Grace was in a state of shock.
"Didn't you want to kill me?" asked Alex, noticing the expression on her face. "Well, I gave you a chance."
Alex wanted to show mercy and let her go. Since she was an older member of the Thornton family and everyone respected her, he thought that she would be able to influence them. If she could teach them not to be so arrogant, then it would benefit everyone. Besides, he didn't really want to kill her.
But Grace wasn't willing to accept defeat in front of so many people. Her face contorted with rage, and she yelled, "Do you think you can threaten me?"
Then she tried to attack him again, using several martial arts moves one after another. It seemed that she was determined to continue until she had killed him.
As Alex dodged her blows, he grew a little annoyed. "Well, I've seen all your moves now," he said in a low voice. "So it's time you saw mine."
And with that, he grabbed Grace and pressed a knife to her throat. Grace was overpowered and couldn't get away.
"I warned you," Alex said in a serious tone.
Grace's eyes were filled with discontent and shock. She couldn't believe she had underestimated her opponent, and that it was all over.
A moment later, Grace dropped to the floor, dead.
She hadn't been a bad person, but she had challenged the wrong person. And now, one of the oldest, most powerful members of the Thornton family had been killed.
Alex dropped the knife, and the sound of it hitting the floor reverberated across the room. Aside from that, the room was silent.
The Thorntons were shocked beyond belief and completely lost for words. Their reaction was unusual. There was no wailing, and no one was calling for Alex to be killed. There was only complete silence in the room.
They weren't stupid. Afraid of Alex, they eyed him as if he were an unpredictable wild animal.
The others were astonished, and they couldn't believe that Alex had killed the famous Grace Thornton so easily.
After a long time, Maria murmured, "Kill me too. I want to die."
Without Grace, Maria's future looked bleak. She had no protection, and she would lose her status in the family.
However, no one paid attention to Maria. Everyone was too scared to move, desperate not to attract Alex's attention.
As it slowly sank in, Maria started becoming hysterical. Her body trembled as she took out her phone. She wanted to call everyone in her family and tell them to come over and teach Alex a lesson.
Riley and the Ghosts looked on, completely silent.
Maria had paid a heavy price for her carelessness.
Unfortunately, she still didn't realize that Alex was in control. All she knew was that Micah and Sam were dead, Gabriel was severely injured, and Grace had been killed. She would now be blamed for it all, and she would never regain her status within the family.
The only thing she could think of doing to atone herself was to get revenge on Alex.
As she put the phone down, she glared at Alex. "I'm going to make you regret this," she said, scowling at him. She was determined to avenge Grace, no matter what it took.
Alex ignored her. Instead, he took out his phone and called Timothy.
"Timothy," he said. "I've run into some trouble." Then he explained what had happened and asked him to come over.
Timothy sighed over the phone. "More trouble? And you decided to call me about it? Fine. I'll be there shortly."
Maria's calls had resulted in even more of the Thornton family arriving, but before they could cause any trouble, Timothy arrived with several other police officers. They came in and started questioning everyone.
Riley tried to introduce himself to Timothy, hoping that his background and social status would excuse him. But Timothy was a principled man, so he remained firm, insisting that everyone be treated the same.
Some of Riley's men tried to escape, but they were arrested, and everyone was taken to the police vehicles.
Several of the Ghosts tried to resist, but they were handcuffed and thrown into the back of the police van.
Then everyone was taken to the police station for questioning.
**
At the police station, the officers were busy interviewing everyone and trying to find out what had happened.
Dawn came, and the investigation was still not over. Alex had managed to get some rest in his cell, seemingly unbothered by his surroundings.
He had called the police the previous night to give Maria an opportunity to get back at him.
Alex was enjoying watching the Thornton family, who were usually very arrogant, being ordered around the police station.
He was even more interested to see how Timothy would handle such a big case and how he would differ from his brother.
After a while, Timothy came over with some breakfast for Alex. He had a worried expression on his face.
"Alex, you've killed a lot of people," he said. "This is a huge case, and I'm not sure what I can do for you. I don't even know if I'll still have a job after this."
He put the plate of food on the table and slid it over to Alex, saying, "Eat it while it's still hot."