Chapter 3 I...

Inside the church, the organ played a solemn wedding march as guests sat upright on wooden pews.

Sophia was chained in front of the altar, wearing a white lace wedding dress.

Her golden hair was pinned up, revealing her still-swollen cheeks. The makeup artist had covered the bruises with thick foundation, but couldn't hide the lifelessness in her eyes.

Louis stood beside her, wearing a smug smile.

After the priest finished the lengthy vows, he unlocked Sophia's chains while saying, "Dear, it's time to say 'I do.'"

Sophia tilted her head, gripping a sharpened toothbrush tightly, her feet trembling slightly.

Louis's smile didn't change as he whispered in her ear, "Think about your children."

Sophia closed her eyes, tears silently sliding down from between her lashes.

"I..."

Just as she was about to act, a loud explosion came from the church entrance.

The door was blown open from outside, the oak door flying out along with its frame, wood splinters, and metal fragments scattering everywhere.

Two gray-white canisters rolled into the nave, fog spreading over the pews like a tide.

The guests' screams barely emerged before being pushed back down their throats by a colder voice:

"Everyone, get down. Don't look up."

Louis's smile froze, his pupils contracting sharply.

A man walked through the fog, his black trench coat sweeping over bloodstains, a silver scythe emblem on his left shoulder gleaming coldly in the dim light.

He raised his gun, his gaze fixed on the altar:

"Let go of my wife."

Victor.

The next moment, soldiers in black combat gear and skull masks rushed in, quickly taking positions along both side passages.

Three hundred guests huddled with their heads down between the pews, not one daring to move.

Louis's smile froze, his face instantly turning deathly pale, lips trembling as he pointed at Victor:

"You... how is this possible... you're supposed to be dead..."

Sophia stood before the altar, her wedding dress covered in dust, tears streaming down her face, yet she was smiling.

Victor walked toward Louis step by step, like death itself approaching.

"Stop him! Stop him!" Louis screamed hysterically.

But his men were already too busy saving themselves, all controlled and crouching with their hands on their heads.

Seeing Victor only ten feet away, Louis threatened with trembling lips, "You... you can't kill me... your children are in my hands, if you touch me, they'll..."

Before he could finish, Victor had already lifted his foot and kicked him hard to the ground.

Louis's head hit the marble floor, seeing stars.

Victor's boot pressed down on his face, grinding hard over his nose and lips.

"You think you can still threaten me with them?"

His voice was ice-cold, filled with killing intent.

After hearing this, Louis's face completely lost all color.

"Louis Black, you kidnapped my wife, abused my children—did you ever think about what would happen?"

He bent down, pressing the gun barrel against Louis's forehead.

Louis struggled frantically, like a fish with its tail pinned down. "You can't kill me! Please... I'm just a dog pushed out by the Gregory family. Kidnapping your wife, abusing your children—he forced me to do it all! If you kill me, he won't even blink. The real mastermind is him, not me!"

Just then, dense footsteps and the roar of armored vehicles came from outside the church.

A young man walked into the church surrounded by a hundred-man army.

He wore a dark blue military uniform with family crests embroidered on his shoulder boards, his expression shocked.

"Victor? You're not dead!"

The newcomer was the Gregory family's son, Albert Gregory.

He stood in the nave, armed soldiers quickly forming ranks behind him, facing off against Victor's men.

Seeing Albert, Louis's eyes instantly burst with wild joy, like a drowning man grabbing a lifeline.

"Albert! Save me! Quick, save me!" he shouted hoarsely, his voice full of the trembling of someone who'd just escaped death.

Albert didn't look at Louis, his sinister eyes still fixed on Victor, his tone casual. "Victor, I'll give you one chance. Let him go right now, or else... I don't mind making you die again!"

Victor acted as if he hadn't heard, speaking calmly into his earpiece, "Watch Albert. Don't let him move."

As soon as he finished speaking, four soldiers in black combat gear silently moved in from the flanks, their guns all aimed at Albert.

Albert's expression changed, and the hundred soldiers behind him also raised their guns.

The atmosphere instantly reached breaking point, and the guests in the church were trembling with fear.

Albert narrowed his eyes, demanding through gritted teeth, "Victor, are you crazy? You think with just these few people, you can walk out of my father's territory?"

Victor finally raised his head to look at him.

His gaze was calm, even somewhat indifferent, yet it inexplicably sent chills down Albert's spine.

"Albert," Victor's voice was unhurried, "give your father a message."

Albert frowned. "What message?"

"The message is..."

Before Victor finished speaking, his finger had already pulled the trigger.

The gunshot exploded in the church dome, completely swallowing the organ's lingering notes.

Louis's head snapped back violently, blood spraying from the back of his skull onto the marble floor, blooming into a glaring red flower.

His pupils still held the terror and disbelief of that final moment. His body convulsed twice, then went completely still.

Blood slowly spread along the tile cracks, soaking the hem of Sophia's wedding dress.

Albert's face instantly turned ashen.

He stared at the still-twitching corpse on the ground, his lips moving several times before finally squeezing out, "Victor, do you know what you've done?"

Victor put away his gun and ignored him, instead pulling out a ring from inside his coat pocket.

It was his and Sophia's wedding ring, with her name engraved on the inside.

He slipped the ring onto Sophia's ring finger, his movements as gentle as if he were a different person from moments ago.

"Sorry, I'm late."

Sophia's tears streamed down as she gripped his hand tightly, choking out urgently, "Victor, go! Don't worry about me, just go!"

Victor shielded Sophia behind him, turned to face Albert, and curved his lips into a cold, harsh smile.

"I wasn't finished with that message."

"Tell your father—the man who's coming for his life is here."