Chapter 20

“I can’t figure it out too, since they told me Trey and Ashton had brought over a hundred men with them. So what caused Ashton to end up in such a bad shape?” Bryan shared with them his findings, “I’ve checked with Trey but he refused to say a word about it. All he did was warn us to stay away from Levi and don’t mess around with him.”

“What? How could this be true?” cried Ben in disbelief, “Doesn’t this show that Levi had scared the shit out of Trey? There must be something about Levi that made Trey said such a thing.”

“Judging by his words, it sounds like Trey is terrified of Levi.” Joseph nodded, “What’s going on here? Wasn’t Levi just released from prison? Where did he find the support to oust Ashton and Trey from the villa?”

Bryan’s wife, Victoria, was quick to offer her opinion, “I bet Levi must have become mates with some crooks when he was in prison and garnered their support, dad.” she gave a sly smile, “That could have given Levi the ammunition to stand up to Trey and his men.” While Trey might hold some influence, he was pale in comparison with the real big crooks on the streets.

It was probably one of those crooks who had teamed up with Levi to take out Trey and his men. I mean, didn’t Levi issued us a warning during the banquet to celebrate our share listing last time?

He demanded us to repent and offer an apology in one month’s time, or we will have to defend with all we have if we refuse to apologize. It all pointed to the possibility that Levi must have garnered the support of some influential and powerful crooks to back him up.

“Yes, I’m sure that must be the case!” Joseph could not agree more with Victoria, “Levi must have found some real big shots while he was in prison to back him up, so he’s now coming after us!”

“Looks like we’ve underestimated this little b*****d.” Ben stroked his chin and said meditatively, “He’s no pushover indeed.”

“I don’t give a heck what big crooks that’s backing him up,” Jaycob snorted, “I’ll get even with him for turning my son into such a horrible state!”

Vengeance and hatred had blinded Jaycob.

“There’s no way we would let him off, Uncle Jaycob.” Bryan pointed out, “But we need to get a good grasp of the situation before we strike. We must find out who is backing him and what tricks he has up his sleeve. Even though we are not afraid to confront him directly, we still need to do it the smart way.”

Joseph nodded in agreement, “Bryan’s right. We should play our cards wisely.” Levi is too naive if he thinks he could triumph over us simply because he had ousted Trey. What a joke! Trey is nothing more than just one of our lackeys. Our family is almost untouchable in North Hampton.

Besides, we have powerful connections in all kinds of sectors including politics, business, military, and even the mafias and thugs. So what if Levi had some big crooks as his backup? There’s no way he could hurt our family, he won’t be able to harm even a single hair of the Garrison family!

“You’re right. Levi is too gullible to think he could trample over us with the help of some big guns.” Jaycob’s eyes gleamed with a bloodthirsty look, “I’ll flip open all his cards so he’ll never be able to play any tricks on us again. That’s when we would make him pay with his blood!”

“But I have a bad feeling about this.” Rick said with an ominous tone, “Levi is someone who is cold and calculative. I’m pretty sure he must have it all worked out inside his head. We’d better not be too reckless about it.”

“I think you’re getting a little paranoid about it, Uncle Rick.” Bryan smiled over it, “There’s nothing for us to fear given our status and influence now. We are as solid as they come. Whatever tricks Levi try to play on us will never work.”

“I agree with Bryan.” Joseph chimed in, “There’s no need to be too worried by that, Rick.”

“I don’t know about this, but I think it’s better to be safe than to be sorry,” Rick sighed, “it’s just that I can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong!”

It was against Rick’s reticent nature to say such a thing, but he had an awful premonition that something bad was going to happen.

He knew there was more to Levi than meet the eye. Levi is simply no pushover in any aspect!

…

At night.

Aaron lashed out at Levi the moment they reached home. “What do you think you’re doing? Are you looking to get Zoey into trouble?” he snarled, “Get out of my house if you don’t want to stay here!”

“What’s going on, Dad?” Zoey and Levi were astounded, “What did Levi do?”