lawyers to write it under Victor's instructions, she made sure this one was clear and fair.

“This will require my daughter to change schools?” he asked after flipping the first page.

“Yes! I fear for her security in her current school, so I will register her at an aristocratic school… My little sister goes there, so she will be fine,” Victor said as the man searched for the school’s website on his phone and then gasped after seeing its tuition fee! It was enough to buy his daughter's entire old school three times.

“You will pay for this, right?” he asked nervously as he noticed his stupid wife’s signature on the contract… That woman definitely didn't read this.

“Yes, all covered by the company, but your daughter will have to work for us for at least 10 years! But don’t worry, not only will she get her agreed salary, but she will also get a cut of all the profits we make using her image and performances!” Victor said with a salesman smile.

The man confirmed these conditions in the contract slowly one by one asking Victor about every little thing, then nodded after 15 Minutes. He had nothing to edit.

“It is tempting… But…, Ren…” He turned to his daughter and asked, “Are you ok with this? It is your choice!” he said.

“I… I am ok with it….” she said after some hesitation, especially when she noticed Victor’s threatening eyes and the ball of black flames that appeared over her parent’s heads.

“Then I am fine with it!” the man said, signing next to his wife's name as the ball of flames dissipated.

“Perfect!” Victor said, collecting the documents. “You will be contacted by my assistant in the next couple of days… We will talk about your work arrangements later! “ he said, winking at Ren and then standing up.

“Now, I have a lot of business, sorry for disturbing your day…” he said politely as he slowly walked out with Mira.

Watching Victor walk out, Ren sighed in relief. He finally left!

She wanted to tell her father about her powers, but remembering Victor’s warnings she decided not to do a thing.

“It is ok!” her father said, watching the worried look on her face. “It is not a bad thing, the new school is way better than your current one!” he said.

“Um…” she nodded.

“That guy doesn’t seem bad too, but I keep having the feeling that I saw him somewhere, but I can’t remember where….” he said to his daughter who suddenly jumped from the couch.

“NO! I forgot to get Miss Mira’s signature!” she yelled as she ran to the window where she watched as the couple got into the car and then drove away.

Ren’s father sighed as he watched… His daughter was definitely taking after her stupid mother who also ran to the window when her daughter mentioned the signature.