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Chapter 155 Secrets, Schemes, and Sizzle
“Save the flattery. I’m not interested in those.”
“Then… what do you want, Mr. Tyson?” Naomi stepped forward anxiously, eyes filled with desperate hope.
“As long as you help me get into Claire University, my parents will give you anything!”
Julio’s brows furrowed.
He’d never seen someone so casually throw their parents on the bargaining table.
“Anything?” Tyson’s voice was lazy. “Even… your sister?”
Naomi froze.
Eliza? Again?
Back at the beach villa, Eliza had just returned from the shoreline.
She stared at the strange text on her phone, reading it over and over again.
She had tried calling the number–but it was already out of service.
Who would send me something like this, completely out of nowhere?
“You’re not the biological daughter of the Rivers family…”
Eliza murmured the message aloud.
She’d wondered about it before. There were times she questioned whether she truly belonged to the Rivers family. But she’d lived with them for as long as she could remember.
If she wasn’t their daughter–then whose was she?
“Elizze!”
Henry burst through her bedroom door.
Startled, Eliza instinctively shoved her phone into her pocket.
Henry frowned. “What are you doing? The barbecue’s almost ready.”
“Oh… I was just watching some videos.”
She stood up. “You guys finished already?”
“Yeah, Nolan told me to grab you. If you don’t come out now, Colton’s gonna eat everything.”
“Coming.”
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Chapter 155 Secrets, Schemes, and Sizzle
Eliza tossed on a blanket and stepped outside.
Dusk had fallen. On the villa terrace, a barbecue setup was already underway.
Finished.
Technically, Nolan and the others were hosting the barbecue–but one glance told Eliza that several bodyguards were the ones doing all the actual work.
As for Lewis and Colton? They were just tossing skewers onto the automatic grill.
Eliza rubbed her forehead.
They’ve sucked all the fun out of this.
“Look who finally woke up. Too bad–there’s nothing left for you.”
Colton deliberately waved a skewer in front of her face, taunting.
But before he could say anything else, Nolan knocked him squarely on the head.
Colton winced but didn’t get the chance to complain–Nolan had already set a full plate on the table.
“Come eat. There’s plenty.”
Colton glared. “Nolan! Whose side are you on?!”
“Do you even have to ask? The other side, obviously.”
Lewis lounged back on a recliner, calling out, “Right, Eliza?”
That name sent chills down Eliza’s spine.
Nolan’s hand paused mid–motion.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you calling her Eliza?”
A strange smile crossed Lewis’s face. “Oops. My bad. That’s Nolan’s exclusive nickname, isn’t it?”
Eliza stepped forward and sat beside Henry. “Aren’t you guys bored yet?”
“Not my problem,” Colton replied. “Blame Lewis. He started it.”
“Elizze, Zayden hasn’t been bothering you lately, has he?”
Henry brought up Zayden out of the blue.
Eliza had nearly forgotten he existed.
She shook her head. “Why?”
“The Holt family’s been begging everyone for help. Looks like their company’s finally done for. They’re holed up in a run–down apartment downtown. Yesterday the business was completely shut down. No one wants to be associated with them now. If Zayden tries to contact you, don’t respond.”
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Finished
Colton added, “Exactly. That whole family will do anything for money. They scammed a lot of investors before. Now that everything’s collapsed, everyone’s fighting over what’s left of their assets. Even if Grace and Zayden survive this, the whole industry might blacklist them.”
Eliza fell silent, deep in thought.
Something’s off… this isn’t how things happened in my previous life.
Back then, the Holt family did go bankrupt–the flu outbreak ruined their cash flow, froze their projects, and everything collapsed. But they were never fully blacklisted by the entire industry.
Grace had always kept backup plans. They still had‘ property left over.
It shouldn’t have gone this badly…
And I haven’t even done anything major to the Holt family in this life.
So what caused everything to spiral this far out of control?
“Drink.”
Nolan’s voice pulled her back.
Eliza turned to see him handing her a bottle.
“Thanks.”
She took it, but her mind was still stuck on the mystery of the Holt family’s downfall.
Who stepped in behind the scenes? Who went this far to ruin them?
Whoever it was… I owe them a thank–you visit.
“Elizze, I know you and Zayden grew up together,” Henry said gently. “You must still care about him a little. Don’t be too upset. I heard that even with all this, he still managed to get into a pretty good university.”
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