Chapter 9: Serves Them Right

Words : 2253 Updated : Aug 7th, 2025

Once Jordan Sowden made a promise, he never went back on it. "Fine, fine, let's not hold back. We need to show him what we're made of and make him get down and crawl like a dog!" Lincoln Ferdinando shouted triumphantly. He'd had his eye on Arianna Showyer for ages. If he won this bet, Arianna's engagement to Jordan would be as good as over. His family's restaurant chain was about to go public, and once it did, his net worth would skyrocket-maybe even tenfold. Then he'd swagger over to the Showyer family to propose. He figured there was no way they'd say no. Soon, the hotel's customer service manager brought out the wines they'd prepared. Jordan and the other three tasted the wines and told the manager their guesses about which wines they were, so he could decide who won. With Arianna and Vivian keeping a close eye on things, there was no way anyone could cheat. Three rounds went by, and everyone got their guesses right. "Huh, this guy's got some skills after all," Darren Halenkamp said, now looking at Jordan with a bit more respect. Jordan thought this was way too easy, so he decided to make things harder. "Alright, next round-mix three different red wines together!" Two was already tough, but Jordan was upping it to three! But since Lincoln, Darren, and Jones had already agreed to the bet, they had to go along with it. Darren got knocked out first, then Lincoln, until it was just Jordan and Jones left. "Lafite 12-year, Bostu, and, uh..." Jones stammered. Jordan rattled off, "Lafite Cognac 12-year, Bostu 10-year Estate, and Romanée-Conti Noir, entry level!" Jordan won! The three guys immediately turned pale as ghosts. They'd lost three-on-one, and in the area they thought they were best at! Since they lost, they had to go through with the punishment they'd agreed to-whatever Jordan wanted. "My family's got a ton of restaurants. I'll give you our highest-level Diamond Prestige Card-you'll eat for just 10% of the price, or maybe even for free!" Lincoln offered in a rush. "Do you like jewelry? I'll let you pick anything you want from my family's store!" Darren added. "Our family's in commercial real estate-you can pick any space to rent, all expenses covered!" Jones said. They figured these offers were so good that Jordan wouldn't be able to say no-and their punishment would just disappear. Vivian shot Jordan a look, hinting he should just say yes. After all, with so many benefits, the party wasn't a total waste! But Jordan wasn't having it. Seeing Jordan wasn't budging, Arianna quickly jumped in, yelling, "Jordan, quit while you're ahead! Don't push your luck-nothing good will come of it!" But Jordan acted like he didn't hear a thing. He beckoned Lincoln over. "I want your arm." Ignoring Vivian and Arianna's protests, Jordan grabbed Lincoln's arm and, with a heavy strike, dislocated it-leaving Lincoln screaming in pain. As for Darren, Jordan pulled the Jados Ring off his finger and asked coldly, "Where'd you get this?" When Darren didn't answer, Jordan snapped his finger! Jones was shaking like a leaf. Jordan let him off, just asking, "How did Maxwell Tower end up with the Hayde family?" Since the Yoxall family was in commercial real estate, Jones ought to know something. "It's because the Sowden family went down. Our Yoxall family, plus the Hayde, Casson, and Ferdinando families, all grabbed Maxwell Tower! The Hayde family took the biggest share, and Lucas Hayde became the GM, so they changed the name to Hayde Tower." So that's what happened-the Four Great Families ganged up and took everything from the Sowden family while they were down. They used their numbers to gang up on the weak. No wonder they got what was coming to them. "Alright, I'm outta here!" "Next time, don't bother inviting me to this kind of party!" "I don't play nice, and you guys can't handle it anyway." Jordan said calmly, warning Arianna and Vivian: don't bring random guys around trying to mess with me. I'm not playing along. Arianna and Vivian were left totally stunned, at a complete loss for words. They never dreamed he'd actually win a totally unfair three-on-one bet! But instead of letting things go after winning, he went even harder and pissed off three rich heirs! Vivian was so mad her face was practically green. "He turned a great opportunity into a disaster! That loser just can't stop causing trouble!" she snapped. Arianna couldn't take it anymore. Her face clouded over as she silently vowed, "When I get home, I'm telling Grandpa to call off this engagement! My hard-won reputation as the Peerless War God is going to be completely ruined by him!" Before, when Jordan hit Lucas Hayde, the Showyer family and Arianna's own status as the Peerless War God could keep things under wraps. But now he'd pissed off the Ferdinando, Halenkamp, and Yoxall families too! He couldn't do anything right, but he sure knew how to stir up trouble! How was the Showyer family supposed to deal with this mess? Before heading out, Jordan tossed out a clue: "I know where Cristian is-check the Rose Hibiscus Hall." "I'll go get him!" Jones volunteered, then took off running toward the Rose Hibiscus Hall. Cristian Spears was really in there, but he was in total agony-Jordan had made him swallow every last drug he'd brought to mess with girls. Jordan let him go since he'd answered honestly, but Jones thought finding Cristian might help them get revenge. Boy, was he wrong! The second he walked into the Rose Hibiscus Hall, bloodcurdling screams rang out. Jordan walked out to the hotel lobby, where his sister, Elina Sowden, was waiting for him. As soon as she saw him, Elina hurried over, asking excitedly, "So, how's Arianna Showyer? She's a good person, right?" Throwing Jordan a party to welcome him-even with everything going on-looked pretty generous on the surface. Jordan smiled, knowing his sister still cared about his engagement. "Yeah, she's alright. Invited a bunch of rich kids to keep me company-real thoughtful." Elina didn't pick up on anything weird and was just thrilled. "See? I told you, Arianna's great! You need to lock things down, make it official, and I'll go propose to her family for you. I just want you two to be the perfect couple, everyone's envy..." Jordan knew his sister would keep going forever, so he cut her off. "Hey, sis, check this out. Isn't this the Jados Ring Grandma Alina always wore and treasured?" He handed her the ring he'd just taken from Darren. Elina stared at it, totally stunned. "Where'd you get this?" Jordan lied, "I ran into Darren-he's in the jewelry business. I saw this ring on his finger, thought it looked familiar, so I challenged him to a drinking contest and won it from him." At the mention of Darren, Elina's tone changed instantly. "There are tons of Jados Rings out there. No special marks, so there's no way to tell if this was Grandma Alina's!" "And anyway, the Halenkamp family does jewelry-of course they'd have something like this." Her sudden change in attitude just made Jordan even more sure-this had to be Grandma Alina's ring! Even though there weren't any unique marks, the style, size, and especially the color and grain of the jade were way too familiar. But that just made it weirder-how did something from the Sowden family end up with the Halenkamp family? Something was definitely off! Jordan had already found out from Jones that after the Sowden family fell, the Ferdinando, Hayde, Casson, and Yoxall families had split up Maxwell Tower between them. Now it all made sense. All the Sowden family's assets had been snatched up. And besides the Four Great Families, the Halenkamp family was in on it too! Jordan was desperate for answers. "Sis, you've gotta tell me-what really happened to the Sowden family back then?" "Why did everyone say our whole family was gone when I got out of prison? Are they really all gone? How did it happen?" "I need to know! If someone did this to them, I'm not letting it slide!"

Chapter 9: Serves Them Right

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