Rising from the Ashes (Andrew and Lauren) novel Chapter 1399

Quinton suddenly realized something disturbing—his old man understood these dirty power games even better than he did.

Yara, standing nearby, felt sick just watching the two of them. Kevin might be her father, but she had long known he was nothing more than a predator in a suit.

As for Quinton? A total disgrace. What shocked her most was learning that Kevin's so-called brotherhood with Andrew was purely for exploitation. She made up her mind to warn Andrew about all of this.

Right now, she did not trust anyone—not her family, not their lies. Ironically, the one person she believed in completely was Andrew, an outsider. Especially after he grabbed her chest, not out of lust but concern, only to tell her she needed to get a health check.

He had not used it to threaten her or press for more, nor did he try to take advantage of her vulnerability.

To Yara, that made him a true gentleman—and that was all she needed to know.

…

Meanwhile, Andrew had already taken the Wrights' elite security team on a long, roundabout route toward the outskirts of Blumedale.

Roger Day, the leader, a half-step martial king, was clearly losing patience. He snapped disrespectfully, "Mr. Lloyd, where exactly are you dragging us to? Sure, Mr. Wright told us to protect you, but we've had enough of this wild goose chase."

He looked at Andrew like he could not believe this coward was the Grand Medical Summit champion. Behind him, the rest of the squad did not bother hiding their contempt either.

The Wrights came from one of the Five Apex Families, and they were used to looking down on everyone. They thought Andrew was nowhere near the standard they expected.

"Please! You can't leave me like this!" Andrew cried, his face pale as a sheet. "If you go now, I'm done for! I'll be dead meat!"

Roger burst into laughter and nudged his men. "Check this out. This is the guy Mr. Wright swore brotherhood with? What a joke. He's nothing but a pathetic coward. Guy's tall and broad-shouldered, but inside? He's mush."

The others laughed along. One stepped forward and stretched out a greedy hand toward Andrew.

She gave a twisted smile and yanked the blade out, snapping his neck while she was at it.

Roger shouted, "You just killed one of the Wrights' men, bitch. You have effectively signed your death warrant!"

Her sudden attack sent the rest of the team into a frenzy. Roger drew his blade and charged at her without hesitation. The other three roared and joined in, surrounding her from all sides.

Andrew stood off to the side, calm as ever, watching the chaos unfold. This was exactly what he wanted—letting the dogs eat each other.

Still, something did not sit right. The woman in white seemed too weak for someone who should be Grand Viper, the third-ranked assassin on the Underground Index.

Andrew started to doubt that she was the Grand Viper.