Barnaby chuckled. “Of course. No matter how brazen I am, I wouldn’t go digging my own grave. But with all due respect, Captain, times have changed. If you don’t reclaim what once belonged to you, you’ll have a hard time walking out of Chervine.”
Andrew shrugged casually. “What belonged to me in the past is nothing but smoke and mirrors now. It’s like sand slipping through your fingers; the tighter you hold, the faster it runs out. What’s the point of taking it back? I’d rather treasure what I have now.”
The corner of Barnaby’s mouth curled with a faint sneer. Clearly, he did not buy Andrew’s words. He lowered his head in mock courtesy, then turned with his men and walked away without hesitation.
Once in the car, he didn’t waste a moment. “Straight out of Gabo Creek!”
Dante stared in shock. “But sir, aren’t we going to hold the Kellers fully accountable for their actions? And what about Derek? We came all this way, shouldn’t we at least mess with him a bit before we leave?”
Barnaby snorted coldly, “Idiot, with that man here, anything I do would be pointless. Let’s go. Where he stands, there’s nothing worth taking. We’ll just wait until he heads back to Chetvine, then sit back and watch the show.”
Dante scoffed. “Is he really that powerful? Sir, with your rank and the people backing you, what’s there to fear? Sure, the Lloyd royal family is untouchable, but he’s not one of them anymore. A fallen phoenix isn’t a phoenix. It’s just a sparrow that can’t fly. Anyone who wants to crush him can do it on a whim.”
Barnaby replied calmly, “Dante, you’re still new. There’s a lot you don’t know. Stop whining, and don’t parade your ignorance in front of me. A broken-winged phoenix can fall to a sparrow, yes, but a phoenix can also rise again from the ashes. With your tiny brain, you’ve never seen that, have you? This was a man who once nearly turned Chervine upside down. I’d rather believe he’s even more dangerous now than believe he’s nothing.”
Dante grinned, “Whatever the case, I’ll follow your lead. But sir, when it comes to ruthless cunning and sheer brutality, there aren’t many in this world who can match you. Still, I can’t swallow the thought of that former golden boy of Chetvine. If I get the chance, I’ll drag his head across the ground.”
Barnaby shrugged. “Then you’d better pray that the one getting his face ground into the dirt isn’t you.”
The Driscoll family was no more. Everything had finally come to an end. Maurice had fallen in battle, and Franklin, once the most feared fighter in Gabo Creek, soon followed him to the grave.
Worse still, nearly all of the Driscoll high command had been wiped out. In a storm of fury, Andrew had personally slaughtered the family’s three elders, and even among their vassal clans, more than half of their eight martial kings were dead.
The loss was staggering enough to make anyone’s heart bleed.
The Three Titans families had never been on the level of the Goldridge McCormicks. Once gutted like this, the Driscolls were essentially finished, doomed to collapse completely or slide into obscurity as a second-rate clan.
If Andrew had been willing, they might still have clung to life, though barely, and without worth. However, he was not interested, and his allies like George and Eric had no intention of showing mercy either.
George had old scores with the Driscolls, so his stance was simple: kill those who deserved it, and drive out the rest. To him, the Driscolls had to be erased and divided up.
Eric leaned fully into the ruthless ways of the underworld, preaching the creed of blood and fire. In his world, fortunes were built on the edge of a blade, and power was forged by wiping out families without leaving a single body intact.
Chapter 2032