Chapter 6 Kill Him For Me.
The entire banquet hall fell silent when the Cross matriarch slammed both hands onto the dining table. The impact echoed throughout the room, causing several glasses to rattle while conversations died instantly. Every member of the Cross family turned toward her, and even the servants standing along the walls lowered their heads.
The old woman's face was dark with anger.
"You dare speak that name in my presence?" she shouted.
Her voice carried across the hall, but Landon remained standing where he was. He showed no intention of backing down. Instead, he took another step forward and looked directly at her.
"Ethan Cross," he said clearly. "Ethan Cross. Your grandson. My friend. The man whose existence everyone in this house seems desperate to erase. Since nobody else wants to say his name, I'll keep saying it until someone answers me. Tell me how he died."
A wave of shock spread through the room.
People exchanged nervous glances. Some family members looked away. Others stared at Landon as if he had gone mad. A wine glass slipped from someone's hand and shattered on the floor, but nobody paid attention.
The old woman let out a cold laugh.
"How dare a brat from the Hayes family walk into my home and behave like this?" she asked. "Do you think your father's name can protect you? Do you believe I can't touch Aldric Hayes? Do you believe the Hayes family is beyond my reach?"
She suddenly pointed toward Luther.
"Luther, call Alderic Hayes immediately. Tell him that if he doesn't appear here within ten minutes, his upcoming birthday banquet will become his funeral."
The hall instantly became quiet again.
Several people looked toward Luther as he pulled out his phone.
Before he could make the call, Carter stepped forward. His expression was dark, and his eyes were fixed on the matriarch.
"You shouldn't involve Lord Aldric in this matter," Carter said. "What is happening here today has nothing to do with him, and dragging him into this situation would be the biggest mistake the Cross family has ever made."
The old woman narrowed her eyes.
"Oh? Is that a threat?"
Carter laughed.
"No. A threat is a warning about something that might happen. What I'm giving you is a fact. The moment Lord Aldric decides to get involved, nobody in this room will be talking about wedding preparations anymore."
The room became tense.
Several members of the Cross family stood up from their seats.
Carter continued without hesitation.
"You think your family is powerful because nobody has challenged you for years. That's why you've become arrogant enough to believe you can do whatever you want. But there are some people in this country whose anger you simply cannot afford to provoke."
"Carter."
Landon's voice interrupted him.
Carter immediately stopped talking.
A moment later, he stepped back behind Landon and lowered his head slightly.
"My apologies, Young Master."
Landon ignored the stares directed toward them and returned his attention to the old woman.
The matriarch sneered.
"If you came here to expose family secrets, Nathaniel, then you've chosen a very dramatic way to do it."
Landon shook his head.
"I didn't come here to expose secrets."
His voice remained calm, but every word landed heavily.
"I came here for the truth."
Landon stepped forward, closer to the head of the table, closer to the matriarch.
“Ethan Cross…” he said, his voice low and steady like a vow. “Was my brother. And his death a year ago? Inexplicable. Just written off like a footnote in your golden book.”
Murmurs rippled through the hall, growing louder, crashing against the walls.
“All I want is justice,” Landon continued, eyes locked on hers. “If he truly committed suicide, I’ll leave without a word. But if I find even a whisper of foul play, even a speck of rot beneath the surface—then this entire household will be wiped out.”
Gasps exploded across the room. Several family members shot to their feet. The air grew thick with shock.
The matriarch’s face darkened. “So audacious…” she whispered, then raised her voice. “Fine.”
She planted both hands on the table and rose. “If it’s death you seek, let my family be buried with you. Let’s see if you’ve got the fangs to back those threats.”
Her eyes sharpened like blades. “I doubt you have the ability, Landon.”
Landon didn’t flinch. He walked straight toward her, step by step.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?!” Luther barked, but Landon ignored him completely.
He stopped right in front of the matriarch, close enough to see the faint tremble in her fingers.
“She’s trembling…” someone whispered.
“Is the matriarch… scared?” another voice hissed in disbelief.
“He’s just a bastard orphan… How could she—?”
The old woman heard every word. Her eyes snapped toward the speakers, then she smiled—cold and venomous.
“So you’re the beast they say crawled back from the ashes…” she said. “I heard your adoptive father’s fiftieth birthday is coming up soon.”
Landon tilted his head.
“I wonder,” she sneered. “Wouldn’t it be a lovely gift if I sent him your head wrapped in satin?”
Landon gave her a cruel smile, sharp as a blade hungry for blood. “Make sure it’s velvet,” he said softly. “So it doesn’t soak too fast when the blood starts dripping.”
Silence slammed down on the hall.
The matriarch’s wrinkled hands came together in a slow, deliberate clap.
Clap… clap… clap…
The sound echoed like a death knell. The front doors creaked open.
Heavy boots struck the floor in perfect rhythm. A man entered.
He looked about fifty—tall, lean, with a stillness that chilled the blood. His face was stone-cold, every line carved for killing. Lethal.
The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.
Luther’s eyes widened. Isabelle froze. Other Cross shifted in their seats, their smug masks cracking.
“What the hell is he doing here?” someone whispered from the far end.
“It’s going to get bloody now…” another muttered, voice shaking.
Carter leaned toward Landon. “That’s Kieran Raze. They call him the Widowmaker. Mercenary for the Cross. Rumor says he’s never failed a single assignment.”
Landon stayed silent, watching Kieran glide to the matriarch’s side. The floor barely creaked under those boots.
The old woman turned to him with a smile that never reached her eyes. “Mr. Kieran, sorry to disturb you.”
Kieran gave a single nod. “No disturbance.” He paused, then added flatly, “Usual price is twenty million.”
Gasps tore through the room like wildfire.
“Twenty million?” one voice choked out.
“For one person?” another exclaimed, stunned.
Even the servants near the door stopped breathing.
Carter shifted slightly beside Landon, murmuring under his breath, “He’s rumored to be deadly, Landon. They say he once wiped out an entire village just to catch a single target.”
The matriarch glanced at Landon with a smirk, then turned back to Kieran.
“Money,” she said, sarcasm dripping like venom, “has never been my problem.”
Her smile widened, sharp and cruel.
“If you can chop off that arrogant head of Landon Hayes and bring it to me on a silver platter… then the twenty million is yours.”
