Love’s Cunning Ruse

Now she finally understood why her mother had slapped her for merely touching the ring-a ring that

valuable….

Seeing the panic on Julie’s face, Kieran leaned in close, “My face is worth 9 million dollars too, but that

doesn’t stop you from hitting me, does it?”

Julie smartly chose to skip this topic and managed a forced smile, “Where are you taking me this late?”

And they were going on foot. Where on earth was he taking her?

The neighborhood was safe, but Kieran didn’t strike her as the type who’d patiently take her for a walk

to bond.

And sure enough, he wasn’t just taking her for a walk. He led her to a villa and rang the bell.

Following the previous experience with Kieran ringing a bell, Julie wisely chose to stay silent.

Soon, the door was pushed open from inside.

Ajwoman in her fifties greeted Kieran with a warm smile, “What brings you here this late?”

Is he home?” Kieran asked bluntly.

The woman knew who ‘he’ referred to and nodded, “Yes, he’s home. But he’s been busy, didn’t even

have dinner yet. He told-us-not-te

disturb him. Are you here to see him?”

Kieran nodded, “I’ll go up.”

With that, he led Julie inside.

Julie had never been here before, didn’t know who lived here, nor who ‘he’ Kieran was referring to. But

judging from Kieran’s tone and attitude, he must know the person well.

Kieran led her upstairs and stopped in front of a closed door. Without knocking, he pushed the door

open.

Inside, a man was typing rapidly on a keyboard, surrounded by four computers, each running different

programs, screens filled with codes that Julie couldn’t decipher.

“Get lost! I’m busy! I refuse to believe I can’t beat this jerk trying to track my IP. Just you wait!”

Julie was speechless.

Hearing his confident words, she guessed who the man was. She’d heard about Kieran’s cousin,

Payne Hernandez, a brilliant hacker. Even the National Security Agency had tried to recruit him. But he

loved his freedom and didn’t like constraints, so he publicly rejected their offer.

Then he went to assist a comic artist named Mister L, learning about comic creation. Later it was

confirmed that the so-called Mister L was actually the eldest son of the Lamont family. Because they

were so close, there were rumors that they were actually in love. But when Mister L got married and

had kids, those rumors came to an end.

After Mister L got hitched and had a kid, Payne quit his job as a comic assistant. She recalls people

saying that Payne quit because he felt betrayed by Mister L, unable to accept that he married someone

else.

Of course, most of the gossip was heard from Daphne.

During her years of chasing Kieran, Julie had bought off almost everyone around him, but for Payne,

this legendary figure, she only heard the name, never met the person.

Today, when she saw him, she was kinda disappointed.

Because after Payne finally hit the enter key to deal with the “bastard” he was talking about, he turned

to: Kieran and said, “Kieran, people say let bygones be bygones, why do you keep digging up the

past?”

This was the first time Julie heard someone refer to her as a bygone, a past that Kieran dug up again…

“As someone who doesn’t even know the basics, stop envying my past,” Kieran took out the emerald

ring from Julie’s pocket and put it in front of Payne, “Check if this is real.”

Payne was about to speak when Julie shook Kieran’s arm and seriously asked Kieran, “Your cousin

doesn’t even know anything about this ring, are you sure he can tell if this is real or fake?”

Payne was speechless.

Was she retaliating against his remark about her being a thing of the past?

“You really are the woman who married my cousin, your spirit of revenge is just like him!” Payne rolled

his eyes.

Julie laughed in response, “Thanks for the compliment.”

Kieran said to Julie, “His parents, one’s an archaeologist, the other’s a jewelry appraiser. He’s been

influenced by this since he was a kid, always been a genius. If he can’t even tell if this is real or not…”

“Don’t overrate me. If I really can’t tell…”

Before Payne could finish, Kieran continued, “Then I’ll smash his computer, I’ll pay for it.”

That computer was his life, how could it be smashed!

Payne stood up, reaching for the magnifying glass while saying to Kieran, “Last time you threatened to

smash my computer was to have me investigate donation issues, now you want me to appraise

jewelry. What’s your next move?”

“Donation? Julie caught the key point from Payne’s words.

When Payne mentioned donation, Julie immediately thought of the unidentified donation someone

made to Sansa Abraham.

But before Julie could ask Kieran, Payne had already taken the ring to Julie and told Julie and Kieran,

“It’s real, it’s very valuable. Whose is this?”

“Really?” Julie looked surprised at the ring in Payne’s hand, and asked again, “You mean… this ring is

real? It’s not a fake? Not a knockoff?”

“Are you doubting me? You should know, I’ve never been doubted since I was a kid!” Payne stuffed the

ring into Julie’s hand, nonchalantly saying, “Believe it or not.”

Kieran handed a USB drive to Payne and said, “Check what’s in No. 49 here.”

“You want a favor, right?” What Payne really meant was, what was Kieran going to give in return?

Kieran answered straightforwardly, “Come back to me for payment after you find out.”

“Really?” Payne put down the keyboard and looked at Kieran.

Kieran nodded, then left with Julie…

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