FROM PRISON TRASH TO GOD OF WAR

Chapter 4: The Coffin

The temperature in the Grand Marquis ballroom plummeted. It wasn't the air conditioning—it was something far more primal. An oppressive weight pressed down on every person in the room, making hearts race and palms sweat despite the opulent surroundings.

Robert Thompson's mouth worked soundlessly, opening and closing like a fish drowning in air. His face cycled through shock, disbelief, and then volcanic rage.

"You." His voice came out strangled. "You... you're supposed to be DEAD!"

Victoria stumbled backward, one hand clutching her throat. "No. No, this isn't possible. You died. They told us you died!"

Alexander Kane stood at the entrance, his expression carved from ice. Behind him, Colonel Marcus Bennett stepped forward, a polished wooden coffin balanced effortlessly on his shoulder.

"Hello, Uncle Robert. Stepmother." Alexander's voice was soft, almost conversational. "Did you miss me?"

"You BASTARD!" Robert's roar shattered the stunned silence. He stormed forward, finger jabbing toward Alexander like a weapon. "Do you have any idea what kind of event this is? This is a banquet for the WAR GOD! The most important man in the nation is coming here, and you—you walking curse—you dare show your face?!"

"How did you even get in here?" Victoria shrieked, her carefully applied makeup cracking around her eyes. "Security! SECURITY!"

Jason Thompson recovered from his shock enough to step beside his father. "You piece of trash! You're going to destroy everything Father built! The War God could arrive any second!"

The guests erupted into chaos.

"Is that really him? The pervert?"

"Oh my God, he's going to ruin everything!"

"Someone get him out before the War God sees this disgrace!"

Margaret Ashford pressed her hand to her chest dramatically. "Robert, you poor man! After everything you've done for this family, and this... this animal comes crawling back!"

"Crawling back?" another guest spat. "More like slithering! Like the snake he is!"

A heavy-set businessman pushed forward. "You should have died in prison, boy! That's where garbage belongs!"

"Yeah! Rotten, filthy garbage!" someone else added.

Alexander's gaze swept across the crowd with such cold contempt that several people actually stepped back.

Victoria recovered her composure, clutching Robert's arm. Her voice took on that wounded, fragile quality she'd perfected over the years. "Alexander, please. If you ever had any love for this family, any decency at all, you'll leave now. Don't humiliate us in front of—"

"Humiliate you?" Alexander's laugh was devoid of warmth. "That's rich, coming from a murderer."

"How dare you!" Victoria's mask slipped, revealing pure venom beneath. "After what you did to me? After you tried to—to violate me on your own wedding night? You have the audacity to call ME names?"

The crowd gasped on cue.

"That's right!" Robert seized the moment. "You tried to rape my wife, you sick bastard! We showed you mercy by only throwing you out. We should have killed you ourselves!"

"Should have castrated him first," Jason added viciously. "Made sure he could never hurt another woman."

Alexander took a step forward. Then another. His footsteps echoed in the sudden quiet, each one deliberate, measured. The crowd parted before him like water around a stone.

Robert's bravado faltered slightly. "Stop right there! Don't you dare—"

Alexander ignored him completely. He walked past Robert as if the man didn't exist, moving toward the center of the ballroom.

Behind him, Marcus Bennett strode forward and slammed the coffin down onto the pristine marble floor. The impact boomed through the hall like a cannon shot. Champagne glasses rattled. A woman screamed.

"What the hell is that?" someone whispered.

"Is that a coffin?"

"Oh my God, is there a body inside?"

Victoria pointed at the coffin with a trembling hand. "You... you've gone completely insane! Robert, call the police! He's brought a COFFIN to a formal event!"

"This is beyond disrespectful!" Margaret shrilled. "This is psychological terrorism!"

Jason smirked, recovering some of his courage with the crowd behind him. "What's the matter, Alexander? Did you bring your own coffin because you knew you wouldn't leave here alive?"

The crowd laughed nervously.

"That's probably exactly it!"

"Too stupid to realize he's walking into his own funeral!"

"At least he saved us the trouble of buying one!"

Jason swaggered closer, emboldened by the laughter. "Seriously, cousin. Is that coffin for you? Because I've got to say, it's a nice touch. Shows you understand your place—six feet under where—"

Marcus Bennett's hand moved so fast it was nearly invisible. The slap connected with Jason's face with a crack that echoed off the chandelier crystals.

Jason spun completely around from the force, collapsing to the floor, blood streaming from his split lip.

The ballroom fell silent as a tomb.

"You... you HIT my son!" Robert's voice climbed to a shriek. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

Marcus didn't respond. He simply stepped back to stand beside Alexander, his expression carved from granite.

Jason crawled to his feet, one hand pressed to his rapidly swelling face. "You're dead! You're both dead! Do you know who my father is?!"

"A thief and a murderer," Alexander said calmly. "Yes, I'm aware."

Victoria's face twisted with rage. "That's SLANDER! Robert, don't just stand there! Call Derek! Call security! Get these animals out of here before they—"

"Before they what?" Alexander's voice cut through her hysteria like a blade. "Before they tell everyone the truth about what you did?"

"We did nothing!" Robert roared. "Nothing except show mercy to an ungrateful brat who—"

"Who you framed for attempted rape," Alexander interrupted. "Who you beat half to death. Who you sent to prison to die."

The crowd shifted uncomfortably.

"He's delusional," Victoria announced to the room. "Everyone saw what he did to me that night. Everyone knows he's lying."

"Is he though?" Alexander tilted his head. "Strange how that night, I was drugged at my own wedding reception. Strange how I woke up in your bedroom, Uncle Robert's wife. Strange how you had guards ready to burst in at exactly the right moment."

"Lies!" Robert's face purpled. "Desperate lies from a desperate man!"

"Robert," a guest ventured nervously. "Maybe we should just—"

"SHUT UP!" Robert rounded on his secretary, who stood near the entrance. "Call Derek Morrison NOW! Tell him to get his ass in here and drag this trash out!"

The secretary fumbled for her phone, dialing frantically.

Alexander watched with an expression of cold amusement. "Derek Morrison. Your head of security."

"That's right," Robert snarled. "And when he gets here, you'll wish you'd died in that prison cell. Derek's been itching for a rematch ever since—" He caught himself too late.

"Since what, Uncle?" Alexander's smile was terrible to behold. "Since he broke my hands and feet five years ago? Since he and his men beat me until my bones shattered? Is that what you were going to say?"

The crowd murmured, uncertain now.

Victoria recovered quickly. "Derek was defending me from a violent criminal! He did what was necessary!"

"Of course he did." Alexander's gaze swept the room. "And tonight, he'll do what's necessary again. Won't he?"

Robert's smile returned, vicious and triumphant. "That's right. Derek and his boys will be here any minute. And this time? This time we won't stop until—"

The ballroom doors burst open.