"Sir! Ah-!"


    Alexia started to move toward Chad, but two bullets exploded at her feet, making her scream and dive under a table like a frightened dog.


    The air crackled with murderous intent.


    Chad considered himself a king of the underworld, a man of immense power abroad who had seen it all. But as this man approached, an involuntary tightness gripped his heart. His knuckles turned white as he clenched the armrest of the sofa, the fear of death washing over him.


    "All of you, get out,” the man said, his voice cial, his eyes only for Chad.


    The guests scrambled away like frightened animals.


    "Someone... help! Somebody!" Alexia cried from under the coffee table.


    But there was no one left. Everyone was either gone or lying half-dead outside.


    *Bang!*


    The man''s gaze remained fixed on Chad as he extended an arm and fired a shot that shattered the coffee table. Shards of ss rained down on Alexia, cutting her face, legs, and arms, leaving a web of bloody gashes. She was paralyzed by a pain and terror so intense she thought she might lose control of her dder. She didn''t dare move, fearing the demonic man would execute her on the spot.


    As the man stood before him, Chad''s pupils constricted. He had just started to move when a brutal kicknded squarely on his chest, sending him and the sofa sliding back several feet.


    “Ugh—!” Chad''s face went white with pain as he clutched his chest, coughing violently.


    The next second, the cold, ck muzzle of a gun was pressed against his forehead.


    Up close, Chad recognized him. In fact, he''d had a suspicion from the moment the man walked in.


    "Elvis... It''s you."


    "There is no Elvis here. There is only a man who has lost his wife and is teetering on the edge of madness Elvis held the gun steady, pulling down his ck mask with his other hand to face Chad openly You goddan cripple, give me back my wife."


    Alexia, listening from the side, felt her heart pound in her chest. She couldn''t believe they had been found out so quickly. The game between them and Thaddeus and Evadne was now out in the open. If Elvis found out how his woman was being red at her facity what


    kind of revenge would he exact on her? At the thought, Alexia covered her face and trembled.


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about," Chad said, a strange, cold smile spreading across his lips. His dark eyes were like a swamp, hiding evil and swallowing everything whole.


    "Cut the crap, you cripple. We know about the dirty business you''ve been running." Elvis kept the gun pressed to his forehead, the glint in his eyes as sharp as a de tearing through the dark. “I''ll ask you one more time. Where is Elsie?”


    "I don''t know."


    The words had barely left Chad''s mouth when a deafening gunshot erupted next to his ear, threatening to shatter his eardrum. The next moment, he cried out, his body convulsing in pain. He doubled over, gasping for breath as he clutched his left ear.


    Overwhelming terror left Alexia speechless, her mouth agape.


    *Drip, drip...*


    The drops of blood fell faster, quickly forming a pool on the floor.


    Chad''s eyes were crimson as he slowly looked down at the mangled piece of flesh in his palm. His chest heaved with an unprecedented rage, a humiliation more profound than even the one he had suffered twenty years ago at the hands of his kidnappers.


    "S-Sir..." Alexia star stared at his


    mutted ear, at the pained expression that had reced his


    usual elegant demeanor. It was as if a vicious demon was tearing its way out of his body. She had never seen Sir so utterly broken. The twisted look on his face would be seared into her memory for the rest of her life.


    “You said you didn''t understand me. In that case, that ear of yours doesn''t serve


    much purpose. You''re already a cripple; I doubt you''d mind being deaf, too."


    In that moment, Elvis wanted nothing more than to blow Chad''s head off, to skin him alive and grind his bones to dust.