Chris shot Emily a cold glance and said indifferently, “None of your business.”
Hearing this, Emily’s face twisted with anger. Furious, she yelled, “This is the Wind family! My home! Who do you think you are? You’re just a stray man Lindsay Windson brought back from God-knows-where! Let me tell you, you’re not welcome here. Get lost!”
To Emily, Chris was the biggest obstacle standing in the way of her plan to eliminate Lindsay Windson. If only Chris would leave the Wind family, her path to getting rid of Lindsay would be clear.
Chris sneered, “And who do you think you are? Are you the head of the Wind family? Does everything here revolve around you?”
Emily scoffed, her voice dripping with disdain. “Chris, you’re shameless. Clinging to our family as if you belong here! Don’t think I don’t know your agenda. You’re just leeching off Lindsay Windson, hoping to freeload your way into our family!”
She continued, voice rising, “Let me tell you, as long as I’m here, neither you nor Lindsay Windson will have a place in the Wind family. This family is mine, and no one can take it from me. You, you useless freeloader, get out!”
Smack!
Before she could finish her tirade, Chris slapped her hard across the face. The room went silent. Emily froze, stunned. She never expected Chris would dare lay a hand on her.
Chris smirked coldly. “Emily, I didn’t want to hit you, but you’re asking for it. Let me warn you-don’t even think about harming Lindsay Windson. She’s my friend, and I won’t let anyone hurt her.”
To Chris, Lindsay Windson wasn’t just an employee; she was a friend and a close confidante of his fiancee, Esther. No matter what, Chris would not let harm come her way.
“You hit me?! I’ll kill you!” Emily screamed, throwing herself at Chris in a fit of rage.
Chris moved faster. His hand shot out like lightning, grabbing Emily by the throat. In a single effortless motion, he lifted her off the ground. Emily thrashed in his grip, her face turning red as she struggled for air. The suffocating pressure made her feel like she was on the brink of death.
Chris’s voice was icy as he stared her down. “Last time, I spared your life for Lindsay Windson’s sake. But if you dare act out in front of me again, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Terror filled Emily’s face. Until now, she had dismissed Chris as nothing more than a freeloader-a pretty face mooching off Lindsay. But after witnessing his ruthlessness, she realized he was far more dangerous than she had imagined.
Thud!
Chris released his grip, throwing Emily to the ground like a discarded rag doll.
Clatter!
Hearing the commotion, several Wind family bodyguards stormed into the room. Seeing Emily sprawled on the floor, they rushed to her side. “Miss Emily, are you all right?” one of them asked anxiously.
The sight of reinforcements bolstered Emily’s confidence. She pointed a trembling finger at Chris and shrieked, “This bastard tried to kill me! Kill him! Kill him now!”
The bodyguards hesitated, exchanging uneasy glances. They all knew Chris was someone Lindsay Windson had brought into the family. If Lindsay decided to marry him one day, offending him now could spell trouble for them.
Seeing their hesitation, Emily’s fury boiled over. “What are you waiting for? Kill him! If you don’t, I’ll have you all thrown out of the Wind family!”
Under her threats, the bodyguards had no choice. Gritting their teeth, they charged at Chris. After all, Emily was still the Wind family’s daughter. If they defied her orders, they wouldn’t escape unscathed. Better to deal with Chris now and let Emily take the blame if Lindsay sought vengeance later.
Chris watched their approach with a look of disdain.
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Chris moved.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
A series of heavy thuds echoed through the room. Within moments, the bodyguards were on the ground, groaning in pain. Though they were skilled fighters-trained grandmasters, even-they were nothing more than insects before Chris.
Chris, however, had held back. He didn’t kill them; they were only following orders, after all.
“You… you…” Emily stammered, pointing at Chris with trembling hands. Her voice rose to a hysterical scream. “You dare attack my family’s bodyguards?! You’re dead! You’re dead! Somebody! Help me!”
Clatter!
Her cries summoned even more bodyguards. Within minutes, over a hundred of them swarmed the courtyard, surrounding Chris.
The Wind family, one of the Four Great Salt Merchant Families, was no ordinary household. Their immense wealth had allowed them to raise a private army of loyal and highly trained guards.
Emily’s eyes gleamed with triumph as she stood behind the wall of bodyguards. “Chris, you’re finished! You dared to defy me? I’ll make sure you die without a burial!”
Chris, unfazed by the encirclement, smirked mockingly. Hundreds of guards didn’t intimidate him. To him, they were no more than a joke.
“You’re all…” Emily began, ready to order the guards to attack.
Suddenly-
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The deep rumble of car engines interrupted her command. Several sleek black cars pulled into the Wind family estate. Their polished exteriors gleamed menacingly under the sunlight.
From the lead car, a middle-aged man stepped out. He was flanked by a dozen imposing bodyguards, each exuding an aura of deadly competence.
“Father!” Emily cried, running toward the man. Tears streamed down her face as she clung to him. “Father, you have to stand up for me!”
The man, Frances Wind, frowned at his daughter’s distress. “Emily, what happened? Tell me everything.”
Through gasping sobs, Emily recounted the incident, twisting the narrative to make herself the victim. She painted Chris as the aggressor, embellishing every detail with venomous exaggeration.
Frances’s face darkened as he listened. By the time Emily finished, his fury was palpable. “Outrageous! How dare someone bully my daughter in my own home?!”
Frances Wind was the second son of Grigor Wind and the de facto leader of the Wind family after Lindsay’s father’s untimely death. With Grigor’s health in decline, Frances was poised to inherit the position of family head. As Emily’s father and the Wind family’s current ruler, he would not tolerate any affront to his authority-or his daughter.
His gaze fixed on Chris, cold and unforgiving. “So, you’re the one who dared lay a hand on my daughter? I don’t care what your relationship with Lindsay is. Anyone who harms my family has only one fate: death!”
Click! Click! Click!
At his command, the surrounding bodyguards drew their weapons, pointing them at Chris. The sound of guns being cocked filled the air.
Frances’s voice was sharp and final. “Kill him.”