The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 417

Christian said nothing, merely watching him.

His gaze was colder than ice.

Quinn's psychological defenses completely shattered. He trembled uncontrollably, tears and blood mixing together as they streamed down his face.

"W-We wanted to..." he stuttered violently. "Wanted to take pictures... If we had pictures, she wouldn't dare say anything... and then..."

"And then what?"

"And then... force her to be with Leo..." Quinn's voice shrank to a terrified whisper. "That way Leo's family could latch onto the Lancaster family wealth..."

The room fell terrifyingly silent.

Christian stood up.

He walked over to Leo, looking down at him from above.

"Is he telling the truth?"

Leo shook his head frantically. "No, no! It was his idea! All of it! I just wasn't thinking straight..."

Christian said nothing.

He simply stood there, staring at the two pieces of trash on the floor.

He didn't dare imagine what would have happened if they had succeeded.

Piper's entire life would have been destroyed by these two scavengers.

He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, every shred of warmth had vanished from his gaze.

—

He walked back to Quinn, bent down, and grabbed him by the collar, hauling him into the air.

Quinn's feet dangled off the ground. A suffocating gurgle rattled in his throat as his face turned a deep, bruised purple.

Christian stared directly into his eyes.

"Do you know what I hate the most?"

Quinn shook his head desperately.

"The thing I hate most in this world," he said, enunciating every single syllable, "is when someone touches the people I care about."

His voice was soft. As casual as if he were commenting on the weather.

Then he let go. Quinn slammed back onto the ground like a dead dog.

Christian turned around and picked up an iron pipe from the corner of the room.

The pipe was heavy, coated in rust and the dark, dried flakes of old blood.

He weighed it in his hand.

Then he walked toward Quinn.

—

Agonized screams echoed off the walls.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Every strike carried the sickening crunch of shattering bone.

Leo cowered in the corner, shivering violently with his eyes wide in absolute horror. He watched Christian bring the pipe down again and again. He watched Quinn go from thrashing wildly to lying completely still. He watched blood splatter against the walls, pool on the floor, and spray across the man holding the weapon.

He had never been this terrified in his entire life.

The sophisticated man in the tailored suit who graced the covers of financial magazines—the Lancaster CEO looked up to by countless elites—was acting like a demon freshly crawled out of hell.

Quinn had stopped making sounds entirely.

Christian finally stopped and let go. The iron pipe hit the concrete floor with a heavy, metallic clang.

He turned around and looked at Leo.