Rising from the Ashes (Andrew and Lauren) novel Chapter 1223

"I'd rather hand it to you for free than let that scumbag Mosby get his hands on it!" Ronan said firmly.

Andrew finally took the partial map and tucked it away carefully. He promised, "Don't worry, Mr. Bates. I'm just holding onto it for now. Even if this treasure is real and ever uncovered, it still belongs to you and Janice."

Ronan gave a weary smile. "That treasure isn't so easy to find. To be honest, I've spent years secretly investigating it myself. But I haven't found much. This is only a piece of the map.

"In other words, we'd need to gather the rest of the fragments before we could even begin to figure out where the treasure's actually hidden."

Andrew chuckled. "So this was passed down through your family and dates back to the fall of the Crimson Dynasty, right? That means it's been over a century. Finding the rest of the pieces seems like a lost cause."

Surprisingly, Ronan shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, Mr. Lloyd. From what I know, this treasure is tied to five pieces in total. The one in our hands is just one of them, passed down through the Bates family. And as far as I'm aware, two other families currently hold parts of the map as well."

Andrew's interest sparked. "Oh? Would you mind telling me which two families?"

Ronan nodded. "One of them is the Page family here in Blumedale. Just like the Bates family, they inherited theirs from their ancestors. So in a way, the Page family and the Bates family are both legacy guardians of this treasure.

"The other family originally came from Jayrodale, but they've since expanded their roots into Blumedale. I'm talking about the Rhodes family of Jayrodale. Mr. Lloyd, I believe you're familiar with them."

Wait, what?

That caught Andrew off guard. He had not expected that Lauren's family would be tied to the treasure too.

No wonder they clawed their way into Blumedale—maybe they were hoping to track down the other pieces of the map and unlock the treasure.

If the Rhodes family actually found it, they would instantly rise to the level of the Five Apex families, if not higher.

Ronan could not tell if Mosby was too easy to mess with—or if Andrew was just a wild tiger who took what he wanted, no questions asked.

When Andrew returned to The Sovereign Residences, he told Natasha to quietly assign a few people to keep Ronan and Janice under protection for a while.

According to Ronan, Mosby was growing impatient and might make a move to snatch the map soon. So, Andrew was more than ready to teach that bastard a lesson he would not forget.

…

Meanwhile, over at Genesis Dispensary…

Mosby was shaking with rage. "It was Andrew who trashed the place? That little bastard actually had the nerve to come after me?"