Corporate Villainy: Trampling Protagonists as a Business Dad

Vincent picked up a tracker that seem to have fallen off. The Chillton Hotel stood before Vincent gleaming under the evening lights. This was Jin's last known location according to the tracker after this, the bastard had seemingly vanished into thin air.

Vincent stepped out of his luxury phantom with measured precision, his expensive suit immaculate despite the chaos that had unfolded earlier. His cold eyes swept across the hotel's entrance as his bodyguards flanked him in formation.

"Search every floor, every room," Vincent commanded, his voice carrying quiet authority. "Check all security cameras from the past six hours. I want to know Jin Ashera's exact movements."

The hotel manager, a distinguished man in his fifties who had overseen tonight's gala, approached with professional composure despite the obvious tension. His hands clasped behind his back, though Vincent noticed the slight stiffness in his posture, the kind that came from dealing with powerful men who didn't appreciate obstacles.

"Mr. Cornelius," the manager said respectfully, "I'll provide complete access to our facilities."

Vincent's expression remained impassive as he nodded curtly. He had talked with them on the way. His bodyguards scattered throughout the building with military efficiency, their footsteps echoing through marble corridors.

Within minutes, three black SUVs pulled up outside. Raghu emerged from the lead vehicle, his weathered face grim as ten of his most trusted men filed out behind him.

"Boss," Raghu approached Vincent with crisp efficiency. "Team's ready. What's the situation?"

But Vincent's mind was already calculating. How had such massive share transfers happened without triggering his monitoring systems? How had Jin acquired fifteen percent of Cornelius Holdings so cleanly?

"Sir!" One of his bodyguards returned, his usually stoic expression showing urgency. "We found Miss Olivia's car in the parking garage. Silver Honda Civic, been there for hours."

Another bodyguard appeared with a tablet. "Boss, security footage confirms Miss Olivia was here earlier. Car wouldn't start, so she took a taxi."

Vincent accepted the tablet, his eyes scanning the timestamp and license plate displayed on screen. The pieces clicked together with crystalline clarity.

The taxi's license plate number stared back at him.

Vincent's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "To Olivia's place. Now."

He strode toward his car with controlled urgency. Jin was a protagonist, logically, he wouldn't actually kidnap a woman for revenge. Vincent was certain of this.

Almost.

The convoy moved through city traffic like a precision instrument, destination clear and purpose deadly. Vincent's expression remained cold and calculating, but beneath the surface, a single question burned:

What the fuck are you trying to do, Jin Ashera?

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Why are you here?" Olivia's eyes were cold, her voice devoid of any warmth. Olivia never wanted to see the man in front of her again in this life. Her mind was racing at this moment. How did he find her place? Why did he come to find her after six years?

"Haha, what do you mean? Do I need a reason to come see my daughters?" he said while laughing. "Now be a good girl and have Emily open the door. I haven't seen her face in years. She must have grown up beautifully, right?" his voice sounded suspiciously excited.

"We don't want you back in our lives. Leave now and never come back again." Olivia didn't care. Even if the man had come to repent now, to beg for forgiveness, she really didn't care and she was sure her sister had the same thoughts to not open the door.

"Gao Chen, it seems your daughter is not very obedient." Suddenly a burly man behind her father spoke.

"Are you sure you can even pay us back?" another tall and thin man said, his eyes looking at him with cruelty.

"Give me some time alone with her. I'll get the money. I promised, so of course I will." Gao Chen hurriedly said, fearing that the two men might get angry.

"Humph, hurry up then, we don't have much time." The burly man's eyes scanned Olivia lustfully from head to toe.

"Well... we also take other forms of payment just to let you know, hehe." The other whispered in his ear before both of them retreated to the end of the hallway.

"Let's go. Let's go in and talk." Gao Chen said casually as if it was his own apartment.

"No," Olivia said, her voice firm, "say what you want here." She would never let someone like him set even a foot in her and her sister's sacred space.

Gao Chen gritted his teeth, losing patience. "Is this how you treat your father? Have you forgotten your manners?" He took two deep breaths to calm down.

"Forget it. I am really in need of money right now. Lend me some and I'll return it back in a month or two," he demanded.

Olivia frowned at the way he spoke like he was doing her a favor by borrowing her money. "How much do you want?" She just wanted to be done with him. If she had to pay a small sum to get rid of him, she would gladly do it.

"$300,000," he said, hesitating a bit for the first time.

Olivia's eyes widened in shock. "What?! Three hundred thousand? You... what did you do? There is no way you could drink your alcohol with that much money." She thought it would just be a small amount he'd ask to drink away.

"Well, it's like that anyway. Just give me the money." Seeing the two men staring from the end, he was getting impatient.

"I don't have that kind of money."

"Then mortgage your apartment," he answered back immediately.

Olivia looked at him with disbelief on her face. "This is my company's apartment. I'm just renting it."

"Then ask your boss to lend you some money. Your boss must be a wealthy person, right?"

"No. I can't do that. Sorry, but I can't give you more than a thousand dollars. Just go... go somewhere else."

Listening to her words, Gao Chen finally snapped. "You bitch, just say you don't want to give me the money. Why make excuses? Your mother would have cried to see the bitch she gave birth to."

Olivia couldn't hold it in anymore. "Don't you dare speak about my mother with your filthy mouth, you sorry excuse of a father. You piece of—"

SLAP

"SISTER!" Emily, who had been watching the exchange through the peephole, couldn't take it anymore. She opened the door, pushed the drunk Gao Chen hard enough for him to fall on his back, then dragged her sister inside and locked the door in the fastest speed possible.

"Sister, are you okay?"

But Olivia couldn't hear it. The burning sensation on her cheek, the buzz in her ear like a broken speaker brought back memories she never wanted to remember again.

The wreckage of a life that had once been happy. She'd been daddy's little girl once, with loving parents and a bright future ahead. Her mother had made the best dumplings in their small neighborhood, filling their tiny apartment with warmth and laughter. Her father had worked double shifts as the factory manager but always came home with a smile and a story to tell.

Then came the accident. A drunk driver. A funeral with too few flowers because they couldn't afford more. And a father who crumbled like sand, drowning his grief in bottles that multiplied like a plague through their home.

The first time he hit her, she'd felt the same buzz. She had made excuses. Daddy was grieving. Daddy was drunk. Daddy didn't mean it. The bruise on her cheek faded, and she convinced herself it would never happen again.

But it did. Again and again, until the beating became as routine as breakfast. She learned to read his moods, to duck and weave, to take the worst of it so her younger sister Emily might escape unnoticed. Sweet Emily, only twelve when it started, looking at Olivia with eyes full of trust and terror.

For three years, Olivia endured. She told herself her father would heal, would remember who he used to be, would become the man who'd once taught her to ride a bike and helped her with homework. She absorbed every blow, every cruel word, every moment of rage that should have been directed at the universe instead of his daughters.

The night she finally broke was the night he went after Emily.

Olivia had been working late—her part-time job at the convenience store barely paid enough to keep food on the table. She'd come home to find Emily curled in the corner of their shared bedroom, her lip split and her school uniform torn.

"He said... he said I looked too much like mama," Emily had whispered between her sobs, her voice small and broken.

That was when Olivia knew they had to run.

She'd saved every penny for months, hiding cash in an old textbook her father would never think to check. At twenty-two, she took sixteen-year-old Emily and left everything behind—their apartment, their neighbors, the only life they'd ever known. They had five hundred dollars, two suitcases, and no plan beyond anywhere but here.

The next three years were a blur of cheap motels, shared studio apartments, and jobs that barely paid enough to survive. Olivia worked multiple shifts while Emily finished high school, their beauty becoming as much a curse as a blessing. Landlords who offered "special deals" with wandering hands. Employers who hired them for all the wrong reasons. Men who saw two young women on their own and assumed they were easy prey.

Olivia learned to be hard, to be suspicious, to trust no one and expect nothing. She built walls around her heart so high that even she sometimes forgot what lay behind them. She protected Emily fiercely, sacrificing her own opportunities to ensure her sister could attend community college and build a better life.

But the years of struggle had worn her down. By twenty-five, she was exhausted, running on fumes and determination alone. Emily at nineteen was somehow stable, living in the dorms and studying. Olivia had fulfilled her promise to keep her sister safe, but she had nothing left for herself except a string of failed job interviews, dwindling savings, and a bleak future.

That was when she had met Vincent and the rest was history.

- - - - - - - - - -

Jin stood outside the apartment building, smoking a cigarette. Why is this mission still not complete? Where are my rewards, system? he frowned, waiting restlessly.

Just as he reached the front door of his car, his system interface blazed to life:

[Ding! Host's mission is still incomplete]

[Mission: Save passenger Olivia]

[Rewards: Olivia's trust + Emily's affection + 5% shares in Cornelius Holdings]

P.S- Thank you Brandon_Armstrong for the golden ticket.