Chapter 946

Chase’s guess was right on the money—Stefan did indeed plan to completely distance himself from Carmine Pawnshop, so he would never turn up anyway under the guise of “Mr. Q” ever again. He even intended to discard the SIM card with the hidden IP address. But as soon as he saw the video of Renee being tortured in the water prison sent by Chase, he instantly lost his mind, retaining not the slightest trace of reason.

At the moment, he was accompanying Seraphina as they attended a very important family banquet of the Murphy family where they discussed the cooperation between the Hunt family and the Murphy family for the next season.

Seraphina’s father, Ethan Murphy, was fully satisfied with the agreement he had reached with Stefan, and all throughout the evening, he had been dropping hints every now and again that they should start planning for the wedding between Stefan and Seraphina.

“You must be aware of how I’ve treated you all these years, Stefan. You and my darling Sera have been childhood sweethearts—both of you basically grew up sharing the same pants, so it’s only natural that you’d be sharing the same bed now!”

“Daddy!” With face flushed red, Seraphina hastily stopped her father from continuing on, fearing that if she was not careful, Stefan might suddenly stop keeping up the act. “Stop it! You’re drunk! How can you say such embarrassing things? Didn’t I tell you that Stefan and I are only dating now? We’ll only think about marriage when the time comes.”

“What embarrassing things? I worked my *ss off my whole life to turn the Murphy family into what it is now, and I intend to hand it all over to you one day. If you’re with Stefan, then it means that the Murphy family will be in Stefan’s hands one day too. Stefan’s a talented man, so I’m sure that with him at the helm of the Murphy family, we’ll certainly get richer and richer…”

Ethan patted Stefan’s shoulder with eyes full of admiration and added, “My son-in-law, the Murphy family’s future is in your hands. Just think about it, with the joining of the two great families—the Murphys and the Hunts. Who would even dare to touch us?!”

“That’s right! Who else in the whole of Beach City besides Stefan is worthy of becoming the Murphy family’s son-in-law?”

“Come on, let’s stop talking and start drinking!”

The other Murphy family members started joining in, each of them eagerly raising a toast to Stefan.

“Excuse me,” Stefan began with a stony face. “I have to leave now.”

And then, without even glancing at the glasses raised in his name, he got up and was ready to leave.

Seraphina quickly grabbed his wrist and tried her best to put on a gentle smile before persuading him, “But the banquet has only started, Stefan! Everyone’s still drinking happily! It might be inappropriate to get up and leave in the middle of everything, don’t you think?”

“I’ve got an urgent business to attend to.”

“What could be so urgent that you have to leave now?” Seraphina asked with a lowered voice as she smiled and continued pleading, “Please, I beg you! My daddy is a proud man. You’ll embarrass him if you leave now! Just endure another ten minutes, okay? Just ten minutes!”

“I can’t stay even for another minute,” Stefan replied sternly as he shoved Seraphina’s hand away and immediately left the banquet hall.

“Stefan, wait! Stefan, please don’t go!”

At first, Seraphina was still able to keep her composure, but now she could not pretend anymore and just started to sob uncontrollably with her face buried in her hands.

The lively banquet now suddenly became so silent that only the sound of breathing remained.

“This is ridiculous! The Hunt family is clearly on the brink of collapse and he still has the audacity to be so arrogant! He’s clearly stomping on the honor of the Murphy family! I’ll never forget this!”

Ethan Murphy was so enraged that he saw red. In one violent shove he overturned the table as he threatened to fight the Hunt family.

But Stefan ignored all this as he hurried out of the Murphy residence and headed straight to his supercar. He put the pedal to the metal and sped towards Carmine Pawnshop as quickly as his car could take him.

“Where is she? Where is Renee?!”

Still wearing Mr. Q’s black and white mask, he headed straight to the water prison courtyard and sharply questioned Chase of Renee’s whereabouts as soon as he saw him guarding at the door.

“She’s inside,” replied Chase cautiously. “Our boss said he wants you to unlock the chains yourself and exchange your life for Ms. Everheart’s.”