Chapter 109: Back To Silver Province!
Early June.
Thanks to Luca Hale pulling a few strings, Lisa Hale and several of her close friends successfully secured internship placements at San Fierro General Hospital. To celebrate, Luca treated the group to a lavish meal at the Stone Free Grand Hotel.
At first, Lisa’s friends were noticeably reserved around him. After all, Luca was the successful older brother everyone had heard so much about. But once the atmosphere relaxed, the girls quickly became much more comfortable, bombarding him with one question after another.
Naturally, the topic soon shifted to gossip.
The question they were most eager to ask was whether he and San Fierro University’s campus belle, Arabella Windsor, had officially started dating.
Luca could only smile helplessly.
"We’re... not quite there yet."
The answer earned him a chorus of disappointed sighs.
Speaking of Arabella...
It had already been several days since he’d last seen her.
Although they spoke frequently over the phone, Luca still found himself missing the graceful young woman who always seemed to be dressed in flowing white dresses.
Just thinking about their last conversation made the corners of his lips curl upward.
She had promised him that the next time they met...
She would let him kiss her.
The more he thought about it, the more he found himself looking forward to seeing her again.
’Do I just miss her company?’
He smiled to himself.
’Who am I kidding? I’m completely captivated by her.’
Shaking those thoughts from his mind, Luca refocused on what lay ahead.
He needed to return to his hometown of Ashford.
Trish’s college entrance examinations were just around the corner, so there was no way he could miss the trip home.
Although his mother had specifically reminded him to bring Naomi along the next time he visited, Luca decided it would be wiser to travel alone.
After all...
Sophie Kennedy lived there.
Both Naomi and Sophie knew he wasn’t exclusive with either of them, but knowing something and witnessing it firsthand were two entirely different things.
Luca wasn’t interested in testing what might happen if the two women unexpectedly crossed paths.
Driving across several states was far too tiring.
Instead, Luca simply had Starline Airways prepare a first-class ticket to Ashford, Silver Province.
...
Luca Hale’s appearance was impossible to ignore.
His striking looks, combined with a tailored outfit from top luxury brands worth tens of thousands of dollars, immediately drew attention the moment he stepped into the first-class cabin.
Several beautiful flight attendants discreetly stole glances in his direction.
The single ones were especially interested.
To them, Luca looked like the perfect eligible bachelor. The sparkle in their eyes resembled wolves spotting irresistible prey.
Fortunately...
Luca maintained a calm, composed expression from beginning to end.
His reserved demeanor discouraged most of them from approaching.
Even so, as he stepped off the plane, one particularly bold young flight attendant slipped a neatly folded handwritten note into his hand.
She smiled sweetly, raised an eyebrow, and said in a soft, flirtatious voice,
"Sir, have a pleasant journey."
Luca simply thanked her politely.
After leaving the terminal, he casually tossed the unopened note into the nearest trash bin.
He never even bothered reading it.
It wasn’t because the flight attendant wasn’t attractive.
On the contrary, based purely on appearance, she could easily score an 8.7 out of 10. She was beautiful enough to rival many campus belles.
Unfortunately...
Compared to women like Naomi Monroe...
The difference was still obvious.
If this had happened to the old Luca Hale, he probably would have added her contact information without hesitation and chatted with her afterward.
Now?
His standards had quietly climbed far too high.
Unless someone was on Naomi’s level, it was difficult for him to feel any genuine interest.
...
After arriving in Ashford, Luca headed straight to a luxury dealership.
Without much hesitation, he spent 78,600 dollars on a silver BMW X5.
The SUV wasn’t for himself.
It was a gift for his father.
His mother still hadn’t gotten a driver’s license, so buying her an expensive car would have been pointless.
Actually, Luca had suggested buying his father a car several times before, but the older man stubbornly refused every single offer.
This time, however...
Luca simply drove the brand-new BMW home.
Once the car was already sitting there, his father had no choice but to accept it.
Otherwise, watching such an expensive vehicle sit unused would only make him feel guilty.
[Ding!]
[The host spent 78,600 dollars and triggered a 5x cashback multiplier.]
[Reward: 393,000 dollars.]
Nearly another four hundred thousand dollars had quietly landed in his account.
Luca couldn’t help laughing to himself.
’When did four hundred thousand dollars start feeling like pocket change?’
Before the system had changed his life...
Eighty dollars had been enough to cover a large portion of his monthly expenses.
How dramatically life had changed.
...
After spending so much time behind the wheel of his Mercedes G-Wagon, driving the BMW X5 felt a little unfamiliar.
The SUV handled smoothly enough, but it simply didn’t have the same commanding presence.
Even with the ultra-rare Koenigsegg One:1 sitting in his garage, Luca still believed his G-Wagon was the most comfortable vehicle for everyday driving.
As he approached the entrance to his old neighborhood, he instinctively slowed the car.
Then he paused.
His family had already moved to Stillwater Bay Estate No. 1 quite some time ago.
Just as he was about to turn the steering wheel and head back, a surprised female voice rang out nearby.
"Luca?"
"Is that really you?"
Lucy Smith stared through the driver’s side window, her eyes widening in disbelief.
The man behind the wheel looked almost like a different person.
His facial features hadn’t changed much aside from a sharper hairstyle.
Yet his entire aura had transformed.
Ever since Luca graduated and entered the workforce, every holiday Lucy had seen the same exhausted young man.
There had always been traces of fatigue and disappointment lingering in his eyes.
But the Luca sitting before her today...
There wasn’t even a hint of that defeated look.
Instead, he radiated confidence.
The calm confidence of someone who had already achieved remarkable success.
Even the brand-new BMW X5 spoke volumes.
Clearly...
Life had been treating him exceptionally well.
Luca smiled warmly before lowering all four windows.
Standing outside was Lucy herself.
She wore a light blue short-sleeved shirt paired with denim shorts.
A pair of thin-rimmed glasses rested on her nose, while her long hair was tied into a neat ponytail behind her head.
In one hand she carried a plastic bag filled with groceries from the convenience store.
She remained frozen in place, staring at him as though she couldn’t believe her own eyes.
Luca raised a hand and waved.
"Lucy."
"Back in town too?"
Lucy and Luca had practically grown up together.
Their fathers had always been close friends, and their families had lived in the same neighborhood for years.
From childhood onward, Lucy had been the model student everyone admired.
Her grades were consistently outstanding, and after graduating from a prestigious university, she landed a position at one of Denver’s largest corporations.
Her future looked incredibly bright.
She was the textbook example of a successful young professional.
Of course...
Her reputation was helped in no small part by her father’s habit of proudly telling everyone about her achievements.
Thankfully, his harmless bragging had long since become something the entire neighborhood had grown used to.