Winter came over, tugging on Frank''s sleeve and asking, "What happened here?"


    "Nothing." Frank shook his head and deliberately made a face. "Didn''t I tell you to study? What are you doing here?"


    "I-I was worried," Winter murmured guiltily.


    Frank patted her head, his grief fading at her docile murmur.


    Then, turning back toward Ste and the others, he waved them off. "Alright, you can all go now. We will see the truthe tomorrow."


    Chelly, however, still refused. "Hah! I''m not scared of you! My brother will kick your ass tomorrow-he is Skyrank''s second and a top martial artist! A loser and a cheater like you can''t even hope to touch his sleeve! You should be kneeling and begging me for mercy if you have any brains! I just might ask my brother to spare your life!"


    And before Frank could speak, Tara wasughing as she threatened, "Exactly. If you get down on your knees and beg and have your lover surrender her Lanecorp shares, the Favonis just might let you live. You''d better watch yourself, or our forces would instantly wipe out everything-you, your lover, and even Lanecorp! There won''t be anything left of any of you!"


    "You''re... out of line!"Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    Winter strode up just then, clenching her little knuckles as she snapped at the three Favonis, "Frank never did anything wrong! You''re the ones who went to Lanecorp Tower and made a mess, and he had every reason to defend himself! And now you''re threatening to kill us?! You''re allwless thugs!"


    "What..."


    Winter''s retort actually caught Chelly off guard, but she gritted her teeth and shouted back, "He was cheating! He used some dirty move to kill our men!"


    "Frank has always been fair and just!" Winter snapped back. "If he''s a bad man, he would be taking you three hostage right now, instead of letting you badmouth him!"


    "..."


    Chelly tried to argue again, but Winter was right-if Frank was a loser and a cheater like her father and brother insisted and bewitched Ste, why was he not taking them hostage?


    Why would he stoop to arguing with some girl who was barely an adult?


    And seeing that Chelly was


    stumped, Winter shook her head and sighed. "You started a fight and ndered Frank when you lost. Frank never argued and even yed nice, but what did you do? Youe to his doorstep and start another fight-who on earth behaves like you?"


    Chelly actually felt her conscience gnawing at that, as Winter was so right that she could not argue.


    Still, she snorted and snapped


    stubbornly, "It doesn''t matter. We have a grudge to settle, and my brother Jaden will show him! He will answer for the lives of our thirty martial artists!"


    With that, Chelly turned and basically fled the mansion.


    Ste sighed and followed.


    Tara remained, however, narrowing her eyes at Frank as she smiled. "Excuses, excuses... all that reasoning only works on naive little girls. In the end, there is only one rule whoever carries the bigger stick wins!"


    UM