Chapter 199: Internal Strife

The car was silent except for the hum of the engine.

After a moment, Kevin spoke up quietly.

"Mr. Anderson, that bastard Leroy's probably still scrambling to clear his name right now."

James nodded.

"The more he panics, the more entertaining it gets."

After driving for over an hour, they arrived at the entrance to the Martinez Manor.

Specter Syndicate's men had already surrounded the perimeter.

The security guards at the gate went pale when they saw what was coming.

One tried to run inside to alert someone, but was slammed to the ground before he could make a sound.

James got out of the car. Iron Wolf dragged Adrian out of the trunk.

Adrian's hair was even more disheveled now, dirt smeared across his face. He looked completely wretched.

"Let's go."

James headed inside.

In the living room, Leroy sat on the couch smoking.

He'd just received word that they'd lost contact with the warehouse up north.

Still rattled, he heard commotion at the entrance.

He looked up to see James walking in, followed by Iron Wolf hauling a thoroughly bound Adrian.

The cigarette dropped from Leroy's hand as he shot to his feet.

"James? How did you get in here?"

James ignored him and settled onto a couch.

Iron Wolf threw Adrian to the floor. Adrian hissed in pain.

"Leroy, it's been a while."

James spoke leisurely.

"When I came by yesterday, you said Adrian wasn't here. So who's this?"

Leroy's expression soured, though he forced himself to appear composed.

"How should I know who that is? You drag some random person in here and claim I was hiding him?"

"Is that so?"

James smiled slightly and kicked Adrian with his foot.

"Hear that? Your father-in-law says he doesn't know you."

Adrian panicked, glaring up at Leroy.

"Leroy! What the hell are you saying! Who told me to hide out at the warehouse!"

"You're the one who sent people to kill James! And now you want to wash your hands of it? Not a chance!"

"Bullshit!"

Leroy's face flushed red with anger.

"You came begging for help! I only took you in for Paige's sake!"

"Everything you did was on your own—it has nothing to do with me!"

"Nothing to do with you?"

Adrian laughed coldly.

"When the Anderson family went down, how much did you pocket? The three developments the Anderson family owned in Pinecrest City, two commercial districts—didn't you swallow all of that?"

"You dare say you weren't involved? And Paige marrying me—wasn't that your way of cozying up to the Anderson family?"

"Then when the Anderson family collapsed, you wanted to dump me. If I didn't have dirt on you, you would've handed me over ages ago!"

Leroy was struck speechless. He had taken plenty—there was no denying it.

James leaned back on the couch, watching the two turn on each other. It was quite entertaining.

Usually they put on such respectable fronts, but when their lives were on the line, everything came spilling out.

"Done arguing?"

James spoke, and the living room went silent.

Leroy took a deep breath, realizing there was no escaping today.

With Adrian dragged right to his doorstep, denying anything was pointless.

"To the victor go the spoils. I accept that. James, what do you want? The Martinez family assets are all yours—I only ask that you spare Paige."

"Paige?"

James raised an eyebrow.

Just then, footsteps sounded on the stairs. Paige came running down.

She'd heard the commotion from upstairs and came to see. The moment she entered, she took in the scene—and Adrian bound on the floor. Her face went white.

"Dad! What's going on?"

She ran to Leroy's side, looking up at James with fear in her eyes.

"Mr. Anderson, my father—he knows he was wrong. Please, I'm begging you to let him go."

"I'll make sure he never does anything bad again, I promise."

Tears streamed down her face as she spoke.

James looked at her.

"I didn't say I was going to do anything. You're you, he's him. I don't punish the innocent."

Paige froze.

"Really?"

"Yes."

James pulled an envelope from his pocket and tossed it onto the coffee table.

"Though there's something you should probably see."

Paige picked up the envelope, confused. She opened it to find several photos and a document.

After scanning a few lines, her expression changed completely.

"This can't be true."

She looked up at Leroy.

"Dad, Mom's death wasn't an accident? You... you did something to her?"

Leroy's face changed drastically.

"Don't listen to his lies! That's all fake!"

"Fake or not, you know the truth."

James spoke casually.

"Years ago, Paige's mother figured out you were embezzling her family assets."

"Worried she'd expose you, you poisoned her slowly over time."

"Dragged out her illness until her body gave out. To everyone else, you claimed she died suddenly of disease."

"Adrian knew all about it. Did you really think you'd hidden it so well?"

Paige stared at Leroy, tears flowing harder now.

"Dad, is what he's saying true?"

Leroy avoided her eyes, saying nothing. His silence was answer enough.

Paige's legs gave out. She sank to the floor.

She'd always believed her mother died of sudden illness.

Leroy had always been so caring and attentive toward her.

She never imagined such a cruel truth lurked beneath it all.

She clutched the documents in her hand.

The paper crumpled under the pressure of her fingertips.

Her suppressed sobs suddenly burst forth.

"Why did you do that to Mom?"

Paige's shoulders shook violently.

Her reddened eyes locked onto Leroy before her.

"All these years you said you missed her—it was all an act."

Leroy panicked, reaching out his hand.

He tried to bend down and help Paige up from where she'd collapsed.

"Paige, let me explain. I was confused back then."

"I was just afraid of losing everything I'd worked for."

Paige jerked her hand up and swatted his away violently.

The force made Leroy stagger back half a step.

"Don't touch me. Just thinking about how you killed my mother with your own hands makes me sick."

"I was blinded by greed. If things had come out back then, the Martinez family would have collapsed completely. I had no choice."

Cold sweat beaded on Leroy's forehead, his voice full of panicked excuses.

"Having no choice means you can take the life of someone who spent half their life with you?"

Paige shook with sobs, her hoarse voice thick with rage.

"Mom devoted herself to building this business with you. She never had a selfish thought."

"Just because she discovered you were embezzling my grandfather's assets—"

"You could poison her day after day without mercy? Don't you have nightmares when you sleep?"

Adrian, still bound on the floor, seized the moment to fan the flames.

"Paige, he spent a long time planning it all to protect his assets back then."

"He didn't leave any room for mercy."

Leroy whipped his head toward Adrian, fury blazing.

"Stop stirring up trouble! If you hadn't kept egging me on back then—"

"I never would have gone that far. Now that things have blown up, you're pinning all the blame on me."

"Are you two seriously still trying to shift the blame around?"