Chapter 141 Mr. Hayes Is Jealous
Alexander suddenly stepped forward, crossing the threshold.
He advanced step by step, while Henry didn't retreat an inch.
Until Alexander stood directly in front of him and said coldly, "Take your filthy hands off her."
Henry replied, "And what if I say no?"
Just as Alexander was about to explode, Grace immediately said, "Alexander, don't do anything reckless."
She had always known that Alexander wasn't someone to mess with.
"Are you protecting him?" Alexander grew even more furious. Though his face remained controlled, his eyes blazed with displeasure.
Grace said, "No, that's not—"
"Come here." Alexander couldn't stand seeing her continue to stand with Henry.
Grace was about to walk toward him when Henry grabbed her arm.
He pulled her back to her original position and asked, "He tells you to come, and you just go? He's being so domineering—that's coercion."
Alexander said, "Mr. Phillips, after all those years studying abroad, I never expected you'd learn such high-sounding rhetoric. Coercion?"
He paused, then continued, "Mr. Phillips, I advise you not to pester my woman. Provoking me isn't a wise move. Even if you're the heir to Phillips Group, crossing me won't end well for you."
Henry raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Finished threatening her, now you're threatening me?"
Alexander said, "I don't have time to waste on you. I don't want to repeat myself a third time—this is the second. Take your hands off her, or else..."
Henry impatiently interrupted him. "Or else what?"
The coldness in Alexander's eyes deepened, and suddenly he seemed like a different person entirely. He strode forward without hesitation and threw a merciless punch straight at Henry's face.
Henry had expected him to make a move, but he hadn't anticipated Alexander would strike without any hesitation. The punch came so fast he was completely caught off guard. Instinctively, he could only push Grace away as he took the hit to his face and staggered backward several steps.
Alexander immediately grabbed Grace, taking her hand, and was about to leave.
"Stop!" Henry suddenly called out.
Alexander turned around as Henry raised his fist and swung at him.
The man's dark eyes turned sinister, pupils contracting sharply. He pushed Grace outside the door with one hand and raised the other to block Henry's punch.
Grace cried out in alarm, "Stop it, both of you!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she saw the two men already entangled in combat.
Alexander's presence was terrifying. Though he usually wore business suits that concealed his build, when he fought, his muscles swelled with blood, his well-proportioned physique displaying shocking explosive power.
Henry was no slouch either.
The two men exchanged brutal blows, tension crackling in the air like gunpowder.
The situation spiraled completely out of control.
Grace didn't know how Alexander had found this place or how long he'd been standing at the entrance.
She certainly hadn't expected these two men to resort to violence at the slightest disagreement.
One was the CEO of Crest Corporation, the other the heir to Phillips Group, yet when it came to fighting, neither held back.
Especially Alexander.
In his youth, he had served in special forces for a period, enduring hellish training and knife-edge combat exercises. Despite Henry's best efforts, he quickly found himself at a disadvantage, unable to withstand Alexander's murderous assault.
Henry was forced back against the wall, tasting the metallic sweetness at the corner of his mouth. He wiped it with his hand—his lip was split and bleeding.
Alexander approached him, grabbed him by the collar, and drove his knee brutally into Henry's abdomen.
Henry gritted his teeth in pain, his back arching. The next second, Alexander threw him aside, and he crashed hard to the floor.
The sudden brawl had alarmed the restaurant's other patrons.
Some were pulling out their phones to call the police.
Jeremy, who had been standing by the entrance, saw things getting out of hand and rushed in, positioning himself in front of Alexander. "Mr. Hayes, please calm down."
Alexander glanced at him coldly. "Get out of the way."
Jeremy froze, and the next second, Alexander punched him aside too.
Grace covered her mouth and cried out in shock!
Jeremy was Alexander's personal assistant, yet he had even struck Jeremy.
Seeing Alexander advancing step by step toward Henry, Grace couldn't care about anything else. She rushed forward recklessly, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist from behind. "Alexander! Have you lost your mind?!"
If this continued, someone would get seriously hurt!
Grace was getting angry now. "Enough is enough! If you keep this up, someone could die!"
Henry was, after all, the Phillips Group heir.
She didn't want a simple misunderstanding to create animosity between the two families.
Alexander said coldly, "The more you protect him, the less I'll spare him."
Grace said, "I'm not protecting him! I just don't want you fighting over something so ridiculous. I met with him because I needed his help investigating something."
Alexander turned around. "What could you possibly need from him that you can't ask me? What am I to you—decoration?"
Grace was stunned.
What she didn't realize was that Alexander had an exceptionally strong territorial instinct, which also meant he possessed an unusual level of possessiveness.
There was nothing he couldn't accomplish.
If even he couldn't handle something, Henry certainly couldn't either.
What matter could she have that couldn't wait for his return, forcing her to seek out Henry instead?
He found it incomprehensible.
Behind them, Henry had already gotten back on his feet.
He shook his head hard, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, then suddenly threw a hook punch at Alexander.
Caught off guard, Alexander shielded Grace as they both fell to the ground.
"Stop fighting!" Grace shouted, having reached her limit.
But Alexander refused to back down. He quickly got up, caught Henry's incoming punch with his hand, twisted his elbow joint, and with a sickening "crack," dislocated it entirely.
"You dare fight back," Alexander's eyes flashed dangerously. "You're asking for death!"
Grace scrambled up from the floor, her eyes red with tears, and blocked him again. "If you keep fighting! If you don't stop, you might as well hit me too!"
She spread her arms wide, positioning herself in front of Henry.
She didn't know how else to stop him, so she resorted to desperate words.
Jeremy also got up from the floor. Seeing the restaurant's front area in shambles from the fight, he looked up to see Grace protecting Henry, then noticed Alexander's increasingly dark expression. He grabbed his hair in frustration.
Jeremy thought to himself, 'Ms. Foster, oh Ms. Foster!'
'You're taking sides!'
'Can't you see?'
'Mr. Hayes is jealous!'
'The more you protect another man, the angrier Mr. Hayes gets!'
Jeremy quickly walked over and grabbed Alexander, hugging his arm tightly. "Mr. Hayes... Mr. Hayes, listen to me... If the police get involved, this will blow up completely unnecessarily. Listen to me—whatever's going on, take Ms. Foster and leave first. Let me handle the cleanup here."
As he spoke, he desperately gave Grace meaningful looks.
Grace bit her lip and tentatively took Alexander's hand, trying to calm him down. "Alexander, I'll come with you. We can leave right now..."