Chapter 167 Taking the Throne

Chapter 167 Taking the Throne
Seth froze as he stepped outside, his jaw literally dropping at the sight before him.

"What the fuck are you all doing here?!" Seth shouted, storming toward the nearest group of his subordinates. His face flushed crimson as he recognized faces that should have been back at SF Family headquarters.

One of his lieutenants stepped forward. "Don, the Phoenix Family has gone too far!"

"That's right!" another called out.

"Do you know how many families they've taken down this month?" a third man yelled, his voice carrying across the grounds.

"SF Family is ranked number one now! This woman wants to take us down too!" someone from the back shouted, voice deliberately loud enough to reach the villa.

The voices grew increasingly belligerent, each man trying to outdo the last in volume.

"You're not wrong," Emma's cool voice cut through the chaos.

Seth whipped around to find Emma standing in the doorway, her posture relaxed and a careless smile playing on her lips.

Seth frantically waved his hands, desperate to convey that this wasn't his doing. "Emma, I didn't—"

"Seth," Emma interrupted, her smile never wavering, "your men are staging a coup right in front of you. What do you plan to do about it?"

He knew she was giving him a choice—handle this peacefully with a handover of power, or let blood be spilled. She had the resources to take SF Family down; everyone knew it. The top three families in Sicily stood far above the rest, but the gap between the third-ranked family and Phoenix and SF was vast. Neither he nor Emma considered the third family a real threat.

"Kill the Phoenix bitch!" A voice shouted from the crowd.

"Take them all down!" Another joined in.

"Let's finish Phoenix once and for all!"

The shouts grew louder, more frenzied. Seth saw Emma's smile widen with each declaration, which puzzled him until he realized—she was enjoying this. She was letting them dig their own graves deeper with every word.

"Seth, have you ever heard a saying?" Emma tilted her head slightly, her tone conversational as if they were discussing the weather over coffee.

"What saying?" Seth asked, his mind racing through possible ways to defuse the situation before it exploded.

"The dogs that bite don't bark," Emma replied. Before Seth could process her words, her hand moved in a casual arc through the air.

Seth lunged forward to grab her arm, but he was too slow. His fingers closed on empty air as Emma completed the motion.

His men continued their rabid shouting, unaware of what had just happened. Only Seth had seen it—the flash of metal, the precision of her movement. His eyes widened as they tracked to where Emma had aimed.

One of his men stood at the edge of the property, gun in hand, arm raised mid-shout. A knife protruded from his throat, so cleanly embedded that blood hadn't even begun to flow yet. The man stood frozen for three more seconds before crumpling to the ground.

The nearest SF members fell silent as they noticed their fallen comrade, horror dawning on their faces. The silence spread outward like ripples in a pond as more men saw what had happened.

Those in the back continued their threats until someone pointed at the body on the ground. When they saw the knife in the man's throat, every voice died.

"Why so quiet?" James called from his seat near the entrance, casually puffing on a cigar. "You were all so vocal just a minute ago."

The SF Family members shifted uncomfortably, suddenly aware of their vulnerability. Emma had killed one of them from twenty yards away with a casual flick of her wrist—while their boss stood right beside her, powerless to stop her.

"He was giving me a headache with all that noise," Emma said to Seth with a slight shrug, offering him a graceful exit from the situation.

"The Phoenix Family can't just take the number one position in Sicily without a reason," Seth replied, his voice steady despite the tension.

"I want the spot, so I'm taking it. No reason needed," Emma replied, shaking her head.

"Then prove you deserve it!" one of Seth's men shouted, apparently forgetting the lesson they'd just witnessed.

A gunshot cracked through the air, and the man jumped back as a bullet kicked up dirt inches from his toes. The courtyard fell silent again.

Isabella lowered her gun, her expression apologetic as she addressed the man she'd nearly shot. "I mentioned earlier that none of you should step into Phoenix territory. Your toe crossed the line."

She sighed dramatically. "My aim is terrible today. If it had been better, that foot would be useless now."

The man pulled his own gun and pointed it at Isabella, fury etched on his face. Isabella looked back at him with complete indifference.

"You think I won't kill you?" he snarled.

"I know you won't," Isabella replied without hesitation, shaking her head.

Seth watched the exchange with resignation. He turned back to Emma, acceptance settling in his expression.

"Emma, our relationship has always been good," Seth said carefully.

"I know." Emma snapped her fingers, and Antonio approached with a laptop, which she handed to Seth. "You should be grateful for that good relationship."

Seth studied the screen, his eyes widening at the data displayed. In just one month, ten families ranked in the top fifty had voluntarily ceded half their territories to Phoenix, allowing Emma to cherry-pick the most valuable assets.

Beyond that, Emma had completely dismantled thirteen other top-fifty families, absorbing their territories entirely. From the fifty-to-hundred rankings, she had acquired twenty-eight families. In the hundred-to-two-hundred range, fifty-seven had fallen under her control.

She hadn't even bothered with the smaller families beyond the two-hundred mark, considering them insignificant.

Phoenix could easily take down SF Family if Emma wished it. The only reason he was still standing here negotiating was because of their previously amicable relationship.

"Okay," Seth finally said, his shoulders slumping slightly. "You've got the stronger hand. I concede."

He raised his eyes to meet Emma's steady gaze. "What are your terms?"

"Your territory? I'm not particularly interested in it," I said. "I've got more than enough of my own already."

"Then what do you want?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.