Chapter 1

On the day I returned home after being discharged from an overseas special forces unit, my neighbors informed me that my wife, Maisie Porter, had been beaten within an inch of her life by men sent by the land developers. She was now fighting for her life in the ICU.

She had been beaten because the developers had an eye on the homestead my family owned, but she had denied their request to acquire it.

Her denial led them to break eight of her ribs, and she would need to be hooked up to an ostomy bag for the rest of her life. They had even stripped her of her clothes in front of all the other villagers and recorded the barbaric way they assaulted and humiliated her.

Maisie had gone insane after the incident. And yet, Barry Williams, the ringleader behind the tragedy, showed not even a shred of remorse as he stood in front of her ward.

He yelled at me, "Your wife has gone mad, and your parents are dead! They have no one to blame but themselves for their predicament. They're the ones who insisted on getting in our way when we tried to demolish the house.

"I'll have you know that there's nothing you can do if I want to demolish your property. You can't stop me, not even if I wanted to dig up your ancestors' graves! The only thing you can do is watch!"

I stared at him in disbelief as my hands curled into tight fists. Was he even hearing himself? He was spouting inhumane nonsense that not even beasts would say.

He had ruined an entire family as if it were nothing, and he showed not even a shred of remorse for his actions. He even made a trip to the hospital just to place my parents' remains in front of the restroom entrance.

I only found out later that my parents, David Gray and Alicia Quinn, both of whom were nearly in their 70s, had tried to seek justice for Maisie. They had been beaten by this group of savages till they lost all functionality in their bodies, after which they were thrown into a cement pit and buried alive.

It felt as if my heart was bleeding out. I was quickly losing any rationality I had left from how furious I was becoming. I was about to rush at Barry with the intention to kill, but was stopped in my tracks by Peter Harrington, the hospital chief.

"Don't be rash!" Peter exclaimed. "Mr. Williams is extremely powerful in public and in the underground scene. If you kill him, you won't survive for long after. What will happen to your daughter then? Do you want her to become an orphan?"

When I thought of Daisy Gray, my daughter, I helplessly loosened my tightly clenched fist.

"There's no way I can just stand by and do nothing after what he did to my family!" I hissed.

Noticing that I had loosened my fist, Barry scoffed as he approached me. He patted my face and asked, "You got a problem with how I do things? What are you going to do about it? Go ahead. Try to find a lawyer in Riverville who dares to oppose me."

He smiled at me condescendingly. "I am God in this city. There's nothing you can do if I've set my mind on demolishing your home. You can't stop me even if I wanted to wipe out your entire family. The only thing you can do is watch helplessly.

"After all, you're just a country bumpkin. How on earth do you plan to stand up against me?"

Barry turned around after he was done speaking. He clapped his hands as he looked at his men. They then began to stroll toward Maisie's ward.

My heart skipped a beat as I watched the scene unfold before me. "What are you planning to do?" I demanded.

"What do you think?"

Barry smiled arrogantly. In the next second, his men had carried Maisie, who was still unconscious, and tossed her in front of the restroom entrance.

"You should watch how you behave. Who knows? There might be another set of remains joining your parents if you act out of line."

He shoved me aside after he was done speaking and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He then swaggered away. I stared at Maisie as she continued to lie unconscious on the ground, once again curling my calloused hands into tight fists.

What Barry didn't know was that the last person who dared to threaten me like that was now nothing but mush at the bottom of the ocean.

Chapter 2

I stayed by Maisie's side and took care of her in a house I temporarily rented. After three days, she finally regained consciousness. She was momentarily stunned when she first laid eyes on me before she suddenly started backing away as if she had seen a ghost.

Her hair was a mess, and her face was still bruised. She had a hollow look in her eyes and looked as if all the life had been drained out of her. "Get away!" she screamed. "Don't touch me!"

My heart felt like it was being electrocuted when I heard her anguished cries. I wanted to hug her to give her comfort, but she was injured all over, and I was afraid of hurting her further.

I was supposed to be the person she could rely on the most, the person she was most familiar with. But she had been so badly tormented by that group of savages that she couldn't even recognize me. I didn't dare imagine the suffering she had endured at the hands of those heartless beasts.

"Maisie, it's me, Duncan—your husband. Don't you recognize me? Don't worry. I'm here now, and I'll definitely avenge you!"

A hint of awareness seemed to have returned to Maisie's gaze. She let out a sob before throwing herself into my chest, wailing loudly. "It's useless, Duncan. Every time I tried to escape with David, Alicia, and Daisy, they would capture and torture us again!

"They planted a USB tracker on us and told us that they would always find us no matter where we escaped to. Every time I assumed that we had escaped, they would swoop in and take us back. I don't want to live anymore, Duncan. Just let me die, please!"

It felt as if knives were stabbing my heart as I gazed upon Maisie's pitiful countenance. Gently, I drew her into my embrace and whispered words of comfort into her ear, just like I did in the past.

When I managed to coax Maisie back to sleep, I set off to look for the village head, Nathan Walters. I wanted to get the surveillance footage from when the savages wreaked havoc in my home. With the footage in hand, I would use it as evidence to file a lawsuit against Barry.

However, Nathan's words chilled my heart to the core. "Duncan, my advice to you is not to make a mountain out of a molehill. What Mr. Williams did was perfectly legal. Your family members were the ones who got greedy and stirred up trouble because they wanted to squeeze more money out of him.

"They brought tragedy upon themselves. If you continue to cause trouble, I'm afraid it won't just be your parents who will meet their demise."

My head was buzzing from the anger boiling within me. Barry had started everything.

He was the one who bullied my family, forcefully demolished my home, and caused my parents' deaths. He was the cause of Maisie's current state. How could Nathan turn things around and pin the blame on us?

Nathan's expression made it clear that he was unconcerned by the tragedy that had befallen my family.

"Do you know how much our village will earn once Mr. Williams establishes his commercial city here? If you don't stop what you're doing, you're going to end up turning into the village's public enemy number one!"

Fury and disappointment welled up in my heart when I noticed Nathan's brazen and shameless expression. I had no doubt in my heart that the fault did not lie with me or my family. Barry and his men were the ones who were responsible.

I was going to make them pay for what they did, even if it cost me my life!

Noticing that I wasn't going to give up, Nathan dropped the act altogether. "Do you even have a clue how massive Mr. Williams' network is? If you truly want to go against him, you should first consider how many more members of your family you're willing to sacrifice.

"Take my word for it and give up now. Mr. Williams has already shown you mercy by sparing your wife and daughter. If you continue stirring up trouble, I'm afraid their lives will be in danger too!"

I gritted my teeth so hard that I could taste the metallic tang of blood spreading on my tongue. It was at that moment that the neighbor I had entrusted Daisy to came running over to us. Panicked, she yelled, "Duncan! Daisy has been kidnapped!"

Chapter 3

My thoughts were wiped clean upon hearing those terrible words. My footsteps turned unsteady for a moment as I staggered backward. When I regained my senses, I followed her as we both made a beeline toward the construction site.

However, no matter how hard I searched, Daisy was nowhere to be found. Those bastards! Daisy was only six years old! She was my entire life!

Three years ago, when a pair of human traffickers had tried to knock Daisy unconscious with a chloroform-drenched handkerchief with the intention of selling her on the black market, I had rushed forward and stabbed both of them to death.

The court had been sympathetic to the reason that led me to commit the crime, so the judge had only sentenced me to a year of probation.

I didn't want to tarnish the image Daisy had of me, so I had travelled abroad to join a band of mercenaries. Within three years, I had risen to the position of chief instructor in the group.

During the years I spent abroad, I was constantly thinking about Daisy. I spent days and nights dreaming of reuniting with her despite how I was embroiled in vicious battles that often seemed endless.

However, I hadn't even gotten a chance to look at her face after returning to Riverville before she was snatched away from under my nose by that group of beasts. I clenched my fists and swore to myself that I would never let anyone harm even a single strand of hair on Daisy's head.

In the next second, my phone buzzed. Barry had sent me a video recording of a small child. Although the video was blurry, I instantly recognized the red bracelet circling the child's wrist. I had personally slipped that exact bracelet onto Daisy's wrist in the past.

Images of Daisy as she threw herself into my embrace replayed over and over again in my head. All I could think about was her cute and innocent face. I could feel my nails digging into my palm, blood eventually seeping from the broken skin and dripping down my fingers.

Barry's pudgy face appeared at the very end of the video. He had a cigar balanced between his lips as he grinned wickedly. "I gave you a chance, but you insisted on opposing me, so you can't blame me for what happens next."

I could feel my rationality being buried beneath my burning rage. I was overwhelmed with the desire to rush to wherever the bastard was and end his life with my own hands.

In the next second, police sirens began to wail behind me. I tempered my anger when I noticed the officers hurrying over to me and showed them the video Barry had sent me.

However, the police only glanced at my phone callously before saying in a troubled voice, "The child's face is not shown in the video, so we cannot confirm that she is your daughter. Besides, you should be aware of how wide Mr. Williams' network is. It'll be extremely difficult to prosecute him."

I was stunned as I stared at the officers' helpless faces. It felt as if reality had dealt a powerful slap to my face. I knew that Barry had an influential background, but I didn't expect him to wield such overwhelming authority. It seemed that even the police couldn't do a thing to him.

I turned to leave but was stopped in my tracks by the officer's voice. "Don't act rashly. You're no match for someone with Mr. Williams' family background."

I froze before turning to glance at him, gritting out my next words. "What would you do if the child in the video was your daughter?"

Pity flickered across the officers' faces as they looked at me. "You should seek out Mr. Johnson at the courthouse. He may be your last hope."

Chapter 4

I knocked on the door that was labeled with Patrick Johnson's name when I made it to the courthouse. After looking through all the evidence I had gathered, anger flashed in Patrick's eyes.

"The nerve he has for trampling all over the law!" he exclaimed. "You don't have to worry. I'll handle this case and seek justice for you, no matter what background this man has. You can go home for the time being. I'll contact you once I have the results."

I stared at Patrick in slight disbelief. Was he really willing to involve himself in a conflict with Barry for a total stranger?

The office door was kicked open in the next second, and Barry swaggered in with a group of men. Disdain flickered in his eyes when he noticed me. He sounded as if he knew that I would be here when he said, "So, we meet again."

His tone was flippant while his face was filled with contempt. "I already told you not to cross me, but you just refuse to listen. Perhaps you have more daughters whom you want to bury?"

Barry carelessly picked up the document on the desk and scanned through it before tossing the paper at my face. "Do you really think a complaint is enough to take me down?"

He shot a scornful smile at me. "I already told you that no one in this city can best me. Did you think that you'd be able to win if you seek help from someone in the courthouse?"

Barry turned toward Patrick, who was standing behind him. A coy smile stretched across his face as he asked, "Isn't that right, Uncle Patrick?"

A shiver racked through my body. Patrick, who had declared just moments earlier that he would seek justice for me, was now looking at me with unnaturally cold eyes.

At that moment, I knew that I had lost. It was a complete and utter defeat. Patrick was Barry's uncle while I was just a stranger. Why on earth would he help me? The hand that I still had clenched in a tight fist fell helplessly to my side.

The taunting look on Barry's face deepened. "So, you want to go to court, do you? Coincidentally, I have a complaint that I want to file against you.

"When your parents and wife tried to stop us from demolishing the house earlier, they destroyed one of our excavators, three tow trucks, and five cranes. They also delayed our work. Totaling everything up, it's not unreasonable for me to ask you to pay 10 million dollars in damages, right?"

His eyes were filled with mocking when he looked at me as if he was toying around with something as insignificant as an ant.

He demolished my home, drove Maisie to insanity, and forced my parents to meet their untimely demise. He also buried Daisy in a deep pit that was filled with steel bars, yet he wanted to turn the situation around and file a lawsuit against me instead?

My face remained stoic as I tore the complaint into pieces. I then turned around and took my leave. The moment I left the courthouse, I retrieved my phone and made an overseas call. "I ran into some trouble, and I need your help."