Chapter 13

The roar of engines filled the air.

"Listen up, car in front! Stop right now! Hand over the woman in your car, or you'll regret it!"

Behind them, Raymond accelerated like crazy, even sticking his head out the window to shout at Jack and the others. His face was twisted with rage, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Need to stop?"

Joseph spoke again, his voice deep and carrying a deadly edge.

"No need."

Jack's voice remained lazy. He tilted his head slightly, glancing at the cars in the rearview mirror.

The corner of his mouth curved up slightly.

"I remember there's a sharp turn up ahead, right?" Jack said casually.

At these words, Joseph's hands on the steering wheel paused slightly, then a flash of understanding crossed his eyes.

"Got it."

A hint of amusement crept into Joseph's voice.

The next second, the black sedan's speed strangely slowed down.

Behind them.

Seeing Jack's car slow down, Raymond was first stunned, then wild joy surged through him.

"What? Out of gas? Or scared stupid?"

Raymond grinned viciously, his eyes full of the cruelty of a cat playing with a mouse. "Dare to ruin my fun? When I catch up to you, you'll be sorry!"

With that.

Raymond slammed the gas pedal to the floor. The tachometer instantly redlined, and his sports car shot forward like an arrow, frantically closing the distance between the two cars.

One hundred feet... fifty feet... thirty feet...

Watching the gap narrow, Raymond could barely contain himself.

However, the atmosphere in the front car was completely different.

Jack remained calm, as if facing not a life-or-death chase, but a leisurely afternoon drive. He casually turned his head to look at Vivian beside him, who was clutching the handle tightly, her face pale.

"Fasten your seatbelt."

His voice wasn't loud, but carried an authority that brooked no argument.

Vivian instinctively obeyed, buckling her seatbelt and gripping the edge of the seat with both hands, her knuckles white from the pressure. Though she didn't know what was about to happen, Jack's calm, almost cold demeanor gave her a strong sense of foreboding.

"Stop the car, people in front!"

Just then.

Raymond's arrogant voice rang in their ears.

The two cars were very close now.

Raymond's car was about to overtake theirs.

"Now."

Joseph said in a low voice.

Right before entering the turn, Joseph jerked the steering wheel hard while pulling the handbrake.

Instantly, the car's rear end swung around, the tires screeching against the ground, even sparking.

The car moved with the precision of a dancer on a knife's edge, completing a perfect drift through the sharp turn.

However.

Raymond, behind them, wasn't so lucky.

Because Joseph's car had been blocking his view the whole time, he couldn't see the road ahead at all, and had no idea there was a sharp turn.

Naturally, his car couldn't... slow down in time.

"Oh no!"

When he saw the turn, Raymond's eyes widened in terror as he frantically slammed on the brakes.

But the momentum was too great.

In an instant, his sports car shot off the curve.

A dull thud echoed.

Raymond's car crashed hard into a huge boulder on the outside of the turn.

Debris flew, flames shot up.

The massive impact completely crushed the front of the car, and all the airbags deployed.

Jack glanced at the rearview mirror. Facing the scene of flames shooting skyward, his eyes remained calm, as if he'd just watched an insignificant fireworks show.

A minute later.

The overturned sports car's door was kicked open with tremendous force.

Raymond crawled out from the wreckage, covered in blood.

His once handsome face was now covered in bloody scratches, his floral shirt torn to shreds, disheveled, and looking utterly pathetic.

Raymond shook his throbbing head.

Looking at the burning sports car, the rage in his eyes merged with the firelight, incredibly cold.

He didn't care about the sports car.

He was furious that he'd been played!

The other side slowing down was just to bait him.

"Mr. Edwards! Are you okay!"

Several cars caught up from behind, and his men rushed over in panic, trying to help him.

"Get lost!"

Raymond shoved his subordinate away, staggered to his feet, and stared intently at the black sedan that had already driven far ahead.

In his eyes was endless malice and rage.

"Mr. Edwards, look... Terry..."

A subordinate said in a trembling voice, pointing at the car.

Raymond turned his head.

In the driver's seat, the bald man from before was now trapped by the deformed steering wheel.

A jagged piece of metal had pierced straight through his body.

Blood stained the windshield, his eyes still wide open—clearly dead.

Seeing this, Raymond's pupils contracted sharply.

"Fuck..."

He cursed through gritted teeth, filled with endless rage.

"How dare they play me!"

"I swear, I'll tear you to pieces!"

His eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead, his whole body trembling violently from extreme anger and hatred.

"Get in the cars, chase them!"

Raymond turned around and roared at the group of trembling subordinates behind him, his voice hoarse and cold.

"Yes... yes!" The subordinates nodded quickly.

Then the group got in their cars and continued chasing after Jack.

After that drift, Vivian felt a strong wave of nausea surge up, her stomach churning.

She quickly took several deep breaths.

That helped a bit.

"Have some water."

Just then, a slender hand passed her a bottle of water.

Vivian froze.

"Thank... thank you."

After glancing at Jack, she took the water.

After opening the cap and taking a sip, Vivian finally felt the churning in her stomach slowly settle down.

"Are they... dead?"

After drinking, Vivian finally gathered the courage to ask the question that had been weighing on her mind.

She'd just seen in the rearview mirror that their car seemed to have flipped.

Jack leaned back in his seat, his tone calm, as if discussing what to have for dinner.

"One person died."

"As for the driver, he probably just got some minor injuries."

Hearing that someone had died, Vivian's body couldn't help but shrink back.

"You..." Vivian looked at Jack's profile, a complex emotion rising in her heart that was hard to describe. "You knew there was a sharp turn ahead, didn't you?"

"Yes."

Jack acknowledged without further explanation.

"You deliberately slowed down to bait him?" Vivian's voice rose a few notches, filled with disbelief. "That's gambling with our lives! If something went wrong, we would've crashed into that rock just like them!"

"It wasn't gambling."

Jack finally turned his head, those deep eyes looking directly at Vivian, his gaze clear and sharp, as if he could see through her soul.

"It was a calculation."

With Joseph's driving skills, that kind of turn was as simple as eating or drinking for him.

If Joseph couldn't even do this, he wouldn't deserve to be his right-hand man.

Looking at the confident Jack, Vivian opened her mouth slightly but said nothing more.

Looking at this man before her, a strange feeling arose in her heart.

Jack was different from any man she'd met before—he was calm, cold, and calculating.

All of this made her afraid.

Because it meant Jack was dangerous.

But at the same time, she couldn't help being drawn to him. This feeling was like staring at a poppy blooming on the edge of an abyss—knowing it was poisonous, yet unable to resist getting closer.