Chapter 45: Bait and Switch

The opulent Xiao mansion loomed over the city skyline, a towering monument to wealth and power. Within its lavish walls, an atmosphere of simmering tension hung thick in the air.

Xiao Mingyuan paced back and forth across the plush carpet of his cavernous office, his brow furrowed and his jaw clenched tightly. Two young men sat hunched over laptops in the corner, the rapid clacking of keys the only sound save for the sharp staccato of Mingyuan's footsteps.

"Brother, you have to sit down," Xiao Mingliang drawled from his position sprawled in a high-backed leather chair. "You're making me dizzy with all that pacing."

Xiao Mingyuan shot his younger brother a withering glare, his hands clenching into white-knuckled fists at his sides. "How do you expect me to sit down when I just buried my brother and have yet to find his killer?"