Chapter 420: The House Is Sold

Several barbecue joints lined the street outside the residential complex. The group picked one at random and sat down at a small stall set up by the entrance. The owner brought them a menu to order from.

Linden told Amina to order, but Amina deferred to his parents, and his parents deferred to her grandmother.

After some back-and-forth, they decided to have Amina and Linden order together.

Unable to refuse, Amina and Linden sat on plastic stools, side by side, and looked at the single menu together.

In a black car not far away, Zeke Walton leaned back in his seat, watching this warm and considerate scene. He was so angry he slumped over the steering wheel and laughed for a long time.

’It was hilarious.’

’How could something so hilarious exist in this world?’

’The great Young Mr. Walton gets dumped by a woman, and now he has to watch her and her new family act all lovey-dovey?’

’HAHAHAHA, this is just too funny!’

After they ordered, Linden’s parents chatted nonstop with Amina’s grandmother.

It would be awkward for the two of them to just sit there in silence, so Linden struck up a conversation with Amina, asking her about her school days.

He asked if she remembered so-and-so from their class, or certain funny things that had happened back then.

Amina didn’t remember at first, but as he spoke, the memories gradually came back to her.

Her elementary school years were one of the few carefree periods of her life. As Linden recounted the stories vividly, she couldn’t help but break into a smile.

Zeke Walton watched for nearly an hour before he couldn’t take it anymore. He started the car and sped off.

VROOOOM! The car shot out of the street like an arrow loosed from a bow. Everyone was startled and turned to look.

"What a psycho! Driving that fast late at night, are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Did you see what kind of car that was? A Ferrari. Why would some rich kid from a wealthy family be racing through a place like this?"

"Those people don’t value their lives at all. It’s no surprise to see them anywhere! Damn it, why didn’t he just crash and die? I can’t stand people like that. The world would be a quieter place if one of them got killed!"

Listening to the crowd’s chatter, Amina looked in the direction the car had gone, a faint sense of unease creeping into her heart.

The roar of the engine just now had reminded her of Zeke Walton.

’Zeke Walton.’

’I wonder what he’s doing now, and if he’s still mad at me.’

Zeke Walton was angry. He was practically dying of rage.

’AAAH! Why? Why did something so disgusting have to happen to me! And why can’t I forget her! WHY!’ He drove in circles around the city, wanting to run over everyone he passed. He wanted to grab Amina and her lover and run them over a hundred times...

Eventually, the car came to a stop on a street with a very familiar building.

Zeke Walton looked up. It was the residential complex where he and Amina used to live together.

’I can’t believe I ended up driving here.’

The key was sitting in the armrest compartment right beside him. Zeke Walton knew he shouldn’t go up.

’But Amina’s obviously not there. Why are the lights on?’

He parked the car and went upstairs, a puzzled look on his face.

When he reached the door, Zeke Walton didn’t hesitate to stick the key in the lock. To his surprise, it wouldn’t turn. The lock had been changed.

He took two steps back and looked closely at the apartment number. This was the right place, but why had even the decorative frame around the number plate been changed?

BANG BANG BANG! He started pounding on the door. A delicate female voice came from inside.

"Who is it?"

’Why is there a woman living here?’

BANG BANG BANG! He didn’t answer, just kept pounding.

The woman looked out through the peephole. "Who are you? What do you want?"

Zeke Walton shot back, "I should be asking you who *you* are! What do you want? Who said you could live in my home?"

"Your home? This is my apartment..."

As the woman was speaking, a man’s voice sounded from further inside.

"Honey, who is it?"

"I don’t know, honey. There’s a guy at the door saying we’re living in his apartment."

"Probably a psycho. Don’t open the door. There are a lot of crazies like that around these days."

This made Zeke Walton even angrier.

’I come back to my own home, only to get called a psycho?’

He stopped knocking and started kicking the door instead.

"Get the hell out here! Damn it, this is my apartment! Who the hell are you calling a psycho?"

The noise from his kicking was so loud it frightened the woman. The man had no choice but to grab a pair of scissors before finally opening the door.

"Who are you? What do you want? We have security cameras installed! If you try anything funny, I’ll call the police in a heartbeat!"

Zeke Walton looked the man up and down.

"You just moved in? When?"

"We... What’s it to you?"

Then, it hit him.

’The apartment must have been sold. They’re the new owners.’

’Unbelievable. I put the apartment in her name to give her a sense of security, so she wouldn’t feel like she was with me for nothing. And what does she do? She turns around and sells it.’

"How much did you buy it for?"

The man watched him warily. "What exactly do you want? What does this have to do with you?"

Zeke Walton’s expression was one of bitter amusement.

"Half a month ago, this apartment was still mine. You tell me what it has to do with me."

He slammed the key he was holding down in front of the man.

"That woman sold it without my consent. I’m very angry right now, so you’d better not piss me off."

He seemed so gloomy, and based on his clothes and demeanor, he didn’t look like a bad person. He just looked wronged. The man couldn’t help but feel a little sympathy for him.

"How... how could something like this happen? We had no idea! We bought it from an agent. Five... five million, eight hundred eighty thousand. She... didn’t give you a single cent?"

’5.88 million. That’s in line with the market value for this place.’

’And sure enough, she didn’t give me a single cent.’

’So Amina has over five million in savings now. No wonder she doesn’t care that that guy is poor. No wonder she can smile so happily.’

Zeke Walton didn’t answer the man. He turned and pressed the elevator button again.

Neither Linden nor Amina were big eaters or drinkers, so the group didn’t order much. They were afraid of overstaying their welcome and annoying the owner, so they parted ways in less than two hours.

Linden’s parents insisted on walking Amina and her grandmother home, wanting to see where they lived to make future visits easier.

They chatted all the way, took a quick tour of her home, and then the family of three, dreaming of a bright future, walked home.

But when they reached the entrance to their alley, they froze.

The alley was packed with hundreds of people, all of them holding up their phones and filming something up ahead.

Somewhere up ahead, thick black smoke billowed and flames shot into the sky. There was a fire.

Linden’s father hurriedly ran forward.

"What’s going on? Whose place is on fire this late at night? It looks like it’s in our area. I hope our shop doesn’t get caught in it. We just rented it!"

"Exactly. Who could be so careless?"

Linden’s mother ran forward as well.

The two of them desperately pushed and squeezed their way through the gaps in the crowd.

Whatever composure they had left vanished the moment they reached the front row. Their hearts sank.

It wasn’t someone else being careless. It wasn’t someone else’s place on fire. It was theirs.

Besides their place, every other shop on the street was neatly and cleanly renovated.

Only theirs was bare, with its roll-down security gate pulled down.

Now, black smoke was pouring from the entire security gate. Tongues of fire licked out from the window above it, and the two adjacent buildings were also billowing with black smoke.

Linden’s mother couldn’t catch her breath and collapsed into his father’s arms.