Next Man, Better Plan novel Chapter 272

After all, she always appeared at just the right moment.

A flower suddenly bloomed in the barren landscape of the young man’s heart. Jonathan began to secretly watch Stephanie’s every move.

No one would have ever guessed that the sole heir to the Vasquez Group was secretly nursing a crush.

But Stephanie never noticed him. Her gaze was always fixed on Quennel.

Did being childhood sweethearts really hold that much power?

Jonathan refused to believe it. A wild possessiveness grew within him, compelling him to defy his father and enter the motorcycle race.

Quennel was also competing, and he became Jonathan’s fiercest rival.

On the final lap, desperate for Stephanie to notice him, Jonathan executed a brilliant, daring pass on the inside lane.

It was an incredibly dangerous maneuver. One wrong move could mean a fatal crash.

But he did it. He beat Quennel, won the championship, and as he stood on the podium, Stephanie finally looked his way.

The consequences, however, were brutal. Not a single person in the Vasquez family was happy about his victory.

Somehow, word of his defiance got back to his father. As soon as Jonathan returned home, he was locked in the attic and beaten half to death.

He truly almost died that time.

It was the most furious York had been in years. By the end, the whip was slick with blood, and York’s own hands were trembling, his eyes bloodshot.

“You think you’re so tough, huh? Risking your life for a stupid race? Why don’t you just try to fly? What worthless trophy is worth your life? Did you ever stop to think what would happen if you died?”

“Did you want…” He paused, seeing Jonathan lying on the floor, barely breathing, and threw the whip aside. “Did you want your mother to have died for nothing?”

He still didn’t know who had snitched on him; he had been so careful to be discreet when he entered the race.

That time, Jonathan spent two full months recovering at home.

To keep him in line, York sent him to the military, where he remained for nearly a decade.

Tobias gave him a thumbs-up. “Jonathan, you’re something else!”

“I want her heart more than anything.”

He wanted Stephanie to stop handling everything on her own in silence and instead start sharing things with him.

He wished that even seeing a strange flower on the side of the road would make her instinctively take a picture and send it to him, telling him how cute it looked.

Jonathan’s expression softened with longing. “Just like she used to be with Quennel.”

When she was taken by kidnappers, she called Quennel for help. She cried in front of Quennel. When she had nowhere to go, he took her in with a single word. She was even willing to hand over the Meridian Consortium to him without a second thought.

But what about him?

Stephanie had never willingly confided in him. He had to scheme and plot to acquire the Meridian Consortium himself. A while ago, her mentor had offered to take them both out to dinner, but Stephanie never acted on it. Instead, she chose to go by herself while he was away on business.

All these signs pointed to one thing: he had not yet truly won her heart.

As Jonathan mentioned Quennel, Tobias slapped his forehead. “I’ve got it!”