C442 It Seems Like A Straightforward Answer

Few moments later, several cars suddenly pulled up outside. One by one, the doors opened, and the Lions stepped out. Chris was the first to approach us. “Brother, what is it? I left Tristan in a hurry.” Laura quickly added, “My family was just eating dinner. I left them straight away.” Sarah looked between Alicia and me. “Is it something big?” Before either of us could answer, a sudden commotion came from the other side of the street. We turned toward the noise. Antonio and Steve had gathered a group of local thugs outside the club. There were several of them, and most were carrying weapons. Some held knives while others carried metal blades and other improvised weapons. They were standing around the entrance, shouting and threatening the club.

Inside, Ben was watching everything from one of the windows. Genuine fear was visible on his face. He looked toward the phone in his hand, clearly considering whether he should call the police. Outside, however, the Lions stood completely still. Samantha cracked her knuckles. “I have invested in this club. They think they can just come here and cause trouble?” Faith smiled. “To your husband's club.” Laura suddenly froze. She looked at Samantha, then at Faith. “You're dating when you know her husband?” For a second, Samantha and Faith exchanged confused looks. Then they both burst out laughing. Alicia looked at us. “Did anyone bring their guns?” We all shook our heads. “No.” Alicia smiled. “Well then, we confront them head-on.” She looked toward the men outside. “They have knives and blades, but we can beat them.” We nodded. Just before we moved, Alicia raised her hand. “Remember, this is a public area. Don't kill anyone.” Everyone nodded. We moved. The thugs charged at us at almost the same time.

The first man swung a blade toward me. I stepped aside, grabbed his wrist and twisted it hard enough to make him drop the weapon. Before he could recover, I struck him in the stomach and sent him stumbling backward. Another man came from my left. I ducked beneath his swing, grabbed his arm and used his own momentum against him, throwing him onto the pavement. Around me, the rest of the Lions were already engaged. Samantha went straight for Steve. Steve tried to raise his weapon, but Samantha caught his wrist before he could swing. She twisted his arm behind his back and slammed him against the side of a vehicle. “You really thought this was a good idea?” she asked. Steve groaned. Samantha struck him again. At the same time, Sarah confronted Antonio. Antonio tried to attack her with a blade. Sarah moved quickly. She avoided the first strike, stepped to the side and delivered a sharp kick directly into his arm. There was a loud crack. Antonio screamed and dropped his weapon. His arm hung awkwardly at his side. “You should have stayed away,” Sarah said coldly.

Meanwhile, Laura was dealing with another group of men. She moved with surprising speed, knocking one man down before immediately turning toward another. The rest of the Lions handled the remaining thugs. Within minutes, the men who had arrived looking for a fight were struggling just to remain standing. Inside the club, Ben had stopped thinking about calling the police. He simply stood by the window, staring. The two people he had been afraid of were being defeated one after another. And they weren't being defeated by professional police officers. They were being defeated by his younger sister and his own wife. Then Ben's eyes suddenly caught sight of me. He watched as another thug rushed toward me. I stepped aside, struck him once, then grabbed him and sent him crashing to the ground. Ben froze. “Even Mike is this strong?” he whispered. For several seconds, he remained completely silent. His mind began going back through everything that had happened in the past. He swallowed. “Will he come after me for revenge?”

He didn't know the answer. But the fear in his eyes showed that the thought had crossed his mind. Outside, the fight was almost over. The remaining thugs began running away. Steve tried to escape with them, but Samantha caught up with him and delivered one final blow that sent him stumbling across the pavement. Antonio, still holding his broken arm, followed the others as quickly as he could. Within moments, the street was quiet again. We stood there for a few seconds, looking at one another. Then we straightened our clothes. No one had been killed. That was exactly what Alicia had wanted. We walked back toward the club. The moment we entered, the entire place erupted in applause. The employees were clapping. Several customers were cheering. Even some of the people who had been frightened moments earlier were now smiling. Ben stood behind the counter, watching us. He slowly grinned. He knew he had to thank us. Still, I could see that he was uncomfortable.

After a moment, he forced himself to walk toward us. “Hello, everyone,” he said. “Thank you all for helping my club.” I nodded. “You don't have to think much of it. We did it for Sarah and Samantha.” Ben nodded slightly. “Thank you.” He turned away and returned to his normal work. But before he walked too far, he looked toward one of the waiters. “Take out our two most expensive bottles of red wine and send them to their table.” The waiter nodded. “Yes, sir.” We found a table and sat down. For a moment, nobody said anything. Then Amanda looked at Alicia. “So, what is it?” Alicia and I exchanged worried looks. She took a breath. “What we did yesterday has come back to haunt us.” Everyone became quiet. “The Mayor connected everything to me and my father,” Alicia continued. “My father's career is in jeopardy. And it's not only him. It's all of us.” Chris stopped smiling. Alicia continued. “If an investigation begins, they could discover what happened. They could discover who we are, what we did, and how involved our families were.”

Chris suddenly grinned. “Sister-in-law, that's not the way to ask us for a favour.” I laughed softly. “Brother, it isn't a favour.” My smile disappeared. “What my wife is saying is the truth. If the police discover that Alicia shot Willy, they will start asking questions about the other shots. Once they start connecting everything, they could eventually discover who the rest of us are.” Everyone listened carefully. “That would implicate our families as well,” I added. “But the Mayor gave us a proposition.” Faith leaned forward. “What proposition?” “If we accept it,” I said, “everything disappears. No investigation. No charges.” The table became silent. “But if we refuse,” Alicia added, “there will be an investigation.” Faith's expression became serious. “Mike. Alicia. Tell us exactly what he proposed.” Laura shook her head slowly. “So we eventually caught the attention of someone as powerful as the Mayor.”

Alicia gave a small smile. “He proposed that we work for the government.” Chris raised an eyebrow. “Doing what?” “Cleaning up the country's biggest criminal organisations,” Alicia said. “Drug cartels. Dangerous criminals. People the government cannot easily reach. He also wants us to help make Scotland safer.” Chris stared at her. “What?” His voice was louder than he intended. Several people in the club turned toward our table. Chris lowered his voice. “Sorry.” I smiled. “Yes. That's what he said.” Samantha frowned. “And what do we get?” “They said they will pay us for every mission,” I explained. “We would officially be working for the government, but our involvement would remain completely secret.” Samantha folded her arms. “That doesn't sound so bad.” I continued. “But there is a condition.” Everyone looked at me. “If danger comes after us, we're on our own.” Faith frowned. “What do you mean?”

Alicia answered. “If our targets come after us, our friends or our families, the government won't be involved.” “They won't protect us?” Amanda asked. “No.” “They won't protect our families?” “No.” Laura stared at Alicia. “And if we die?” Alicia paused. “They will deny ever having any connection to us.” Samantha shook her head. “That's unfair. We would be doing their work.” “Yes,” Alicia said. “It is unfair.” She looked around the table. “But we also have to consider what the Mayor knows and what he can do to our families if we refuse.” Nobody spoke. For a moment, only the sounds of the club could be heard around us. Laura finally smiled. “To me, it sounds like a straightforward answer.” Everyone looked at her. “We will do anything to protect our families,” she said. “That's why we trained in the first place.” Sarah nodded. “I second that.” Faith nodded as well. “So do I.” One by one, everyone agreed.

I looked around the table. “So we accept it?” They all nodded. Chris smiled. “Brother, you know I will always be by your side.” He looked around the table. “We will fight together.” Sarah smiled. “And survive together.” We all laughed softly. For a moment, the tension disappeared. Then Alicia said. “If we agree to this, we also need to submit our banking details to the government.” She looked at everyone. “Please send your bank details to me. And we need to recreate our group chat. It will make communication much easier.” Chris laughed. “Leave that to me.” He immediately took out his phone. Within moments, he had created a new group chat and added everyone. One by one, we sent our banking details to the group. Alicia looked at her phone. Then she suddenly remembered something. She had made a promise before we went for training. She hadn't paid everyone. She opened her banking application. Without saying anything, she began transferring money.

A few seconds later, my phone vibrated. I looked at the notification. Then I looked at Alicia. “Wife, why did you send me money?” Samantha immediately looked at her phone. “I just got fifty thousand dollars from you too. Why?” Amanda suddenly looked shocked. “What? Fifty thousand dollars?” She checked her phone. Her eyes widened. “I got it too.” Everyone looked at Alicia in confusion. She smiled. “I know some of you have more money than this already, but this is the payment I promised before we went to training.” She looked around the table. “We all participated. Everyone took risks. Everyone trained. Everyone fought. So I should honour the promise I made.” Sarah looked around the table as if she were doing some calculations in her head. Then her eyes widened. “So you just gave away three hundred and fifty thousand dollars for one mission?” Alicia smiled. “Seven people. Fifty thousand each.” She shrugged. “You don't have to worry about the money. And besides, I knew avenging my mother would cost me.”

Everyone became quiet for a moment. Then Faith smiled. “If that's the case, then drinks are on me tonight.” She suddenly stood up. She turned toward the rest of the club and raised her voice. “Everyone, can I have your attention?” The club gradually became quiet. Faith grinned. “The next round is on me!” Cheers immediately erupted around the club. At the counter, Ben froze. He slowly turned toward Faith. “Who is she?” The waiter looked at him. “I don't know, sir.” Ben stared at the table. “Why would she buy everyone drinks?” The waiter shrugged. Ben continued staring. He realised something. The people sitting at that table weren't ordinary people.