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.