"Exin," Hayden said passively.


    He neither showed interest nor disinterest. Hayden’s face was as cold and as unreadable as ever. I wondered if Ethan could read Hayden and what he was thinking because I clearly couldn’t. Regardless, I was slightly surprised that Hayden was willing to listen.


    "It’s simple. I want Torex and Silva to work together just like what Jack wanted," Ethan said casually.


    Hayden’s expression was unreadable. If Ethan thought that the mention of Jack’s name would have an impact on Hayden, his guess seemed to be quite off the mark. On the contrary, Hayden didn’t seem impressed at Ethan’s reference of Jack’s name.


    "Jack is dead. He’s been dead for a long time now. Unlike you, I don’t care much about the will of a dead man," Hayden replied.


    His response was cold, and I felt a slight tightness in my chest at how heartless he seemed. After all, he was speaking about myte father just now. I nced over at Hayden and the look on his face told me that he meant every word that he had just said.


    "Is that so? Is that also the reason why you abandoned your life as a doctor and came back to the family business?" Ethan asked.


    That’s right. My father wanted Hayden to be a doctor…


    "My will is my own. What about you? Shouldn’t you start to think by yourself and for yourself already?" Hayden challenged.


    "Don’t our past make us who we are today?" Ethan asked in wonder.


    "That depends on you. Frankly, I don’t care what you think about Jack and what he wanted. I sit here as the representative of Torex, I won’t agree to anything that won’t benefit the group despite my own personal beliefs," Hayden stated tly.


    "Is that how it works? You are not Hayden…" Ethan said with a slight nod of his head.


    "Correct, right now I am Hayden Torex…" Hayden replied with a clear stress on hisst name.


    "What about her? Will marrying her benefit the Torex too?" Ethan asked as his eyes shifted tond squarely on me.


    I flinched slightly at his words as my mind feared Hayden’s response.


    "As long as the heir has my blood, it doesn’t matter who brings it into the world. It can be her or anyone else. It doesn’t have to be her," Hayden replied matter-of-factly.


    What is he saying?


    I felt blood drain from my face at the emotionless way Hayden just said those words. Does he realize that I am also sitting in this room right next to him?


    I was shocked into silence. Even if what he said was true, I didn’t expect that he would say something so uncaring right in front of me. Something like anyone would do for him…as if that could ever be true…


    "A very Torex way of answering. I would have expected your old man to say the exact same thing…" Ethan said before grinning.


    Ethan’s right. The boss would probably say the same thing. It was a very Torex way of putting it and Hayden was true to his words. He was acting wlessly like the head of Torex. Is this what he would be like if he really took over? I couldn’t stop my eyes from straying to Hayden’s face as I wondered how he saw the world through those cold blue eyes of his.


    If Hayden bes the next head of Torex, will he be like this every day? Will he put the gang and the family business first before everything else. My mind recalled the dynamics that I had witnessed between the boss and Hayden, and I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. The boss had his priorities clearlyid out and Hayden and his family did note out on top of that list.


    It was always the gang and the business first.


    Hayden…will you end up being the same way?


    "We were taught differently…" Ethan said with a hint of regret in his voice.


    "Clearly. It’s quite unfortunate, considering that Jack was there for us both…" Hayden agreed openly.


    If Hayden had any sentimental ties left towards my father, he did not show any signs of it in that moment. The atmosphere in the room only got tenser between the two men and suddenly I felt a chill run through my body. The room suddenly felt colder than when I stepped into it at the start of the meeting. I rubbed my hand up and down my bare arm to keep them from freezing over.


    I would be lying if I said that the conversation between Hayden and Ethan wasn’t getting to my head. Even if I knew that there was a high possibility of Ethan wanting the conversation to y out this way to mess with my head and emotions, the way that Hayden was answering his questions made everything worst for me.


    The worst part was that I couldn’t tell at all if Hayden meant any of the things that he was saying.


    Which words did he honestly believe in, and which words were he just saying to handle Ethan. For the life of me, I couldn’t distinguish between the two and I had no idea what Hayden stood for at all. Was he truly acting like the head of Torex now? What about his personal beliefs and feelings? Were they the same or aligned with each other?


    As Ethan continued asking Hayden more questions about the past that they shared, the sense of unease inside of me continued to grow until it became a suffocating load inside of my chest. I lifted a hand and ced it on my chest to try to calm myself down. When I wanted to join this meeting, I never thought that the words exchanged between the two men could have such a detrimental impact on me.


    It wasn’t long before I started realizing that I didn’t know who to trust anymore.


    I couldn’t tell the truth from the lies anymore and if that was the case, what is going to happen to me now?


    My head ached and it soon felt like the room was slowly spinning around me. Am I getting sick? I closed my eyes as I concentrated on taking in deep breaths. This isn’t the time to be sick...


    --To be continued…