Chapter 218: A Woman Of Inviolable Grace

​In the back seat of Samuel’s car, Mei lay unconscious, her face swollen, bruised, and completely unrecognizable from the beating April had delivered. Her chest rose and fell in shallow, uneven breaths.

​Up front, Samuel kept both hands on the steering wheel, his knuckles white against the dark leather. His posture remained immaculate, his suit pristine, his expression as unreadable and robotic as ever.

​Xavier had ordered him to clear the site—to dump her somewhere and ensure April wasn’t involved in her mess going forward. And he was going to do just that.

​He drove past the city’s major medical centers. He passed the turnoff to Mei’s apartment complex. He didn’t even slow down.

​Instead, the sedan glided into the industrial district at the far end of the city, turning into a subterranean passage that led directly into the city’s dark underbelly—a lawless, shadow-drenched alleyway where even the streetlights didn’t reach.

Samuel had never stepped foot in this neighborhood before, but as Xavier Reed’s chief assistant, he made it his duty to study every corner, precinct, and shadow district of the city down to the smallest detail. He knew exactly what kind of people roamed these streets.

​Samuel brought the car to a smooth halt near a flickering neon sign.

​In the dim shadows of the alley, three men leaning against a rusted dumpster looked up, their dark, predatory eyes locking onto the high-end vehicle. They were bottom-feeders of the underworld, operating in filth and lawlessness, completely removed from civilized society.

​Samuel stepped out of the driver’s seat, his polished leather shoes clicking cleanly against the damp pavement. He didn’t hesitate or look around with an ounce of uncertainty; his posture radiated the cold, dangerous authority of someone who knew just what he was doing.

​He walked around to the rear door, opened it, and dragged Mei’s limp body out onto the ground.

​He dropped her at the feet of the three men like a bag of garbage.

​The men blinked, startled by the sudden appearance of a sharp-dressed corporate executive acting with such unbothered brutality. One of them smirked, looking down at the beaten, unconscious woman on the pavement, then up at Samuel.

​"What’s this, stranger? A gift?"

​Samuel pulled a silk handkerchief from his breast pocket, slowly wiping his hands clean. His eyes, usually calm and professional, were completely dead—void of warmth, guilt, or a single trace of the years he had spent loving the woman at his feet.

​He didn’t care that she had cheated on him. He didn’t care that she had called him a glorified servant or that she still looked down on him till today.

​What made a dark, suffocating rage boil beneath his calm surface... was the realization that this woman was a parasite that had dared to cross April Gabriel. The woman he revered.

In Samuel’s mind, April wasn’t just the supreme anchor of their future; she was a woman of inviolable grace—a being of transcendent divinity, an unshakeable, god-like force he revered above all else. She was a sun around which his entire existence now orbited.

Mei hadn’t just insulted him—she had irritated, disgusted, and brought ugly conflict to Miss April. She had forced Miss April to stain her own hands with blood on the very day she buried her mother.

​That was a crime that no apology could ever erase, and no past feelings could ever condone.

Right now, Mei was not a past of his. She was a criminal that death would be too light of a punishment on.

​"She’s all yours," Samuel said flatly, his voice smooth, even, and utterly devoid of human mercy. "Do whatever you want with her. Just make sure she never steps foot near the light of this city, ever again."

​The men exchanged dark, wicked grins, grabbing Mei by the arms and dragging her backward into the deep shadows of the alley.

​Samuel turned his back on her as she began to stir, stepping back toward his car without looking back even once. He tossed the silk handkerchief into a nearby burn barrel, watching the flames swallow it whole.

​As he opened the door of his sedan and slid back into the driver’s seat, his cold reflection caught in the side mirror. A quiet, terrifying mandate solidified in the dark part of his mind:

​Anyone who hurts, displeases, or brings irritation to Miss April... must pay the penalty in blood.

​He put the car into drive, smoothly pulling out of the alley and leaving the noise behind as he headed back to prepare for tomorrow night’s banquet.

As Samuel navigated the vehicle out of the shadow-drenched alleyway and back toward the main thoroughfares of the city.

​The notification of his phone broke the silence inside the car. Samuel reached down, tapping his earpiece to answer.

​"Are you done with your ex’s affair?" Xavier’s deep, commanding voice came through cleanly.

​"Yes, sir," Samuel replied, his tone as smooth and measured as ever. "Everything has been taken care of. Mei will no longer be a disturbance to Miss April."

​Samuel didn’t offer a dramatic excuse or waffle over his past personal ties. His allegiance was clear, and his execution was absolute.

​"Good," Xavier said flatly from the other end. "Just ensure the other loose end is tied up as well so he doesn’t bring his mess anywhere near April."

​Sebastian.

​Samuel’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, darkening into two pitch-black pools of ice. "Understood, sir."

​Ending the call, Samuel tapped a few things on his phone and then tapped the console on his dashboard, bringing up a secure interface.

Within seconds, his screen pinpointed a live GPS coordinate in an upscale gated neighborhood—the private residence of Sebastian’s estate.

​A few miles away, inside a lavish, multi-million-dollar modern villa, Sebastian paced back and forth across his marble foyer.

​His expensive suit jacket was thrown unceremoniously onto the sofa, his tie loosened as sweat beaded heavily across his forehead.

His lip was still swollen and torn from April’s brutal slap, and his hands trembled uncontrollably as he poured himself a stiff glass of whiskey.

​"What the fuck just happened?!" he muttered frantically under his breath, taking a large gulp of the liquor. "Who the hell was that crazy bitch?! What kind of monster..."

​He set the glass down with a heavy clack, breathing heavily as he tried to regain his composure.

He had left Mei in the dirt without a second thought, fleeing like a coward, but the sheer, lethal pressure he had felt back in that parking lot still made his blood run cold.

"I should call someone to take care of this. Should I call my uncle?" He shoved his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Fuck, he’ll think I’m useless! Then, those other guys? They’re with the Mafia so maybe they can—"

​Ding-dong.

​The sudden chime of the front doorbell echoed loudly through the quiet house, making Sebastian jump out of his skin.

​He flinched, clutching his chest as he glared toward the front door. "Who the hell is that at this hour? Is that the damn cleaning staff?"

​Irritated and still on edge, Sebastian strode toward the entrance and yanked the door open without even looking through the feed coms. "I told you to use the side entrance, you fuc—"

​The words froze in his throat.

​Standing on his porch in the dim porchlight was Samuel.

​His suit was immaculate, his posture perfectly rigid, and his face a mask of absolute, terrifying calm. Dangled casually from his black latex gloved right hand was a thick length of black industrial rope.

​Sebastian’s eyes widened in sheer, suffocating horror. The glass in his hand slipped, shattering into pieces against the marble floor.

​"You... You?!" Sebastian stammered, scrambling backward in a panic. "You cunt! What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?! Get the hell away from my house!"

​Samuel didn’t say a word. He simply crossed the threshold, stepping smoothly into the entryway.

​"Hey! Stay back! I’m calling the police!" Sebastian yelled, his voice cracking into a high-pitched shriek as he backed away step by step. He grabbed a heavy bronze statue off a side table, leveling it like a weapon. "Stay away from me! Do you know who I am?! Stay away! I’ll call my Uncle."

​Samuel slowly unbuttoned his suit jacket, stepping over the broken glass with measured, silent strides. He held the rope loosely in his hands, his dark, dead eyes fixed entirely on Sebastian’s trembling form.

​Sebastian kept retreating, his breath hitching wildly as the shadows of his own living room swallowed them whole. "Stay away! Stay—!"

​Click.

​The heavy, soundproofed doors of the grand villa sealed the interior completely off from the outside world.

​Beyond the dark, pristine windows, no light flickered. Nothing could be seen.

​All that remained was the muffled, sickening sound of a sudden struggle—a violent, heavy crash, the frantic, muffled shrieks of a desperate man, and the sickening, definitive snap of bone breaking in the dark.

​And then, absolute silence.