Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“I see…” Flossie nodded thoughtfully. “He certainly is amazing. I’m sure everything went smoothly, so the most important thing right now is to manage Guajardo Enterprise well.”
Everyone exchanged worried glances, knowing they were only delaying the inevitable.
Thankfully, they had managed to fool Flossie.
After Flossie chatted with them for a while, Owen suggested that they let Flossie rest. “There are three courses of treatment that she’ll take over a span of two weeks. She’ll get better with each treatment, but she also needs to rest. Let’s not disturb her.”
“Okay, let’s go then.” Leia immediately stood up and asked everyone to leave Flossie’s room.
When they reached downstairs and confirmed that Flossie was asleep, everyone called Neil and Elijah over and asked them to explain what had happened.
Neil had wanted to set off for Dragos immediately with the remainder of the dragon’s saliva, but decided he owed them an explanation. Taking a deep breath, he said to everyone, “In order to get the dragon’s saliva, Mr. Guajardo climbed our dragon statue, the most sacred thing in my clan. What he did infuriated the villagers, and if they’re going to punish him by clan laws… They’ll cook and eat him, sacrificing him to the ancestors to pacify the dragon’s wrath.”
“What?! They’re going to cook and eat him?” Xavier yelped, leaping out of his chair. “What kind of crazy clan are you from? Are they cannibals from Zambawi? Shouldn’t they consider the legal consequences of doing something like that?”
Leia was still bewildered, but when she saw Xavier heading towards Neil to beat him up, she immediately stood between them and shouted at Xavier,” Can you sit down quietly and listen to him? He’s the one who brought the dragon’s saliva here, so we should be thanking him!”
“You think this is all because of him?” Xavier’s expression was icy as he glared at Leia. “Didn’t you hear? Halston risked his life for this, but you so easily forgot about that. Do you all want him to get into trouble?”
“What? Listen-1 know you’re worried about Halston, we all are. Flossie will have a mental breakdown if anything happens to him, so at least for Flossie’s sake, I don’t want to see him in trouble!” Leia sighed exasperatedly. She thought that Xavier was calm and rational, but he always went crazy when it came to Halston. It made Leia wonder if he had a secret crush on Halston.
“Yes, Mr. Stuart, please calm down.” Elijah continued helplessly, “Ms. Osborne is right-we’re all worried about Mr. Guajardo, and we don’t want anything to happen to him. However, this matter was out of our hands, which is why things turned out this way. Let Neil finish before we come up with a plan.”
Xavier took a deep breath and tried his best to calm down. Then, he said to Neil, “Go on.”
Neil timidly swallowed and continued, “Mr. Guajardo urged me to bring the dragon’s saliva to Mr. Young no matter what happened, so after thinking about it, I went to find Mr. Young, instead of rescuing Mr. Guajardo… I exited the village late at night and reunited with Mr. Young, who was waiting at the foot of the mountains, then we came here.”
“What did you say?” Xavier bellowed and grabbed Neil’s collar. “You mean those barbaric villagers captured Halston when you left, and you both didn’t go back to save him?!”
“Ugh…”
Neil lowered his head, trembling in fear. He glanced at Elijah pleadingly.” Mr. Young, please help me. I did what you all told me; I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Mr. Stuart, it was my decision, not Neil’s. Punish me if you want, but leave him out of this.” Elijah closed his eyes, preparing for Xavier’s attack. He had expected such a reaction when he made that choice. Halston and Flossie had both been on the verge of death, and Elijah had chosen to save Flossie because he knew that was what Halston would do. If he chose to save Halston and lost the dragon’s saliva, he would have lost the chance to save Flossie, and Halston would have suffered even more. Elijah didn’t want to see Halston have such regrets.
“Elijah, you’re Halston’s most trusted subordinate. How could you betray him? Why?” Xavier’s fury turned into confusion. He knew Elijah’s loyalty towards Halston was stronger than Xavier’s friendship with Halston; Even if everyone had abandoned Halston, Elijah would never do such a thing.
“I did it because I knew that Mr. Guajardo would ask me to make that choice. Plus, I believe he’s capable of handling the villagers,” Elijah confessed honestly, but now, he wondered if he had been too optimistic. After all, the villagers in Dragos were beyond the reach of the law, and their mentality was quite primitive because of their location.
“There’s no use talking about that now,” Quinton said finally. He turned and instructed Chase, “Get ready and find some reliable men. We’re setting off.”
Xavier narrowed his eyes at Quinton suspiciously. “What are you up to now? n
Quinton shot Xavier a contemptuous look. “That’s none of your business. You’re all talk and no action, even when it concerns your friend. You’re not useful at all.”
“That’s right!” Leia immediately echoed Quinton’s words. “Why don’t you go save Halston instead of picking fights here? Quinton is much better than you in that aspect.”
“How dare you!” Leia’s words had bruised Xavier’s ego, and he refused to admit defeat. He immediately picked up his phone to call his men. “All of you will see who’s truly capable here!”
Quinton and Xavier rushed to Dragos with their men, and soon surrounded the tiny village from all directions. They came in large groups of professionals and elites, and had weapons aimed at the village from the sea, land, and sky. It looked like they would annihilate the village if the villagers refused to let Halston go.
Dragos’ villagers regarded themselves as the descendants of the dragon, so all of them, regardless of age, stubbornly protected their village.
Just as both parties were about to fight, Neil cried and got down on his knees between them. “Everyone just calm down, okay? We don’t have to do this. Please don’t fight!”
Silas Drago, the head of the clan, led the villagers. All of them held spears, and they waved their weapons as they shouted, “Kill! Kill! Kill!”
“Dad, you’re the head of the clan and the most rational person here. Please listen to me… We can’t afford to offend them. Just let Mr. Guajardo go. They’ll also put the dragon’s saliva back, so just forget about all this!” Neil grabbed Silas’ leg and begged him, prepared to face his clansmen’s wrath.
“Get lost, you traitor! The 874 villagers of Dragos will cut you up too to pacify the dragon’s wrath!” Silas growled as he kicked Neil away, and aimed his spear at Neil’s heart.
“Dad, no!’ A pretty lady stepped forward and stood between Silas and Neil, and said pleadingly, ‘Dad, I’m sure that Neil didn’t betray US on purpose. Maybe… Maybe that man forced him to do it, so punish him instead. If Neil dies, I’ll have to die with him given our clan laws.’ The lady was Sabrina Drago- Silas’ only daughter as well as Neil’s newly-wed wife. Sabrina was a kind woman, and she was the one who begged for the villagers’ mercy when they tied Halston up and were about to cook him. If not for her, Halston would have been turned into a human sacrifice despite his status and capabilities.
Silas was known for doting on his daughter, and could not bear to kill Neil when Sabrina stood in his way. He heaved a long sigh. “Sabrina, you’re too naive. You don’t know how wicked people can be. I told you that Neil shouldn’t go out to earn money, but you didn’t listen to me. You wanted to respect his choice and let him fulfill his ambitions, but do you see what happened? He conspired with outsiders to steal our most precious dragon’s saliva. How could you beg for mercy for such a man? You’ve let me down!”
“Dad, I know I was wrong, and Neil knows it too… But I feel that he might be right. We can find a solution that can benefit both parties…” Sabrina glanced at the men Quinton and Xavier had brought, and her eyes welled up with tears as she tried to persuade her father. “Dad, the people here have never left the village, and you all don’t know what the world has become. They’re holding guns with bullets inside, and if they really were bad people, we wouldn’t even be talking right now.” Sabrina was smart, and knew that their enemies had the upper hand. The villagers were attempting the impossible, and if their enemies had wished it, they would all be dead by now.
“Sabrina, I’m not a caveman. I know what they’re holding…”
Silas angrily looked ahead. “Not only do they have guns, but they also have cannons and other terrible weapons. I know our village will be doomed if they aim even one of those at US… but we’ve always been living on top of the mountains away from the world. We never start conflicts, but there are always wicked people coveting our village treasures. If we compromise this time, they’ll push their luck next time, and then our village will really be doomed. We’re the descendants of dragons, so we must protect it. They’ve disrespected our dragon, so we have to fight to the death. We won’t let them step into the village unless they kill all of us!” At that point, Silas turned and ordered his villagers, “Get ready to fight! Attack!”
The hundreds of villagers yelled and roared, shooting arrows with fire towards Quinton and Xavier.
Chase quickly blocked Quinton from the onslaught and said desperately,” Mr. Ellsworth, they’re crazy! We can’t reason with them. Just go back first, and let US handle them. After that, you can come out!”
Xavier, on the other hand, was impatient to save Halston. He waved his hand and ordered the mercenaries in camouflage clothes, “Shoot!”
However, before they could shoot, Quinton yelled out, “Don’t shoot!” Quinton glared at Xavier coldly and growled, “Halston is still with them. He’s doomed if we fight them head-on!” “Do you want them to kill US first?” Xavier snapped at him. He clenched his fists and said, “I think we should enter the village by force to save Halston.” Although he was stubborn, he did not dare to act impulsively. He asked his men to hold their fire, and quickly dodged the arrows. Secretly, he agreed with Quinton-he was worried that the villagers might harm Halston if they were not careful. A lot of Quinton’s mercenaries fell from the villagers’ attacks.
Suddenly, Silas held up his hand and bellowed, “Stop!”
Neil heaved a sigh of relief and said to Silas carefully, “Dad, I didn’t lie, did I? They’re not bad people. Even though we attacked them first, they didn’t resist. They sincerely want to talk to US, so let’s talk to them and come to a compromise.”
After a brief contemplation, Silas said to Neil, “Yes, I can talk to them. Ask the two leaders to come. We’ll talk in the village.” Silas had observed that there were two teams led by Quinton and Xavier, so he requested to speak to Quinton and Xavier alone.
Chase and Elijah objected to Silas’ suggestion.
“It’s too risky for Mr. Ellsworth and Mr. Stuart to go into the village. The villagers might even hold them hostage. It’s too dangerous!” “Yeah, we’ll lose our advantage once they enter the village. We can’t even fight back if anything happens. I think we’d better not take the risk…”
Xavier frowned and wondered if he should agree. Their concerns were valid -the villagers were barbarians beyond the reach of the law, so promises and morality would mean nothing to them. If he impulsively went with them, he would be at their mercy. It was a great risk.
‘TH go with you,” Quinton said to Silas calmly. He bypassed the crowd and approached Silas.
“Are you willing to?” Silas was taken aback, not expecting them to be that trusting and sincere.
“I’ve got nothing to fear-l believe that the descendants of dragons aren’t cunning people who would go back on their word,” Quinton remarked. He had escaped death many times and was not afraid of dying. Besides, if this helped save Halston, his sister would be happy. As Flossie’s brother, he had done a lot of bad things, and had failed to protect his sister. In a way, he could make it up to her through this.
“Great! You’re a true man!” Silas gave Quinton an approving look, then turned to Xavier. “How about you? Do you want to go with US?” “I can…” Xavier looked at Silas coldly. “But I have one condition.”
Silas became enraged and demanded, “What right do you have to negotiate terms with me?” “Why not?” Xavier was not as easy to talk to as Quinton. He had a bad temper, and his easy life made him reckless. He was not afraid of infuriating Silas, and said firmly, “I’m not your villager or your slave, and my weapons are better than yours. You all are the ones who have no right to negotiate terms with me. If you don’t behave, I might destroy your entire village.” He felt that he had endured enough today, and having an aggressive enemy triggered him. His years in business taught him that he should never be too tolerant towards an opponent, or else they would walk all over him.
“How dare you…” Silas and the villagers became furious when they heard that.
“There’s nothing to talk about. Let’s fight him!” “Yeah, let’s fight him!”
Enraged, the villagers wanted to fight Xavier, but they couldn’t do anything other than shout because they knew how dangerous Xavier’s men were.
Xavier rubbed his temples in frustration. “Okay, stop shouting. We both have something the other needs, so we’re in the same boat. Let’s just take a step back and try to resolve this.”
Silas was still angry, but remained silent because Xavier had intimidated him.
Seeing that, Neil continued, “You’re right, Mr. Stuart. We have our differences, and I think the best course of action right now is for everyone to calm down and take a step back.”
Everyone remained silent, in agreement with Neil.