Round the other side, along the edge of the pristine aquamarine pool, a devilishly handsome man in
floral trunks with only a white towel draped over his torso was stretched out leisurely upon a deck chair.
Next to him was an attentive bikini-clad woman who served up a mojito which the man took one glance
at but otherwise left untouched.
The woman was wary and knew not to get too cozy. Therefore, she returned to the pool where she
frolicked with another similarly skimpily dressed woman.
Babes, bikinis, and pools were the fantasy of many men, but the man’s attention seemed to be
elsewhere, as though completely unmoved by everything before him.
It was then that a black-clad blond man approached him.
The man’s eyes finally perked up when his counterpart’s outfit drew a frown from him. “You look like a
swarthy rat dressed up like that today, Gerald.”
The swarthy rat laughed it off. “Heading out later, so I’ve got to keep a low profile. Do you know what I’ve
found out?”
The man pursed his lips and was in no mood for mind games. “Out with it.”
Electing not to continue beating about the bush, Gerald said, “Vinson Southall has returned, and he’s
pretty capable too to turn back the heads of those who we broke the bank to bring over to our side.”
Anticipating that there might be more to it, the man prompted staidly, “Continue.”
Gerald was about to when he was interrupted by the laughter of the two beauties in the pool. He shifted
his eyes over and saw that they were in the midst of teasing a bodyguard.
The bodyguard, though drenched all over, dared not lose his cool and could only stand there stiffly as he
tried to dry himself off.
Gerald was about to avert his own gaze when he heard the frosty voice of the man rang out from behind
him. “Shoo!”
When the two terrified women looked over, they trembled when their eyes met the man’s monstrous gaze
before they reacted and half-fled from the scene.
Gerald, though, was not all that fazed. “You really don’t know how to treat women, Duke.”
“Cut the crap and keep talking,” was the man’s cold response.
Making no further attempts at being humorous, Gerald continued, “Vinson has gone to purchase a
property, and he has his sights set on that modern mansion in Lightspring. Do you think we should seize
this opportunity to…”
He then drew a finger across his own throat.
The man shot to his feet with a face full of murderous rage.
“Why are you informing me of such an important matter only now? Put a team together and get on it!”
While he spoke, he picked up his pace and made his way to the mansion. His aggressive movements
caused the towel he had on him to fall onto the floor and that exposed the massive tattoo on his back to
Gerald.
It was an unusual-looking crimson dragon with seven heads that donned seven crowns. A third of its tail
was made up of stars, and its entire length extended to underneath the man’s trunks. The entire creature
was simultaneously eye-catching and intimidating.
This was a tattoo that Gerald had seen many times before, but he had yet to decipher its meaning to
date.
He withdrew his gaze and picked up the dropped towel before he caught up, and when he did, he heard
the man communicate with and gather his men over the walkie talkie.
He could not refrain from asking when the man was finished, “Do you intend to come along, Duke?”
The man’s expression was resolute and terrifying.
“I’ve allowed him a chance to elude me once before, but this time, I’m going down there to cap him
myself!”
It was a vendetta almost twenty years in the making, so he no longer wished to wait. He wanted to claim
Vinson’s life right away!
The man opened his wardrobe and retrieved a revolver from within one of the partitions, for it was not
illegal to bear firearms in Epea.
“Let’s go!”
Upon his command, a few dozen black vehicles raced toward Lightspring.
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