Chapter <b>238 </b>
66
E <b>20 </b>vouchers
Outmaneuvered by Briar, Ashton resignedly pulled her into his arms and tousled her hair roughly. “Are you provoking me on purpose?”
Briar struggled out of his embrace and freed her head. “Yes, I am. Are you taking the bait?”
Ashton replied, “Do I have a choice?”
While the two were bantering outside, Ian and his team had already breached the vi.
Two minutester, after all the bodyguards in the vi were confirmed neutralized, Ian called. “Briar, it’s done. We have both Darius and Boyden in custody.”
Briar said, “Alright, we’re on our way.”
After hanging up, Briar eagerly pulled Ashton toward the vi. “Ashton, they’ve caught Darius. Should we go interrogate him now?”
Ashton kept up with Briar. When he heard her talk about another interrogation, his brow twitched. “Honey, Darius is still useful. Remember to go easy on him.”
Ashton knew perfectly well how much Briar hated Darius. He was genuinely afraid she would lose control and kill them outright.
Briar smiled. “Don’t worry. Keeping them alive will be a far more satisfying revenge for me than letting them die.”
She wouldn’t let them die so easily. She would make them suffer everything her mother had endured.
That was what her privateboratory was for.
When they entered the vi, Ian and his men had already dragged Darius and Boyden into the ground–floor living room. Both men’s faces were severely swollen, likely from putting up a fight during their capture.
Ian pointed to the man with the swollen left cheek. “Briar, this is Darius.”
Riley then pointed to the man with the swollen right cheek. “Miss Jennings, this is Boyden.”
Briar walked up and looked down at them. She saw fear in their eyes, but also caught a fleeting, mocking
sneer.
With two sharp ps, Briar struck both men, drawing blood from their mouths. “Do you think physical torture is the worst we can do to you?”
As if she could read their depraved thoughts, Briar smiled just as wickedly. “How can physical torture evenpare to this?<b>” </b>
A small vial with an “X” on itsbel had somehow appeared in Briar’s hand. Most people would not have given such an ordinary–looking bottle a second nce.
12:53 <b>Sat</b><b>, </b>Sep 20
But for Darius, the small medicine bottle in her hand was the deadliest poison.
<b>66 </b>
20 vouchers
Darius said, “No… no, you can’t do this to me. I only harmed your mother; I never did anything to you. You can’t do this to me.”
Darius desperately shrank back, trying in vain to escape Briar as she approached him.
But as he struggled, he was kicked hard from behind. Ian’s angry curse followed immediately, “Damn it, what are you dodging for? Kneel!”
Darius fell at Briar’s feet, and she poured the entire bottle of medicine into his screaming, open mouth.
A small white pill fell from the corner of Darius’s mouth.
Briar grabbed Darius’s jaw, preventing him from spitting out the medicine. After forcing him to swallow, she smiled and asked, “How does it taste? Is it much sweeter than the medicine you gave my mother all those years ago?”
Boyden cowered to the side in fear, not daring to make a sound. This woman was terrifying.
Back then, the experimental drug they gave Rosalia was almost indistinguishable from ordinary pills on the
market.
But the pill he saw fall out was iparablyrger than the small pills they had made back then.
He wasn’t naive enough to believe she had made the pill sorge without altering its potency.
He feared this one pill was several, ten… even dozens of times more potent than the tablet they had given Rosalia years ago.
Darius was forced to swallow the pill that filled his mouth. It felt as if it would tear his throat apart, and tears of pain streamed down his face.
However, his chin was still in Briar’s grip, rendering him unable to move. All he could do was make muffled sounds.
“Briar, we never hurt you!” Boyden tried to say more to stall for time, but Ashton, who had been standing silently nearby, sent him flying with a kick.
Ashton gestured to Riley and said coldly, “Make him shut up.”
Riley responded, “Yes.”
Then, he punched Boyden in the temple, knocking him unconscious on the spot.
Watching from the side,n clicked his tongue in admiration. “Impressive!”
It was obvious he practiced a lot. His control was perfect–strong enough to knock the man out instantly, but not hard enough to kill him.
<b>It </b>could also inflict excruciating pain.
<b>12:53 </b><b>Sat</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>20 </b>
<b>66 </b>
20 vouchers
That was impressive. As expected, Ashton’s border mercenary group was strong, ruthless, and cruel.
That was a perfect match for their equally ruthless leader, Briar.
Seeing his brother’s miserable state, Darius was too terrified to scream anymore. In a hoarse voice, he said, “Briar, don’t kill us… We weren’t the masterminds behind your mother’s death…”
After dry–swallowing so many pills, it was impressive that he could make any sound at <b>all</b>.
Briar didn’t say a word, quietly watching Darius and waiting for the drug to take effect.
Ashton watched as Darius’s face grew pale and his eyes became bloodshot. He lowered his voice and asked Briar, “Honey, what did you give him?”
Briar said, “It’s a new drug I developed that causes acute hallucinations and disability. After ingestion, the internal organs will rot, leading to death. To make the experience morefortable for the subject, I also added an anesthetic.”
Briar’s words struck Darius like a thunderp. “Hallucinations? Disability?”
Darius thought, ‘Aren’t those the effects of the first–generation experimental drug we have developed? We have sealed the forms for those medicines in a bank’s safe long ago. How could Briar possibly have developed them?”
Darius’s terrified and helpless reaction pleased Briar.
She leaned over and patted his face. “Scared? You should be. When you captured my mother to use as ab rat and locked her in a mental hospital, she must have reacted just like you. She didn’t even cry. What the hell are you crying for?”
Briar’s voice was terrifyingly cold as she uttered herst words.
Darius closed his eyes. He truly regretted not hiring more mercenaries for protection after fleeing to the border.
With enough money, he could have had Briar killed.
He should have made Edgar kill Briar when she was just a child. Then she wouldn’t have spent years hunting him across the globe.
When the roots were left, trouble would return.
Not only was Briar resilient, but she had now grown into a big shot. It would be much harder to kill her now.