Return Of The Prodigy
Return of the Prodigy Chapter 37

Katie's heart sank. She alighted from the taxi and hurried over. "What's happening?"

"Ms. Hartley, you're finally here. These people caused the incident and are now blaming it on us."

"They put their gear shift into reverse and hit our vehicle. Had our driver not been fast enough to jump off the truck, he might have died in the impact."

"It's pretty obvious that they're picking a fight with us on purpose. It could be because your Hartley Group did not buy their building materials..."

All the drivers spoke at the same time.

Katie more or less understood what was going on, which made her feel even more uneasy. She restrained her anger and walked over, saying coldly, "Who is the boss here? Come out and tell me what's going on."

A sly-looking man with a scarred face stepped out from the group opposite them. He had several tattoos on his body and was smoking a cigarette.

"Oh, who is this beauty? Are you the project manager here? In that case, can we discuss this matter with you?" As he spoke, Scarface blew smoke in Katie's direction.

Katie waved her hand with a disgusted look. "Yes, I'm the project manager. Which company are you from?"

Scarface was stunned. However, he quickly returned to his senses and chuckled. "Not only is this girl beautiful, but she's also smart. Not bad, not bad.

"Since you understand the situation, I'll get straight to the point. You can either buy the building materials from our company or pay a fee for us to transport the stuff you have already purchased."

"You're forcing us to do business with you. Do you know that it's illegal?" Katie said coldly.

Scarface shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Is that so? I wonder if you have any proof because I only see that your truck overturned ours. I'm just demanding fair compensation for the damage, and even if the police come here, they'll just tell you that it was an accident like any other.

"Our company might be lacking in some aspects, but we are definitely not lacking when it comes to trucks. Now think what would happen if there were accidents every day, your construction project could get delayed by a month or two, or perhaps even half a year... It would be pretty disastrous, don't you think?"

Katie was furious as she looked at the complacent smile on the scarred man's face.

Although the man was making unreasonable demands, there was not much she could do. Similar dealings were common in Lisle. Dominick's Pierrot Group used this method pretty often, and even if one called the police, there was no way to stop them. The roads were public property, and vehicles could travel freely on them. If someone's truck were to break down, there was nothing strange about it. The police could not arrest these people without hard evidence.

In short, if they were not given what they wanted, these groups would stage some accidents and push the blame onto the other party. That was why a lot of companies preferred to either pay them a fee for safe passage or buy the materials directly from them. "Girl, since you know how these things work, you should just give in and accept our conditions. You know that a little bit of money is not worth delaying your construction project.

"What do you think? The faster you take out the cash, the faster we solve this problem, and we can all go home happy.

"10% of the building materials should be acceptable, right? It's not much given that you have a project worth hundreds of millions on your hands."

"No way!" Katie rejected it instantaneously.

How can he say that a 10% fee is acceptable? This project is worth around 250 million dollars, and even if the building materials are worth only 50-60 million dollars, 10% of that would still be over 5 million dollars! "Hehe, if this is your attitude, I'm afraid we won't be able to reach a compromise.

"Still, I can be very patient. Don't worry about the truck, though. I'll call someone and have it repaired as soon as possible so that you can bring your building materials to the construction site," said Scarface with a grin. However, anyone could tell that Scarface meant the opposite of what he was saying.

"Ms. Hartley, perhaps you should just give them what they want."

"Yeah, even if we drag this out, it's not like they'll change their mind."

"We have other deliveries to make. We can't keep quarreling with these guys every day."

The truck drives in charge of delivering the building materials urged Katie.

Katie clenched her teeth in anger, but she could not think of a solution.

At this time, an old van drove over. The door slid open, and Jeremy and Co jumped out.

Seeing the scene, Jeremy was stunned. He walked up to Katie and asked, "Ms. Hartley, we're here for our new job. What's happening?"

Katie shook her head and said, "It's nothing. You guys head to the construction site. I'll have food and lodging ready for you guys when I'm finished here."

At this time, the veteran named Thomas Vercetti blurted out, "Scarface, why are you here?"

Scarface said with a smile, "Thomas, I might as well ask you the same question. Weren't you working as a security guard? What brings you here, did you get tired of your old job?"

"When I saw you, I knew that you were different. That's why I asked you to work for us. Yet, you suddenly ran away after a week. Do you regret it now?"

After getting discharged from service, Thomas worked as a driver for a period of time, and the company he worked for happened to be Scarface's.

At first, he thought it was a normal job. But after a few deliveries, he realized that the job was very different from what he had thought, so he resigned.

Thomas did not want to dirty his hands with blood money, that was why he ended up becoming a security guard, which he found better than becoming the pawn of some criminal.

Despite Scarface's provocation, Thomas was unmoved. He had been frustrated with his situation before meeting Adam, but he still had retained his conscience. Now that he had finally turned over a new leaf, there was absolutely no way that he would condone Scarface's actions.

"Scarface, since you gave me a job before, I'll give you this piece of advice. From now on, you better not mess with Hartley Group."

Scarface was at first taken aback, but he soon burst out laughing. "Thomas, just because you got a slightly better job, do you think you can order me around?

"Fine, fine. Let's talk about this then. I want you to give a good reason as to why I shouldn't mess with Hartley Group.

"Is Hartley Group like a thorn that might prick me if I were to touch it?"

"It's way worse. You'll die," said Thomas in a low voice.

Scarface roared with laughter. "Damn, that was a good one. Since when did this company become so incredible? It's just a company managed by a small family. How can they compare with our boss?

"If they were so awesome, they would have called my boss and made him come here to settle this matter. It would've been very simple if things stood as you said, Thomas, I'm afraid you're starting to lose your mind."

Thomas frowned and advised again, "Scarface, I'm telling the truth."

"I've had enough of your nonsense, Thomas. You had better leave now. Otherwise, I'll break your legs, and you'll be a useless watchdog."

Thomas sighed and turned to look at Katie. "Ms. Hartley, this matter is easy to solve. Why don't you leave it to me?"

Katie was taken aback. "Do you really have a way to solve it?"

"It's rather dangerous, but yes. The reason they're so sure of themselves is that the police can't find enough evidence to deal with them. However, if this were to suddenly turn into a criminal case, things would be very different," Thomas explained. Katie asked in puzzlement, "A criminal case...?"

Scarface's face changed. He gritted his teeth and snarled, "Thomas, have you gone mad? I can't believe you're helping some strangers deal with me... Even if I don't dare to kill you, what makes you think that I won't beat you within an inch of your life?" "You can beat me up if you want," Thomas said coldly, "but you'll need to mobilize all the people you have here. Your company has many trucks, but the strength of your drivers is limited. Most of your manpower is gathered here, and it would be hard for you to make trouble again if they're arrested.

"You can come at me all you want, but I won't give up. I really want to see who falls first!"

Scarface laughed and said with a sneer, "Very well. Even if I can't kill you, I can make sure that you spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair. Guys, grab your weapons and go after him!"

With that, tens of young men charged forward.

Thomas was not afraid, he roared and sprinted forward as well.

"Dammit, let's get moving."

"Let's f**k them up!"

Jeremy and the others followed in Thomas' footsteps.

"Guys, stop! Stop!" yelled Katie.

However, things had reached the point of no return. Katie's words were lost in the wind.

A series of muffled sounds echoed throughout the area. Thomas and company crashed into the crowd, and despite being at a disadvantage, they were not afraid. With their superior physical ability and technique, they made quick work of a dozen or so thugs. However, there were only four of them and unarmed on top of that. Soon, they found themselves on the losing end and gasping for breath on the ground.

Scarface arrived before Thomas, a wrench in hand. He then grinned and used it to smash his leg. Crack!

Thomas's left leg was broken.

"Stop! Stop immediately!" Katie ran up to them, blocking in front of Thomas and the others.

"Get out of the way! Don't think I won't hit you just because you're a woman!" Scarface slapped Katie, sending her stumbling to the ground. Blood trickled down from the corner of her mouth.

Katie endured the pain and got up again, keeping off in front of Thomas and the others. No matter what Scarface said, she was not going to retreat.

Scarface showed no mercy and kicked her in the stomach.

At this moment, a rumbling sound reached their ears. Soon after, a BMW sped in their direction. Instead of slowing down, the car kept going faster and faster. In the next moment, it mercilessly ran over several young men. Screech-

The BMW braked, and Adam alighted from it, his face filled with murderous intent.

"I'm going to kill you all!"