Chapter 53

“You?”

Shocked was written all over Renee’s face..

He was an unwelcome guest!

“Am I not welcomed here?” Haze asked with his hand shoved inside his pocket. His charming face, hidden under his cap, gave off a mysterious vibe to him.

“I don’t think we’re that familiar with each other,” Renee replied coldly.

She didn’t know why a hacker like him was here, and she was instantly wary and on guard at his presence.

“Not familiar?” Haze repeated and laughed sarcastically. “We’re a great team in the hacker world.

Although we’ve never met each other, we’ve worked together online multiple times before. We should be old friends, right, Phoenix?” When Renee heard this, she smiled helplessly. As expected, he purposely let her win that day at H Group cause he had long known her identity.

It didn’t matter anyway since she wanted to meet him too, and he came on his own today, so it was perfect.

“Hi, I’m Phoenix. You can call me Renee,” she said, extending her hand to the man.

“Hi, I’m Haze. You can call me Justin Baldwin.”

The man felt that his wish had finally come true when he held her hand.

He waited many years for this moment.

Since Phoenix won during the hacker competition for the first time by a small margin from him, he was determined to find her. He originally thought Phoenix was an old man, as rumored.

He didn’t expect that Phoenix was a beautiful woman whose husband had cheated on her! The differences between her in real life and online identity were so massive that it was hard to believe!

“Justin Baldwin?”

Baldwin wasn’t a common surname. Renee frowned and asked cautiously, “Pardon me, but what is your relationship with the famous Austin Baldwin from Sutton?”

“He’s my grandfather.” Haze shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he answered honestly.

“You’re telling me that the unbeatable man who owns a team of top armies that could command the whole of Sutton is your grandfather?” Renee said with eyes wide in shock that they looked like they would fall out of their socket anytime.

When she was a child, she heard stories of Maurice fighting in the war with his two best friends. One was Old Mr. Hunt, and the other was Austin.

However, something happened between Old Mr. Hunt and Austin and they ended the friendship.

Maurice chose to side with Old Mr. Hunt; hence he had to end the friendship with Austin as well.

Years later, the Hunt family and the Everheart family became the two most powerful families in Beach City, while the Baldwin family became powerful in Sutton under the lead of Austin.

“My grandfather never imagined that one day I would be destiny to meet his old buddy’s granddaughter.” A mix of emotions flashed before his eyes as he stared at Renee and said, “If I had known the woman my grandfather forced me to marry was the Phoenix I’ve been looking for a long time, I would’ve gladly agreed.”

“I would have treated you like a queen for being such a beautiful and perfect wife. I wouldn’t have cheated behind your back.”

When the Everheart family faced bankruptcy and Renee’s parents decided to end their life and leave her all alone to face the enemies’ threats and live a harsh life, Austin wanted Haze to marry her for Maurice’s sake. 1 However, when Haze heard about the news, he went missing.

And so their wedding had to be canceled.

Afterward, the news about her marriage to Stefan was everywhere.

What angered Haze the most was that he had gone missing not to avoid the marriage but to look for Phoenix instead. He hadn’t known that the person he had been looking for all this while was in front of his eyes the whole time!

“Ugh! Fate was playing with me!” Haze groaned as he slumped on her couch with immense regret.

Renee handed a bottle of juice to him and asked, “Why are you here? It can’t only be because you regret not marrying me, right?”

It was strange. Although she was meeting him for the first time, a sense of familiarity made her feel like he was her long-lost relative. This made her wonder whether she would be happier if she had married Haze instead of Stefan.

“Of course not.”

He twisted open the bottle and gulped down the juice. Then stood up and said solemnly, Do you hate him? Do you want to get revenge?”

“I don’t hate him, nor do I want revenge,” She answered honestly.

Stefan has cheated on you.

She just wanted to earn enough money to raise her two kids and live a peaceful life with them that didn’t involve Stefan.

Haze shook his head and said, “we quite optimistic. Do you know that the Hunt family is in trouble now? This is the best chance to get your revenge. If you’re willing to work with me, I can help the Everheart family take over the Hunt family’s position.”

“What if I don’t want to work with you?”

“If you refuse, I will expose your identity as ‘Phoenix’. which will cause him to come and exert vengeance on you.”

“Are you threatening me?”

He didn’t answer her. Instead, he gave her a card. “I’ll give you three days to think about it. Call me anytime you change your mind.”