The Almighty Dominance

Chapter 425

The shot tore through Alfred's shoulder. He folded, a raw sound ripping from his chest.

Jessica's scream tore through the air, raw and panicked, her eyes locked on her husband as crimson spread across his shirt like wildfire.

"How dare you shoot him? He's Jasmine Kingston's father-Governor of Los Angeles."

The guard's lip curled. He fired again into Alfred's other shoulder without hesitation. "Tell me I don't have the nerve," he said.

"Say it, and I'll keep firing until he's dead. The only reason I haven't killed you both is because you're a governor's family," he added coldly. "Otherwise you'd already be dead."

Jessica's face went white with fury and shame.

"How dare you!" she spat, lunging at the guard with flailing arms.

The guard didn't hesitate. He fired into Jessica's arms and both thighs. She collapsed, limbs useless, a scream tearing from her throat.

"I told you don't move."

"You shot a woman?" Alfred gasped through the intake of pain.

"What? Not agree? Then I'll shoot a man," the guard said, and emptied his pistol into Alfred's arms and both knees.

"I heard you order your general to move the troops and shoot innocent people - you should feel that pain too."

Alfred moaned, pain ripping through him as he crumpled to the floor.

"You'll die for this!" he roared, voice raw and broken. "I'm the governor-Los Angeles, Vancouver-who the hell do you think you are? You'll answer for this. Mark my words: your whole family will die!"

The guard stepped close, calm as a judge. He intoned, almost chanting, "Only to the True Source do I bow. I fear neither gods nor demons."

He slapped Alfred hard across the face.

The crack of the blow snapped something awake inside Alfred—an oath remembered from his first Kingswell initiation.

"You-" Alfred stammered, raw panic blooming. "You're with the Kingswell."

The guard drove a fist into Alfred's nose. Bone splintered; blood poured down his

lip.

"The king sends a message," the guard hissed.

"How dare you strike Jasmine until her throat nearly broke. If you kill her, the Kingston line-three generations up and down-will be erased."

"You and your family only live because Jasmine lives," he said, hammering Alfred's face again.

"Who do you think you are, acting like this? If the king wants you gone, you and Logan can be killed at any moment. You're not mighty. You're nothing."

The guard's slap cracked like a board. Alfred's front teeth shattered and rained down across his bleeding lip.

"Next time, you ungrateful bastard," the guard spat, pressing his boot into Alfred's face.

"Learn gratitude. Keep that arrogant face hidden. And if anything happens to Jessica again, you won't live to regret it—you'll be dead."

Alfred was a wreck of pain and disbelief.

and defiance-every plan to defy the king-drowned under the roar of

forgotten, for a breath, the reach of

He could erase Alfred and Logan with a flick-had the means

fancied himself clever enough to outmaneuver a throne. Now he felt exposed, small as a mouse beneath a boot. Mercy, he realized, had been

you want to survive, Alfred Kingston. You are nowhere

boot smashed Alfred's face into the dirt with a

world narrow-breath shallow, pain flaring—and knew if

Alfred croaked

warned; let this be their final lesson. If they don't learn, there'll be no place left for

Kingston, watching not far off, felt the ground shift beneath

them either. He had watched his father fall—watched power collapse in the

it

to disappear before the search for the

to one knee before Alex, his face set like carved granite, every line etched with loyalty

served the Majestic for generations. We honor that oath. We will not betray

"Kelly is like a sister to me. She's free

you, young master," Keaton answered, relief barely under

missing. The Kingswell operatives in the neighboring countries are digging for answers. I need someone

will is my command," Keaton said,

"Raise it. Keep the peace. I'll move to the level

Keaton bowed low.

shoulders squared, and

behind the smoke and blood of Los Angeles, cutting through the darkness toward Vancouver, back to his small clinic-alone beneath

belongs to s

far away outside the clinic, his boots crunching softly against

gravel.

His mind was racing. If he truly meant to leave the country, to step into the wider

had to watch

Keaton the strongest in the land after him-his country could stand firma unshaken, and stride

belongs to s

to think of children-an heir to carry the line when

was gone.

found his mother and father, he wanted to face them

of all the women he'd known,

radiant even in the darkest hours. She had

every fiber of his being she'd make a good wife, a kind

the best

precious he had ever acquired. He held it in his palm, eyes steady With this, propose to Josephine-make her my wife, the her of my child, and the queen of the

believed happiness could be waiting just

the clinic steps,

sitting on the chair

lit up like dawn

as the clear

have you been? I've been waiting for

sparkling.

Alex answered with a soft smile, reaching out to take her arm. "I had something to

he felt it—something

threading itself

to tell you," they

staring at each