Chapter 89: I Ran Out Of Patience
Madam Morgan looked left, then right. The three titans of the city were completely ganging up on her, and Nat Collins was already casually cracking his neck from side to side, his fingers flexing like a man starved for an immediate excuse to draw blood.
Nat stepped forward, his frame casting a shadow that fully engulfed the matriarch.
"I’m not much for drawn-out conversations," he rumbled, his voice dripping with an erratic, dangerous thrill. "But old hag, I can gladly show you what it feels like to reach the stars through my fists. How about it? Want to test my grip?"
April watched the scene play out with a sense of immense satisfaction. She had every intention of fighting her own battles when the time came, but she appreciated having these three massive powerhouses serving as her iron shield.
She wasn’t about to stop them. After all, part of possessing valuable resources and high-tier assets was knowing exactly when to use them.
Right now, she was merely deploying the incredible men in her arsenal to do the heavy lifting.
Nothing beats influence.
Nat turned his head aside and something seemed to catch his attention so he walked a few paces away from Madam Morgan’s front and they didn’t even bother to see what he was up to.
Madam Morgan only saw this as a rare opportunity to spit out the last venom that was melting her tongue.
"This..." Madam Morgan looked at April, her eyes boring holes into her. "I don’t know how you managed to claw your way into their good graces, but I assure you it won’t last!" She hissed, her voice trembling violently despite her desperate attempt to remain composed. "It’ll only be a matter of time before they find out what kind of lowly, pathetic little thing you really ar—"
CRASH.
A green champagne bottle violently shattered against the marble floor, exploding into a shower of jagged glass and frothing liquid.
A lady screamed in terror from the back of the pavilion but immediately covered her mouth before she was marked, trembling in panic.
The entire room went entirely rigid, the tension in the air thick and frightening.
Nat Collins stood casually by the edge of the catering table, his hand resting on the neck of a second bottle. As every single pair of eyes in the high-society crowd snapped directly to him, his lips stretched into a wide, unhinged grin.
"Oops. I ran out of patience," Nat chuckled deeply, his chaotic eyes gleaming beneath his adjusted shades.
He lifted the second cocked glass bottle, his knuckles whitening as he gripped it tightly and took a slow, predatory step closer to the Morgan women. "Wanna know where the next one is gonna land? Maybe right on your face, old hag?"
Madam Morgan completely paralyzed, unable to even draw a breath.
"Or maybe..." Nat’s gaze shifted, sliding past the matriarch to lock directly onto a trembling Liora. "...it’ll be on that pretty little daughter of yours. She’s been trying to stop you this whole time, but what can I say? It’s a tragedy that she might have to suffer just for having an incredibly stupid mother."
Liora shook violently, her fingers digging into her mother’s violet silk gown as she stared at the red-haired monster. She could see it in his eyes—he wasn’t bluffing. This man would gladly bury both of them into the marble flooring right here in front of the city’s highest authorities without a single shred of hesitation.
April watched the mad dog in active motion. She equally knew his words weren’t empty threats; she had witnessed what he did to Leo, a man who had served him for two years just at the hint of his betrayal.
A snobbish aristocrat and her innocent daughter meant absolutely less than nothing to him.
Deciding the spectacle had reached its maximum peak, April set her champagne glass down with a soft click.
"Madam, stop embarrassing yourself and leave," April said, her flat, deadpan voice cutting through the suffocating tension. "That is the absolute least you can do right now. You don’t want to drag your precious daughter into your mess, do you?"
Madam Morgan gritted her teeth so hard her jaw visibly trembled. With a pale face and a completely shattered ego, she finally spun on her heel and began a frantic, humiliating retreat toward the VIP seating area, dragging a thoroughly terrified Liora along with her while Nat was still a tad bit under control.
Xavier and Alexander watched them flee, their handsome faces contorted with a sour, ugly disgust. The Morgan family’s reputation had officially begun its descent to ash and to them, they were already scattered in the wind.
Before anyone could speak on the encounter, April casually picked up a fresh, empty porcelain plate and turned back to the catering spread.
"I think it’s about time we go take our seats as well," she remarked smoothly, her tone completely detached from the near-death experience that had just occurred.
She began carefully refilling her plate with savory pastries and truffled tartlets until it was filled entirely to her satisfaction.
Her appetite was still completely intact, and there was absolutely no way an insignificant ghost from her past was going to ruin her mood.
But as Xavier and Alexander prepared to follow her toward the grand bidding hall, Nat didn’t move.
"You guys go ahead," Nat claimed, his lopsided grin returning as he adjusted his sunglasses back up his nose bridge. "I’ll be right there as soon as I go blow off a little steam."
The group paused, looking back at him. The dangerous, hyper-volatile glint was still swirling fiercely behind his lenses, and the heavy vein around his jaw was bulging.
He was far too hot-blooded to sit down patiently in a quiet, dark auction room right now.
Xavier’s brow furrowed in mild corporate disapproval, while Alexander looked thoroughly terrified of whatever violent aftershocks the mafia lord was about to unleash in the corridors.
Samuel simply tilted his glasses up the bridge of his nose, staring fearlessly into the warlord’s face. "Do not cause any unseemly trouble that might reflect poorly on Miss April," he stated flatly.
Nat burst into a wicked, delighted snicker, giving a lazy wave of his hand as he turned toward the secondary exit doors. "Don’t worry your sorry ass. I’m just gonna go say a quick hello to an old ’acquaintance’."
April’s eyes followed his massive silhouette for a brief second. For some reason, she didn’t need the system to know what he meant. There was an operative in the venue’s perimeter who was directly connected to the Scorpion Gang’s impending ambush.
So, by ’I’ve got it all under control,’ which he said earlier, he meant his being here was also part of his plan.
Nat wasn’t just blowing off steam; he was going to extract an early toll.
Clever.
"Don’t be troublesome," April muttered after him.
Nat paused at the threshold, looking over his shoulder with a sharp, glittering wink. "Don’t worry, sweetheart. You won’t even know I was gone."
