Chapitre 363: Ch 363 - An Ironic End
Chris was completely unnerved by Rufus' cold demeanor. He began to seriously fear for his life.
"You need to be careful!" he cried, his voice rising in pitch. "If you take this too far, my father will get revenge! I'm the son and heir of the Steadman family. You can't threaten me like this without consequences."
He switched from begging for mercy to threatening the entire Clifton family.
"Your family is nothing without Jessop! You don't have his power! As soon as Jessop is gone, your whole family is finished! I'm willing to be merciful in the future if you apologize!"
Finally, Rufus' expression changed. He smiled.
With a shake of his head, he looked up to the sky. He didn't say anything to Chris.
Chris glared up at him. "Are you kidding me? Don't ignore me! If you apologize now, you can still save the rest of your family."
Rufus looked down at him with a smirk. "I gave you two choices. I'll add a third. Pick up that knife and fight me. If you win, I'll let you go."
All his anger at Chris had dissipated while he listened to the younger man beg and scream. He saw now that it was pointless to take the man so seriously. He was pathetic.
"I'll count to three. You need to choose. If you don't make the choice for yourself, then I'll just kill you and throw your body to the wilderness myself."
Chris felt his blood run cold. Rufus no longer seemed human. He felt sweat streaming down his face, and he struggled to think straight as Rufus began to count.
"Hey, slow down!" He cried angrily. "Who could just pick like this on the count of three? Stop it, I'll choose, I'll choose! I'll fight you!"
Rufus clapped his hands. "Great! Then stand up and let's begin." He turned to the guards surrounding them. "No one is to interfere. Whatever happens, let him go when we are finished. No one is to stop him. Do you understand?"
The guards all murmured their assent, and turned their backs on the fight, forming a ring around the pair.
The yard where they faced each other was very calm and quiet. It was a spot Rufus often brought his son to play. Thinking of his son's injuries brought up his anger all over again, and he became lost in his thoughts. Tears welled up in his eyes as he thought of his son' suffering.
He left his back open to Chris without even realizing it. Quietly, Chris picked the knife up from the ground and threw himself at Rufus, slashing at his back.
Yet it was almost as if Rufus had been expecting this surprise attack. He stepped away on instinct, dodging the blow. The force with which Chris had thrown himself forward carried him through the air, his arms spinning wildly as he tried to regain his balance.
But it was too late. He fell heavily, piercing himself with the very knife he had tried to cut Rufus with.
His suffering passed quickly. After a few minutes of struggling for breath, he slumped back to the ground with a sigh.
Rufus stared down at him in surprise. He couldn't believe Chris had finished himself off with his own failed attack. It was not the outcome he had expected at all.
He had no choice but to report the outcome to Jessop, who had shaken off his act and was now pacing the halls with energy. Alex stood nearby, listening and thinking hard.
Jessop frowned as he walked. He didn't want to punish Rufus for challenging Chris. He understood how much pain and fury his son was struggling with, and it was too late now to change the course of events. All they could do now was deal with the reaction of the Steadmans when they found out.
"I'll take responsibility," Rufus said quietly. "I'll take care of everything. You can rest."
Jessop gave him a stern look. "Do you think you can handle it? I don't think you understand how far Art Steadman will go to get revenge for this. Although Chris hurt many people, we did not need to be his executioner.
"He killed himself," Rufus said bluntly. "He was killed by his own attack. It wasn't how I wanted it to happen, believe me."
Even though the incident had shaken him, he was starting to find some humor in the irony of Chris' death.
"You think Art will believe his son drove himself to our house to kill himself here? Don't be a fool. I'll deal with this," Jessop said coldly.
He turned to Alex, who had overheard much of the conversation, and said, "What do you think? How do we solve this?"
Alex frowned. "As you said, even if we try to say it was suicide, it still happened at the Clifton house. The truth about what has been going on between the Cliftons and the Steadmans will come to light. They attacked us with the Blood Brothers gang. We have to find a way to divide those two powers so they will be less of a threat."
Rufus and Jessop were both stunned. "How?" Rufus asked.
Alex said, "Send a competent person to put Chris in his car and drive him to another location. Leave him there. Art Steadman has plenty of surveillance resources. He's sure to find his son's body soon. But let him think that Chris died after he left the house.
Rufus nodded quickly and began to make the arrangements. The man they selected quickly loaded Chris' body into his car and drove it away.
As he drove, Chris' cell phone began to ring. The man did not bother to answer it. He drove the car far along the road and out to a reservoir.
He pulled over onto the side of the road, and repositioned Chris so he was sitting in the driver's seat. Then the man started the engine again, placed a heavy bottle from the trunk of the car on the gas, and let the car roll into the reservoir, taking Chris with it. The car was soon completely submerged.
The man still standing on the road changed his clothes. When he was finished, he looked up to the sky.
"Rest in peace, Saul," he said to the air.
Then he turned and disappeared into the wilderness.
**
Art Steadman had tried to call his son several times, and he was becoming uneasy.
But it did not occur to him for a second that Chris was in any real danger, let alone that he might have died. Art was still riding the heady feeling of their victory against the Cliftons. With Jessop injured and presumably near death, Art could use the Blood Brothers gang to get rid of anyone else who tried to stand in his family's way.
Alex was at the top of his list.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone