Chapter 1
But the table next to us was playing a game, and suddenly they wanted me to foot the entire bill for the bar.
I politely declined. The guy actually kicked my chair out from under me, grabbed me by the collar, and started screaming.
“I’m the man, Valentina’s husband! The King of the Emerald City’s underworld! Asking you to pay is doing you a favor, so try saying no again, I dare you!”
It wasn’t just me; even my guys behind me were stunned.
“Boss, you covered for her for three years. How could she dare to get a new husband outside?”
“Has she forgotten what you’re capable of?”
…
The joy of my release instantly faded. I lowered my head and texted Valentina to demand an explanation.
Seeing this, the man flew into a rage, snatched my phone, and tossed it straight into an ice bucket.
“Thinking of calling the cops? I’m telling you, the whole Emerald City is my territory. No one can save you!”
A nameless rage flared in my chest. I slammed my fist on the table. Behind me, over a dozen of my guys sprang up, rushing forward to form a protective circle around me.
“Let go of Jaxson if you don’t wanna die!”
The man, instead of getting angry, scoffed and mimicked my gesture, slapping his own table.
The bar’s chaotic music suddenly cut out, and the dazzling lights went dark.
In the sudden silence, half the people in the venue quickly converged on us.
“Ever since our boss, Victor, married Valentina, we haven’t had a troublemaker like this in Emerald City for three years.”
“Daring to cause trouble in our man Victor’s place? Today, we’ll show you what real power looks like!”
My guys, who had voluntarily stuck by me through three years in prison, stared in disbelief.
“Our boss, Jaxson, went to jail for that woman, Valentina, for three years. What the hell happened in those three years?”
It wasn’t just them; my mind was reeling too.
Three years ago, Valentina hit someone with her car. She was just pregnant then, and she cried and begged me to take the fall for her, promising to look after the crew and raise our child. I didn’t hesitate for a second.
But now, everything happening before my eyes made me seriously doubt the past.
I slightly lowered my head. Victor thought I was scared and reached out to pat my shoulder.
Using the moment he extended his arm, I slammed a beer bottle on the table, shattering it. In a flash, before he could even react, I twisted his arm and body, pressing the sharp, broken edge of the bottle directly against his vulnerable throat.
“You say Valentina is your wife. What does that mean?”
Victor, who had been so arrogant just moments ago, was scared stiff. His whole body trembled uncontrollably.
“What else could it mean? We were in love, I married her, so of course she’s my wife.”
When he spoke of Valentina, Victor seemed to regain his confidence.
“I’m warning you, don’t touch me. Everyone in Emerald City knows Valentina is crazy in love with me! For my birthday, she booked giant billboards all over the city for three days and three nights to declare her love, and she bought me a downtown high-rise as a wedding anniversary gift! If you dare touch me, my wife won’t let you off the hook!”
My scalp tingled with disbelief. I turned my head, signaling my guys to check things out.
Taking advantage of my distraction, Victor shoved me hard. The crowd that had been standing behind him instantly swarmed me!
I was on my own turf and completely unprepared. I took several hard punches to the chest, almost throwing up blood.
Seeing me humiliated, my guys roared and plunged into the brawl. I kicked away the guy pinning me down and, my first priority, stopped my crew.
“Don’t fight! You just got out; I can’t have you going back in for me.”
Then I jumped onto a table, crossed the chaotic crowd in a few quick steps, and grabbed Victor, who was trying to hide.
“Listen up, clearly! My name is Jaxson, and I’m legally married to Valentina!” Victor, seized by me, was flustered at first, then burst out laughing.
“I knew it! Who in Emerald City would dare to touch me? Turns out it’s just a lunatic!”
Cheers erupted in agreement with his words.
“Valentina is madly in love with our man Victor. She sends him luxury cars and mansions every other week. Who are you, some random outsider, to even utter our Sister Valentina’s name?”
“Our man Victor and Sister Valentina are a model couple. Who the hell are you, showing up with a few low-level thugs to cause trouble, do you really think we’re scared of you?!”
I gritted my teeth, my whole body trembling.
I never dreamed that the woman I gave up everything to protect would become a model couple with someone else!
My guys around me were fuming, gritting their teeth just like me.
“Boss, it’s been three whole years! We can’t just let them get away with this!”
“You abandoned everything for that woman at the peak of your power. We have to make her pay for her betrayal!”
I took a deep breath, steadying myself.
I couldn’t just listen to one side of the story. Valentina depended on me so much back then. Could she really have changed so drastically in just three years?
No, I had to get to the bottom of this!
My phone was ruined by the water. I rattled off my number and told one of my guys to dial.
Hearing the digits I spoke, Victor’s face changed.
“You actually got my wife’s private number?!”
I reluctantly pressed my lips together.
“I told you, I’m Valentina’s husband, legally.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, the crowd around Victor surged toward me!
“Plenty of white-collar types have coveted our Sister Valentina over the years, but no one has ever dared to challenge our man Victor like you did! Today, we’ll show you what real trouble looks like!”
They rushed at me ferociously. I took down a few in quick succession, but then countless more swarmed me.
I was outnumbered, and I took some cheap shots, my face stinging from several hard hits, blood trickling from my lip.
My guys, seeing this, couldn’t hold back any longer. They grabbed chairs and lunged into the fray, turning the bar into a chaotic mess.
These guys were my top enforcers back in the day, skilled fighters, but even a tiger is no match for a pack of wolves. For every one of them that went down, three more stepped up. Before long, everyone was exhausted, protecting me in the center, backs to each other.
“Boss, what the hell is going on? Valentina clearly had a lavish wedding ceremony with you back then. When did you two get divorced? How come none of us, your closest guys, knew?!”
My teeth felt like they were about to shatter.
“Don’t even get me started! I didn’t even know, damn it! Stop fighting for now, preserve your strength, and run!”
Knowing we couldn’t win, it was no shame in retreating to regroup.
My guys protected me, fighting and withdrawing. Victor watched me fleeing in disarray and burst into laughter.
“The woman I, a tiger, protect wouldn’t look twice at a stray dog like you! Chase them!”
I’d been in prison for three years, but I still remembered the bar’s underground passage. I took a shortcut to the parking garage, thinking I could shake them off, but somehow, they came down from somewhere and were even faster than me!
The front exit of the underground garage was completely blocked, and Victor’s men had locked down the back entrance.
A group of them, armed with baseball bats and machetes, swaggered closer, faces full of smug satisfaction.
My palms were sweating buckets.
I, Jaxson, started from nothing at fifteen, and by twenty, I was the boss of the Emerald City’s underground. I can’t believe that after three years away, I’d come out of prison today only to go down in a gutter!
My guys, seeing there was no way out, stood defiantly in front of me.
“Boss, we’ll get you out of here, but once you’re out, you have to get a clear explanation from Valentina. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair to us, your brothers, for the three years we spent in prison with you!”
With that, they roared, ready to fight to the death. At the crucial moment, I pulled them back.
“Don’t panic, there are cops!” I never thought in my life I’d be calling on the police for backup.
My guys looked a bit lost.
“Are you sure about this, Jaxson? We just got out…”
I sighed helplessly, but no matter what, better to bend than break, right? A smart man knows when to adapt.
I jogged closer, seeing two traffic cops who were slacking off in the bar’s underground garage, supposedly doing a DUI check.
I casually offered them a cigarette, plastering on a slightly ingratiating smile.
“Officers, my friends and I were having a party, and they not only told me to pay the entire bill but also started hitting me and my friends. Now they’ve surrounded the bar and won’t let us leave. What do you think about this, sirs…?”
The two cops lit their cigarettes off my lighter, giving me a smirk that didn’t reach their eyes.
“You mean, they hit you?”
I nodded repeatedly. To my surprise, the next second, those two cops flicked their cigarettes, sending the lit ends directly onto my shirt, then stomped them out with a kick.
“He’s Sister Valentina’s husband, hitting you is doing you a favor!”
“Our man Victor told you to pay the bill for the whole bar, that’s your blessing. You didn’t do it and tried to run, so you deserve to be hit!”
My heart lurched.
It seemed everything they said earlier was true. Valentina really had betrayed me after I went to prison. Otherwise, why would even these traffic cops show Victor such deference?!
Victor and his crew had seen me talking to the cops and deliberately held back, only approaching gleefully when they saw the officers twisting the truth.
“If our man Victor hadn’t been making good karma for our pregnant Sister Valentina, do you think you’d even be standing here today?”
“Our Sister Valentina is due any day now. It’s her first child, precious beyond measure. Victor swore before Buddha he wouldn’t take any lives to pray for the baby’s blessings. You remember this: it’s Victor and Sister Valentina’s son who saved your pathetic life!”
“First child?!”
I was astonished. I grabbed Victor, who was standing in front of me.
“Are you saying Valentina got rid of my baby?!”
Victor went ballistic. He swung a punch at my temple.
“Are you really crazy or just playing dumb? Who the hell are you, spewing such disgusting lies about my Valentina?!”
My last hope shattered. Three years, all for nothing, a complete joke. My mind was spiraling. I threw caution to the wind and lunged at Victor, fighting him with everything I had, every punch connecting, making him howl in pain.
Both sides of the guys were terrified and rushed to pull us apart.
“Boss, we just got out, don’t send yourself back inside for that awful woman!”
My hand movements suddenly paused. The traffic cops seized the opportunity, pulled tactical flashlights from their car, and shone them directly into my eyes.
I was blinded instantly, everything went stark white.
They quickly pulled the swollen Victor away. Then, taking advantage of my blindness, they swarmed me, punching and kicking.
I gritted my teeth, covering my eyes, while frantically swinging my other arm to ward them off. But Victor, having lost all face, was now completely insane. When I finally blinked my eyes open, I saw him lunging at me with a wicked-looking blade!
For a split second, someone screamed, someone cheered. My guys bravely threw themselves forward, trying to shield me. My mind went blank, but then I seemed to hear Valentina’s voice.
“What are you doing here?!” The blade, with its blood groove, stopped mere inches from my eyes.
Victor turned back in surprise, the fury on his face instantly vanishing, replaced by a wide smile.
“Valentina, why are you out here? You should be resting!”
“This stray dog dared to badmouth you right in front of me. I was just about to teach him a lesson, planning to cut out his tongue!”
I ignored the hands trying to help me up, my gaze fixed on Valentina’s rounded belly.
“Valentina, care to explain?”
Victor kicked me hard in the face.
“Still daring to question my wife? You really have a death wish!”
A huge black boot print marred my face. My guys, seeing this, glared furiously at Valentina.
“Sister-in-law, our boss Jaxson spent three years in prison for you! He had so many chances to get out early, but to atone for you and the child, he served the full three years! Now that you’re doing well, you just let others humiliate him like this?!”
“Don’t you have any conscience, woman?! Even if there’s no love left, don’t you have any gratitude? Did our boss Jaxson waste the prime of his youth for you for nothing?!”
I stared fixedly at Valentina, my nails digging into my palms until they bled, but I didn’t even notice.
Yet, Valentina lowered her eyes, looked at me, and actually let out a disdainful laugh.
Yes, she laughed, as if she had seen something utterly ridiculous.
“Jaxson? There’s only one ‘Boss’ in Emerald City now, and that’s Victor.”
“Jaxson, you don’t need to hold it over me, bringing up how you went to jail for me. You were enjoying your ‘break’ inside all those years, leaving me to struggle to keep things afloat out here. Victor was there for me through my toughest days.”
“If you want money as compensation, just say so. There’s no need to cause trouble on Victor’s turf. So childish!”
A suffocating pressure built in my chest, making it hard to breathe.
“Valentina…”
Before I could finish, the smile vanished from Valentina’s face, replaced by a look of malice.
“I’m not finished yet, you don’t get to interrupt!”
“I can give you what I owe, but you touched my man, so you’re leaving an arm behind today as an apology to Victor!”
Immediately, someone with a knife approached me. I looked at Valentina’s resolute expression, my heart aching to the extreme.
“Are you trying to make an example of me, just like I used to do for you, to boost your new man’s reputation?”