keys to the vault

For Christmas, Harvey Bailey, a humble construction worker, agreed to a flash marriage with his boss, Ember, to ditch her arrogant, wealthy fiancé. But when her family mocked his poverty, his own parents' shocking secret erupted: their "farmhouse" was a vault of priceless artifacts, and Harvey was the hidden heir to a billion-dollar empire. Beginning this Christmas, the humble construction worker will transform into the sole heir of a commercial empire.

In a world where everyone bonds with beasts, the former Lord Apex now delivers takeout, hiding a reborn Inferno Phoenix on his shoulder as a ""pet chicken."" When the beast-training vault his sister worked for faces ruin, he steps back into the light.Now, with his identity exposed, Ryan and his sister charge into the state championships, only to uncover a conspiracy: the powerful Watt family is trafficking forbidden calamity beasts with a shadowy foreign syndicate. As ancient evils stir, Ryan awakens a Shadowpard and an Abyssal Tortoise, while his mysterious ""Eye of Providence"" pushes his allies beyond their limits.

I go into business with my childhood friend, Ian Ziegler. The business is a success, earning 1.2 million dollars in profit. Ian gives me my share—a whopping 5,000 dollars. Noticing my dissatisfaction, Ian puts his arm around my girlfriend, Nina Foster, and tosses the keys to his Bentley onto the table. "What, is five grand too little for you? Fine. Since you're so broke, I'll give you a chance to turn things around for yourself. There's going to be a soccer game tonight. We're both going to place our bets. If you win, you can get all 1.2 million, plus my car. "But if you lose, your girlfriend's mine. You'll also have to get on your knees and lick my shoes right here in front of everyone." Everyone else in the room cackles gleefully, eager to watch me humiliate myself. Smirking, I nod. "Sure. I'll take that bet." These people have no idea that five years ago, I'd single-handedly taken down the Northwest Aravian illegal soccer betting circuit. I'd set a trap for a match-fixing syndicate, beating the crooks at their own game. I'd walked away from that life after that. But now, Ian has seriously decided to challenge me to a soccer bet?