bChapter /bb201 /b

    All eyes turned to Brandon, who avoided Frank’s gaze. “Emily told about what happened to Connor at the border…”

    Everyone knew that, aside from Reece and Hamish, Connor was by far the most ruthless person around Ashton.

    Rumor had it that Connor had killed at least fifty people, if not a hundred. He was a downright killing monster.

    Word on the street was that the reason Connor never stayed in Shoneport was that Ashton didn’t dare keep him by his side. He was afraid Connor would turn into a real killing demon. The guy was just too dangerous.

    Frank had deep feelings for Connor and would never let anyone say a single bad word about him. Whenever he overheard someone criticizing Connor behind his back, he’d feel a surge of anger and want nothing more than to stand up for him, no matter what.

    Frank’s parents were well aware of his feelings for Connor. Other than not being able to ept the idea of them officially registering their marriage just yet, they had pretty much acknowledged that the two were already a couple.

    Almost all of Ashton’s international under–the–table earnings came from the border region. The reason Frank’s parents had basically epted their rtionship was that Connor was Ashton’s most trusted right–hand man, and he was in charge of all of Ashton’s business along the border.

    No matter who you were, once you set foot in the border area, you had to y by Connor’s rules and watch his mood.

    Secondly, when Frank was a kid and got bullied by the second and third branches of the family, Connor was always there to step in and protect him.

    Frank’s parents were busy with their careers back then and were hardly ever home. Having someone who would protect Frank no matter what, they naturally felt deeply grateful to Connor.

    But Frank never would have imagined that, even with his deep feelings for Connor, Emily would still try to stir up trouble.

    Frank’s expression immediately darkened. He rolled up his sleeves and turned to storm off, ready to confront Emily. “Damn it, Emily! If I don’t break your legs today, I’ll take yourst name!”

    But Ashton grabbed him, sounding a bit impatient as he tried to calm him down. “Hold on. Now’s not the time to rush.”

    Frank pouted, looking absolutely miserable. “Ashton, Emily totally did this on purpose! I swear, this time I’m really going to make her pay, and nobody’s stopping me!”

    He thought Ashton was trying to cover for Emily, and his eyes grew red with frustration and anger.

    Ashton ruffled Frank’s hair, then shoved him toward Brandon, who held him back. “Rx, you’ll definitely get your chance to vent. But not now. We’ve got more important things to handle first.”

    Frank paused for a second, just now realizing that Ashton and Briar looked like they were about to head out. He quickly asked, “Ashton, where are you guys going?”

    Ashton and Briar started walking toward the car together. “Come onb, /bwe’re taking you to see something even more exciting.”

    Frank looked up at Brandon, who nodded and coaxed him, “That’s right. We’re about to watch a good show. Miss Jennings is going to handle it herself.”

    “Then what are we waiting for? Emily’s not going anywhere, but it’s not every day you get to see Briar throwing punches.” Frank was instantly fired up. His gut told him that whatever Ashton and Briar were about to do had to be way more exciting than just teaching Emily a lesson.

    And just like that, he happily forgot all about getting justice for Connor. Connor was speechless.

    When they got to Ashton’s vi near thepany, Frank trailed after them into the basement, craning his neck and poking his head around like a nosy kid. Brandon tugged the ever–curious Frank out of the way and waved Briar in first.

    It was still the same basement, still the same torture gear, only this time, the person hanging on the wall waiting to be interrogated bhad /bbchanged/b.

    Jake had been strung up here all night. At first, he actually felt a bit lucky, but as the hours dragged on, helplessness set in, and in bthe /bendb, /bleft alone in bthe /bempty basement, he was swallowed by despair. He started thinking Ashton’s people were just going to leave him here to die.

    He’d been waiting forever for the door to open, and when it finally did, all he saw was… a woman? Hold up, a woman?

    Jake, a shameless pervert if there ever was one, let his leering, half–lidded eyes roam all over the woman’s gorgeous figure. But the second he got a clear look at her face, his expression changed in an instant.

    “Y–you’re… you’re that…” He stammered for ages but just couldn’t bring himself to say Briar’s ollime. He was clearly scared of her. /li/ol

    Briar arched an eyebrow, finding it amusing. Afraid of her? ‘If I remembered right, we’d never even met before, had they?‘ she thought to herself.

    She turned to Ashton, who was standing by the door, and said seriously, “Ashton, looks like this guy knows more about who I really am than you all do!”

    Before meeting Jake, Briar had always assumed he was just a pawn Ben used to expand his influence in Shoneport. But now, Jake was actually scared of her? ‘Now that’s interesting,‘ she mused.

    She’d only been back in Shoneport for a little over two months, and people were already remembering her? Ashton gave Briar a nod, signaling her to go ahead. “Show no mercy,” he said.

    Briar strolled over to the wall of torture tools, casually grabbed a whip with a hook, and sauntered up to Jake. She shed a smile and asked, “Jake, right? You know who I am?”

    Even though it sounded like a question, her tone left no room for doubt. Jake’s whole body shuddered, his eyes darting everywhere. He just couldn’t bring himself to meet Briar’s gaze.

    He’d been warned that Briar was the real deal, a total savage. Anyone who ended up in her hands almost never made it out alive.

    Briar didn’t even need Jake to answer. She already knew. “So you do know me. Let me guess. Was it Ben? Or Zayne? Or… maybe the school doctor at Shoneport University, Sawyer?”

    With every name Briar mentioned, Jake flinched a little harder. By the time she said Sawyer, he was shaking like a leaf.

    “Looks like I was right again.” Briar unfurled the whip in her hand.

    Standing outside the door with Ashton, Frank watched Briar exude a cold, intimidating aura and swallowed nervously. “Ashton, what’s up with Briar? It’s like she’s a totally different person now. She looks so domineering.”

    Brandonughed. “Pretty shocking, right? You should’ve seen Miss Jennings yesterday. That was scary. If you’d been there, I bet you would’ve run for iyour /ilife.”

    Frank shot him a doubtful look. “Come on, really? I’ve got Connor, the ultimate big bad, on my side. I’m not that easy to scare, you know.”

    Frank had never actually gone to the border with Connor, but he’d definitely heard all about Connor’s ruthless ways. Still, Briar just didn’t seem like the type to be that savage. ‘No matter how scary she gets, how bad could it really be?‘ he thought.

    But in the very next second, Frank saw Briar’s whip move so fast it was just a blur. Screams started pouring out from inside, one after another. Jake was howling like a dogb, /bbut Briar didn’t let up for a second. Her strikes were sharp, fast, and absolutely merciless.

    “Ahh… Help! You’re killing me! Help…” Jake twisted himself up like a pretzel, begging, “Miss Jennings, please! Have mercy! Whatever you want ito /iiknow/ibi, /i/bjust ask… Please, just stop hitting me!”

    After all these years crawling through the underworld, Jake had seen plenty of vicious women. Bute oni, /ihow scary could a woman really get?

    Everysh from Briar felt like she was trying to end him right there. “Miss Jennings, please… have mercy, ahh! Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything…”