Vernon returned to his office in a grumpy mood. He was pissed off because he had to rethink his n before taking down his big brother. Something that he expected to be a quick but painful loss for his big brother turned into a long game.


    Vernon had never been the patient man. If he wanted to do something, he would do it right on the spot.


    If he wanted something, he would do anything with his power and life to get what he wanted.


    And if he wanted to avenge an old grudge… he would give the worst that someone could ever imagine.


    Vernon was ready to snap at anyone— fortunately, Diamond was absent when he returned to the office after getting the signature from his big brother''s old secretary. She was busy contacting all the art vendors outside because her boss had literally destroyed everything in his office.


    Vernon looked around in his office. The janitors had cleaned all the mess he made while venting his anger. But now, he was angry again and wanted to vent. But he couldn''t do anything now because the only thing that survived was his desk— even that had an obvious crack on the mahogany desk because he punched it.


    "FUCK!" Vernon cursed. He kicked the door as he got even more pissed now.


    He didn''t want to bring his rage to the apartment. Since his little niece, Mackie, was already home by this hour. If he couldn''t control his anger, he might snap and scream at his sister-inw until she cried like before, and Chloe was notorious for inciting his rage. That woman might have dedicated her life to making Vernon have a shorter lifespan because of high blood pressure.


    No, he didn''t care about his sister-inw, but he did care about his niece. After all, he didn''t want to be responsible for giving a trauma to a little girl. He wasn''t that horrible.


    Vernon had no ce to vent his anger, and he also had no mood to go elsewhere. He just wanted to go home now.


    "If I went home and that woman is making me angry again, I''ll fucking blow up the whole apartment," Vernon said. He stopped at the parking lot and went up to his private elevator to his penthouse.


    He stood in front of the penthouse''s main door. He took a deep breath to ensure he didn''t suddenlysh out at Chloe or Mackie. After all, this was the least he could do to hold his anger.


    Vernon pushed the door open, stunned by the view in front of him.


    He saw the TV in the living room was on, something that hadn''t happened for so long. Because Vernon was always busy, this penthouse was mostly empty since he only camete at night after work and passed out tired on the couch.


    Vernon allowed some of his colleagues to use his penthouse to make it look less empty.


    However, the TV was currently on, and a little girl was sitting on the expensive carpet he bought at an auction, watching the TV while eating something from arge te messily.


    So messy that she might have stained the expensive carpet with her food.


    The little girl was absorbed watching a cartoon, but it didn''t seem to be a recent one.


    Vernon nced at the show yed on TV and was even more surprised. Because it was his favorite show when he was a kid, too, Spongebob Squarepants.


    Vernon approached Mackie, who didn''t notice his presence. He checked the food that she was eating. The sweet scent tickled his nose, and he also realized an even stronger sweet scent from the kitchen.


    He recognized what Mackie was eating just from the scent, but after he saw the appearance of the food, he was 100% convinced this was a whole banana cream pie made by his sister-inw.


    How''d he know?


    Well…


    Because Chloe made this for him as a reward whenever he did something admirable when he was a kid, mostly by doing chores or homework.


    He found those chores and homework to be so tedious. But he did it anyway because the banana cream pie made by his sister-inw was the best in the world.


    Even after he grew up and became a teenager, he still asked for banana cream pie whenever he did something great.


    The banana cream pie was one of many favorite foods for Vernon. Though, he wouldn''t lie that all of his favorite foods stemmed from Chloe, who cooked him many things when she was practically his caretaker and big sister figure.


    …


    Vernon watched Mackie, busy munching the whole big banana pie without a break whileughing at Spongebob.


    He crouched and asked, "Why are you taking my banana pie?"


    "Wuh—?"


    Mackie turned to the left and saw her uncle crouching in front of her. She reacted by grabbing her banana cream pie and hiding it behind her body, "Uncle, this is Mackie''s banana pie! I won''t share it with you!"


    "You little fox thief! Your mother must''ve made that banana cream pie for me! Don''t you know that a thief will be punished for stealing?"


    "Mackie is not stealing! This is Mackie''s banana cream pie! I scored A+ on the math test today!" Mackie imed.


    Vernon still couldn''t believe that. "Give me back my banana cream pie, or I will eat your Mom tonight!"


    "Whaaaa! That''s not fair! Uncle always said you will eat Mommy! Mackie can''t refuse if you want to hurt Mommy!"


    Chloe heard amotion in the living room of the penthouse. She had just finished making the banana cream pie for Vernon. When she heard the voice of Vernon and Mackie, she quickly put the banana cream pie on arge te, ready to serve it to the devil CEO.


    "Vernon, did Mackie do something wrong?" Chloe asked as she saw Vernon and Mackie were arguing (again). It seemed these two would always be inpetition with each other.