Chapter 157
Chapter 157
"Buried with you?" Matthew slowly turned his head, his eyes filled with terrifying menace. "Philip, do you think too highly of yourself? You really think that by clinging to these old powers, you can control me?"
"Since you love sucking up to the powerful so much, why don't you marry her yourself?"
With that, he turned around, swept his long leg, and the 6-foot-tall, seven-tier wedding cake beside him came crashing down.
White cream and fondant roses were scattered across the floor.
Next, Matthew grabbed a bottle of champagne nearby, swung his arm, and smashed it hard into the champagne tower built from crystal glasses.
The sound of shattering glass echoed through the dome as golden liquid mixed with glass shards splattered everywhere.
This wasn't just destroying a wedding—it was crushing Philip's dignity into dust in front of the entire world.
Screams erupted as guests scattered to avoid the chaos.
Philip's legs gave out as he collapsed into a chair, his face ashen.
Matthew wasn't just defying orders—he was declaring his claim to the whole world, and openly waging war on Philip.
And the man who caused this disaster didn't even glance at the scene again.
Matthew dropped the broken bottle, pulled a black handkerchief from his pocket, and slowly wiped the liquid from his knuckles.
Then he looked up at the camera broadcasting live worldwide and spoke in a low, tender voice. "Elizabeth, wait for me."
Elizabeth stared blankly at the man who was willing to go to war with the entire world for her.
She once thought that living again, she was here to atone.
She once thought that in this world, she was the only one walking alone in darkness.
But now she finally understood, Matthew's love meant fighting through any peril, however deadly, to secure a path for her and present her with all the honor and safety in the world.
"Matthew..."
Elizabeth's soul trembled in the void.
She covered her face as tears streamed down.
The heart monitor beside the hospital bed suddenly began beeping with strong, rapid pulses.
Elizabeth's eyelashes, closed for months, finally fluttered slightly.
The vase smashed on the desk, fragments mixing with ink splattered across the floor.
The study at Moore Manor was in ruins—famous paintings torn to shreds, an entire row of wooden bookshelves toppled, heavy volumes scattered across the carpet.
Philip's eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving, his dark silver tailcoat hanging wrinkled on his body, his bow tie already torn off and thrown in a corner.
Hours ago, that live broadcast from the church had stripped him of all dignity before the entire world.
The LCD screen on the wall was still frozen on a news page, the headline bold and highlighted: #Moore Group's Leader Breaks Off Engagement, Three Hundred Mercenaries Crash Wedding, Vows to Marry Comatose Elizabeth.
"Bastard... he's completely ungrateful." Philip ground his teeth, a low growl escaping his throat.
He kicked over the solid wood coffee table in front of him, the dull thud of splintering mahogany echoing through the empty study.
Matthew was burning the Moore family's bridges and dismantling the international empire Philip had cultivated for decades.
What gave that bastard the right to be so arrogant? Just because of his little darknet operation?
Philip's face darkened as he pulled out his phone and made a call: "I want Elizabeth gone. Whatever it takes, before midnight tonight, I want to see her and the child in her belly completely erased."
After hanging up, Philip tore open his collar and collapsed onto the sofa, letting out twisted, cold laughter.
What gave Matthew the right? His wife loved him, Steven loved him, the woman he loved also loved him, why did he get everything he wanted?
Matthew wanted to give Elizabeth the whole world? Then he'd turn that vegetable into a pile of rotting flesh.
That night, a storm hit Shadowpine.
Wind-driven rain pounded against the hospital's top-floor windows.
The elevator doors slowly opened in the first-floor lobby.
A delivery man pulled his cap low and walked quickly toward the emergency stairwell.
His steps were extremely light, his specially made rubber-soled shoes made no sound on the tile floor.
He expertly avoided three surveillance blind spots in the lobby and pushed open the fire door to the stairwell.
He climbed the stairs to the sixteenth floor, one level below the top-floor VIP ward.
The delivery man stopped, reached into the insulated bag's hidden compartment, and pulled out a silencer-equipped pistol. He chambered a round and tucked the barrel into his sleeve.
The man took a deep breath and pushed open the sixteenth-floor door.
Before the sound of the door hinge had faded, a large gloved hand suddenly emerged from the darkness and clamped over his mouth.
Immediately, a cold blade precisely severed his carotid artery.
The delivery man's eyes widened, his body convulsed twice, and before he could even let out a muffled groan, he was dragged into a nearby utility room.
In the darkness, Matthew's man expressionlessly flicked blood droplets off the knife and reported quietly into his earpiece, "First wave, delivery man, eliminated."
At the same time, in the ventilation duct on the building's exterior.
A man in a dark blue maintenance uniform climbed up through the duct, high-explosive devices hanging from his waist, his target to blow up the hospital room directly.
Just as he was less than 15 feet from the top-floor vent, a sharp metallic scraping sound suddenly came from deep in the duct.
The maintenance worker's heart jumped. As soon as he looked up, a specially made high-voltage electric net dropped from above without warning, instantly electrocuting him.
The maintenance worker twitches violently in the narrow duct, the air filling with the stench of burning flesh, then he tumbled down headfirst.
In the surveillance room, a bodyguard pressed the intercom: "Second wave, maintenance worker, eliminated."
Outside the top-floor ward, at the end of the corridor, the elevator doors opened.
A doctor wearing gold-rimmed glasses pushed a medical cart out.
His badge read "Deputy Chief Physician, Cardiology." He pushed the cart with steady steps toward Elizabeth's room.
On the cart's tray lay a syringe already filled with potassium chloride.
Once this solution was injected into Elizabeth's vein, within seconds, she would die of cardiac arrest, leaving no trace of poisoning afterward.
30 feet.
15 feet.
9 feet.
The ward door was right ahead. The doctor's lips curled slightly beneath his mask as his hand reached for the door handle.
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the handle, the doors of two empty rooms on either side opened simultaneously.
Four submachine gun barrels pressed directly against the doctor's head, heart, and lower back.
The doctor froze, cold sweat soaking through his shirt.
John emerged from the shadows, holding a white towel, methodically wiping blood from his hands.
"Potassium chloride?" John glanced at the tray and sneered. "Is this all Philip's got? Does he look down on my boss that much?"
The doctor tried to reach for the gun at his waist. Two mercenaries immediately swung their rifle butts and broke both his arms.
The sharp crack of breaking bones echoed through the corridor.
"Take him to the basement. Keep him alive, the boss wants to question him later." John waved his hand.
Several bodyguards dragged the doctor away. The corridor quickly returned to silence, even the water stains on the floor cleaned up.
Inside the ward, Elizabeth's soul passed through the heavy blast-proof door and floated quietly back to the bedside, looking down at Matthew sitting on the sofa.
The man wore a pure black shirt, collar slightly open.
He knew about all the bloodshed outside and the fighting in the corridors, yet he showed not a trace of emotion.
Elizabeth looked at his stern profile as previously puzzling details suddenly clicked in her mind.
The forceful rejection at the church, his public announcement of her existence, and the deliberate humiliation of Philip...
With Matthew's position, there were discreet and secure ways to seize power.
Yet he deliberately pulled all the media cameras and public attention onto himself.
He knew Philip would panic when cornered, and he knew his own darknet defenses were still shallow.
Matthew intentionally enraged Philip, bringing their feud out into the light and compelling him to reveal every hidden weapon and trump card tonight.