War God's Reckoning

I will make you pay

Nancy frowned, staring at him from across the room.

Didn't Xavier love her the most? Four years of cooking, bank transfers, giving in to all requests, unending patience.

At this point, he should have been on his knees. Begging Ethan to choose him, crawling. Not asking for divorce.

His indifference made her angry. Something hot and ugly twisted under her ribs. But she swallowed it and turned, heels clicking as she left to bring the documents.

She was used to being treated like royalty before him. Dresses, cars, the company handed over with both hands. No man had pampered her the way he had, even after he lost his legs. She’d gotten used to the way he looked at her like she hung the moon.

Seeing him detached now, cold, made her unhappy. It felt wrong. Off.

She was the one meant to kick him away. While he should be the one clinging onto her, desperately.

The second the door shut behind her, Jason laughed, filled with smug satisfaction. “How do you like this surprise, Mr. Genius CEO? No, you're no longer a CEO. You merged your company with Crescent waves, and resigned to take care of my son.”

He laughed again, his lips curving disdainfully, eyes bright with glee.

“I have seen many simps, but none was quite stupid as you.”

He leaned closer to Xavier. Close enough that his breath hit Xavier’s face.

“Nancy has never loved you, she's mine, had always been. The kidney you thought you gave her is in my belly, the son you raised is also mine. I bet you must be feeling terrible inside. Do you want to strangle me?”

Xavier turned to look at him. His eyes held a hint of warning. Deep in his dantian, more cracks spiderwebbed across the seal. He could feel it. His powers would erupt the moment it was undone. The room would burn.

He shut his eyes and took deep breaths. He must not lose control. Not here. Not with guests partying downstairs. Otherwise even they might not be spared when the energy came loose.

“What are you doing?” Nancy barked from the doorway, documents in hand.

Jason stepped back instantly and smiled at her. All innocence.

“Your dear husband just threatened to deal with me, saying I stole his family.”

Nancy’s face flushed. Her heart boiled with rage. She crossed the room in two quick strides, her palm struck Xavier’s face with cruel intensity. The crack echoed.

“If anything happens to Jason, you will have me to contend with.”

The moment her hand fell, realization hit. She gasped and staggered back.

She still needed him to sign. Making him angry would only make things worse.

Against expectations, Xavier remained silent. He didn’t flinch. His hand drifted to his knees, absentminded, fingers tapping.

Once his powers returned, he could burn out the poison in his legs. He could stand and walk again. Perhaps, this was for the best.

He looked at her and extended his hand.

“The documents.”

“Xavier, don't misunderstand. This is for the best. Ethan's happiness matters the most…”

“How about you?” He cut in, voice low. “Has there ever been a moment you felt the slightest bit of affection for me? Or was I simply your puppet?”

His gaze shifted to Ethan. The boy was wearing the jade pendant at his throat. Green light pulsed faintly under the surface. Xavier had imbued it with his own power to protect him. It was also the symbol of the dragon god’s heir.

Xavier smiled wryly. He’d been planning to impart his sect's secret cultivation techniques to Ethan after the birthday cake. And give him the rest of his private properties too, since Nancy said she didn’t want another child.

If they had waited a few more days, he would have truly lost everything to them. The consortium. The sect. His entire legacy.

But heaven had eyes. It let him discover their treachery before it became too late.

“Ethan, since I'm not your father, I need the jade pendant back.”

Ethan’s eyes went wide. He clutched the pendant defensively, lips forming a pout as he shuffled back.

“No, bad daddy, it's mine. I grew up with it, it's my own. I won't give it to you.”

Xavier decided to ignore him. He turned to Nancy.

“If you want me to sign, bring that jade pendant to me. If it cracks or breaks, I won't sign. Let's go down together.”

Her face turned red. She gritted her teeth.

“Xavier, do you really need to be so petty with a child? Even if he's not your biological son, you raised him. How can you bear to make him sad over something as petty as jade. This was the gift you gave him on his first birthday. He has gotten quite attached to it. Don't you usually love Ethan the most? Why are you being difficult today?”

Xavier scoffed. “The boy I loved and let ride all over me was my only son. Since he's not mine, I don't need to endure his excesses.”

Nancy’s expression darkened. Her chest heaved up and down, nose flaring.

“You truly disappoint me with your pettiness. Is your love that cheap?”

She turned to Ethan and began to coax him in a soft voice, all honey and lies.

Xavier shut his eyes. He tuned them out. Inside, he tried to stabilize the wild energy drifting back into his body. It felt like a caged beast waking up.

Someone shoved something into his palm. He opened his eyes. Nancy stood there, scowling, the jade in his hand.

Jason stared murderously at him as he carried the crying Ethan to the side. Xavier ignored them both and slid the pendant into the breast pocket of his inner shirt. Right over his heart.

Nancy shoved the documents at him. He flipped the first page open to read, and immediately she caught his wrist, stopping him.

He turned to her, askance. Nancy forced a tight smile. “There's no need to waste time. The guests have been waiting for Ethan.” She flipped to the last page with a manicured nail. “Just sign here, let's hurry.”

The corner of Xavier's lips curled into a disdainful smirk.

He knew. It wasn’t divorce papers. It was an asset transfer. Every account, every property, every share signed over to her and Jason. Leaving him with nothing but the wheelchair.

He didn’t care. What they were fighting over was a drop in the ocean to him. Yet it had brought out this much evil and ruthlessness in them.

He signed without question. And pushed it back to her. She would learn the hard way, the cost of the choice she'd made.

She gave him the second document.

“This is the disownment form, renouncing your claim to Ethan. This would make his name change smoother.”

Xavier signed again. He had never intended to drag a son that wasn’t his anyway.

Nancy was surprised to see him sign everything without question. Then thesurprise turned to a frown.

Seeing him so calm was unnerving. It made her anxious.

Xavier was someone that always had a plan B and C. It wasn’t like him to leave without a fight. Who knew what he was planning?

“Are you okay with the arrangements?” she asked, eyes searching, voice thinner than before.

Xavier smiled at her, cold and creepy. It didn’t reach his eyes. “On our wedding day, I promised to give you everything you want, and make you happy. I'm someone that never forgets my vow, unlike you who treated yours like trash.”

He lifted his hand, bit open his finger, and pressed the bloody print to the disownment contract.

“A thumbprint isn't necessary.” Nancy explained quickly, but he was already done. The red mark was seared into the paper.

The seal on his energy core tore open the second the last tie was cut. It surged like a tsunami through his meridians.

He quickly circulated it, teeth gritted, trying to contain it within his body before it blew the house apart.

Nancy staggered back. The air around him turned glacial. Frost crept across the floor tiles.

Before Xavier could stabilize his energy, a sharp ‘thwip’cut the air.

A sneak attack. An anesthetic dart hit the back of his neck, sinking deep and freezing him to the spot.

A heavy object slammed into his head next. Then a kick to his chest sent him hurtling down the stairs.

The energy he was trying to contain went haywire from the impact, causing a backlash which severed his meridians and heart valves from the inside. He hit the bottom landing and spat out blood, body twitching on the cold marble.

The guests downstairs screamed. Crystal shattered. The music stopped.

Nancy looked at Jason, eyes wide with alarm. “Have you gone mad? There are people downstairs.”

Jason wiped his shoe and smirked.

“He fell on his own after abusing hard drugs. How's it our business? If we let him leave today, there's no knowing what he would do.”

Ethan, who had gone out to play, ran back at the commotion. On seeing the blood, he screamed and burst into tears.

“Isn't that Mr. Winthrop?”

“Someone pushed him down.”

“Call an ambulance!”

Nancy rushed to cover her son's eyes, while Jason stepped forward. He pasted an expression of distress on his face and put an arm around her shoulders.

“I did it for us. You won't resent me right? I love you so much.”

Nancy sighed and nodded, dazed.

“Let me check on him.”

“There's no way he's still alive. Let's do as I suggested.”

Before he could take another step, the front doors blew open. Sounds of running footsteps echoed outside. Heavy boots.

Men in military clothes stormed the house, weapons drawn.

Pandemonium broke out. Guests scattered, screaming.

Jason, who was about to announce that Xavier was abusing drugs, froze. Fear paralyzed him for one full second.

The man in the lead shoved past everyone and dropped to his knees beside Xavier. Horror laced his expression. “Lord Winthrop, no…”

“What is going on?”

“What's happening?”

“Why are soldiers here?”

The man lifted Xavier with the help of two others. His face was pale, blood at the corner of his mouth.

He turned and looked up at Nancy, still frozen at the top of the stairs.

“If anything happens to him, I will make you and your boytoy pay dearly, you ungrateful wretch! Cheating on him and playing him for a fool wasn't enough, you still want to kill him?”

The woman in black leather combat attire stepped forward. Trinity. Her eyes burned with deep, dark hatred.

“If anything happens to my brother…Nancy Carter, Jason Marlow, I will make you wish you were never born.”

She turned to the men, voice like steel.

“Let's go. Michael, place a call to Doctor Ryan.”

Nancy staggered. The whispers from the guests hit her like bullets.

As she watched them carry Xavier out, a cold, creeping fear settled in her chest.

Could she have made an irrevocable mistake?