Half-Truths
Half-Truths
Edmund was right. They were in California, on the Coles' turf, where Edmund could command as many people as he wanted.
Andy was the only expert she had brought to protect her.
She wanted to force Edmund with her power, but Edmund didn't buy it at all.
If the two sides really fought each other, Andy might be able to kill Edmund, but the two of them definitely wouldn't be able to survive under the guns of the Coles' bodyguards.
Besides, Florence's main purpose in coming to California this time was to win over the Master of California. Thus, it wasn't a good idea to make enemies of the powerful families of California.
Moreover, there used to be three top families in San Francisco. But after the exchange, the other two families vanished, leaving only the Coles. This was enough to show that the Coles and the Master of California had an extraordinary relationship.
Unless necessary, Florence wouldn't dare to make enemies of the Coles.
"Okay, you're fierce!" Florence forced herself to say through gritted teeth as her chest heaved up and down vigorously.
She was in a terrible mood.
Ever since she came to California, starting from when she had visited the four major families of Orange County, she hadn't been able to get any useful information.
Lucas had even reprimanded her mercilessly, making her infuriated.
Now, she still didn't gain the slightest benefit from the Coles. Not only did she not get any news about the Master of California, but Edmund even told her to leave without the slightest regard for the threat of the Howards.
An extremely absurd thought suddenly emerged in Florence's mind, and she wondered if the influence and deterrence of the prestigious Howards had become so weak in California.
If her family learned about her repeated setbacks, who knew how they would laugh at her and ridicule her!
It would absolutely be shameful!
Florence was full of anger, but she couldn't vent it. Her face became extremely gloomy.
But the thought of her family's order for her to build a good relationship with the Master of California left Florence with no choice but to put up with it.
After taking a final glance at Edmund, she said to Andy beside her, "Let's go!"
"Goodbye!" Edmund said without seeing Florence off. Instead, he remained seated leisurely and continued drinking tea.
Florence's face became even gloomier, and she angrily left the Coles with Andy.
But the moment Florence disappeared outside the gates of the Cole residence, Edmund immediately put down his teacup, took out his cell phone, and called Lucas to tell him about the situation in detail.
In response to Edmund telling Florence to leave, Lucas merely said, "Well done!"
Lucas was really impressed with Edmund.
Doesn't Florence like leveraging the Howards' power to bully people everywhere?
Then let her also have a taste of being crushed and suppressed!
As for the possible retaliation of the Howards that she said, Lucas didn't take it seriously at all.
...
At about the same time, a distinguished guest appeared in the San Francisco branch of the Peerless Martial Association.
As the domineering and overwhelming figure stepped inside the branch, an extremely powerful pressure immediately engulfed everyone.
"Welcome, Mr. York!"
"Welcome, Mr. York!"
...
Under the lead of Axel, the branch head, and Heath, his assistant, everyone in the California branch put their right hands in front of their left chests and bowed.
The person who came was none other than Julian York from the headquarters.
Julian ignored the other people of the Peerless Martial Association and stared straight at Axel with his hawk-like eyes. "I just need you to tell me how my brother, Jude, died."
A trace of grief appeared on Axel's face. "The murderer of Jude is named Lucas Gray, and today, he's well known as the Master of California!"
"Master of California. Hmph!" A clear trace of mockery appeared on Julian's face. Seems like he's really brazen. How dare he use the title the Master of California?!
Seeing that he had succeeded in provoking Julian's hostility toward Lucas, Axel smiled smugly. "Mr. York, please listen to me slowly, and you will know why despite having no definite evidence, I can still conclude that the person who killed Jude is definitely Lucas Gray!"
Axel was only saying this to pin Lucas as the murderer.
Reason being, he knew that Julian was a tyrannical but particular person who paid great attention to evidence. Since he said that Jude had been killed by Lucas, Julian would definitely try to find out from him how Jude had gotten into a conflict with Lucas, how he died, and where his corpse was.
Axel naturally couldn't produce this evidence because he had framed Lucas for Jude's death in the first place. Since he didn't even know where Jude had died, how could he produce plausible evidence?
So he had to take the initiative to report the matter to him clearly.
After Julian heard what Axel said, his face immediately darkened. "In that case, do you have any evidence?"
Axel hurriedly explained, "Mr. York, please listen to me slowly, and you will know why I'm certain that the person who killed Jude is definitely Lucas Gray even though I have no definite evidence.
"There aren't many experts in California, and Jude is your brother, so he's naturally very powerful. In the California branch, his combat power is second only to mine. Generally, it'd be difficult for anyone to defeat him, let alone kill him.
"This time, Jude somehow disappeared for a long time for no reason. I sent my people out to search for him and eventually determined that he should have been killed. But I haven't been able to find any clues as to who killed him.
"But a week or so ago, I found an extremely powerful young expert at the Elite Business Exchange in California!
"Although this young man named Lucas is less than thirty years old, his martial arts skills are impressive. Even the expert brought by a successor of the Smiths of DC wasn't a match for Lucas Gray. He was so scared by the opponent's shout that he didn't dare to step forward, and he could only watch Lucas Gray press Vince Smith down onto the floor and force him to apologize on his knees!
"Lucas Gray is extremely arrogant, and he kills people at every turn. He even killed several people who were disrespectful to him in front of so many families, and he didn't take the Peerless Martial Association seriously at all!
"In addition, according to the news from my men, Lucas took in a woman who betrayed us, and all the experts I sent were killed by him even though they already announced that they were from the Peerless Martial Association.
"He's powerful and extremely hostile toward us, so it's not surprising that he killed Jude."
Axel indignantly spoke many half-truths.
This was the method Heath had taught him previously—to mix some falsehoods among the truths.