Scarlett nodded,
"Are you the one who find the ruin and the pills? Do you have more? I’ll buy them all," she said, slipping into negotiation mode. "Na your price."
Judging by her brother’s reaction, this man was in charge of here.
Ethan smiled. It was a pleasant expression, genuinely warm. It made Scarlett’s stomach drop for reasons she could not explain. There was no arrogance in it. No greed. No excitent at the prospect of profit. That unsettled her more than hostility would have.
"If I told you I created that pill, what would you say?" he asked.
The warmth vanished from Scarlett’s face instantly as soon as he heard that. Her gaze snapped to Jas. When her eyes found him, they were glacial.
"I thought you’d finally changed. I thought you were ready to co ho." Her voice carried open disappointnt now, sharp and cutting. "Instead, you’re playing gas with street thugs who do not understand that words have consequences."
Jas exhaled slowly. "Just hear him out, sis."
"I’ve lost interest." Scarlett turned toward the door, every movent crisp and dignified. "I’ll tell Father you decided to prank us. You even wanted big brother here? Do you have a death wish? Do you want to die with your low level thug friends?"
The air changed suddenly.
A trendous pressure descended on her like a tidal wave as well as on Jas.
Jas’s knees buckled. He crashed to the floor, palms slamming against polished concrete. His lungs refused to expand. Panic flared as his body instinctively tried to survive.
Scarlett lasted one heartbeat longer.
Then she, too, collapsed.
Her proud posture shattered as sothing vast rolled over her existence like a Tsunami.
Ethan stepped forward.
His hands remained clasped behind his back. His expression stayed unchanged. Calm. Almost gentle.
But his hair drifted upward, suspended in currents of power that had no visible source. The air around him warped subtly, bending like heat haze over asphalt. The aura radiating from him dwarfed anything Scarlett had experienced in her life.
Her grandfather was a Level 9 Force Master. When he released his aura, lesser martial artists trembled. When he stood in a room, conversations died.
But compared to this, her grandfather was a candle fla in a hurricane.
Scarlett’s thoughts fragnted instantly.
It felt like gravity multiplied a thousandfold. Like standing beneath collapsing heavens. Every instinct scread at her to submit, to lower her head, to accept her smallness in the face of sothing incomprehensibly larger.
Ethan stopped in front of her.
She could see his shoes inches from her face.
He looked down, eyes were clear and steady.
"You’re standing on the ground of the Black Bull Gang," he said softly. His voice carried no strain. No raised volu. Yet it echoed inside her skull. "And you’re belittling its president. That is poor manners."
Jas was sobbing openly now.
"Ethan, no, President... please..." His forehead pressed against the floor. "She’s just careless with her words. She doesn’t understand. Please forgive her. Please."
Scarlett’s nails dug into the concrete. She tried to lift her head. But she could not.
For the first ti in her life, pride brought her nothing.
The pressure vanished all of a sudden.
Air rushed back into her lungs so suddenly she choked on it. The silence that followed after felt deafening.
Ethan smiled at her.
To her terror soaked senses, it was no longer pleasant. It was beautiful and rciless at the sa ti.
"You can leave now," he said. "Learn proper manners. The Black Bull Gang will not conduct business with your family."
He turned.
His coat swayed behind him as he walked away, each step was unhurried. The door to the inner corridor closed with a soft, decisive click.
Scarlett remained kneeling.
Tears slid down her cheeks without restraint.
Jas pushed himself upright slowly, legs trembling even now. He wiped his face roughly with his sleeve and avoided looking at her for a mont.
"Did he really make those pills?" she whispered.
Jas nodded.
"The Maguire family just lost a golden opportunity," he said quietly. There was no mockery in his voice. Only fact.
He stood fully, wincing at the lingering ache in his joints.
"Go ho safely"
He walked away, leaving her alone in the wide, silent room.
The weight of realization descended heavier than Ethan’s aura had.
She replayed her words.
Thug.
Backwater.
Prank.
She had insulted a man who could crush her grandfather like dry leaves.
A pill that enhanced a Force Master without decades of cultivation. A power that eclipsed the hidden families. A chance to elevate the Maguire na beyond anything in their history.
And she had thrown it away in seconds.
Because she had assud superiority.
Because she had not looked closely enough.
Her hands shook as she pulled out her phone.
At the Maguire family compound, Arthur Maguire stood in the ditation garden. The koi pond reflected drifting clouds. He guided streams of force between his palms with practiced ease.
His phone vibrated.
Scarlett.
He answered with a small smile. "You arrived safely? Did you see your brother?"
"Father..."
Her voice cracked.
Arthur was upright instantly. The calm serenity of cultivation shattered. Force rippled outward in sharp waves that sent nearby attendants scrambling back.
"What happened?" His tone sharpened. "Are you injured? Are you under attack? Where are you? I’ll mobilize security imdiately. Where is Jas?"
"Father, listen carefully." Scarlett inhaled unevenly. "You and Grandfather must co here. As soon as possible. If you delay, our family will lose sothing that may never appear again."
Arthur frowned deeply. "Explain yourself. Put Jas on the phone."
"Father, please. You must trust ."
The line shifted.
Another voice ca through.
Jas had took her phone suddenly.
Arthur froze.
The tone was unrecognizable.
"Old man," Jas said evenly. "Do what she says. The Maguire family’s pride is aningless compared to what you can gain here. Don’t waste ti asking questions."
Arthur couldn’t believe his ears. It was his son. He was talking to him like he was nothing.
Nothing was making sense anymore.
He felt sothing unfamiliar stir in his chest.
"Damn it," he muttered, already moving toward the main residence. "Prepare the jet. I am going personally."
Servants scattered to obey.
Whatever had happened in that city had broken his daughter’s composure and forged steel in his son’s voice.
He would see it himself.
...
Outside, evening settled over the slum district, washing the steel rooftops in muted gold before surrendering them to violet dusk. Inside the headquarters, word spread in hushed whispers. The president had released his aura. Enough to make veterans pale and newcors stare at the floor with trembling respect.
Jas stood alone on the balcony overlooking the warehouse floor. Below, gang mbers moved with renewed discipline, their laughter subdued, their steps sharper. Power changed atmospheres. It reshaped loyalty into sothing harder, cleaner.
Behind him, the door slid open softly.
Scarlett stepped out.
Her eyes were red, but steady now.
"He’s not what I expected," she said quietly.
Jas let out a humorless breath. "None of us were ready for him."
Far above them, unseen and distant, a private jet cut through darkening skies.
The Maguires were coming.
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