Supreme Mars novel Chapter 62

Fear coursed through Marie's veins, and she found herself reaching for Leo's arm. "What do we do now, Leo?" she asked, hiding herself behind Leo's body.

The men in black continued to close in on them, waiting for their opportunity to pounce.

Shawn's orders were clear. And Marie didn't even want to imagine what these men were going to do to her if they managed to abduct her.

Despite the fact that he had the number's advantage, Shawn didn't let his guard down. As his men continued to close in on the pair, Shawn kept glancing around and squinting through the dark.

When he didn't see any signs of the woman he'd run into earlier in the day, he let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. It was then that Shawn let his cockiness show.

"Not so tough now, huh?" Shawn jeered at Leo. "Let me tell you something, you useless piece of shit." Shawn pointed his finger at Leo. "Without that bodyguard of yours, you're just a sitting duck!" Shawn lowered his finger and leered at Marie, his eyes filled with greed and lust. "To tell you the truth, whether or not you have the money didn't even matter. The girl is coming with us either way, and there's nothing you can do to stop us." Shawn threw his head back in laughter. "And you, Leo. You just came here to die for nothing. How stupid is that?"

Cedric had promised to let Shawn have a taste of Marie after he was done with her. But only if Shawn managed to get Marie into Cedric's room, of course.

Another wave of lust crashed into Shawn at the thought. All his life, Shawn had never touched such a beautiful woman before...

Marie shot Shawn a hateful look and hid herself behind Leo's back. As much as she hated Shawn, she was more afraid of him, of what he would do to her.

Marie would be a fool if she couldn't foresee her own fate if she was taken by these men.

It was obvious now that Shawn wasn't doing this for money—she was his main target all along.

Leo, on the other hand, wasn't the slightest bit intimidated by the presence of the men in black. In fact, he barely spared them a glance. From the moment this meeting began, his eyes had never left Shawn. He was watching him closely, studying him, waiting for the right time to act. "I can tell you this much, Shawn," Leo said, staring intently into Shawn's eyes. "You won't be touching a single hair on that girl's head. You're not taking her anywhere. Also..." Leo allowed his lips to twist into a smirk. "You'll be dying a horrible death tonight."

"How scary." Shawn feigned a shudder. "You're just a useless piece of trash from an equally useless family, Leo." Shawn eyed Leo with nothing but contempt. "So, what if you have a badass female bodyguard? It doesn't change the fact that you're a weakling who relies on other people's strength." Shawn laughed darkly. "Killing you is going to be as easy as crushing an ant with my boot." A devious glint flashed in Shawn's eyes. "And I'm gonna enjoy every second of it."

Leo let out a sigh. "Looks like you still don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Now, Nadine."

The air stirred, and a strong gust of wind blustered out of nowhere.

Shawn leapt back like a frightened animal, covering his face with his arms.

The wind stopped, and silence ensued.

When the attack he'd anticipated never came, Shawn let out a long sigh of relief. Nadine had given Shawn quite a scare earlier in the day; that was why he was so jumpy.

"How dare you try to trick me, Leo?" Shawn snarled. "She was never here, was she?"

A faint smirk played on Leo's lips. "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that, Shawn." Leo's smirk grew wider as he looked right into Shawn's eyes. "Although... I will tell you that you're surrounded."

"Surrounded?" Shawn let out a derisive snort. "By whom—"

A series of thuds interrupted Shawn's speech.

Shawn's eyes grew wide; one by one, his men fell to the ground like a chain of dominoes.

"Oh God..." Marie looked just as stunned as Shawn felt. "W- What... What just happened?"

Glancing around in disbelief, she saw the unmoving forms of those men. She had no idea what had struck them. All she knew was that those men had gone as still as statues after that gust of wind blew past them. The next thing she knew, the men were falling limply to the ground, like they were marionettes and someone had suddenly cut off the strings keeping them upright.

"Don't worry," Leo said with a lazy smile. "None of them are dead. Although I doubt they'll be able to use their limbs ever again. The tendons in their arms and legs were sliced all the way through."

"Y- Y- You..."

Leo chuckled. "I suppose that's their punishment."

Shawn's face had suddenly gone pale, and he could barely string a sentence together.

The lazy smile on Leo's face turned into a full-blown grin. "I think you should look behind you." Leo lifted his finger and pointed at something behind Shawn.

Shawn froze, tingles careening down his spine. Something, or rather, someone, was behind him.

He turned around stiffly and found himself staring at a pair of crimson eyes.

Those eyes reflected murder, bloodshed, devastation, and utter hopelessness. They were in such a deep shade of crimson that it was as though they'd been drenched with blood.

Nadine stood before Shawn like a phantom, her crimson eyes trained on Shawn.

Shawn found himself immobilized by Nadine's gaze and utterly overwhelmed by her murderous aura. It was as though her gaze had pierced through him, allowing her to see into the deepest and darkest crevices of his soul.

Marie could only gape at the sight before her. Her eyes, once occupied by the fallen men around them, were now fixated on the woman she'd come to know as Leo's personal bodyguard. Marie thought the woman was pretty badass earlier today, but this! This was a whole new level of skill! Were these her true capabilities? Or had they merely seen a glimpse of it even now?

Leo was the only one who knew that Nadine had actually been holding back when she took down the men in black.

Nadine hadn't taken a life in some time, not since her return here with Leo. And Leo was fully aware of what that long abstinence had done to Nadine's bloodlust. Had he granted her complete freedom to act, Leo was certain that those men would never have left here alive.

A loud howl sounded when Nadine delivered a powerful kick which sent Shawn tumbling into the ground.

Shawn's body rolled to a stop in front of Leo's feet.

Leo was no longer smiling now. When he stared down at Shawn, his expression was steel cold.

Without taking his eyes off Shawn, Leo raised his finger and pointed at Marie. "Do you know who she is?" Leo asked in a flat tone.

Confusion swirled inside Shawn's eyes, and he shook his head. As far as Shawn knew, Marie was just a normal female undergraduate student who came from a pretty well-off family. Emerdale's files on her didn't contain a detailed background check, so that was pretty much all Shawn knew.

"She's my sister-in-law," Leo said.

The revelation made Shawn look up in surprise.

Shawn stared up at Leo as tremors of shock coursed through his body. "He's married?" Shawn thought. "Leo Cohen is married?"

"Do you know why I didn't kill you?" Leo asked again, his cold eyes pinning Shawn to the ground.

"Because I'm Gary Harris' son?"

Leo let out a soft sigh. "Indeed." Leo glared down at Shawn. "I didn't kill you because you are Uncle Harris' son."

Shawn sighed audibly, his shoulders sagging in relief. Along with relief, his confidence returned as well. "That's right, Leo. Your Uncle Harris is my father. So, you should tell your bodyguard to stand down, don't you think?" Something glinted in Shawn's eyes. "Also, you still have to pay us the one million dollars. My father became an invalid because of you people..."

Leo looked down at Shawn again, though this time, his eyes were filled with pity. "You really are a low-life, aren't you, Shawn?" A dark look spread across Leo's features. When he spoke next, his voice became low and gravelly. "You call yourself Uncle Harris' son, yet all these years you've never once acted like a son!"

Leo's hoarse voice sent chills down Shawn's spine. At that moment, Shawn found Leo even more terrifying than the woman who had just beat him up.

"Did you send money home to support your family?" Leo went on. "Did you ever think about your sister? Did you know that she was forced to drop out of university to support your family, while you were gambling your money away? Yeah... Gambling." Leo chuckled humorlessly. "That's all you know, isn't it? One of your greatest vices." Leo glared down at Shawn. "You even mortgaged Uncle Harris' house to do it. Your father was sick, Shawn. He was dying!" Leo's booming voice echoed through the night.

Down on the ground, Shawn continued to tremble in fear. He didn't even dare to raise his head.

"Your father was dying," Leo continued, "And you abandoned him. You did nothing to save him." Leo paused. "You didn't even return home to take care of him. Instead, you left him to die." Leo let out an incredulous chuckle. "And as though that wasn't bad enough, you went ahead and did something far worse." A murderous look flashed in Leo's eyes. "You tried to put your dirty hands on an innocent young lady! You think I don't know what you're planning to do to her after you take her? You're scum, Shawn. A scumbag who doesn't deserve to live in this world."

Leo's last remark caused Shawn to flinch.

Then, all of a sudden, Leo's demeanor turned calm once again. "But still, I'm not planning to kill you." Leo stared down at Shawn for a few moments. "You should be grateful that you have such a good father." Leo smirked. "Which is why… I'm going to let him deal with you instead."

Shawn's jaw went slack in surprise, though his surprise didn't last. Soon, his face was flushed in anger. "My father is dying. He doesn't have much longer to live. Is it so wrong to expect him to do something for me before he dies?"

Leo sneered and jerked his thumb over his back. "Then you should open your eyes and take a good look."

Shawn lifted his gaze and peered around Leo's leg. His eyes instantly grew wide. "Dad?!"