The Hidden Dragon Son-in-Law

Blood Ties and Bullet Storms

Chapter 9: “Blood Ties and Bullet Storms”

Location: Crimson League Tower – Inner Sanctum

Mistress Scarlet descended into the sublevel chamber only she had access to.

A polished black vault door slid open, revealing a private memorial room. Inside, photographs lined the walls — men and women once known only by codenames.

One photo sat at the center.

A man and woman, holding a young boy with stormy eyes. The brass plaque below read:

Agent D. Lin

Agent M. Lin

Status: KIA

Scarlet stared at the image, jaw clenched.

“They were your parents, Jaxon,” she whispered. “But what you never knew is... I was the one who gave the order that got them killed.”

She touched the image gently. Her voice cracked — not with guilt, but control.

“They chose love over duty. And for that, I had to make a choice.”

She turned to her aide. “He’s getting close to the truth. If he finds out I was behind the Broken Lotus betrayal... he won’t stop.”

“Shall I ready the kill squads?”

“No,” Scarlet said. “We let Ivy live. She’s the key to keeping him off balance. But the next time he breathes my name in front of the League... I want him bleeding.”

—

Location: Western District – Ivy’s Safehouse, 9:42 PM

Ivy sat in a windowless room guarded by Zhao’s elite men. Her pulse had finally calmed since the Crimson League temporarily lifted Jaxon’s Red-class execution — but she knew it wouldn’t last.

She picked up her phone and scrolled through decrypted files. Every name, every betrayal, every man who'd ever traded power for lives.

But then the lights flickered.

The guard outside her door shouted.

Pop. Pop. Two suppressed gunshots.

Ivy froze.

She dove behind the steel desk just as the door exploded inward.

Three masked mercs entered, rifles raised.

“Find the girl! Kill the guards!”

Ivy crawled toward the panic button under the desk — but they spotted her.

One raised his rifle—

CRACK.

A bullet tore through the window from outside, dropping the attacker instantly.

Zhao’s voice crackled through the intercom: “Ma’am, move! Now! There’s a tunnel under the bookshelf. Go!”

Ivy sprinted, kicking the bookshelf aside to reveal a hatch.

Behind her, another explosion shook the building. She dropped into darkness just as fire engulfed the room above.

Her breath caught.

That wasn’t a random strike.

They had come for her… specifically.

—

Location: Underground Labyrinth – One Hour Later

Jaxon stumbled through a maze of service tunnels beneath the Midnight Cross. After his confrontation at the auction, the syndicates had retaliated — setting off charges and sending in wave after wave of foot soldiers.

His coat was shredded, his arms cut, but his blade was still sharp — and so was his rage.

“Zhao,” he panted into his comm. “Status on Ivy?”

“Under attack. She escaped, but we lost six men.”

Jaxon’s jaw clenched. “Where is she now?”

“In route to fallback bunker. But... sir, listen—this wasn’t Ethan. This was internal. Someone inside Crimson sent coordinates to the mercs.”

Jaxon stopped walking.

Scarlet.

She knew Ivy was with him. And she was willing to kill her to throw him off balance.

Jaxon smashed his fist into the tunnel wall, blood dripping from his knuckles.

“No more hiding. No more running.”

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a black data chip.

“I’m bringing this to the League’s core servers. Let’s see how they like truth when it’s written in blood.”

—

Above ground, Scarlet stood before a digital map of Jaxon’s known hideouts.

“He’s heading for Crimson HQ,” her aide said nervously. “He’s going to leak everything.”

Scarlet didn’t flinch.

She smiled.

“Then we’ll greet him at the gates. And when he walks in…”

She drew a dagger from her belt — one engraved with the Lin family crest.

“…I’ll return his legacy. One stab at a time.”

—