They Mocked the Homeless Veteran Until He Fought Back

Chapter 007

Everyone in the room stared at the unfamiliar man in confusion. None of them knew who he was or why he had walked in and immediately taken the troublemakers’ side.

The thugs, however, looked delighted.

Their leader grinned at Andrew. “Now this guy makes sense. So, brother, who exactly are you?”

“Who I am doesn’t matter.” Andrew shrugged. “What matters is that you’re here for money, right?”

He had already figured out the situation.

Bonnie Hunt’s company might be doing fairly well, but when it came to connections and handling people, she was clearly lacking. Otherwise, a bunch of street thugs would never have dared to come here again and again making trouble.

If she had the right connections, one phone call would have brought people over to deal with this mess.

Instead, after all this commotion, not a single person had stepped forward.

Bonnie always carried herself with a cold, distant air. Judging from the current situation, she had probably offended quite a few people over the years.

The leader narrowed his eyes at Andrew.

“So you can actually make the decision?”

“What do you think?”

Andrew smiled.

“As long as your request isn’t too unreasonable, I’m sure I can convince Ms. Hunt to agree.”

“Good!”

The man clapped his hands excitedly.

“This company has seriously affected our lives. Their factory has been making so much noise these past few days that I haven’t been able to sleep at all. Even my eighty-year-old mother had a heart attack because of it!”

“That serious?”

Andrew looked genuinely surprised.

“Exactly!” the man said. “I brought my brothers here today because we want justice. Since you say you can make the decision, tell me how you plan to settle this.”

Andrew nodded.

“What do you want?”

“One million dollars. Give us the money and I’ll take my men and leave immediately.”

Andrew glanced over the crowd.

“There are what, twenty or thirty of you? Split a million between everyone and it’s not actually that much.”

He nodded.

“Fine. I agree.”

Then he turned toward Bonnie’s employees.

“Who handles the company’s finances? Bring one million dollars over here.”

“What?”

Bonnie and everyone around her froze.

He was really going to pay them?

Bonnie stared at Andrew for a few seconds.

She knew perfectly well that giving in once would only encourage these people to come back again, but Andrew didn’t strike her as an idiot.

After thinking it over, she gave the finance manager a slight nod.

The leader’s grin widened.

“Now that’s what I call doing business! Once I get the million, you won’t see me here again.”

“Give them a few minutes,” Andrew said calmly. “A million dollars isn’t pocket change. It takes time to prepare.”

About fifteen minutes later, an employee returned carrying a heavy security case.

Inside were stacks upon stacks of hundred-dollar bills.

A full million.

The moment the case opened, every thug in the room stared at the cash with shining eyes.

Most of them had never seen that much money in their lives.

The people who had hired them to cause trouble had only paid them a few hundred dollars each. They had never imagined they could walk away with a million today.

Andrew closed the case and held it out toward their leader.

“Here.”

The man immediately reached for it.

Andrew suddenly pulled it back.

“Hold on.”

The leader’s smile disappeared.

“What now?”

Andrew looked puzzled.

“You said the factory noise kept you awake and even caused your mother to have a heart attack. But why should I just take your word for it?”

He tapped the case lightly.

“You should at least show me some proof. A hospital report, a medical bill, a noise complaint, something.”

The leader’s face darkened.

“Proof?”

“Of course.”

Andrew smiled pleasantly.

“This is a million dollars. You can’t expect me to hand it over because you told me a story.”

“Fuck you!”

The thug immediately lost his temper.

The money had been right in front of him, and now Andrew was trying to take it back.

There was no way he was going to let a million dollars slip through his fingers.

“Give me the damn money!”

He reached for the case.

Several of his men surged forward at the same time.

Andrew tightened his grip.

“Wait! You still haven’t shown me any proof!”

“Give it here!”

The men grabbed the case and began pulling.

Andrew raised his voice so everyone could hear him.

“If you take this without any evidence or agreement, you’re stealing it!”

“Then call it stealing!”

The leader snarled.

“We’re taking it anyway!”

More men rushed forward.

“Fine, fine! Take it!”

Andrew suddenly released his grip.

The men had been pulling with all their strength. With nothing resisting them anymore, several of them stumbled backward and crashed onto the floor in a heap.

But none of them cared.

The money was theirs now.

“Did he seriously let them take it?” one of the employees whispered in disbelief.

Andrew spread his hands helplessly.

“What else was I supposed to do? There are dozens of them and only one of me.”

“We need to call the police!” someone shouted. “We can’t let these bastards get away with this!”

“By the time the police arrive, they’ll already be gone!”

A burly security guard stepped forward.

“Why wait? They just robbed the company in front of all of us!”

The thugs suddenly realized something was wrong.

The security guards who had been standing around timidly moments ago were now closing in from every direction.

Then all hell broke loose.

The guards rushed them.

Fists flew.

Within seconds, the lobby erupted into chaos.

Bonnie stared in astonishment.

These were the same security guards who normally looked lazy and useless, yet now they were fighting like completely different people.

When she finally recovered from her surprise, the way she looked at Andrew had changed.

Nothing this man did followed the usual rules.

First, he had pretended to be willing to compromise, making the troublemakers lower their guard.

Then he had put a million dollars right in front of them, knowing greed would overwhelm whatever caution they still had.

Finally, he had forced them to openly seize company property in front of dozens of witnesses.

Now the guards weren’t simply fighting a group of protesters.

They were stopping an apparent robbery.

And more importantly, after being pushed around for days, the company’s security team had finally rediscovered some backbone.

Andrew glanced toward the head of security.

“I think you should consider finding a new security captain.”

One of the burliest guards immediately stepped forward.

His voice was deep and steady.

“I think I can handle the position.”

Andrew looked him over.

“You? What makes you qualified?”

The man gave a faint smile.

He was also a military veteran.

For reasons he rarely talked about, he had eventually ended up working as an ordinary security guard at Bonnie’s company.

He walked toward the thug leader.

The man on the floor immediately started trembling.

“You... what are you trying to do?”

He backed away desperately.

“Call the police! Somebody call the police!”

He had already seen how hard this guard could hit.

The veteran stopped in front of him.

“Relax. I know the law. I’m not going to do anything illegal.”

The thug swallowed hard.

“But I’m also not going to—”

“AH!”

A scream suddenly echoed through the lobby.

The thug’s face twisted in pain.

The guard looked down at him almost lazily.

“Sorry. Didn’t see your foot there.”

Then he crouched slightly.

“Now, how about you tell me why you’ve been coming here to cause trouble?”

“I... I...”

The guard glanced toward the money case.

“A lot of people just heard you say you were taking that money whether the company agreed or not.”

His voice remained calm.

“So I think you should worry less about us and start worrying about yourself.”

He leaned closer.

“You know exactly why you came here, don’t you?”

The thug’s face went pale.

“It hurts! Fuck, fine! I’ll talk!”

He gritted his teeth.

“Someone paid us to come here and cause trouble. They gave us money to keep harassing the company. They told us to—”