Substitute Wife, Genius CEO novel Chapter 343

"Leo! What do you think you're doing?! Let him go!" Xavier's furious voice echoed across the room as he stormed over, his face thunderous.

The moment Xavier reached out to shove Leo off, Professor Banks's bodyguards struck. One smoothly scooped Leo up and stepped back, while the other clamped a vice-like grip onto Xavier's outstretched wrist.

Xavier's own security detail immediately rushed forward, but Professor Banks's men were retired Special Forces operatives with lethal combat skills. In two quick, brutal moves, Xavier's bodyguards were pinned to the floor.

Xavier quickly picked Hunter up. The boy threw his arms around Xavier's neck, sobbing hysterically, snot and tears smearing his face.

"Dad! Leo teamed up with that fat kid to steal my toy, and then they started cursing and hitting me! Waaah, Dad, my arm hurts so much! Everything hurts!"

Archie, who had never witnessed such blatant, shameless victim-blaming before, stood frozen in absolute shock, staring at Hunter with wide eyes.

Leo looked at Xavier with icy indifference. "He's lying. He's the one who stole Archie's toy!"

Hunter had clearly mastered Lilith's manipulation tactics, weeping with pitch-perfect, heartbreaking misery. "I didn't, Dad! They're lying! I was just playing by myself! Leo hates me! He said Mom and I stole you away, and he wanted to get revenge for his mom!"

"He called Mom a shameless bitch and called me a little bastard! Waaah, Dad, Leo is so evil! Waaaah..."

Xavier's voice dropped to a freezing command. "Leo, apologize!"

Leo's delicate features hardened into cold defiance. "He's the liar. Why should I apologize? He's the one who needs to apologize!"

Lilith cast a subtle glance at Leo, then gently patted Hunter's back. "Xavier, don't yell at him. They're just kids playing around. At the end of the day, it's our fault as adults for not raising them better."

Hunter cried even harder, hyperventilating until he started gagging. "I... I didn't... waaah, I didn't... he hit me..."

"Leo, I will say this one last time. Apologize to Hunter right now. If you don't, I'll show you what real discipline looks like!"

Under Xavier's usual punishment, that meant severe physical retaliation.

A flash of vicious triumph flickered in the depths of Hunter's teary eyes.

Leo didn't even flinch. "If you dare touch me, I'll call the cops and report you for physical assault and baseless slander!"

Xavier's face turned a livid shade of purple. "I watched you pin him to the ground and beat him with my own eyes, and you're claiming I'm slandering you?!"

Furious, Xavier set Hunter down and lunged forward to grab Leo.

Professor Banks's bodyguards instantly formed a wall in front of the boy, locking into a tense standoff with Xavier where neither side was willing to back down.

Seeing the escalating chaos, Lilith quietly suggested, "Xavier, maybe we should ask Summer to come handle this."

...

Summer practically sprinted out of her private dining room, nearly colliding with Silas as he returned from taking a phone call.

"What's wrong? Why the rush?" Silas asked.

"A waiter just told me Leo got into some kind of altercation at the play area. I need to go see what happened."

"Leo's back in the city?"

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify