No One Hurts My Daughter and Lives

Chapter 5

In the sprawling, extravagantly luxurious courtyard of the Tyler family estate in Haven City, Marcus Tyler lay comfortably reclined in a plush rocking chair under the afternoon sun. He lazily rolled an exquisite, highly valuable antique snuff bottle between his fingers, completely oblivious to the absolute nightmare that was rapidly approaching his doorstep.

"You are all nothing but a bunch of useless trash," Marcus sneered, his eyes half-closed in arrogant disdain as he looked at his men. "You could not even find out the true identity of the opposing party. What about the hospital? Did you investigate there?"

Several burly men in sharp black suits stood respectfully before him, their heads bowed in submission. One of them stepped forward, speaking with extreme caution to avoid angering his master. "We checked everything, young master. Rumor has it that the little girl was abruptly transferred out of the medical facility. As for her current whereabouts, absolutely no one knows. Based on how cleanly their tracks were covered, it seems the opposing party has quite a significant background."

"Heh. How mildly interesting," Marcus chuckled darkly, entirely unbothered by the warning. "I have never heard of Serena Vale having this kind of powerful backing. But even if they have a significant background, I really want to see exactly what kind of waves they think they can make here on my turf in Haven City. Even a mighty dragon cannot suppress the local snake. Whoever dares to go against the Tyler family is simply courting their own brutal death."

Showing a face of utter indifference, Marcus sat up straight in his rocking chair, a cruel, mocking smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

However, the very second his arrogant words faded into the air, a frantic figure violently burst into the tranquil courtyard, shattering the quiet atmosphere. "Young master, this is bad! Outside..." the subordinate gasped, completely out of breath and trembling.

"What are you panicking for? What exactly happened ?" Marcus barked, his good mood instantly ruined by the loud disruption.

"There are several men wearing military uniforms outside, and they are coming in hot with terrifying momentum !" the guard stammered, his eyes wide with fear. "One look and you can tell they are absolutely not here with good intentions!"

Men in military uniforms? What on earth were they doing here? Marcus raised a brow, his mind racing as he pondered the bizarre situation for a brief moment. "Exactly how many of them are there?" he demanded coldly.

"Only seven or eight!" the guard replied hastily.

"Hmph. They really are looking for death," Marcus sneered, a wicked glint flashing in his eyes as he stood up. "Pass down my orders. Gather every single man we have and head to the main gates immediately. I had not even gone looking for them yet, but they actually possessed the sheer audacity to deliver themselves right to my doorstep. I want to see exactly who has the nerve to be this brazen!"

He spoke with total, careless disregard for the impending threat. Over the past few years, Marcus had secretly bribed and recruited a large batch of highly trained, retired mercenaries. Their sole purpose was to handle all the dark, underhanded, and bloody deeds for the Tyler family. Throughout the entirety of Haven City, even the few other top-tier wealthy families deeply feared this ruthless, private armed force he had meticulously cultivated.

The opposition was merely a measly group of seven or eight individuals. To dare cause trouble for the Tyler family with such pathetic numbers was truly overestimating their own capabilities. It was nothing more than throwing an egg against a solid rock. "Follow me. Let's go take a look at these fools," Marcus commanded, confidently leading his entourage toward the front of the estate.

However, the very next second, he was entirely paralyzed by shock.

With an explosive, deafening crash, the massive, reinforced steel gates of the front courtyard completely collapsed inward. A thick, blinding cloud of dust violently churned into the air. Before the debris could even settle, four or five dark silhouettes were sent flying backward through the air, crashing heavily at Marcus's feet. Every single one of them was instantly knocked unconscious, their bones shattered by the brutal impact.

Through the destroyed gateway, several imposing figures stepped inside with terrifying, orderly precision. They moved like grim reapers, ruthlessly striking down anyone who dared to stand in their path, showing absolutely zero mercy.

In less than a few moments, the heavily armed mercenaries that Marcus had proudly considered his untouchable elites were entirely wiped out, all groaning in agony on the blood-stained pavement. Meanwhile, the seven invaders stood tall among the carnage. They had suffered zero casualties; in fact, there was not a single scratch on them, nor was a speck of dust out of place on their crisp uniforms.

Marcus's face instantly drained of all color, turning ashen and ghastly pale. He swallowed hard, his throat suddenly bone-dry as an overwhelming wave of dread crashed over him. "Who exactly are you people ?" he demanded, his voice cracking with fear. "How dare you trespass into the Tyler residence! Do you have any idea who I am?"

"You are... Marcus Tyler?" a chilling voice slowly drifted through the air.

Marcus froze, a cold shiver racing down his spine as another figure leisurely paced through the ruined gateway.

The man was clad in a dark, sweeping trench coat and heavy combat boots. Each of his footsteps was steady, deliberate, and undeniably powerful, echoing like thunder against the stone courtyard. The suffocating, murderous aura radiating from his entire being felt like a catastrophic hurricane summoned from the deepest, darkest pits of hell itself.

Marcus stared blankly at the approaching man, instinctively gulping down mouthfuls of dry air. He had spent his entire life surrounded by powerful, dangerous people, but this was the very first time he had ever encountered such a crushing, violently oppressive presence.

In a flash of terrifying clarity, he suddenly realized just how utterly ridiculous he had been. He had arrogantly planned to drag out whoever was backing Serena Vale to teach them a brutal lesson. Instead, the enemy had completely kicked down his front door and subjected his forces to an absolute, overwhelming massacre. If word of this humiliating defeat ever leaked out, he would become the laughingstock of the entire city.

"All those years ago, were you the one who instructed someone to inject my daughter with the leukemia virus ?" Aaron Holmes slowly raised his head. His dark, abyssal eyes locked fiercely onto Marcus, piercing through him like icy daggers. He asked the question slowly, pronouncing each syllable with a terrifying, deadly weight.

Buzz!

Marcus's brain felt as though it had violently exploded inside his skull. He finally understood the exact, horrifying reason this monster had come to his home. He firmly believed he had executed that sinister plot with absolute secrecy. He never imagined in his wildest nightmares that it could be traced back to him after so much time. Exactly what terrifying identity did this man standing before him possess?

"So what if I did ?" Marcus spat, gritting his teeth hard as his facial features twisted into a hideous, defensive scowl. "What are you going to do about it? Marching in here with such self-righteous fury—do you honestly think you can get revenge? Heh, you will have to see if you even have the capability to pull that off."

He knew perfectly well that today's chaotic events could not possibly end peacefully. However, as a direct descendant of the powerful Tyler bloodline, he had been arrogant and domineering for years. He truly did not believe that an outsider would actually dare to ignore his family's massive influence and physically strike him down.

"Very well," Aaron said, his voice entirely devoid of any human emotion. "Then go straight to hell ." He gave a simple, stiff nod and shot a cold, silent glance toward Reaper.

The subordinate moved with terrifying speed. A frigid flash of silver light danced across the air, and in the blink of an eye, a thick, arterial spray of crimson blood violently erupted into the courtyard. Marcus collapsed straight to the ground like a severed puppet.

His pupils dilated rapidly, his pale face permanently frozen in a mask of sheer, unadulterated horror. Even in the final, fading moments of his miserable life, he could not comprehend how he had been executed so abruptly, dying such an utterly confusing, pathetic death on his own territory.

Aaron swept an apathetic, indifferent glance over the fresh corpse bleeding out onto the expensive tiles. He did not linger for even a fraction of a second, immediately turning around and striding out of the ruined gates. The entire brutal extermination had taken only a few brief minutes. The rest of his elite men swiftly and silently withdrew, vanishing like ghosts into the shadows.

Meanwhile, miles away at the towering headquarters of Tyler Corp, deep inside the luxurious chairman's office. The supreme head of the family, Brad Tyler, suddenly answered a frantic, encrypted phone call. Upon hearing the report, he froze completely, entirely dumbfounded.

"What?! Marcus... is dead? How did this happen ?" he roared, his voice cracking. "Exactly who did this?"

Even though Brad Tyler had dominated the cutthroat business world for decades, navigating countless bloody storms, he absolutely could not maintain his composure upon hearing this devastating news. Especially when he learned that his son had been brutally slaughtered right inside the heavily fortified Tyler estate, an uncontrollable, explosive rage burned fiercely within his chest, turning his mind into a chaotic, churning ocean.

Who was it?! Who possessed the sheer, absolute audacity to publicly provoke and butcher his bloodline? Did they not know the horrific consequences of making an enemy out of his powerful family?!

"Investigate! I want this investigated right now! No matter who it is, I am going to make them wish they were dead !" Brad Tyler commanded, slamming his fists onto his mahogany desk. Almost instantly, the entire massive network of the family mobilized, their frantic, aggressive movements sending shockwaves through half of Haven City.

When Aaron received the intelligence reports detailing the enemy's frantic, large-scale mobilization, his handsome face remained completely placid, completely devoid of even a single trace of worry. A mere, insignificant wealthy family like them was genuinely not worthy of being placed in his eyes. If the opposing party truly remained blind to the towering mountain before them, then he would simply wipe their entire bloodline from the face of the earth.

Sitting quietly in the back of his vehicle, Aaron pulled out his secure smartphone. He stared intently at a very specific string of numbers saved in his contacts. After a long, heavy silence, he finally pressed the call button.

Across the city, Serena Vale sat alone in her dim room, her eyes completely red and swollen from hours of relentless crying. She tightly cradled a faded, precious photograph taken when her baby girl was only a hundred days old. After all these agonizing years, the exact moment she learned her daughter was still alive in this world, her battered heart could no longer find a single moment of peace.

She knew with absolute, fierce certainty that she could never, ever let her daughter be separated from her side again. She swore to herself that she would heavily compensate for all the agonizing regrets and missed moments of the past five years. Yet, even though her child was so incredibly close today, lying in a hospital bed mere miles away, she had been violently turned away and forbidden from seeing her.

A profound, suffocating sense of remorse chewed at her soul. She absolutely despised herself for being so weak, for letting things reach this tragic point. Furthermore, Aaron's sudden, shocking return had caused violent ripples across a heart she had long assumed was dead and buried. This was the man she had once loved with every fiber of her being. Scene after scene of their beautiful, painful past relentlessly flooded her mind, threatening to drown her.

These two people—the ones closest to her soul—had both crashed back into her isolated world on the exact same day. For a while, she genuinely had no idea how to face them. But what could she possibly do? How could she even begin to explain the suffocating nightmare she had endured all these years? She let out a long, helpless sigh that echoed in the empty room.

Suddenly, right at that moment, a very specific ringtone shattered the heavy silence. Serena's slender body violently trembled. This was a custom ringtone she had deliberately set long ago, one she had not heard in many, many painful years.

Just from hearing those few musical notes, she knew exactly who was calling. After hesitating for a agonizing second, she gathered her courage and pressed the answer button.

"The old place. See you tonight ." With those few, incredibly brief words, the call was abruptly disconnected.

Serena listened blankly to the cold, dead dial tone buzzing through the speaker. A bitter, intensely complicated smile slowly tugged at the corners of her lips. The old place. So, after all this time, he actually still remembered!

Her heart was a chaotic, swirling mess of mixed emotions. She was terrified, unsure of how to face him, yet simultaneously, an overwhelming, desperate yearning to see him consumed her entirely.

"This day... was bound to come eventually," she whispered softly to the empty room.