Even though Scott used the same healing technique, this time he was anything but calm.His face and eyes clearly showed his panic. He wouldn’t forgive himself if Luisa didn’t make it.Fortunately, after some time, his healing efforts began to show results. Luisa started coughing again, the green liquid flowing from her mouth once more.Carefully, Scott helped Luisa into a sitting position. He placed his right hand on her back and resumed channeling his healing energy. He allowed Luisa to expel the remaining poison from her body.When Luisa had stopped vomiting, Scott positioned himself behind her, placing both hands on her bare back.Once again, a bright red light emanated from his palms. Luisa took a deep breath, her eyes closed. Moments later, her complexion improved significantly, no longer as pale as before.“How are you feeling, Luisa? What do you sense?” Scott asked, still channeling his healing energy.Luisa slowly turned her head, glancing at Scott and replied, “Better. I feel
The next morning, at Luisa's family home..."Dad, are you seriously asking us to attend that bastard Scott's wedding to that slut?" Lisa asked, her face contorted with anger."Stop asking that question again and again, Lisa," Daniel snapped. "I'm the head of this family, and I've made my decision. You will follow my orders!"Lisa huffed and turned away, dropping back onto the small sofa.In the room were also Lucas, Jacob, and Barnie. Daniel planned to send his four children to Scott and Luisa's wedding to cause a scene."But Dad, Scott said he wouldn't invite us. How are the four of us supposed to get into the hotel where the wedding is being held?" Lucas questioned."Yeah, Dad. The wedding is at The Majestic Grand, one of the finest hotels in Mildenbrough. It's very likely that guests will have to pass through tight security, and we don't have any invitations or tickets," Jacob added.Daniel glanced at them irritably. "Don't worry about that. I've already had Barnie take care of it.
Assisted and accompanied by Martin, Lisa and her brothers entered the ballroom where the wedding ceremony and reception would take place.The guests were already there, chatting amongst themselves while standing.Food and drinks were displayed in special cases along the sides of the ballroom, with a pyramid of wine glasses as a centerpiece.The wine bottles, judging by their labels, were expensive ones usually reserved for the most significant annual events.The decorations adorning the ballroom sparkled. Soft and soothing jazz music played, providing an elegant and majestic background.Presented with all this, Lisa and her brothers were mesmerized.They hadn't anticipated Scott and Luisa's wedding to be designed with such luxury and class. It was leagues above Scott's previous wedding attempt with Lisa, which had been canceled."Mr. Lombard is behind all this," Martin said. "We were told the groom is a close friend of Mr. Lombard. Honestly, I'm curious about what he's like."Lisa and
"Barnie, what’s going on? Why is this happening?” Lucas glared at Barnie once more, demanding an explanation. But Barnie was at a loss for words. For the first time in his life, he struggled so much to find the right words.“I’ll count to ten. If by the count of ten you four still haven’t shown yourselves, our security will drag you out,” Wales announced from the stage.He began counting: “One… two…”Lucas stared at the stage, his face pale. Lisa was equally distressed. If they didn’t confess, if they continued to pretend ignorance until the tenth count, they’d be embarrassed—dragged out of the ballroom in front of the guests.Such a thing had happened before at the prestigious Dominion Group tender auction. Should they really experience it again?“Five… six…”The once buzzing ballroom was now completely silent. Apart from Wales on stage, no one in the room spoke. Lisa and her brothers tightly covered their mouths, though their eye movements and expressions betrayed the chaos within
Lisa and her brothers were stunned. Hotel security officers grabbed their arms and dragged them towards the side door of the ballroom."Let me go! This is extortion! Let me go!" Lisa screamed, struggling against their grip.The security officers ignored her, showing no special consideration because she was a woman.Lucas and his two younger brothers exchanged worried glances, silently questioning what they should do. But no one offered a solution.The four of them were pulled out of the ballroom, and, as Wales had instructed, the security officers continued dragging them until they were outside The Majestic Grand."Get out of here! Don’t ever show your faces around here again!" one of the officers said, shoving Lisa so hard that she stumbled onto the sidewalk.Lucas and his brothers met the same fate. The scene caught the attention of nearby pedestrians, who watched Lisa and her brothers with puzzled expressions, but that was all they did.The security officers returned to the hotel;
Luisa's face transformed from bright to dark. Her eyes widened, her pupils dilated."Scott, what’s happening here? Who are these people?" she asked softly.Scott heard her but didn't reply. He stared at the armed men forcing their way in as if memorizing their faces.Then he glanced at Zach, who nodded. He did the same to Lombard, and Lombard nodded too."Everyone stay where you are! No one try anything funny!" the same armed man shouted.Several guests turned to Zach, waiting for his command. They were soldiers from Battalion I, led by Zach. Though not in uniform, each hid a pistol and was ready to fight.Zach shook his head, signaling them to wait. The moment to strike hadn't arrived yet."Which one of you is Scott? Is that you?" the armed man asked loudly, pointing his gun at Scott."Yes, I'm Scott. Do you have business with me?" Scott replied, stepping forward.He could have moved further, but Luisa held him back. His wife shook her head, looking at him anxiously."Come here! Now!
The mafiosos of The Crimson Brotherhood in the ballroom stared at Scott with tense expressions. Even though they outnumbered him, Scott had the advantage right now because he held their boss hostage. The powerful and intimidating aura emanating from Scott's body convinced them he wasn’t bluffing.Alex, Alfonso's right-hand man in The Crimson Brotherhood, also sensed the unusual aura Scott possessed. Unlike the other mafiosos, Alex appeared relaxed. Silently, he moved one hand behind his back, retrieving a hidden trident.“You bastard! How dare you do this to me! If you think you can walk out of here alive after this, you're wrong! Dead wrong!” Alfonso shouted, clutching Scott’s leg.He intended to lift Scott's leg and roll to the side, but for some reason, Scott’s leg felt impossibly heavy, like he was gripping an iron pillar, not a leg.“Are you stupid or what? If I wanted, I could kill you this very second. The fact that you’re still breathing is because I’m allowing it,” Scott said
Alfonso's face grew increasingly pale. His mouth hung open. Why had soldiers suddenly stormed into the ballroom, aiming their rifles at his men? Who had sent them?"I said drop your weapons! Now!" the soldier barked again.The members of The Crimson Brotherhood, including Kevin, turned in unison to Alfonso, waiting for him to give the order.Alfonso finally nodded. At once, his men dropped their weapons. A moment of clattering noise filled the room.The soldier who had spoken gave instructions to the other soldiers to secure The Crimson Brotherhood members, Kevin among them. Kevin looked bewildered and dazed.Scott glanced at Kevin, remembering the man's earlier threats, and pointed at him, saying, "Hey you! I still have business with you!"Kevin turned to face Scott, startled. He didn't yet know who Scott was, but he could read the situation and was sure these soldiers were on Scott's side.Anyone in the room would have noticed that, although the soldiers didn't show it directly, the
At the Battalion I military headquarters in downtown Mildenbrough....In his office, Zach couldn't sit still. He repeatedly stood up, sat down, and stood up again, also pacing back and forth. He was made anxious by Scott's mobile number that suddenly couldn't be reached.'What happened? Maybe his phone ran out of battery? But surely it hasn't been charged for hours? Or maybe he blocked my number? But, why would he do that? Did I do something wrong?'For years, being Scott's right-hand man and trusted person, Zach had always been able to contact him, in the sense that his phone calls always connected and his chat messages always went through. But this time, neither happened. It was only natural that Zach would be restless.This morning, he tried to contact Scott to report the latest situation about their counterattack against Lisa, the mastermind behind the misleading rumors that had caused Scott and him so much trouble. Initially, he tried to call, but his call didn't go through. He t
It took a few seconds for Lisa to regain her composure and finally dare to ask, "W-what do you mean, Dad?"Lisa's gaze at this time was a combination of confusion and anxiety. Her brothers also looked confused, although they didn't look anxious."Did you not hear my words clearly? I said starting today you are no longer part of this family. You are no longer my daughter," Daniel said.Lisa was no longer as stunned as before, but she was still very shocked. Her eyes blinked while her mouth was open. She couldn't believe her father was making such a painful decision for her, so quickly."B-but, Dad..."Before Lisa could finish what she wanted to say, Daniel suddenly stood up. With his gesture showing that he was the leader among them, he looked at each of his sons one by one and said,"I agree with you. We do have to formulate a plan to deal with this situation, but we'll talk about it tonight at home. Now let's just focus on our work tasks for the whole day. Imprint in your minds that
As agreed, Scott got out of the car not far from the Dominion Group office. He let Luisa drive his black McLaren, while he himself would take a taxi home later.On the sidewalk where people were passing by, Scott stood watching his black McLaren head towards and enter the Dominion Group office area. After making sure everything was safe, he turned his face, and also his body, towards the road. He felt like he was pretty hungry.Scott was about to look for a cafe or restaurant in the area through his phone, and it was only at this point that he realized his phone wasn't in his pants pocket.'Where's my phone? Did it fall in the car?' he thought.He tried to remember if maybe his phone had fallen out of his pants pocket while he was driving earlier, or when he got out of the car, but he couldn't get a clear picture of either.He then thought, maybe his phone was left at the motel, but he didn't remember if he had put his phone on the bedside table or in another place in the motel room h
Luisa was startled by Lisa's raspy voice, as if she had just been crying all night. But she was even more surprised by what Lisa said. Even though she didn't see Lisa's facial expression and the look in her eyes, she could feel the towering anger that was controlling Lisa.Hearing those words of threat made Luisa uncomfortable. Her hands suddenly trembled and her chest pounded. Finally, she decided to end the call. And, because she was worried that Lisa would call again, she decided to block Lisa's number.Right at that moment, Scott woke up. Slowly, his eyelids opened. Luisa quickly put Scott's phone on the floor, right next to Scott."Luisa? Why are you here?" Scott asked after blinking."Actually, I should be asking you that," Luisa said, smiling wryly. "Come on in. Continue your sleep inside."Luisa stood up first, gesturing for Scott to get up and follow her into the room.Scott quickly got to his feet, worried that Luisa would close the room door like a few hours ago. He looked
Olivia and her three sons were shocked by what Daniel did. They knew Daniel was temperamental and liked to be rough when he was angry, but they didn't expect him to go that far.After all, the one Daniel had just slapped was Lisa, his own daughter. And the slap he had just delivered was very hard. Lisa even tumbled off the sofa, falling under the table."You're not only useless but also stupid! And because of your stupidity, our family is now on the brink! What do you think will happen if we're all fired from Grandier Corp. and crossed out from the family lineage? Where will we get money from then? How can we meet our needs? Have you ever thought about that before executing this bad plan of yours?!"Daniel berated Lisa while leaning forward and yelling at her. His eyeballs looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.Lisa didn't give any response. She didn't even raise her head and was busy wiping the blood coming from a small cut on the corner of her lip. Her tears flowed
At Daniel's family residence...Almost an hour had passed since the news broadcast about the sudden press conference held by the Mildenbrough Police Department. Right now, all the family members were gathered in the living room. The atmosphere was tense.'This is bad! This is so fucking bad! What are we going to do now?"Daniel asked that question in a high tone, with a flushed face and wide eyes.No one dared to raise their face, let alone look at Daniel. Even his wife, Olivia, chose to remain silent and turn her face away.And among those people, Lisa was the most visibly tense and scared. It was only natural. The misleading rumor about Scott and everything related to him, which had caused a stir throughout the city in the last 24 hours, was her doing. So when the current situation became like this, the person most to blame was Lisa."Why are you just staying silent like fools! Say something, god damn it!" Daniel cursed, almost yelling.His wife and children flinched. But still, the
Scott sighed wearily. Problem after problem kept hitting him. The night seemed like it would be very long.Just as Scott was about to leave that room to follow Luisa, Anne suddenly grabbed his hand and held him back. Scott turned, finding Anne giving him a very serious look."Scott, there's no guarantee I'll give you another chance besides this. Are you sure you want to waste it?" Anne asked.Scott shook his hand that Anne was holding, then left without saying anything.Anne took a deep breath while watching Scott's back move away and finally disappear. As she exhaled, she vaguely heard the sound of a police siren."Scott Goodman. An interesting man. One day I will surely conquer you. We'll see," Anne muttered, smiling slyly.Meanwhile, on the second floor of the motel...Scott had just stepped on the last step of the stairs and he saw the door of the room he was staying in slammed shut.Scott quickly approached his room, trying to open the door, but it was locked.Knock! Knock!"Luis
The woman whose hands and feet were tied with ropes to the ends of the bed was Anne. Scott could recognize her that quickly because they had just met this morning."You bastard! You're pretty brave, huh? You think you can push me like that without facing the consequences?"The big-bodied man got to his feet. He snorted while showing off the muscles in his arms, chest, and stomach. It seemed that he was someone who trained in weightlifting quite intensely. Even his wide neck looked stiff and hard.Scott ignored his surprise at seeing Anne there for now. He focused his attention on the big-bodied man and prepared to land a punch on his face.Whoosh!Scott easily dodged the blow, then launched a counterattack, punching the big-bodied man right in the solar plexus."Argh!"The big-bodied man vomited blood, his eyes widened. A moment later, his eyelids closed and he collapsed. Just one punch from Scott was enough to knock him unconscious.Now Scott turned his eyes to the bed, finding Anne
Luisa came out of the bathroom, wearing a kimono-shaped towel that covered her body up to her thighs. While tying a small towel around her hair, she asked Scott, "What was that just now? I thought I heard a scream.""There was someone screaming," Scott said. "It seems like it's downstairs.""The room renter?""Could be."The woman's scream was heard again. This time it wasn't a scream, actually, it was more like a yell.Neither Scott nor Luisa could hear it clearly. They exchanged glances and seemed to be guessing what the woman was saying, who she was talking to.At this point, the woman screamed again, almost as loud and shrill as before. Scott reflexively stood up. His jaw tightened."Do you want to check downstairs?" Luisa asked.Scott looked at Luisa, asking, "May I?"Luisa rolled her eyes, but then nodded. "Go ahead," she said.Scott then left their room. Luisa sighed. She knew she couldn't stop someone like Scott from staying quiet and pretending not to know when something happ