Saintess's Worthless Husband Turned Dragon Commander novel Chapter 69

CHAPTER 69

Zachary Hartford stared at his grandson’s broken form with horror that transcended business concerns or family politics. Oliver lay against the cracked wall, blood pooling beneath him, his breathing shallow and labored. Three broken ribs. Shattered nose. Possible internal bleeding.

“You… you’ve killed him,” Zachary’s voice came out strangled. “Oliver needs a hospital! NOW!”

“He needs consequences,” Marcus corrected calmly. “For betraying Quinn. For leaking information about a Sacred Saintess to journalists. For coordinating with the Potter family to set up an ambush.”

“I don’t care what he did!” Zachary roared, his patriarch’s authority finally reasserting itself. “He’s my grandson! My heir! You can’t just—”

“Can’t what?” Marcus interrupted, his dragon eyes meeting Zachary’s with unsettling directness. “Can’t punish family members who commit treason? Can’t protect my wife from people who want her dead? Can’t demand justice when sacred bloodlines are disrespected?”

He gestured to the broken Quamaine Potter, still whimpering on the floor. “You’re worried about Oliver? He’s getting exactly what he earned. Just like Potter here earned his broken leg. Just like everyone in this room earned a lesson about power hierarchies.”

Zachary’s hands clenched into fists, but what could he do? Call security? They’d already seen Marcus demolish twelve professional bodyguards in seconds. Use his authority? Marcus had just proven that authority meant nothing against overwhelming force.

“What do you want?” Zachary asked finally, defeat coloring his words.

Marcus smiled-not his warm smile, not his terrifying smile, but something calculating. “Quinn becomes acting chairman of Hartford Group. Effective immediately.”

The boardroom erupted in shocked protests.

“That’s INSANE!” one board member shouted. “She has no experience in-”

“She has more integrity than everyone in this room combined,” Marcus cut him off. “Which is exactly what Hartford Group needs right now. A Sacred Saintess deserves to lead. Not these snakes who betray family for profit.

Zachary’s face cycled through emotions too quickly to track. “You can’t be serious. Quinn has been project manager for mere weeks! She doesn’t have the experience, the connections, the–”

“The corruption?” Marcus suggested mildly. “The willingness to sacrifice family members? The cowardice that lets traitors like Oliver flourish?”

He walked to where Oliver lay barely conscious. “Make Quinn acting chairman, or Oliver doesn’t get medical treatment. Simple trade.”

“You’re BLACKMAILING me with my grandson’s life?” Zachary’s voice rose to a roar.

“I’m offering you a choice,” Marcus corrected. “Save Oliver and elevate Quinn, or stubbornly refuse and explain to the Hartford family why you let your heir die over pride.”

The calculation was brutal but effective. Zachary looked around the boardroom-at the terrified executives, the broken Potter heir, his devastated grandson-and saw no good options.

“A week,” Zachary said finally, his voice hollow. “Quinn can be acting chairman for one week. But there’s a

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“I’m listening,” Marcus said.

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“If Hartford Group’s market value drops by more than three percent in that week, Quinn resigns immediately. Cuts all ties with the family. Leaves Grayson City entirely.” Zachary’s eyes hardened. “But if the value rises, she stays as permanent chairman and I step down completely.”

The bet was designed to be impossible. One week wasn’t enough time to make real changes. Market volatility alone could sink them. The Golden Eagle Group’s threats would spook investors. The viral video controversy would damage reputation.

Quinn would fail. Zachary would get his company back. And this nightmare would end.

“Deal,” Marcus said immediately.

“Marcus, no!” Quinn’s voice came from her seat, the first words she’d spoken since the violence began. “That’s impossible! I can’t-”

“You can,” Marcus said with absolute certainty. “And you will.”

He turned to Zachary. “Call the ambulance for Oliver. But understand this-if anyone in the Hartford family targets Quinn again, if anyone leaks information or coordinates attacks or tries to sabotage her chairmanship-I won’t stop at broken bones. Do you understand?”

Zachary nodded mutely, already pulling out his phone to call emergency services.

Marcus walked to Quinn, taking her hand gently despite the violence he’d just committed. “Come on. We’re leaving.”

“But-” Quinn looked at Oliver’s broken form, at Quamaine’s whimpering, at the destruction scattered across the

boardroom.

“They’ll survive,” Marcus said. “Which is more mercy than they deserve.

He led her out, the board parting before them like water, too terrified to even make eye contact.

In the parking garage, Quinn finally broke down. Her hands shook as she clutched Marcus’s arm, tears streaming down her face.

“You have to leave,” she gasped. “The Potter family won’t forgive this! Quamaine will tell his father! They’ll come after you with everything they have!”

She fumbled in her purse, pulling out her wallet. “Here! Take this! It’s not much but-” She pressed several hundred dollars into his hand. “Use it to get out of the city! Please! I can handle the chairmanship disaster, but I can’t lose you!”

Her Saintess intuition was screaming warnings-danger approaching, forces gathering, a storm about to break that even divine powers might not withstand.

Marcus looked at the crumpled bills in his hand, at Quinn’s tear-stained face, at this woman who thought a few hundred dollars could save him from one of Five-River Province’s most powerful families.

He smiled-his real smile, warm and genuine-and cupped her face gently.

“Quinn,” he said softly, his dragon aura wrapping around her like a protective cocoon she could feel with her Saintess senses, “I can handle the Potter family. I can handle the Golden Eagle Group. I can handle anyone who

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