Secret Scion

Asher was the first to arrive at the finish point where Griffin was pointing and yelling angrily, "Cut

the crap, Jeremiah, or I am smashing your car into pieces!"

Jeremiah merely gave him a look of contempt. "Really? Why don't you have a go?"

"Fuck!" Griffin screamed and ran to his car trunk to take out a baseball bat.

As he charged menacingly toward Jeremiah's Ferrari with his eyes bulging in fury, Jeremiah actually backed away in fear.

"Fatty! Stop!" Asher exclaimed right then.

"Stay out of this, Boss!" Griffin yelled back even as he reached the Ferrari. "He was playing dirty! I must straighten him out!"

Meanwhile, Rose and everyone else arrived at the scene, wheezing. While everyone else was left gaping when they saw that Griffin had the baseball bat in hand and clearly meant business, Rose promptly cried out, "No, Griffin!"

However, it was too late-Griffin's baseball bat slammed down heavily on the Ferrari's roof with a loud bang, immediately leaving a huge dent.

Everyone on the scene gasped.

However, Griffin was not content, and continued to clobber the Ferrari while screaming, "Fuck you, Jeremiah! I'll straighten you out right now!"

On the other hand, Jeremiah was clenching his teeth so hard they could break. He had never been put through so much grief in his existence. As rage overcame him, he bellowed furiously, "Jordan! Kill this fucker right fucking now!"

Despite Jordan's reluctance to make an enemy of Griffin, he was not about to disobey a direct order from Jeremiah. Turning toward his gang of university students, he cried, "What are you spacing out for? Go!"

"Yeah!"

With that, more than ten youths roared and charged at Griffin at Jordan's battle cry, but the man showed no fear and merely spat in response, "Come on! Who wants to die first?"

Naturally, none of the youths dared to be the first to fight Griffin, and merely encircled him. "Useless fuckers!"

Frustrated by their cowardice, Jeremiah took out a baseball bat from his car as well and rushed toward Griffin. Jordan and the others promptly swarmed at Griffin, restraining him with a vice grip-with their numbers, Griffin had trouble shaking them off despite his immense strength.

Layla turned toward Ash worriedly right then. "What should we do? Come on, say something!" "What's there to say? It's clobberin' time!"

Even as Asher replied, he had already rushed forward and sent some of the university students flying with his foot.

Naturally, once Asher joined the fray, the university gang were reduced to mere victims, with the tables turned in just ten seconds.

At the same time, Griffin's eyes were scarlet in fury. Flooring Jordan and his friends like a rampaging gorilla, he strode toward Jeremiah with murderous intent.

Jeremiah lost his wits from fear right then. With Griffin looking like he could kill, he naturally spared no thought for his dignity and promptly dropped his baseball bat before running over. "Motherfucker!" Griffin spat at his direction, before returning to the already ruined Ferrari and continued to clobber it.

Minutes later, the entire car was definitely totaled, and it was certainly a tragic sight for an object that was worth six hundred grand.

Even if the crowd present consisted of affluent individuals, they could feel the pain in their bones. "Who else wants to challenge me? Come, let's settle everything right now!" Griffin growled as he swept a cool glare at the crowd.

However, it was only natural that none of them would dare to challenge him at a time like this. "Are you all right?" Noelle quickly ran up to Asher after the dust settled and studied him in

concern.

Ash smiled faintly and shook his head while Layla pursed her lips. "Why wouldn't he be? The ones we should be worried about are lying on the floor."

She had wanted Asher to stop the fight, only for him to join the fray without hesitation. What should they do now that they won?

There were many left injured, including Jeremiah himself, as well a car worth hundreds of thousands of dollars left in pieces. Would the Macquoids really leave this unchecked?

Rolling his eyes at Asher just then, Layla muttered, "I'll just wait and see how you're going to settle this.

"It's not Asher's fault. If the Macquoids want blood, tell them to come for me. I'm macho enough to admit my crimes!" Griffin laughed coldly.

All Layla could do was sigh at his words.

"Yes, you may be macho enough, but not even you can really shoulder a mess as big as this in its entirety." Rose snorted and turned to leave.

Griffin thought nothing of it, however, and chuckled as he threw his baseball bat to a corner. "Thanks for helping me out there, Boss, or I really would have trouble with those brats. Brothers for life! Come, let's get drunk tonight, and don't get too upset now, Layla, join us!"

Indeed, with the mess already made, the only thing to do was to improvise as things progressed. Holding back her temper, Layla followed both men as they left.

Meanwhile, Phoebe, who had kept quiet since the start of the confrontation, waited until the trio had left before stepping out of the crowd.

She could not hide her frown after shooting a glance at Jeremiah's Ferrari. She did not try to help Asher and the others because her family would never survive the harassment of an important family like the Macquoids if they wanted payback.

On the other hand, since she chose to stay neutral, any positive feelings Asher might have for her would be gone now.

***

Half an hour later at the Macquoid residence.

The reason that the Macquoids' position amongst the upper-class families was unassailable was because of their assets which were worth billions, as well as their influence. Not only were they the richest family of Alexandrius, the head of the family-Alistair Macquoid, had made many friends back in his younger days. He had strong connections with everyone, be it the rich, the poor, megacorps, politicians, or criminal syndicates... Especially politicians.

At present, Jeremiah was scowling as he sat on the couch, his face covered in bruises left from

the club.

"Jeremiah! What are you doing here instead of attending university? And what's with your face?" A man in a suit barked at him. He was Hal Macquoid, Jeremiah's father.

Nearby, his wife was applying ice to Jeremiah's face and asked in concern, "Tell us, Jeremiah. What happened? Did you get in a fight?"

"It's not a fight, Mom. I was beaten up," Jeremiah replied as he pushed her hand away.

"You got beaten up?" Hal repeated, but soon snorted. "Hmph! Save your lies! Who would dare to lay a finger on you? Tell us the truth-were you bothering someone else?"

Mrs. Macquoid rolled her eyes at her husband. "Jeremiah's face is hurt, and that's the truth. Just

tell us who it is, baby. We'll contact the dean of your university and have him resolve the matter." "It's not someone from university. It's... It's..."

Hal snapped in annoyance at his hesitation. "Who is it? Tell us!"

"Griffin Quinn."

"Griffin Quinn? As in Harlow Quinn's grandson?"

"Yes... And Asher Crawford," Jeremiah added then.

"Solomon Crawford's grandson, too?" Hal's cheeks were puffing indignantly right then. "I sent you to university to study! Why would you mess with them for no reason? You deserved it!" However, Mrs. Macquoid snapped at him in displeasure this time. "Is Jeremiah not your son? Doesn't it hurt you when he ended up like this? Ignore him, Jeremiah, and tell me more about what happened. Not even Harlow's grandson should be allowed to beat up anyone he likes-I will stand up for you even if your father doesn't."

Hal seemed to have more to say, but he restrained himself and simply lit himself a cigarette. Jeremiah explained, "I had a race with Griffin, but he was a sore loser and destroyed my car. I fought them since I was upset, but you know how big Griffin is... There was no way I'd win, so they beat me up."

Then, worried that they would doubt his story, Jeremiah added, "Many others were present at the time. Ask around if you don't believe me."

"So?" Mrs. Macquoid pressed Hal just then. "Your son is being bullied, and you're just going to sit by?"

"What is this I'm hearing? Someone beat up Jeremiah?"

Alistair's voice boomed from the doorway just then. Both Hal and his wife sprang to their feet immediately, with the latter scowling as she said, "Harlow Quinn and Solomon Crawford's grandsons are responsible for this! They even destroyed Jeremiah's car as well! Do you see my poor boy's bleeding face? What's your opinion on the matter, Dad?"

"You don't have to worry, Dad. I know you are close with Harlow and Solomon, so let me handle this," Hal said. "I heard that Asher went through training for two years and is no longer the hellraiser he was before, so I think we need to investigate this further." Alistair mused to himself for a few seconds, but soon said, "No, there's nothing to investigate. They are in the wrong because they destroyed Jeremiah's car. Since when do we Macquoids start taking it lying down? Send someone to the Quinns and demand that they explain themselves."