Chapter 28 Alex And His Powerful Status
To put it plainly, Derek was putting on a very elaborate act.
He had played a very clever hand indeed.
He had laid his dignity aside in order to save Bob. In doing so, he had earned the respect of Bob and the other gangsters, who would regard him with a mixture of awe and gratitude from now on.
If Derek managed to save their lives today, their loyalty towards him would only increase tenfold. In the future, Derek would have no problem making them do whatever he wanted.
Alex had recognized this trick immediately. By the time he was a teenager, he was already much more adept at buying other’s support than Derek would ever be.
Alex looked at Dylan. The decision was his.
Derek might have set aside his pride and knelt for forgiveness, but if Dylan refused to spare the lives of Bob and the gangsters, then be it. Alex certainly wasn’t going to intervene and let Dylan have his way.
However, Dylan was frozen in shock.
Derek was the king of the underworld. However, he had swallowed his pride and knelt before Alex in order to save Bob Lane. If Dylan continued to insist on killing Bob, it would put Alex in a very difficult position indeed.
Of course, part of him was afraid of disrespecting Derek, too. If he didn’t give in to the king of the underworld now, he would gain himself a very powerful enemy.
And no matter how close they were, there was no way Alex could keep looking out for him.
Fortunately, Dylan was wise enough to pick his battles. Shaking his head, he said, “Forget it. My anger is nearly gone now that I’ve smashed the brick against his head.”
Alex looked at Dylan, but didn’t say anything.
Dylan turned to look at Penny. His voice full of contempt, he spat, “I’ll see you at the Civil Affairs Bureau first thing tomorrow morning. If you have the gall to demand alimony from me, I’ll make your life a living hell!”
He had a house to his name, and the last thing he wanted was for Quinn to get her filthy hands on it.
She had cheated on him without remorse. She had to be delusional to think that he was going to let her have the house.
Penny’s heart skipped a beat. Looking at the man standing before, she realized that he was a complete stranger to her. She couldn’t help but feel a little frightened of him.
Penny nodded meekly. “Alright.” Now that she had been exposed for having an affair, she decided to toe the line obediently.
Even if she took him to court and sued for alimony, there was no way she could win the case. It would be extremely embarrassing for her as well.
Besides, Dylan had Alex’s support, and Alex was a fairly important man. Going up against the two of them at this point wouldn’t do her any favors.
Even the king of the underworld had knelt before Alex in subservience. Quinn was afraid of Alex, for she had good reason to be.
A look of impatience flickered across Alex’s face as he glanced at Derek. “Alright, that’s enough. You can get up now.”
Derek was obviously taking advantage of the situation to garner more support from his followers.
“Thank you for giving me face, Mr. Jefferson.”
Clambering up from the floor, Derek pulled out a bank card from his pocket and handed it to Dylan. “My friend, this card contains one million in total. Please accept it as our compensation and use it to pay for your medical fees.”
Bob’s heart sank in indignance. He wanted to protest that he had been beaten more severely by Dylan. If anyone deserved to have their medical fees paid for, it was him.
However, he didn’t dare to voice his displeasure.
Dylan shook his head. “No, I don’t want your money.” How could he accept his money?
Derek insisted, “Take it. It’s what we owe you.”
“Just take it, Dylan.” Alex chimed in.
“I…” Dylan couldn’t help but feel a little agitated. To him, a million was an unbelievably huge sum of money.
Seeing that Dylan was wavering at last, Derek quickly stuffed the card into his hands before he could refuse again. “The password if six 8s.”
“Go to the hospital and have your bruises treated.” Alex said to Dylan.
Dylan nodded his head. “Alright. I’ll get going first then.” Without another word, he jumped onto his delivery motorbike and sped off in the direction of the hospital.
Derek turned to Alex. “Mr. Jefferson, would you like to have a cup of coffee with me?”
However, Alex rejected him with a casual wave of his hand. “It’s alright, carry on with your work. I have to go pick up my son now.”
“Where are you going? I’ll drive you there.” Derek offered eagerly.
Alex shook his head. “It’s really okay. I’ll have someone pick me up soon.” Taking out his phone, he called Jonathan and ordered him to pick him up from Woodgrove Lane.
Hearing this, Derek quickly exchanged phone numbers with Alex before ordering the other gangsters to escort Bob to the hospital. After that, he bid Alex farewell, and left immediately with the ladies.
…
Meanwhile, in the Sutton family’s villa in Lumenopolis, the Northern Territory, a conversation was taking place between father and daughter.
“Kate, my dear, your trip to Nebula City this time will determine if our family can rise to the ranks of the large first-tier clans.”
Woody Sutton, the head of the Sutton family, was slightly past fifty years of age. He was a little on the plump side and had started balding rapidly years ago.
Right now, his daughter Kate Sutton was sitting opposite him, listening intently to his every word.
Woody had two sons and one daughter. Like most offspring of rich parents, both his sons had succeeded in nothing but squandering away their father’s wealth. For the past few years, Woody had grown increasingly alarmed about their indecent behavior.
On the other hand, he had been blessed with a perfectly business-minded daughter. Over the last few years, Kate’s help in the family business had been indispensable as she worked tirelessly to spearhead its growth.
“Dad, don’t worry. Just look at your daughter, no man would let go of the chance to date me if I ever offer it to them. I promise I’ll be able to take down that abandoned son of the Jeffersons this time.” Kate responded confidently.
Kate was famous in Lumenopolis for her intelligence and talent, and she was beautiful almost beyond belief. The line of young heirs in Lumenopolis who wanted to date her stretched around the block.
Kate did not believe that Alex would disregard her presence.
Woody agreed with his daughter. Besides, he was quite confident that she wouldn’t let him down.
Kate continued, “I do have one worry, however. The Jefferson family will definitely retaliate once they find out, and I’m not sure if he’ll be able to withstand that.”
“The Jeffersons will never forgive him. He did make off with around 100 billion of the family fortune, after all. In doing so, he caused his own family to be downgraded to a second-tier clan. If the Jeffersons, they must first get their hands on that 100 billion. Hence, they’ll never let Alex get away.”
However, Alex had been laying low in Nebula City for the past eight years. Now that he had finally summoned up the courage to use some of that money, it meant that he was ready to launch his final vendetta against the Jeffersons.
His eyes glittered with excitement, Woody said boldly, “When the time comes, we’ll have to help him. He’ll be indebted to us forever. If you succeed in getting him to marry into our family, we’ll become fabulously wealthy overnight. We’ll then be able to fight for our family’s position among the first-tier clans without having to worry about our finances.”
A few decades ago, the Sutton family had been considered one of the most prestigious first-tier clans of Lumenopolis. Unfortunately, after years of continual strife, they had been demoted to a second-tier clan.
Woody had made it his goal in life to see the Sutton family restored to their previous seat of prestige before he died.
Now that the opportunity for the Suttons to rise up in the world again had presented itself, he was bristling with unbridled excitement.
Back in Nebula City, Alex had been dropped off at the office by Jonathan and was now making his way to the kindergarten to pick up his son.
He made a quick detour to Flynn’s shop, but the door was tightly shut. Flynn had mentioned that he was leaving in two days’ time, perhaps he was taking some time off ahead of his journey.
Alex picked his son up and did a little marketing before heading home.
Carmen and Lucas were not at home, and Heather was still at work.
Alex turned on the television for Stanley to watch cartoons, then he slipped off to the kitchen and started making dinner.
Just as he finished cooking, Heather arrived home from work.
As they ate, Heather suddenly said, “Kate is arriving in Nebula City tomorrow. She wants me to go pick her up, but I can’t leave the office tomorrow. Can you help me pick her up instead?”
“Kate is coming to Nebula City?”
Alex felt a little startled. Kate was one of their friends from university. He knew that she hailed from the second-tier Sutton clan, but Kate had always been in the dark about his status as the Jeffersons’ abandoned son.
What is she doing in Nebula City?
Alex couldn’t help but think that Kate’s visit in Nebula City was a little calculated.
Heather replied, “Yes, she says Four Seas Corporation offered her a job.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. That explained everything.
Kate wasn’t here for a job, she was here for him.
The Sutton family was a well-respected family in Lumenopolis. As the eldest daughter of the clan leader, there was no need for her to find employment at Four Seas Corporation unless it was for some other reason.
Besides, Kate had chosen an extremely opportune time to arrive. She was obviously coming on him.
Alex asked, “Alright. What time does her flight arrive tomorrow?”
