215 Chapter 215 – Power’s Icy Price
215 Chapter 215 – Power’s Icy Price
I raised my hand, summoning a brilliant blue flame that danced across my fingers. The temperature in the room plummeted. T
He hesitated, glancing around desperately for help that wouldn’t come.
Roman stepped forward, his expression murderous. “A conversation? You had your men break three of my ribs.”
I fixed him with a cold stare. “Disappointed?”
Franklin Duval stepped forward, positioning himself between me and Caldwell. His massive frame blocked my path, but I wasn’t intimidated.
“Please!” Caldwell screamed. “Knight! Don’t let him take me!”
“I need a guarantee,” he insisted. “Otherwise, what’s stopping you from killing me afterward?”
Another nodded quickly. “We had no choice! We’re innocent in this!”
Caldwell, standing slightly apart from the others, nodded eagerly. “Franklin’s right. Knight is finished. We have nothing to worry about.”
Caldwell’s fake smile wavered. “Business is business. Nothing personal.”
“Stay back!” he screamed, pointing the weapon at my chest. “I’ll shoot! I swear to God, I’ll shoot!”
Caldwell licked his dry lips. “I’ll tell you everything, but first promise me you’ll let me
live.”
The massive double doors suddenly burst open.
“No promises. Talk.”
Dead with a single slap.
The businessmen exchanged doubtful glances. I could practically smell their fear from where I stood outside the doorway.
Caldwell fired again. And again. Each bullet met the same fate.
215 Chapter 215 – Power’s Icy Price
The gun fired with a deafening bang.
“You think you can just walk in here and threaten me?” he snarled. “I own this town now! Everyone works for me!”
“A misunderstanding?” The temperature in my voice dropped several degrees. “You tried to kill me. You tortured my friend. You stole what was mine.”
“Need you?” I repeated softly.
Behind him, Caldwell found his voice. “Franklin will handle this. He’s taken down men twice your size.”
“Liam, please,” Caldwell suddenly switched tactics, stepping around Franklin with his hands raised in a placating gesture. “We’ve known each other for years. There’s clearly been a misunderstanding.”
Was it the power changing me? Or perhaps the dark energy I’d absorbed during my captivity?
“There’s always a choice,” I cut him off. “You made yours.”
Franklin pounded his fist into his palm. “Enough talk. Time to finish what should have been done days ago.”
His eyes widened in surprise at the specific question. “The herbs? That’s what this is about?”
The Blue Spirit Fire leaped from my hand, engulfing them all in its merciless embrace. Their screams lasted only seconds before silence fell.
Roman grabbed Caldwell by the collar, hauling him to his feet. “With pleasure. I owe him for my hospitality.”
As we left the villa, I couldn’t help but reflect on how easily I’d taken those lives. Once, such an act would have troubled my conscience for days. Now, I felt nothing.
But Roman was already dragging him toward the door.
“Please,” he whimpered. “I’ll give you anything. Money. Properties. Women. hatever
you want.”
My palm shot out, connecting with his chest in a simple, almost casual slap.
e
Caldwell’s eyes darted nervously to Roman, whose face still bore the marks of his ordeal. “He’s exaggerating. We were just having a conversation that got a little heated.”
I strode in with Roman Volkov and Eamon Greene flanking me. The room fell into
stunned silence.
Franklin’s body flew backward, crashing into the wall with bone–crushing force. A sickening crack echoed through the room as his spine shattered. He slid to the floor, eyes wide with shock, then emptiness.
“But what if-” one of them began.
“Where are the herbs from the west suburb warehouse?”
With surprising speed for such a large man, Franklin lunged at me. His fist came straight for my face.
I didn’t even bother to dodge.
I looked down at him, feeling nothing but contempt.
“No one is indispensable.”
I watched the group of businessmen huddled around Franklin Duval, their nervous expressions betraying their unease despite his confident reassurances.
I extinguished the flames with a thought. “They betrayed me at the first opportunity. Loyalty has a price. So does treachery.”
“Besides,” a third added with ill–concealed desperation, “you need us. We control the supply chains in Riverbend Town. Without us, the economy collapses.”
“Impossible,” someone whispered.
I turned away from his desperate pleas, focusing now on the remaining businessmen. They huddled together like frightened sheep, watching me with terrified eyes.
“Take him,” I said. “Make him talk.”
“No! Wait!” Caldwell thrashed in Roman’s grip. “I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”
I took a step toward him.
Caldwell stared at Franklin’s lifeless body, his face contorting with terror. With shaking
hands, he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pistol.
Eamon Greene, who had remained silent throughout, finally spoke. “Was that necessary, sir?”
The businessman nodded eagerly, misreading my tone. “Exactly! We’re indispensable!”
I nodded to Roman, who stepped forward with a grim smile.
“Well, well,” Franklin sneered. “The legendary Liam Knight. Not looking so legendary now, are you?”
“Is that what you told Roman while you had him beaten?”
Whatever the cause, I couldn’t deny the truth: my heart was growing colder by the day. And some distant part of me wondered if that should worry me more than it did. When the gun clicked empty, Caldwell sank to his knees.
Caldwell’s face drained of all color. His champagne glass slipped from his fingers, shattering on the marble floor. The sound echoed through the silent room like a gunshot.
That last comment ignited something cold and dark within me.
Caldwell’s pathetic attempt to appear in control almost made me laugh. Almost.
“Mr. Knight,” one man stepped forward, his voice quavering. “We were forced into this alliance. Caldwell threatened our families.”
The bullet struck me squarely in the chest–and bounced off harmlessly. A golden light briefly flashed where it hit, dissipating the impact.
“Answer the question.”
Caldwell’s facade crumbled. “You don’t understand my position! I had no choice—”
The businessmen gasped collectively, backing away from me as if I were a demon materialized in their midst.
Caldwell’s demeanor suddenly shifted. Fear gave way to desperate aggression. “Knight,” he choked out. “You’re… you’re supposed to be dead.”
“Gentlemen, relax,” Franklin said, casually adjusting his expensive cufflinks. “These
rumors about Liam Knight are nothing more than ghost stories. The dead don’t
return.”
Where the businessmen had stood, nothing remained but ash.
