My Only Love: The Targeted Heiress

Vincent never learned martial arts before as he never engaged in fighting. Even if there was a fight, it was only about pinching his cousin's cheek, who often teased him. But he never got into a physical altercation with his cousin. Even when his older sister beat him, he never retaliated. After all, his sister's punch didn't hurt.

Whenever someone challenged him to show off his strength, he never responded. Many said he was weak and cowardly, but he didn't care. He had been educated not to get into fights or to start them. But he was also not educated to be a coward. If he made a mistake, he had to dare to admit it. If he did nothing wrong, he must be brave enough to face whatever problem comes his way.

Vincent was a cheerful and easy-going kid because even if someone challenges him, he would respond with humor that immediately brings laughter to those who challenge him. He quickly turned an opponent into a friend.

Unfortunately, he couldn't respond to this one with humor as his life was at stake. Instinctively he knew he had to avoid it, and Vincent believed he could dodge it. But... what will happen to Chloe, who sat limply behind his back? If he escaped, then the blade would have landed on Chloe's vulnerable frame.

At last, Vincent decided not to budge from his place. He couldn't fight, defend or evade. All he could do to protect Chloe right now was take the attacks that came his way.

Vincent closed his eyes in anticipation of the impending pain. But the pain never came. Instead, he could hear someone groaned in pain.

When he opened his eyes, he saw another man dressed in all black had grabbed the criminal and secured the knife. In one blow to the neck, the person was already unconscious.

Vincent remained motionless from his place and was wary of the new stranger. Who is this person? Vincent didn't know why, but he felt this person was very dangerous. Much more dangerous than the person who had just passed out.

Vincent felt intimidated just looking at the man's terrifying gaze and monstrous shape. Yet, he still didn't move from his place and tried to protect the woman behind him.

"How interesting. There was no fear in his eyes. I think he can..."

"Lest... I don't want to involve him," stated Chloe weakly, but there was a tone of orders there.

Vincent looked at this stranger with a probing gaze. After making sure that the man named Lest meant no harm, Vincent returned to standing beside Chloe with a worried look.

"Vincent, why did you throw away my medicine?" Chloe asked weakly.

"It wasn't medicine. The man put something in the bowl. It must be because of that you haven't been cured for days."

There was no surprising reaction in Chloe's eyes. On the contrary, the woman just smiled regretfully at him.

"You... you already know that someone poisoned you?!"

"Of course not. At first, I didn't know. After recognizing the poison in my herbal tea, it was too late. Now the poison has started to take effect."

"Did Mister Davone know about it?"

Chloe answered sadly. "Indeed, what can my father do? He is also struggling in the hospital. I do not want to worsen his condition thinking about my health. Let this be our secret. Hm?"

A tear burst out of Vincent's eyes.

"Then why? Why are you still drinking it when you know?"

"Their next target is Benjie. If they realized they had failed to attack me, they would hurt Benjie, and I didn't want it to happen."

Another tear dripped from Vincent's eyes before he finally burst into tears.

"Doctor, we have to see a doctor. Please, Chloe... let's go to the hospital now."

"I can't do it. If I go to the Doctor..."

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!"

Both Lest and Chloe were shocked to hear the teenage boy's yells in front of them. As far as she remembered, Vincent was a sweet, obedient child. Although sometimes crude, the boy never yells at her. Vincent also never showed his emotions like this.

"Boy, it looks like you are very worried about First Lady. How about..."

"Lest!" Chloe's tone sounded menacing and terrifying, making Vincent interested in listening to Lest's continuation.

Actually, Vincent didn't care that Lest was there at all. He thought about how he could get this stubborn Chloe to go to the hospital immediately.

But when he realized Chloe didn't like Lest to say something, Vincent's curiosity was aroused.

"What do you want to say?"

"Vincent, you don't have to..." Chloe's speaking was cut off again because her cough came back. Not long after, Chloe fell unconscious.

"Chloe! Chloe!" panic and fear struck Vincent for the umpteenth time.

Vincent just cried and let Lest carry Chloe to lay on the big bed.

"No need to cry. She just fell asleep."

"You're not worried about her at all?"

"Mister Davone has put me in charge of her bodyguard since the lady was a teenager. We've been together for over twenty years. You still think I'm not worried about her?"

"Your expression doesn't show it at all."

"I've been trained like this," came the reply from the man still with a flat expression.

"What did you want to say earlier?"

"..." Lest looked doubtful, "Forget it. The first lady doesn't want you to get involved."

"Can I help her if I get involved?"

"You want to help her?"

Fortunately, Vincent was sitting next to Chloe's body at this time. Otherwise, his legs would have fallen limp seeing the frightful gaze accompanied by this big man's sly smile.

"I want to help her."

"You can only help her if you join us. It's just that the name of our organization is very secretive. Once you know our secret, you will not easily escape from us. And if you leak it to foreigners, you have to pay with your life. Are you still interested?"

Vincent realized now that his hands were shaking violently with fear that he had never felt before. Then he gave Chloe a quick glance and made up his mind.

"I still want to help her." 

Lest noticed Vincent's two hands that were no longer shaking. Before explaining the boy, Lest lifted the attacker's body, charged Vincent, and then handed the body to someone else. Since then, Vincent has never seen or heard of the person's news. Not that he cared or curious about the man's condition.

After that, Lest told at length the Paxton family's origin and who the LS's real founder was.

The first generation Paxton had twins named Zedakh and Savannah. At that time, the Paxtons did not have the wealth and power they do today. Long story short, Zed and Sav worked together to grow their family business. They finally managed to enter the top twenty most successful people in this world.

Zed had enormous ambitions to dominate the world economy, and Sav made it happen by creating an invincible satellite, which later on named Stealth.

Sav has a genius brain that could program Stealth in such a way that he could control the world economy. One day, Sav wanted to quit and gave Zed complete Stealth control. He wanted to live with his family in peace and isolate himself to a more secluded place.

Unlike Sav, who was not interested in power, Zed was someone who was never satisfied with what he had. He secretly hooked up some dangerous mobsters and shelters them to do the dirty work. Zed was arrogant, overbearing, selfish, and all the lower-level people hated him.

But nothing could stop nor fight Zed. Time passed, and his wealth and power grew. He even held military control, and war could break out at any time if Zed wanted it to.

The police, the law, and the judiciary were under his control, making him the worst and cruelest person in the whole world. The fact that he was ranked number one as the most powerful and wealthiest person in the world made his name the most feared by the public.

When Zed was dying of old age, he passed what he had to his three children. Davone, Leonard, and Atlas. Davone inherited all of Paxton's wealth, while Leonard inherits the mafia group that Zed had trained before. While Atlas... in the eyes of the people, he didn't inherit anything, but he got what his two brothers couldn't have... a complete control of the Stealth satellites. Secretly, Atlas was Zed's favorite child, and no one knew about it.

Luckily Atlas had a different heart from his father. Plus, Sav called him often and warned him not to use Stealth for his greed. Sav kept reminding Atlas to use Stealth only for the family's benefit.

Stealth could be used for defense and protection, while at the same time, it could be used as a weapon to destroy a country. Because of that, Atlas very rarely used it and pretended not to know anything about Stealth.

The secret about the existence of Stealth was buried with the death of Zedakh and Savannah, and it was only Atlas knew about it.