Chapter 1957

Valentino's face twisted in a grimace. He didn't know what hurt worse—the broken ribs or the sting of getting outsmarted and unmasked like that by Matthew when he was supposed to be the king of con artists. He gritted his teeth and snapped, "I'm not backing down." Matthew snorted. "Too bad. Suck it up." Valentino's face twitched as he stammered, "Y-you…" After struggling to speak for what felt like forever, he couldn't get another word out. The longer he stewed on Matthew's words, the more it ate him up, like a lump caught in his throat. Valentino spat out a mouthful of blood. He still wasn't willing to accept it, but his expression had already faded into despair. He stared at Matthew for a long while and tentatively asked, "I'll pay ten billion dollars if you let me walk away 300 feet. It's the same deal you cut with Brea. Will you give me a chance?" Beating himself over it wasn't going to help. All he cared about now was finding a way out. Frowning, Matthew gave Valentino a o