'A gift?' Finn Taylor was stumped. 'Did I ever say that I was going to bring you a gift?'

He ignored the young lady and walked straight past her.

"Humph!" Kimberly Gold huffed when she couldn't get what she wanted. Nonetheless, she didn't dare to throw a tantrum at Finn Taylor for fear that he would leave.

She brought him to the garden.

Seeing that Finn Taylor had arrived, Third Master Gold took the initiative to introduce him. "Finn Taylor, let me introduce you to Carl Gillies—the president of San Francisco's chess association."

"Carl, this is the man I was talking about."

Carl Gillies sized Finn Taylor up. 'The latter is indeed a young man. At his age, I had thought that I was unbeatable in chess. However, I had learned its nuances as I spent more time analyzing the game. Even now that I'm the chess association's president, I still feel that I haven't mastered the game.'

"So you're the one who duped Third Master Gold. How good could you possibly be at chess? Come and play one round with me so I can see just how good you are."

Finn Taylor could tell that the other didn't have good intentions, but that didn't matter. "It'd be my honor."

The chess pieces were laid out properly on the board.

Thinking that he had the high ground, Carl Gillies allowed Finn Taylor to make the first move.

Finn Taylor didn't try to hide his skills and went ahead with his first move.

When Carl Gillies saw this, he couldn't help but sneer. 'He's indeed a novice. I'm certain that Third Master Gold got duped.'

But less than five minutes into the game, Carl Gillies was sweating buckets of cold sweat.

He realized that he was on the losing end of the game because he had been too careless at the start of the game. 'However, I'll surely be able to turn the tides of the game as long as I pay close attention now.'

But talk was cheap. It wouldn't be so easy to turn the tables now.

In the end, Carl Gillies finally surrendered in less than half an hour. Still, he was reluctant to admit defeat.

He felt that he had simply been too careless. 'This man is a fraud, and I know it! That's why I couldn't live up to my potential.'

"This game doesn't count. Let's have another round," said Carl Gillies as he set up the board again.

Third Master Gold stared at his friend. "You b*stard. You're such a sore loser."

Finn Taylor waved his hand. "That's fine—best of three."

The second round between Finn Taylor and Carl Gillies then began.

Just like before, Carl Gillies allowed his opponent to make the first move. But this time, he was paying much closer attention to the board.

The game was intense right from the very start. Even Third Master Gold—who was only watching on from the sidelines—was dumbfounded.

It had been years since he had watched such an exciting game of chess.

But before long, beads of sweat started to fall from Carl Gillies's forehead. He had tried his best, yet he had still fallen on the losing end.

He decided to take a guarded risk—he sent his pieces toward Finn Taylor's.

However, he had no regrets. All of this was just a set-up for his final move.

Once he made his final move, that would seal his victory.

As expected, he saw Finn Taylor falling into his trap.

Carl Gillies made his last move and sighed. "You lost."

He was delighted. Although he had been suppressed by Finn Taylor from the very beginning, he had managed to win the victory and turn the tides through this set-up.

It was like the fable of a tiger chasing a young man but was eventually trapped in a cave by the latter. Eventually, that tiger had sent itself to death.

Seeing Carl Gillies's last move, Third Master Gold was at a loss for words. 'The former is indeed a talent. He sacrificed all his other pieces just to earn that eventual victory. Although Finn Taylor is skilled, he is still too young. It seems like he has lost after all.'

But what confused the two old men was that Finn Taylor didn't feel disappointed about losing at all.

'Could it be…' They thought of only one possibility.

Finn Taylor looked up at Carl Gillies and said, "You lost."

With that, the former made his last move.

This move turned the tables once again.

Carl Gillies had lost his advantage. He was the young man who had set up the trap, but he hadn't trapped a tiger. Instead, he trapped a massive dragon!

To a dragon, this trap was nothing but a joke.

Carl Gillies had been setting up a trap, but so had Finn Taylor. 'It looked like you successfully tricked me, but you were the one who fell for my ploy.'

Carl Gillies dropped the chess pieces in his hands. It was as though he aged by several years at that moment.

It wasn't scary to lose a game. What scared him was how he had told his opponent that the latter had lost.

It seemed like a joke now.

"You won." Carl Gillies wasn't a sore loser. He admitted that Finn Taylor had indeed won.

"Third Master Gold, was it interesting enough? There's no free lunch in this world. Since you watched me play chess, you owe me a favor. There's something I need help with."

Third Master Gold glanced at Finn Taylor and said blandly, "The Larson family must've sent you here."

"That's right. The Gold family humiliated the Larson family at the banquet, and now, many other families think badly of us. The Larson family wants me to make amends with you."

Third Master Gold narrowed his eyes. To be honest, he didn't want to help Finn Taylor out because his granddaughter liked him. That meant that the Larson family was her rival in love.

'Why should I help my granddaughter's rivals?'

"Third Master Gold, if I remember correctly, you promised me that I'd have half the shares of Gold Corporation. I'm sure you won't refuse my request for the Gold Corporation to collaborate with the Larson Corporation, right?"

Third Master Gold never expected that he had fallen into Finn Taylor's trap as well! In normal circumstances, he could've denied it. 'The company is so big. Do you think I'd really give half of the shares to you just because I said so?'

However, Carl Gillies was right there.

They had been friends for a long time, and he couldn't afford to let his friend find out just how dishonest and untrustworthy he was.

Third Master Gold had no choice but to nod. "Fine. I'll find a project the Larson family can collaborate on."

With his mission completed, Finn Taylor was ready to leave.

However, Kimberly Gold refused to let him do so. "You're a jerk. You came to ask for a favor, yet you're leaving right away? Do you think you'd get off so easily? The kitchen is there. Go make me a meal. Otherwise, I'll reject the proposal for the collaboration with the Larson family. Even though you and Grandpa each have 50% of the shares, don't you know that I have the final say in the company?"