Mistaken Match: Marrying the Enigmatic CEO
Chapter 2039 The Four Beauties of Zovince Are No Pushovers
Bang! Bang! Gunshots echoed through the night, shattering the stillness of the hunting grounds as the relentless hunt continued under the moonlit sky.
“Ash, you’re amazing! You’ve taken down another Arctic wolf!” Maxwell kept showering Ashton with praise, fueling her confidence. “Your performance tonight will shock all the other players. After this, the elite circles of Zovince will be buzzing about you, a true heroine among women!” He knew Ashton well enough to recognize that her pride and sense of heroism thrived on such compliments. She enjoyed being recognized as strong and capable.
Ashton felt a genuine rush of happiness. It had been so long since she experienced this kind of thrill and excitement. She had realized recently that her cold personality had distanced her from others. With no close friends or confidants, she often missed out on the joys most people took for granted. Her pursuit of love had been fruitless, leaving her feeling a bit lost and even slightly depressed. Now, with Maxwell back in her life, stirring her emotions, she felt alive again.
“Your shooting is pretty accurate too, but don’t count your kills with mine. I want to beat Nathan fair and square!” Ashton said proudly.
“Haha, Ash, that’s what I love about you! Always so honorable!” Maxwell kept flattering her, but inside, he found her naivety almost laughable. To him she was just a babe in the woods, the kind of woman who, as a cop, might rise through the ranks based on her physical prowess but would never have the strategic acumen to lead. In fact, one of the reasons Ashton had resigned from the police force was that she’d hit a dead end in her career-unable to advance further and unwilling to take orders from those she didn’t respect. “Alright, you should find a place to rest for a while. The terrain up ahead looks dangerous,” Ashton suggested, trying to subtly ditch Maxwell again.
She had been moved by his words earlier, wanting to relive some of their past happiness, but deep down, she didn’t want to get entangled with him again. Her head might have heated up at the moment, but it would eventually cool down-especially on a cold, snowy night like this. She didn’t believe Maxwell would ever truly leave Chiara, and she had no desire to be labeled a homewrecker. Once the game was over, she planned to draw a clear line between them again.
“Ash, I told you, I just want to stay by your side,” Maxwell insisted, gripping her hand tightly once more. His plan was to completely rekindle her feelings for him that night. He believed he had already made significant progress and it’s needed a bit more effort to fully win her back.
But Ashton coolly pulled her hand away. “You’re slowing me down. If I want to beat Nathan tonight, I can’t have any distractions.” With that, she marched off alone into the night, leaving Maxwell standing there, dumbfounded. He hadn’t expected her to change-to become someone who was no longer so easily manipulated.
“Looks like you’ve made a fool of yourself, Zelinsky,” a voice suddenly come from the shadows. Chiara, who had been following them, finally revealed herself. With her exceptional skills as a Lannister, Ashton hadn’t sensed her presence at all.
Seeing his wife’s icy gaze, Maxwell forced a lough “Darling, everything I’m doing is for the greater good. Once I get the Dragon Tome, it’s yours? Chiara let out a cold snort. While she always maintained an air of superiority around Maxwell, the endless flattery from her legal husband had caused her to develop some feelings for him, no matter how minor “You pathetic liar. I bet you’re just trying to seduce that woman into bed,” she hissed.
“How could you think that?” Maxwell quickly denied it. “Do you take me for someone like Nathan, that womanizing playboy? I’m only doing this for the Dragon Tome, my dear. Don’t be jealous!”
“Jealous? Me?” Chiara’s eyes flashed with malice. “I’m here to tell you to take advantage of the chaos tonight and… deal with Nathan!” She made a slicing motion across her throat to drive her point. Maxwell’s face went pale with shock. He quickly glanced around to ensure no one was nearby before pulling his wife to the side.
“Chiara, are you out of your mind? Killing Nathan would ignite a war! The Zelinsky family might wield considerable political power, but the Chapman family is incredibly wealthy. If the two families went to war, no one can predict the outcome!” he said, visibly agitated.
Chiara gave him a disdainful look. “You really have no ambition, do you? Do you think becoming the heir of the Zelinsky family, defeating Magnus, is the pinnacle of your life’s achievements?”
Maxwell flinched at her words, realizing that she had a far grander vision than he had anticipated. He quickly asked, “Wait… are you suggesting… killing Nathan is part of a bigger plan?” Maxwell wasn’t a fool. The dull-witted persona he displayed was a facade, something his father had drilled into him from a young age. His father always said, “Those who shine too brightly too soon are doomed to die young.”
Maxwell had lived by this principle his entire life, using his “dim-wittedness” to win over Chiara and eventually his father and the elders of the Zelinsky family, securing his position as heir. Now, however, he was starting to realize that Chiara’s ambitions were far more terrifying than he had imagined.
Sure enough, Chiara’s beautiful, icy eyes gleamed with cold ambition. She sneered, “Do you know why I married you? It’s because you’re the heir of a political family, a man with a real chance of becoming president.” Even though Maxwell had already guessed her intentions, hearing Chiara say aloud made his jaw drop. He inhaled sharply, the icy air of the night cutting into his lungs. President? That was a goal so lofty, so unattainable!
“Don’t act surprised. I don’t believe for a second you haven’t thought oven about it Chiara said, seeing right through him.
Maxwell admitted, “I’ve thought about it, but… I never thought it could actually happen.” “If you kill Nathan, the opportunity will present itself,” Chiara said, her eyes colder than the snow around them. “You didn’t think I come here tonight just to watch you flirt with that woman, did you?”
“Darling, I still don’t understand,” Maxwell shook his head still confused. How does killing Nathan give me a shot at becoming president?”
You’re calmer than Magnus, but in terms of intelligence, you still fall short,” Chiara said with a sharp glare before explaining further. “Catherine, your aunt, is a Zelinsky. Your family has been grooming her for her current position, not Teddy Tanner. So naturally, her loyalty lies with the Zelinsky family.” Maxwell nodded in agreement. It was common knowledge that most women who married into other families still held strong loyalties to their own bloodline.
“If she becomes president, who do you think she’ll prepare to be her successor?” Chiara continued, watching as Maxwell’s eyes widened in realization.
The Tanner family was filled with incompetents, aside from Yung Tanner, Catherine wouldn’t have anyone capable of grooming within the Tanner family. That meant her focus would shift elsewhere, “Nathan is the disciple of the Wolf Warrior, who is almost certainly Emmanuel Lowe, the Mr. Wolf currently protecting Ethan, Emmanuel will undoubtedly try to secure the Chapman family’s support through Nathan. But if Nathan dies, that connection is severed. Do you understand now?”
“I get it now, my dear!” Maxwell’s eyes lit up as he grasped the plan. “Without the support of the Four Great Aristocratic Families, Ethan doesn’t stand a chance of becoming president. I’ve never liked that punk Nathan anyway. For the sake of our future, I’ll kill him tonight!”
Seeing the fierce determination in Maxwell’s eyes, Chiara didn’t need to say anything more. She simply asked, “Do you have a plan to kill him? And you know it has to be done without anyone suspecting us, this is our specialty,” Maxwell said with a cold smile. It will be a little tricky, but with such high stakes, we’ll take the risk. We’ve done it before, and we can do it again.