Chapter 1540 Attending The Banquet

In just a few days, Bonnie would be placed under trial in front of a judge. Ever since she had been
detained, Darren had been working nonstop sorting out documents for her case. The sheer amount of
things he had to do for her made it impossible for him to sleep for more than a few hours.

Things were looking bleak because up to that point, Darren still hadn't found any evidence to prove
Bonnie's innocence.

To make matters worse, he was suffering from a throbbing headache while looking at the pile of
documents in front of him. The fact that he couldn't get Bonnie home sooner broke his heart into
pieces. As a result, his mind was in no shape to work at all. Nevertheless, Bonnie was the love of his
life and the one who had taken the blame for him. Darren had to muster all his strength to find a way to
set her free as soon as possible.

With that in mind, he inhaled deeply in an attempt to clear his mind. He rubbed his eyes to get rid of the
drowsiness he felt, and then dialed the company's private line.

A few minutes later, Harlan arrived at Darren's office. The two of them discussed their options for trying
to save Bonnie.

“Boss, I've sent a lot of people to look for Rip the past few days but there's isn't a single trace of him.
I'm led to believe that Jacob's trying his best to hide him somewhere,“ Harlan said in a calm manner
while he analyzed their situation.

It was quite impossible for a person like Rip to disappear into thin air. Therefore, it was reasonable to
think that Jacob had something to do with it. 'Besides Jacob, who else would help him?' Harlan thought
to himself.

A frown made its way on Darren's face upon hearing his rival's name. He could literally feel his blood
boil just at the mention of Jacob's name. Rage filled every cell in his body, but a sharp pain in his heart



caused him to stay silent for a moment.

After a while, Darren opened his mouth and slowly uttered, “Call Jacob and tell him that I'm inviting him
for dinner at the Phoenix Pavilion at eight o'clock tonight.“

“But —“

Harlan's attempt to disagree was quickly interrupted by Darren.

“No buts. Just do as I said.“ After that, Darren waved his hand, signaling that it was time for Harlan to
leave.

At that point, Harlan knew that there was no chance of changing Darren's mind. The only thing he
could do was to turn around and leave, just as Darren ordered.

'The Phoenix Pavilion is undoubtedly the best restaurant in the city. There's nothing else like it. Why
would he want to speak with Jacob there?'

Harlan shook his head, trying to shake off all these senseless ideas in his mind. However, a single
question still remained. How could Darren finally show weakness to Jacob after fighting him so much?
'I guess Mr. Xu loves Miss Sun so much that he's willing to sacrifice anything, ' Harlan thought to
himself while walking away from the CEO's office.

Even after returning to his own table, he still couldn't figure out the reason why Darren wanted to meet
Jacob at the finest restaurant in the city. Despite being left in the dark, he still called Jacob on the
phone just as Darren had ordered.

To his surprise, Jacob seemed to have expected this call and agreed without much fuss.

Time went by so quickly that it was almost time for their dinner.



The whole Phoenix Pavilion had been booked by Darren that night. The private lounge he chose for
them to dine in was facing the gate of the Phoenix Pavilion. There were only a few minutes left before
eight o'clock but there was still no sign of Jacob.

Another thirty minutes passed and Jacob still hadn't arrived.

Staring at the open gate for so long caused Darren to feel anger building up inside of him. He knew that
Jacob was intentionally wasting his time, and this caused the blue veins on his forehead to stand out.

Meanwhile, Jacob was sitting comfortably in his chair while drinking some freshly brewed tea in his
office.

The atmosphere there was completely different from that in the Phoenix Pavilion. It was somewhat
cheerful and calm. That being said, the assistant standing beside Jacob seemed to have something to
say but didn't have the confidence to do so.

Since Jacob had tasked Sam to deal with some important matters the past few days, he needed a
temporary replacement. This newcomer had been specifically arranged by Sam to help Jacob while he
was away.

“Mr. Gu, Mr. Xu of the KING Group invited you to have dinner at the Phoenix Pavilion at eight o'clock
tonight. You told me to agree to that meeting, but....“ The assistant had just started working there a few
days ago. He had absolutely no clue that Darren and Jacob were two men in a fierce battle.

The only thing in his mind was that Jacob had promised to attend the dinner, and was now an hour late.
He was afraid that he would lose his job if he didn't remind his boss of it.

Jacob didn't even look at him after hearing what he said. He really didn't know what Sam was thinking
when he had sent someone this clueless to replace him. At that moment, Jacob started to miss his



right-hand man that always knew what he had in mind. Suddenly, he stood up and straightened his
clothes. In his mind, an hour late was the perfect time to meet Darren at the restaurant.

The thought of seeing Darren's agitated face excited Jacob. He couldn't stop smiling as a result.

“Let's go.“

After saying that, Jacob walked out of the office with his assistant right behind him.

About twenty minutes later, a black Maserati stopped at the gate of the Phoenix Pavilion.

The restaurant manager had a keen pair of eyes and noticed that it was Jacob. Without hesitation, he
quickly walked up to him and welcomed him to the restaurant.

Because of Jacob's tardiness, Darren's face looked horribly grumpy. Even the temperature inside the
restaurant seemed to have dropped down a few degrees just from his frigid mood. The manager was
so afraid of Darren that he had wanted to leave long ago. A sense of relief came to him when Jacob
finally arrived. It was like a hero coming there to save him from an evil man's impending wrath.

Both Jacob and Darren were pretty well-known individuals in the city. No one wanted or dared to offend
either of them. The Phoenix Pavilion wanted no hand in their problems with each other and hoped that
they could solve the issues between them on their own.

When Jacob entered the private room, the manager immediately felt the tension in the room. The
surrounding air felt so thick that it could be cut by a sharp knife. Right at that moment, he clearly
realized that he couldn't stay in this place any longer. So, he made up an excuse to leave.

“Mr. Xu, now that Mr. Gu is here, I'll ask the staff to serve you some dishes. Please take your time and
enjoy your dinner.“ As soon as the manager finished speaking, he winked at the waiters. In a blink of an
eye, they all retreated out of the lounge area as if their lives were at stake.



Jacob was completely calm. From the very start, he had known why Darren had invited him there.
When he saw the dejected look on Darren's face, he felt immense joy and satisfaction.

While they were sitting face to face, Jacob was not in a hurry to say anything. He knew how desperate
Darren was at that moment and simply waited for him to start speaking.

When everyone else left and only the two of them remained in the room, Darren opened his mouth first
as expected.

“Mr. Gu, what an arrogant man you are. I made an appointment with you at eight o'clock, but you sure
took your time and arrived an hour and a half late. Even though Darren was incredibly upset with Jacob
for making him wait for so long, he had to endure all of it for Bonnie.

“Oh, the HT Group recently hired an elite businessman. I lost track of time while talking to him.“

Noticing Darren's despair uplifted Jacob's mood even more. He couldn't help but smile and speak in a
joyful tone.

The look on Darren's face immediately darkened when he heard what Jacob said. Who else could the
“elite businessman“ be except for Rip?

No wonder Harlan couldn't find out Rip's whereabouts no matter how hard he tried. Their suspicions
were right; Rip had been under Jacob's protection all along.

Jacob knew that what he had just said irritated Darren. Every word that came out of his mouth added to
Darren's problems. And the more problems his rival had, the bigger the smile at the corners of Jacob's
mouth became.

Since Jacob was in such a good mood, he gracefully picked up the glass of red wine in front of him and
took a sip.



At that moment, he thought to himself that no matter how good the wine in his hand was, he couldn't
enjoy it if Darren was right in front of him.

Meanwhile, Darren was trying his best to hold back his anger. With a cold glare, he said to Jacob, “Mr.
Gu, you don't have to make excuses anymore. I know who you're talking about, so let's just get down
to business. Tell me what price you have in mind in order to hand over this person to me.“

Darren thought he was well prepared for this confrontation. He was already willing to pay Jacob any
amount he asked.

Unfortunately, he was still one step behind Jacob.

Jacob burst into laughter upon hearing Darren's offer. After a while, he suddenly became serious and
replied in a frigid tone, “Why would I even hand over that person to you? Do you really think that there's
something worthy enough in your company for me to take? I'm not that naive, Darren. If I hand him
over to you, you'll just start from the beginning and take your revenge against me, right?“

Even though Jacob seemed like an evil man at that point, he was simply doing it for his family's well-
being. The only thing he wanted the most was to defeat Darren for good so that he wouldn't bother
them anymore.


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