Chapter 107

Chapter 107

When those three rules landed, every head in the hall dropped.

Because what they heard in those three rules wasn't just Ethan's temper. It was exactly what he was going to do next.

This new mayor wasn't a gentle man.

He would actually kill people.

Then, right at that moment, urgent footsteps came from outside. Someone rushed in and dropped to their knees. "Mayor, Lucas of the Davis family is outside requesting an audience!"

Half the room shifted their expressions on the spot.

That was fast.

Everyone knew the Davis family had lost all face the night before. If they didn't want to fall completely behind, they'd have to get close to the new mayor as soon as possible. But no one expected Lucas to be this desperate — so rushed that the mayor had barely sat down before Lucas was already at the door.

Eddie instinctively looked up toward Ethan.

Ethan just leaned back in his chair, eyes calm and flat, like he'd seen this coming all along.

"Requesting an audience?"

He repeated the words slowly. A faint, cold curve touched the corner of his lips.

"Let him kneel."

After that, most people in the hall didn't dare lift their eyes.

Making the head of the Davis family kneel outside city hall — that wasn't just a snub. That was grinding someone into the dirt. But not a single person thought Ethan had gone too far.

Because everything the Davis family had pulled from last night until now, everyone had seen it. And now, the moment the new mayor sat down, Lucas came rushing over with people in tow. It was obvious — he wanted to get in early, lock in the relationship, and smooth over last night's clash before it hardened into something worse.

Too bad he'd picked the wrong person to try that with.

The messenger's throat moved. He bowed quickly. "Yes, sir!"

After he stepped out, the hall went dead quiet.

Ethan tapped his fingers once on the armrest, then turned to the old man with one arm.

"Sir, what's your name?"

The old man seemed caught off guard — he hadn't expected Ethan to turn back and ask him something like that, not here, not now. He paused, then quickly answered, "My name is Igor Zelensky."

"Igor."

Ethan nodded. "Starting today, you'll stay here at city hall for now."

That hit the room like a second blow.

Stay at city hall?

A one-armed old man who scavenged for scrap — and the new mayor just told him to stay. Even if it was just temporary, even if it was just to recover, it was more than enough to show everyone exactly what this new mayor valued.

Igor himself froze. He shook his head quickly. "No, no — someone like me, what business do I have staying somewhere like this? I'm used to living outside."

"You're not someone like that."

Ethan looked at him. "You lost your arm where it needed to be lost. That already puts you above plenty of people in this room who still have all their limbs and do nothing but lech off others."

Igor's throat tightened. His eyes went red again.

His whole life — from when he was young until now — he'd heard people call him crippled, useless, a bad omen. He'd never once imagined that one day, inside city hall, someone would say something like that to him.

Ethan didn't say anything more. He just looked at Eddie. "Get him a clean room. And bring me a list of all discharged and wounded veterans in Chicago from the past few years."

"Yes, sir." Eddie answered in a low, steady voice.

Right then, another comotion came from outside.

Apparently, Lucas had been stopped at the entrance.

And they'd done exactly what Ethan said — made him kneel.

A lot of people in the hall felt their minds start moving. The Davis family hadn't been the top power in Chicago over the years, but they weren't the kind of family anyone could just humiliate either. This kneel today ripped away the last bit of dignity they'd been barely holding onto.

Ethan acted like it wasn't even worth thinking about. He just kept going through the first batch of files Eddie had handed him.

He flipped through slowly. And with every page, the people below felt something sink a little deeper inside them.

Because no one knew whose name this new mayor would land on next.

After a moment, the messenger came back in with quick steps, knelt down with a complicated look on his face.

"Mayor, Lucas is still kneeling outside. He says last night and today were all a misunderstanding. He wants to apologize to you in person. He also says the Davis family is willing to give everything they have to support Chicago's new order, and he's asking for one chance to explain himself."

Ethan's hand paused on the page.

Everyone in the hall held their breath.

A second later, he spoke, flat and calm. "Keep kneeling."

The messenger hesitated. "Mayor — Lucas also brought ten carts of gifts."

"I already said city hall doesn't accept gifts."

Ethan didn't even look up. "If he really wants to explain himself, he can get his knees steady first."

"Yes, sir!"

The messenger backed out immediately.

No one in the hall dared to move.

Everyone could see it now — the Davis family had come today to be punished. And Ethan had no intention of making it easy for them.

Ethan turned to the next page and suddenly looked up, his eyes landing on a middle-aged man in the lower right of the room who had kept his head down the whole time, face ashen.

"You. Look up."

The man's whole body flinched. Slowly, he raised his head.

Ethan looked at him, voice even. "The thirty percent in extra entertainment expenses Kellan paded into the department's accounts every month — where did that money end up?"

One sentence. The man's face went white.

Because that man was Howard, the deputy director of city hall's finance department.

"Mayor... I don't know..."

"You don't know?"

Ethan dropped a thin ledger on the table. His voice went hard for the first time. "You balanced his books fourteen times in one year. And you're telling me you don't know?"

Howard's legs gave out. He collapsed to his knees.

It was over.

That was all he had left in his head.

"Take him out." Ethan didn't look at him again. "Combine his case with Kellan's."

Eddie acknowledged the order with a lowered head and personally had Howard dragged away.

For a moment, everyone in the hall felt like they were standing on cracking ice.

Outside city hall, the wind seemed to drop several degrees.

Lucas was still kneeling at the entrance, knees pressed into the cold ground, face twisted into something almost unbearable to look at. But he didn't dare stand. Didn't dare leave. Because he knew better than anyone — if he couldn't even hold this kneel today, the Davis family would have no road back in Chicago. Not ever.

But what was really turning his stomach cold wasn't the kneeling itself.

It was the sounds coming from inside city hall.

First Kellan being dragged out. Then the guards getting dismissed. Then, one after another, people being hauled away. The dull thud of footsteps, the begging, the crying pressed down so low it was barely audible — it came in waves from somewhere deep inside, and just hearing it made the skin crawl.

Luca stood two steps behind him, forehead soaked in sweat, lips moving several times without a single word coming out.