From Outcast to Overlord The Unyielding Heir (Leander Ashcroft) novel Chapter 315

Chapter 315 Leander Attacks

Four Hummers rolled into the alley, two blocking the front and two sealing the back, shutting it off so completely that the black Mercedes S could not move an inch.

“D*mn it!”

Nathan’s eyes sharpened with alarm. He snatched up his phone, reaching for the only lifeline he had, but the screen turned blank. The bars vanished, the data went dead, and he felt the trap close around him.

“Don’t waste your strength. I don’t leave holes in my plans. If I came for you, I came ready. I brought a signal jammer with me.”

The taunt came from ahead, sharp and filled with arrogance, like a laugh drawn out only to provoke.

“You want to call for help? Keep dreaming.”

Theron stepped into the dim glow of the streetlamps. A cigar smoldered between his teeth, the smoke rising in lazy swirls around his head. He moved slow–like he owned the street, and a wall of black–suited bodyguards followed in his shadow.

“Why you.” Nathan shoved his door open and jumped down. Luke and Evander rushed out after him, standing shoulder to shoulder.

At the alley’s mouth, the guards spread wide, more than twenty men standing shoulder to shoulder, a barricade of muscle and menace.

Nathan turned his head sharply. Behind them, thirty more figures advanced in perfect rhythm, sealing off their escape as neatly as a locked door.

“That’s right. It’s me.” Theron’s eyes glinted as the cigar burned low, his mouth curved in cruel

amusement.

“Rubyanne saved your skin earlier. You got away through pure luck. But now you’re off Saffron House ground. Out here, no one can shield you.”

His steps grew heavier as he came closer, each one pounding into the silence of the alley until he stood face to face with Nathan and his friends.

“You like to play hero, don’t you? Tonight I’ll show you what happens to heroes who don’t know their place.”

Nathan, Evander, and Luke felt the cold weight settle in their chests. Their muscles tensed, but their hearts sank. In the car, Bianca’s face had gone white as chalk, her hands shaking in her lap as if her body no longer belonged to her.

Theron’s force smothered every hope of escape. The whole thing was laid out before it even began. The ending had already been written.

Both ends of the alley were locked. The phones were worthless. Even if they screamed, their voices would vanish into the night without reaching anyone. Only Theron and his hundred men held the power here.

They could never fight off these guys alone.

Nathan ground his teeth and forced his voice to steady. “What do you want?”

People rarely had the nerve to try anything with him in Seagate. He was not untouchable, but fear of him kept most at bay.

Yet now, penned in with nowhere to run, his chest grew tight as a cord, and he knew fear for the first time in years.

Theron had come armed to the teeth, and every man around him was ready to strike. If each one swung just once, he and his friends would crumble under the storm.

“What do I want?” Theron jabbed a thick finger hard against Nathan’s chest. “Back at Saffron House, you thought you were brave. You stood in front of that girl, acting like you could stop me. Where’s that courage now? Where’s the tough guy act?

“Shout at me again. Show me your pride. You had the nerve to take what was mine. Tell me, Nathan, who filled your head with that kind of courage?”

His voice cracked like a whip, and his palm flew out in a sudden strike. The slap echoed down the alley like the crack of wood on stone.

Nathan’s lip split open, a dark line of blood seeping at the corner of his mouth. The impact shoved him back two steps. His fists tightened at his sides, his muscles screaming to hit back, but he forced himself still.

He knew the truth. The moment he raised a hand, the alley would collapse on him in a storm of fists and boots.

“Mr. Marlowe!”

The rage inside Nathan surged like fire, but he shoved it down, choking on his own fury as he spoke.

“Whatever happens tonight, it’s on me. It has nothing to do with my roommates. If you need to take someone, then take me. Let them go first.”

He tilted his chin toward Leander and Evander to make his meaning clear.

“Let them go?”

Theron burst out laughing, the sound bouncing against the brick walls like rolling thunder.

“Those friends of yours were standing proud just now, ready to throw down with us. And you want me to release them? You must be out of your mind, Nathan.”

But Evander faltered. He had never been a fighter, and it showed. Within seconds, his chest absorbed strike after strike, his breath ragged, his arms heavy.

Bianca stared from the passenger seat, her heart sinking into regret so deep it felt like drowning. If she hadn’t foolishly agreed to go to Saffron House with her classmates tonight, none of this would be happening. Nathan and the others wouldn’t be standing in the line of fire for her mistake.

Leander’s voice cut through the chaos. “Do you see it now? This is the price of the choices you made tonight.”

Bianca’s head whipped toward him. His eyes were cold and steady, his tone merciless.

“You ran into the first room you found and begged strangers to save you. That might have felt right in the moment, but your actions dragged someone else into danger they never asked for.

“From now on, if you light the fire, you put it out yourself. Don’t make anyone else burn with

you.

“My friends are bleeding out there because of you. Remember that for the rest of your life.

Bianca’s lips trembled, her chest tightened, but no words came out. Before she could speak, Leander pushed the door open and stepped into the alley.

A heavy crack split the air.

Evander fell hard onto his back. The guard facing him shoved him down and raised his boot, driving it toward his chest.

Evander’s eyes widened. The heel was coming down, and his body refused to move. Escape was gone.

Then, a shadow slipped into place beside him. A single kick lashed out, swift and precise.

The bone snapped with a sharp crack.

The guard shrieked as his body lifted and flew sideways. He slammed into the brick wall so hard the sound reverberated through the alley. His leg bent the wrong way, twisted and broken.

Evander hadn’t even caught his breath when a firm hand gripped his arm and yanked him upright.

“Leander?”

When he saw the man standing beside him, his eyes locked in stunned disbelief.