Chapter 821: Slater and Stephen’s face off

"Uncle, are you actually looking for this?"

Stephen’s breath hitched, and his entire body tensed up as he watched the usual harmless look in Slater’s eyes change into something no one had seen before. Slater was always the child no one paid attention to because he wasn’t that special.

If Charles hadn’t taken his children away from the Bennet family, Slater’s career would have been considered a failure. After all, the elders in the Bennet Family—especially Chairman Bennet—looked down on such jobs, claiming they were unstable, chaotic, and didn’t require real talent. The only reason no one talked about it was because of Charles and Slater’s carefree nature.

This carefree little boy who seemed to have never grown up... was now radiating murderous intent. It was as though Slater had been possessed by someone else. He made every alarm bell in Stephen’s mind ring frantically.

Stephen opened and closed his mouth, his lips quivering, eyes shaking as he stared into those vile eyes that mirrored the horrified look on his own face.

"Aish..." Slater hissed, clicking his tongue. He shook his head slightly, snapping his eyes at Stephen as he studied the look on his face. "This is why that son of yours is behind bars, Uncle."

"Sla—" Stephen’s voice halted as Slater suddenly grabbed him by the collar, kicked the door shut, and dragged him to the couch.

Slater almost threw him onto the couch, causing Stephen to bounce on the long seat. Stephen’s wide eyes watched Slater sit down on the single-seater. Slater leaned back, resting one leg over the other, still holding the bottle of pills and casually playing with it.

"Slater..." Stephen carefully peeled his back off the couch, his entire body shaking uncontrollably. "What’s the meaning of this? Aren’t you afraid that your father—the chairman—will hear about this? You might have witnessed how I was scolded, but that doesn’t mean you can just treat me like I’m not your uncle."

Slater arched an eyebrow. "Uncle, are you saying this because you think it’ll work? Or are you hoping scolding me will make you believe this isn’t a reality?"

"What?"

"All I’m saying is if you want to call the chairman, suit yourself," Slater said, nodding. He tossed the bottle of pills, catching it casually in mid-air. "But then, I’ll just tell him you were looking for this bottle of pills containing a deadly substance."

Stephen’s face twisted. "What in the world are you saying, you brat? Do you think anyone in the family would believe you?"

"Probably no one in this family, but my dad will believe me. If not him, then I have First Brother and my other siblings," Slater blinked innocently. "Although I don’t need them here, because I can just act like you’re bullying me."

"That is ridiculous!"

"But compared to you and me, I don’t have a reputation for anything other than being the little artist of the family," Slater smiled broadly, his eyes squinting. "No one would think that I could hide someone’s body without anyone knowing, right?"

Stephen’s breath hitched. He hadn’t expected Slater to make such a remark with an innocent smile.

"I mean, it’s the same, anyway," Slater shrugged nonchalantly. "If the person who gave you this pill finds out you lost it—or that you were found—you’re dead. Do you think they’re not capable of silencing someone, Uncle? At that point, it doesn’t really matter who does it, right?"

"..." Beads of sweat formed on Stephen’s forehead, his back shuddering at the words flying out of Slater’s mouth. "You... how did you...?"

"How did I know them?" Slater hummed, rubbing his chin before grinning. "A wild guess?"

A wild guess?

If he was, then Slater was a better bluffer than his First Brother.

"Uncle, don’t ask a lot of questions," Slater said, snapping his fingers as he leaned forward, resting his arm on his leg. "After all, once you’re interrogated, you’re not the one doing the questioning, but the one answering every breath the officer takes." He emphasized the point by shaking the bottle of pills in his hand. "Now, I’m curious. Did you know that a tablet of this drug is worth millions on the market? Not just one or two million, but more than that."

Slater fluttered his eyelashes slowly, his smile cold and unfazed. "Just one—or rather, half of one pill—is enough to end Grandpa. Yet you have ten of them. Who else is on their list?"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Stephen blurted out, his voice laced with panic. Slater arched an eyebrow.

"You know what I’m talking about."

"No, I don’t!" Stephen shook his head aggressively. "I was just handed—"

"Who?" Slater interjected, even before Stephen could finish his sentence. Although he didn’t expect a proper answer from his uncle, it was worth trying.

Once again, Stephen found himself holding his breath, his eyes shaking as he stared at Slater’s face. Earlier, Slater’s eyes looked like he was ready to kill, but now they seemed uninterested in hearing any excuse Stephen had. One question, one answer—that was the feeling Stephen got from Slater. It didn’t seem to matter whether Stephen knew the truth or not, but Slater wanted honesty.

’Should I tell him?’ Stephen wondered to himself. ’Why? What’s going on? What is this little fool doing? He’s an actor, so he could be acting under Atlas’s orders since this young Bennet is the least suspicious of anything. It must be it...’

"Uncle, even if you don’t say anything, I can hear the gears in your head turning," Slater snapped his fingers, leaning forward and resting his arm on his legs. "Whatever they are, I don’t care. However, there’s one thing I can reassure you: your life ends the moment I get a hold of this bottle of pills. As I mentioned earlier, if it wasn’t me, they would silence you. Not just you, but Sven, your wife, and even your precious Sofia."

Slater’s brows rose slowly, nodding at Stephen mildly. "However, unlike them, who can discard you just like how they discarded your son, I can save you. All you need to do right now is use that damn mouth of yours to save your life for once. You run your mouth to humiliate yourself. Why not use it for something more... useful?"