Chapter 231

Mike and his crew knew right away it was Bianca's gang when they heard the gunshots. So, Mike quickly ordered everyone to fall back.

But before they bailed, Mike and his team decided to mess with them a bit.

"Mr. Williams' backup is here! Let's get out of here, and make sure the injured get to the hospital ASAP," Mike shouted. The wounded were then dragged away by their buddies, heading off in another direction.

Seeing them leave, the guys in black suits looked confused.

"Damn it, we work for the same family! How dare you use guns!" the leader of the black suits cursed.

Soon after, a bunch of masked dudes showed up, confused by the black suits' presence.

"Mr. Bales, nobody told us there'd be this many people," one thug said to Daron Bales, who was rocking a floral shirt.

Daron was just as puzzled. Bianca had only mentioned grabbing Jasper and Mia for a staged rescue, not that there'd be so many people.

"Mr. Bales, Jasper and Mia are over there," a thug pointed to a black car.

The car window was smashed, and inside were the terrified Jasper and Mia.

Daron didn't jump into action right away, sensing something was off with all these unexpected people around.

As Daron hesitated, he noticed the black suits slowly surrounding them.

"Damn it, what do you want?" Daron shouted, raising his gun, and his crew followed suit.

"Think you're the only ones packing?"  A few of the guys in suits flashed their own guns.

Both sides had their guns drawn, but no one dared to shoot.

Daron and his guys didn't want to start shooting-it wasn't worth it. Bianca hadn't paid them enough.

The black suits hesitated too, wondering if the others were Michael's men.

The standoff dragged on, with Jasper and Mia clinging to each other, shaking.

A sudden idea struck Daron. Bianca had told them to frame Isabella for the murders.

So Daron yelled at the black suits, "You better back off! We got orders from Isabella to kill Jasper and Mia!"

Jasper and Mia, huddled together, shook even more.

"They really came to kill us! Damn Isabella, we're her parents!" Mia cried, tears streaming down her face.

Jasper gritted his teeth and growled, "No one's trustworthy. Money and power-they wipe out everything, even family."

John's men were confused, wondering if the other side had the wrong story.

Both sides had been claiming the other was faking, each saying they were John's men.

But out of the blue, someone from the other side said they were killing for Isabella.

This whole mess left John's men even more puzzled.

"So, the mask's off, huh? We work for Mr. Williams. Get out of here before we lose our patience. If we find out who you really are, you'll be wishing you'd never set foot in this city, let alone this country," one of John's men shot back coldly.

Daron let out a sigh of relief; he'd already fired a shot. Through the shattered car window, he could see Jasper and Mia looking terrified. As long as they stuck to the script, pretended to be scared of John's power, and then retreated, everything would be fine.

"Well, in that case..." Daron started to say, but was cut off by a sudden gunshot from behind.

One of the black suits got hit in the shoulder, screamed, and dropped to the ground.

"Damn it, who fired that shot?" Daron roared, glaring at his henchmen.

But then one of the black suits on the other side yelled, "These idiots shot at us! Everyone, open fire and take them down!"

Daron didn't have time to figure out who the idiot was that fired the shot. He ducked for cover, pulling out his gun to return fire.

In an instant, a fierce gunfight broke out between Bianca's crew and John's men.

Meanwhile, Mike was hiding in an abandoned factory, watching the chaos below through binoculars.

"Fight, the crazier the better. I hope you all blow each other's brains out," Mike muttered with a twisted grin.

At that moment, two of his guys snuck up behind the factory and approached Mike and his group.

"Mr. Runyon, we did it. We got them fighting!" one of them said, grinning and holding a gun.

If those two gangs could hear these guys, they'd know these two started the whole damn thing with their shooting and yelling.

Mike nodded, satisfied. "Good job, guys. The crazier it gets, the better our chances to pull off the next part of the plan."

By now, Jasper and Mia had gotten out of the car. Not because they suddenly found the courage to face the gunfight, but because the car was no protection against bullets.

Those movie scenes where characters hide behind cars while bullets harmlessly bounce off? Total BS.

Someone once tested it-shot at a car, and the bullets went right through the door. Anyone hiding behind it would get hit.

Unless they hid behind the engine; a solid engine could actually stop bullets.

Jasper and Mia didn't know this at first. They were just hiding behind the car until a bullet hole appeared in the door next to them, shattering their movie-inspired illusion.

"Darling, what do we do now?" Mia asked, tears streaming down her face.

"Enough, stop crying. Now's not the time for tears. We need to find a place to hide and wait for John," Jasper said, gritting his teeth and scanning the area. He finally spotted an abandoned building.

Mike, peeping through his binoculars, suddenly frowned.

"What the heck? Where'd all these people come from?" he muttered, eyebrows knit in confusion as he spotted the unexpected arrivals.