Chapter 370

Sherwood rose from his seat with an easy grin and extended his hand. "Naturally. Daren, may our partnership be smooth and profitable."

Daren clasped his hand firmly, returning the smile."I look forward to it, Mr. Kirk. You can trust me to deliver."

Their handshake sealed the moment, and Sherwood strode toward the club's entrance.

The instant he stepped outside, the smile drained from his face, leaving behind a hardened look.

His eyes darted quickly across the street, checking every shadow before he moved toward a van waiting nearby.

He yanked the door open, slid in without hesitation,and gave a sharp order. "Drive."

The engine purred to life, and the vehicle slipped into the evening traffic.

It wasn't long before the van arrived at the dim parking lot where his black vehicle was waiting. Sherwood blinked his eyes open, shoved the door aside, and stepped out into the stale air of the parking lot.

With his head bowed, he moved swiftly across the concrete floor until he reached the sleek black vehicle he knew all too well.

He climbed into the back seat with the fluidity of someone who had repeated this routine many times before.

The man who looked almost identical to him was already waiting inside, sitting silently.

Sherwood spared him a brief glance before focusing on Deandre at the wheel. "You caught everything?No one suspected a thing?"

Deandre kept his gaze ahead as he answered with calm assurance, "Nothing to worry about, sir. From the moment you walked into the club until you stepped out, I checked every angle. No tails, no prying eyes."

A slight nod was Sherwood's only reply.

The vehicle rolled onto the streets, and Sherwood leaned back against the leather seat, his fingers tapping idly on his phone screen. A glint of cold calculation lingered in his eyes. A line creased his forehead as he pressed the call button.

The butler's familiar voice came through, careful and respectful. "Sir, is it finished?" asked Aiken.

Sherwood's mouth curved into a sly grin. "Everything's in place. Now we wait for the right opening."

Aiken's voice brightened, almost celebratory. "Then allow me to congratulate you,sir."

Sherwood straightened, his tone sharpening like a blade. "I'm giving you something new to handle."

On the other end, Aiken fell silent, waiting for the details.

Sherwood's voice dropped into ice. "Draw out Luis ' right-hand man. Then arrange for Daren and him to walk into the same club, one after the other."

For a moment, only silence carried across the line until Aiken's uncertain voice returned. "Forgive me, sir,but I don't quite follow."

Sherwood cut to the chase, his voice tight as he outlined the scheme. "Find some of Luis' loose affiliates. Slip the product. Let it look like his crew is moving the goods inside his own venue." A sharp glint lit up his eyes as he let the thought settle."Picture this. The merchandise gets traced back to Luis' place. We'll arrange Daren's payment to line up just right and make sure Luis ends up at the scene.When the authorities show up, all the evidence ties him to the goods and the deal. Let's see him try to explain that once they start digging."

A low laugh escaped Sherwood, the sound threaded with sharp satisfaction as he imagined the public fallout.

Concern crept into Aiken's voice as he answered,"Sir,this carries a serious risk. What if it is uncovered?"

Sherwood met that worry with a cold chuckle. "Risk is the currency of big moves. If we plan cleanly and execute without slips, the exposure will be minimal.Follow orders, and your cut will be handsome."

Aiken swallowed and agreed, his tone steady despite the doubt. "Understood, sir. I will set it in motion right away."

Sherwood drove the point home, insisting on precision."Every step must be flawless. Small mistakes are how things unravel."

Aiken repeated his promise, voice firm with implied loyalty. "You can rely on me,sir." After he ended the call, Sherwood leaned back and let his mind run through the logistics.

He imagined the contraband reaching Luis' territory and the breadcrumb trail for the police falling exactly where he intended it.

The image of Luis exposed and humiliated lifted Sherwood's mood into something that looked a lot like triumph. He pictured Joseph and Marisa, still fragile from that old wound two decades past,collapsing under the shock of the news.

A dark smile crept across Sherwood's face as he pictured the moment Joseph and Marisa would hear about Luis' ruin, crushed beneath the weight of it all.In the storm that followed, with the Sampson family stripped of its leader, their empire would be his for the taking.

Thoughts then swung to Verena and Isaac, and his expression turned sharp. Verena had survived when he assumed she would not, and that stubborn return gnawed at him. For a moment, he wished events had ended differently back then, and the memory hardened into renewed resolve.

A sharp snort slipped from him as displeasure tightened his features. Verena's return felt to him like a live wire ready to short out the careful order he had built inside the Sampson family ranks. Had she acted the part of the dutiful daughter, he might have let her presence slide and treated her like a mere ornament.She refused that safe role and chased revenge instead,a choice he found reckless and infuriating.

The memory of her using his illness as a trap made his nostrils flare with hot anger. He scoffed at the thought that a young woman could overturn what he had spent years constructing. He dismissed her as little more than an irritant under his heel. He planned to see whether her boldness would survive the consequences he intended to bring.

Then there was lsaac to consider.

Even the mention of that man stoked a darker fury inside him.

"You carved out your strength in Shoildon and now you come here to undermine me," Sherwood muttered through gritted teeth. "You and Verena prance around like you own the place. You may be feared back in Shoildon, but Ochrerayd answers to me.Try to act without caution, and you will learn what that costs."

Sherwood shifted his gaze toward the blurred city beyond the tinted glass, his eyes dark and filled with a cold hunger for blood. The bond between Verena and Isaac was something he would never allow to grow.Letting it breathe felt like handing them power he meant to keep for himself.

Wearing a cruel smile steeped in venom, Sherwood had every intention of trapping them in a tragic love story,one soaked in misery and sealed with despair.

Sherwood let his eyes fall shut once more, drawing in a slow, steady breath to quiet the rush building inside him.

Every step was unfolding just as he had intended.Luis,the Sampson family, Verena, and Isaac-all of them were living on borrowed time, and he could already see the end closing in.