Chapter 23 Bottoms up
It was only then that the crowd regained their senses. Both the security officers of Oceania and Peter’s bodyguards jumped into the river to rescue Peter.
Caroline came up to Leo, her face flushed red. “Look at what you’ve done! You threw Peter Lawson into the river! The Lawsons won’t let this slide! We’re all dead men walking!”
William looked worried as well. “Leo, you should better leave Emerdale at once. Don’t worry about us.”
Leo smiled. “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll be fine.”
Peter’s bodyguards were quick and rescued him in less than five minutes.
However, Peter was drenched all over.
He walked with the support of his men, panting and heaving. His face was bruised in several places.
Emerdale River was ice-cold at night and he almost froze to death.
“Mr. Lawson, are you okay? Should we take you to the hospital?” Victor asked, expressing his concern purely out of courtesy.
“Hospital, my ass!”
Peter pushed him away and shouted, “Victor Sharp, you’re finished! Oceania will shut down, starting tomorrow!”
He then looked at Leo, his eyes full of resentment. “Son of a bitch… How dare you throw me in the river!”
Leo remained seated. He shook the red wine in his glass and smiled. “Looks like the river water didn’t manage to wash your mouth clean.”
“Very well,” Peter said. “You’ve got guts. I expect nothing less from the man who nearly married my cousin.”
Everyone was silent. Peter’s smile was giving them goosebumps.
“But, you’re still no match for her!”
Peter’s laughter came to an abrupt halt as he added, “If she hadn’t asked me to bring more men with me, I might have died in your hands tonight.”
The smile on Leo’s face faded slightly.
Kate, one of the two most outstanding people in the Lawson family, was known as the female Napoleon. Though she was the star of the business scene in Emerdale, she was not here in person tonight.
That meant that she had seen through the nature of the wedding.
That explained why she sent someone else in her place, and that replacement was Peter.
Peter laughed again. “Sure, you can brawl, but can you fight a group as large as ours?”
Then, he made a phone call.
Leo shook his head and looked at Peter with pity.
What a pathetic man. He did not even realize that he had been betrayed by his cousin and was still trying to defend her honor.
Peter seemed to have found backing after the call. “I’m friends with Warrant Officer Homer Gibbs,” he said provocatively. “He’s already on his way here. You’re as good as dead.”
Leo burst into laughter. “Who did you say that was?”
Peter thought Leo was scared and his confidence increased. “Warrant Officer Gibbs! It’s too late for regrets now!”
Leo’s smile widened. He ignored Peter’s provocations and continue sipping his wine.
On the other hand, William was beside himself with anxiety. He had lived in Emerdale for more than 20 years, and he knew what kinds of people he could not afford to offend.
One group were the big shots with political power, and the other group were people from the military.
“Leo, you should get out of here. No good can come from this if that guy shows up looking for you.”
Leo refilled William’s glass of wine as well and consoled him. “Come, let’s have a drink, you and me.”
Out of nowhere, rapid footsteps came from behind them.
A callous man dressed in civilian clothing walked up to them with a group of people.
Peter ran toward the indifferent-looking man. “Gibbs, you’re finally here!”
Homer Gibbs snorted and shouted, “Where’s Leo Cohen?”
“That would be me.” Leo stood up in a carefree manner.
“You were the one who assaulted Mr. Lawson just now?” Homer stared at Leo with laser-sharp eyes.
“Yes.”
“Were you aware that he couldn’t swim?”
Homer’s eyes grew cold and his voice became louder. “I’m arresting you on the charge of attempted murder. You have the right to remain silent!”
These words cast a pin-drop silence over everyone.
William, in particular, looked grim.
This was a civil dispute, and they could have just called the police over. Instead, they brazenly brought people from the military region here, clearly abusing power for their personal gain.
Peter sneered and waited for Leo to be handcuffed.
This was the consequence of resisting him!
However, just as Homer was about to arrest Leo, a chorus of rough voices came from the stair’s downstairs.
Several drunken men staggering toward them with bottles of wine in hand.
One of them was bragging about oversleeping for their SATs; another boasted about almost being caught fooling around with a woman a few days ago. One was even worse; he was so intoxicated that he shouted, “You think you’re all that? I almost slept with a woman at her own wedding! I wasn’t the groom, but I’ve slept with the bride before… Hahaha!”Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.
His voice was deafening. Except for Leo, everyone else was frowning, even Homer.
But he ignored the drunk men and continued walking toward Leo.
When they brushed shoulders, one of the drunk, burly men suddenly shoved Homer.
“Get lost! Don’t stand in my way!”
Caught off guard, Homer was knocked to the floor.
The burly man sat on the floor as if he had not noticed that he had pushed someone to the floor.
The men continued doing whatever they wanted, be it playing games or drinking more alcohol. Those who were heavily drunk even fell asleep without any care in the world.
Their blind arrogance was incredible.
Homer got up from the floor angrily. With a cold look in his eyes, he kicked the ass of the burly man lying asleep on the floor with as much force as he could muster.
“Get up! Are you aware that you just hit me?”
This kick sent the unconscious man flying.
The group of muscular men fell silent for a few seconds, but then continued playing games and drinking as if nothing had happened.
Still, everyone could tell that the atmosphere had become tense.
The large man crawled up from the floor and rubbed his drowsy eyes, cursing, “Fuck. I was just about to kiss my idol. Who woke me up?”
“I did,” Homer said coldly, looking down at him.
“You?”
The stout man’s eyes began to clear up as he regained sobriety. He lit a cigarette and stared at Homer. “My ass kind of hurts. You kick me or something?”
“I did,” Homer said. “You have three seconds to apologize to me. Otherwise, you and your merry little friends will be leaving this place on stretchers.”
Rather than getting angry, the burly man laughed and turned to look at his friends. “Did you guys hear him? He wants us to leave!”
One of his companions laughed. “I even saw him kick you!”
Another one, a tall man dressed in black from head to toe, also laughed and said, “You said you could outdrink all of us, but you didn’t even make it past your third glass.”
“Yeah, I haven’t been in the best of shape lately…”
The burly man gave an awkward laugh, scratching his head.
The mood became joyful and harmonious, but for some unknown reason, the others felt a deep-seated terror setting in.
“What’s wrong with these people…?”
Leo was still sipping his wine. Nadine, in her tight leather clothes, appeared behind him in the blink of an eye.
“I thought I asked Hans to restrain himself,” he said.
“Hans said that since it’s your wedding, he wants to beat up some trash to liven the proceedings up,” Nadine replied emotionlessly.
She looked at Homer and Peter as if she was looking at two dead men.
Leo nodded. “Who’s this Homer Gibbs guy?”
“He’s just a warrant officer. He hasn’t even seen Hans before.” Nadine sneered.
Leo stopped talking and continued to enjoy the show before him.
“What are you going to do now?”
The smile on the dark-skinned man’s face began to fade, and by the end, his expression was murderous.
“Let’s get back at him first.”
The man’s previously drunk visage took on a deadly look out of nowhere. He picked up a bottle of vodka with a 56% alcohol content and handed it to Homer.
“The Commander of the Wyverns is getting married today, so we’re feeling pretty good right now. I don’t want to argue with you. Finish this bottle of vodka and I’ll pretend that nothing happened. I’ll even make friends with you. How about it?”