The Farming Saint in the Starry Wasteland (Elizabeth Schofield) novel Chapter 424

Chapter 424 Stay Out of This

Maverick turned to look at her and his eyes held nothing warm.

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“Joan, stay out of this.” His voice was quiet and carried a clear edge of warning. “This is between me and the Buckners.”

“What do you mean, the Buckners?” Joan’s eyes went red. “Those are my parents!”

Maverick said nothing. He looked at her for a moment, something complicated flickering in his expression, and then the cold settled back over it like ice closing over water.

Dilfus finally steadied his breathing and pushed himself off the couch.

He gently moved Marge and Joan aside and walked toward Maverick one step at a time.

This time, he didn’t raise his hand.

He just looked at him, and the look on his face was something beyond description, fury and disappointment and heartbreak all tangled together, and underneath all of it, a thread of something that looked like regret.

“Maverick,” he said, his voice rough and low. “//

remember every word you said tonight.”

Maverick held his gaze without looking away.

“Let me ask you one thing,” Dilfus said. “Without US, would you be where you are today?”

Something twitched at the corner of Maverick’s eye.

“What were you when you first showed up?” Dilfus said, one word at a time. “A broke kid from some backwater sector. No money, no connections, nothing. When you came after my daughter, I didn’t approve. But she wanted you, and nobody else, so I gave in and called you my son–in–law. When you got into the Interstellar Route Authority, when you got promoted, when you climbed every single rung, who do you think made that possible?”

Maverick stayed silent, but something shifted in his face.

“I’m not a powerful man, Dilfus said, his voice climbing now. “But the connections I built over the years, my old colleagues, my old friends, every one of them has done something for you. Who smoothed your path when you first walked into the Interstellar Route Authority? Who worked those relationships when you ran for your first department head position? When people were pushing you out, who swallowed his pride and went and begged on your behalf?”

Maverick’s breathing grew heavier.

“Now you’ve got your wings and your director’s title and you’ve forgotten your own name?” Dilfus pointed straight at him. “Maverick. I’m telling you right now. The reason you can stand here and give me that look is because of us. Without us, you’re nothing. Just a broke kid from nowhere.”

“Enough!”

Maverick’s voice came out like a thunderclap, and it startled everyone in the room into stillness.

His face had gone dark red, and the fury behind his eyes was barely contained.

The slap mark stood out on his flushed skin in a raw, vivid stripe that made his expression look something close to unhinged.

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12:33 pm

A

Chapter 424 Stay Out of This

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The Buckners? Your family?” He pointed at Dilfus, his voice sharp and brittle. “What exactly have you done for me? You made a few introductions. You said a few words to the right people. And in all those years, did I give you any less back?”

“What did you just say?” Dilfus went still.

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“I said whatever I owed your family, I paid it back a long time ago.” Maverick drove each word in deliberately. “I got Scapier a job. I’ve supported your retirement. Every holiday, every occasion, every family obligation, have I ever come up short? Has Joan ever wanted for anything? What more do you want from me?”

He breathed hard, swept his gaze across the room, and let it settle on Scapier.

“And as for him,” he said, his voice dropping into a cold, flat sneer, “he was always useless. If he gets to absorb one problem in his life, that’s the most useful he’s ever been. You should be thanking me for finally giving him a purpose.”

“That is a lie!”

Scapier exploded out of the corner.

His eyes were so red they looked like they could bleed. His face held fury and humiliation and disbelief layered on top of each other in equal measure.

Twenty–five years old, and in that moment he moved like a cornered animal that had finally decided to fight, his fists clenched as he launched himself at Maverick.

“Scapier!” Marge shrieked.

“Don’t!” Joan threw herself sideways on reflex.

But Scapier was already across the room, arm swinging.

Maverick sidestepped and shoved him away in one motion. Scapier stumbled backward and crashed into the coffee table.

“Useless, just like I said,” Maverick said coldly.

Scapier pushed himself upright and was already moving again when a dull, heavy thud came from somewhere behind him.

He turned. And froze completely.

Dilfus had collapsed. He lay flat on the floor, his face drained to a terrible gray, his lips purple, his half–open eyes unfocused.

“Dad!”

“Dilfus!”

Joan and Marge both screamed at the same instant and dropped to the floor beside him.

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