Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Schumann stepped forward, his voice cold and sharp: "Time's up. Kneel."

Decker's face changed. He blurted out, "I showed up tonight, you have to at least—"

He never finished the sentence. Schumann kicked him hard behind the knees.

Decker had no time to react. He crashed straight down, both knees slamming into the stone ground. The pain drained the color from his face.

The courtyard was so quiet you could hear the wind.

Decker gritted his teeth, sweat breaking out across his forehead in waves. When he looked up, what was left of his dignity was already half gone. "Schumann, don't push it."

Schumann smiled, but it never reached his eyes. "Push it?"

He bent down and grabbed Decker by the hair, forcing his face up. "When you sold Lena to Lex, did you ask yourself if you were pushing it?"

Something hit Decker like a thunderclap.

This was exactly what he'd been most afraid of — having this dragged out in front of everyone.

If it stuck, he wasn't just looking at losing his footing. He'd be cast out entirely.

The two men who'd come with him went pale. One of them quickly spoke up. "Could there be some kind of misunderstanding here—"

"Who do you think you are, speaking out of turn?"

Jennifer stood on the steps, her gaze flat and cold. "I let you in to watch how Decker kneels tonight. Not to speak up for him."

The man fell silent.

Everyone in the South District knew that Jennifer rarely said much. But when she did, it meant there was nothing left to negotiate.

Decker clenched his jaw and suddenly looked toward the house. "Where's Lena? I want to see her. I'll tell her myself—"

"You think you're in any position to see her?"

This time it was Ethan.

He came down the steps one at a time, unhurried. But with each step, the air in the courtyard seemed to press down a little lower.

Decker watched him, and a chill crept up his spine.

He'd seen Ethan before. But back then, he'd never taken the man seriously. Someone dropped in out of nowhere, someone who only had a seat in the South District because of Lena — in Decker's eyes, nothing more than a temporary shield propped up for convenience.

But tonight, he finally understood just how wrong he'd been.

The Black Tiger Society had been wiped out.

Lex was dead.

Even the South District police had only dared to show up afterward to clean the mess.

And now this man was standing in front of him, barely showing any emotion at all, and Decker could hardly breathe.

Ethan stopped in front of him. "Didn't you want to explain yourself?"

Decker's throat moved.

"Go ahead."

Just two words.

But Decker opened his mouth and found he had nothing to say.

What could he say?

That he'd had a moment of weakness?

That he just wanted to teach Lena a lesson?

That he never expected Lex to go that far?

He didn't believe any of it himself.

Ethan looked at him, nothing behind his eyes. "I gave you twenty minutes to come here and own what you did. Not to come here and keep playing dead."

Sweat ran down Decker's face.

"I just..." he forced out, "I only wanted to make her back down."

"So you handed her over to Lex?"

"I didn't think—"

"You didn't think?"

Ethan let out a short laugh.

It was a quiet laugh. But it made your skin crawl.

The next second, he drove his foot into Decker's chest.

Decker flipped backward and hit the ground hard. Something rose in his throat and he coughed up blood. The two men behind him instinctively moved to step forward. Schumann and Julian both looked up at the same time. The two men froze where they stood and didn't dare take another step.

Ethan walked over and pressed his foot down on Decker's chest, pushing him back down just as he'd started to push himself up.

"If you wanted to make her submit, you come at me."

"If you wanted to take her position, you fight for it out in the open."

"But you couldn't hold her down. You couldn't beat her. So you sold her to the Black Tiger Society and let Lex destroy her."

"Decker. Did you really think you were going to walk away from this?"

By the time the last words landed, every last bit of color had left Decker's face.

That was when he finally understood. Ethan hadn't come here to humiliate him.

Ethan had come to kill him.

Inside the house, Lena had gotten to her feet.

She was still pale, but she'd walked to the doorway. Jennifer had almost stopped her, then didn't. Because she knew — Lena had to see this for herself.

Nia and a few of the others stood just behind her.

Decker looked up and saw her.

In that instant, the panic in his eyes spilled over completely. "Lena! Lena, listen to me. I never meant for things to go this far, I just—"

Lena looked at him. Her eyes didn't move.

"You just what?"

Decker's throat tightened. "I was backed into a corner. You'd been bearing down on me for so long. Everyone in the company was on your side. The partners only dealt with you. Everything I had, you took it piece by piece. I wasn't thinking straight, that's the only reason I—"

"So you decided to destroy me?"

Lena's voice was quiet. But every word landed clean.

Everyone in the courtyard heard it.

Decker had nothing left to say.

Because the answer was right there. Everyone could see it.

Lena stood in the doorway and looked at him for a long moment. Then she said just one thing: "Decker. You disgust me."

The words weren't loud. But they hit harder than a slap.

Decker went rigid.

What he feared most wasn't the beating, or being forced to kneel. What he feared most was this — Lena looking at him now with no trace of their history, no hesitation, nothing but plain and open contempt.

It meant he had nothing left to hide behind.

Ethan glanced over at Lena. "What do you want from him?"

Lena was quiet for two seconds. Her voice was steady. "Make him talk. Whose idea was it. Who set it up. Who else inside Vertex Holdings Group was in on it with him. Every single one."

Decker's face went white. "Lena, you can't do this."

"Can't do this?" Jennifer finally smiled, and it was ice cold. "When you were sending her to that lakeside villa, did you stop to think this day might come?"

Schumann grabbed Decker and shoved him back into position. "Talk."

"I..."

"Talk, or I'll break every bone in your body."

When Schumann said it, Decker's shoulder jerked hard.

He had no doubt it was a real threat.

Tonight Schumann had brought people to block off the police station. He'd watched the Black Tiger Society get torn apart without flinching. That didn't make him a peacemaker. He was on Ethan's side.

Decker finally broke.

"It was Mandel who came to me!" His voice shook. He was almost shouting. "And the people in the company's logistics department — they're the ones who leaked the schedule. I just gave the go-ahead. They were the ones who put it all together. It wasn't just me. It wasn't only me!"

Jennifer's expression darkened.