A SON IN LAW TURNS BILLIONAIRE AFTER DIVORCE

Chapter 29

The morning air was crisp, but Leonard didn’t spend a single second taking it in. He didn't know about the chaos that had unfolded with the Park family back at the hospital, nor did he have the time to care.

Right now, he had bigger things to secure before the world went dark.

He drove to a quiet, secluded bar on the far outskirts of Sydvale. The place was practically empty at eleven in the morning, bathed in dim yellow light and smelling faintly of stale beer. Sitting in a corner booth was a man wearing a thick, dark leather jacket and a low-profile cap—a look straight out of a private investigator's playbook.

The moment the man looked up and saw Leonard walking in, his broody scowl instantly shattered into a wide, bright grin.

“Bro!”

His energetic, booming voice was completely at odds with his grim, intimidating getup. Beneath the shady clothes was just Sean—a guy in his mid-twenties who had served right alongside Leonard years ago.

These days, though, Sean had carved out a very different career path as an off-the-books, black-market arms broker. The unfriendly outfit was simply part of the uniform.

“Sit down, sit down!” Sean laughed, slapping the leather booth. “Man, when you called me yesterday, I thought I was dreaming. A lottery billionaire calling me for hardware?”

Leonard slid into the booth across from him, keeping his voice low and steady. “You know I wouldn't call unless it was serious, Sean. Did you get what I asked for?”

Sean’s playful demeanor settled a bit, his eyes scanning the empty bar before leaning over the sticky table. “Civilian gun ownership is legal in this country, sure, but the paper trail is a nightmare. There are strict legal caps on how much heat one person can buy over the counter. What you asked for... that’s not a personal defense collection, Leonard. That’s an armory for a small militia.”

“Can you deliver or not?” Leonard asked simply.

Sean smirked, tossing a key ring onto the table. “You know who you’re talking to? Of course I can. But I’m not carrying a military supply drop in the back of a sedan. We gotta head to the warehouse.”

Twenty minutes later, Leonard’s truck followed Sean’s beat-up van down a bumpy dirt road on the industrial fringe of the city, stopping outside a massive, windowless corrugated steel warehouse.

Sean jumped out, unlocked the heavy padlock, and pushed the creaking metal doors wide open.

The moment Leonard stepped inside, his breath caught in his throat. His eyes lit up with a dark, satisfied fire.

Racks upon racks of polished firearms lined the inner walls. Tactical assault rifles, high-caliber sniper rifles, semi-automatic handguns, crates of military-grade ammunition, body armor plates, and tactical shotguns were neatly stacked on heavy wooden pallets under the hanging overhead lights.

It was a staggering sight. This was exactly what he needed. In less than eighty days, when the frozen hell broke loose and desperate mobs came knocking on his shelter's reinforced gates, this warehouse full of steel would be the ultimate equalizer.

Leonard walked down the rows, running his fingers over the cold metal of an assault rifle. He checked the action, inspected the barrels, and verified the ammunition crates. Everything was brand new, unregistered, and pristine.

“Satisfied?” Sean asked, leaning against a wooden crate with his arms crossed. “It took every connection I had to pull this off in twenty-four hours. Cost you a pretty penny, too.”

“I’ll wire the final payment right now,” Leonard said, pulling out his phone. Within thirty seconds, the transaction cleared.

Sean looked at his phone screen, letting out a low whistle. “Damn. Being a billionaire must be nice. Alright, bro, where do you want me to haul all this? I can rent a couple of flatbed trucks and—”

“No need,” Leonard interrupted smoothly, stepping toward the center of the warehouse. “Leave the keys and head back to town. I’ll handle the transport myself.”

Sean stopped dead, giving him a deeply bewildered look. He looked around the vast warehouse, then back at Leonard.

“Bro... are you crazy?” Sean blurted out, gesturing wildly at the mountains of heavy wooden crates. “How the hell are you planning to move all this heavy ordnance by yourself? There’s literally tons of steel here! It would take ten guys all day to load this!”

Leonard merely smiled, his face completely unbothered. “Don’t worry about it, Sean. I have my ways. Just make sure you delete the security logs on your way out.”

Sean stared at him for five long seconds, scratching the back of his neck. He knew Leonard wasn't a fool, but this made zero sense. Still, in their line of work, asking too many questions was a bad habit.

“Fine,” Sean sighed, tossing the warehouse keys to Leonard. “Have it your way, ghost man. Stay safe out there.”

Puzzled and shaking his head, Sean turned around, stepped outside, and drove his van away.

Leonard stood inside the doorway, watching the dust settle down the road until the sound of Sean’s engine completely faded into silence. He clicked the heavy warehouse doors shut from the inside and locked them tight.

Once he was absolute certain he was entirely alone, Leonard turned back toward the vast arsenal.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened the portal to his dimensional space.

He raised his right hand, sweeping it slowly across the air.

SWOOSH!

A silent wave of spatial energy rippled through the warehouse. The heavy crates of ammunition vanished in the blink of an eye. The rows of assault rifles swept off their racks, dissolving into thin air as they were deposited cleanly into the frozen, timeless void of his spatial ring!

Within less than two minutes, the massive warehouse was picked completely clean—leaving behind nothing but empty concrete floors and dust.

Leonard looked down at his waist. He kept back only a single, sleek black semi-automatic handgun and two full magazines, tucking the firearm securely inside his inner jacket holster.

Now, he thought, feeling the reassuring weight of the steel against his ribs, I'm ready.

By the time Leonard drove back into the Maple Grove residential complex, the sun had already set, casting long, dark shadows across the courtyard.

He parked his truck, pulled his jacket tighter around his shoulders, and walked into the ground-floor elevator lobby of his apartment building.

Standing right outside the metallic doors was a man around thirty years old.

The man was undeniably handsome, with sharp features, but he looked completely unkempt and disheveled. His jaw was covered in rough, patchy stubble, his designer dress shirt was buttoned completely wrong, and heavy, dark purple circles hung beneath his bloodshot eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept a full hour in a week. As Leonard stepped closer, a powerful, sour smell of heavy alcohol radiated off the man.

The man turned his head, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over Leonard. For a second, a flash of pure, ugly envy flickered across his face—no doubt recognizing "Big Money Leonard" from the neighborhood chatter.

Then, oddly, the man puffed out his chest, raised his chin high, and gave Leonard a smug, deliberate look, as if he were silently showing off something grand.

Do I even know you? Leonard thought, completely unbothered. He didn't say a word, casually looking away.

DING.

The elevator doors slid open.

Both men stepped inside the mirrored cabin. Leonard reached out and pressed the button for the 15th floor. A second later, the stranger reached out and pressed the exact same button—the 15th floor.

Leonard’s eyes narrowed slightly. A neighbor? He hadn't seen this guy around the 15th-floor walkway before.

The heavy metal elevator doors slowly began to slide shut, closing the gap between them.

Just as the two doors were about to click fully closed, a slender hand suddenly shot between them, blocking the sensor!

Is there anything specific you'd like to see happen next as the elevator doors reopen?