Chapter 6: Don't Preach Kindness to Others

Words : 1989 Updated : Nov 27th, 2025

She hadn't expected there was a hidden story behind Miller Cutmore's imprisonment. Remembering that she herself had said there were no good people in prison, Megan Scurr felt a prickle of guilt. But she still bristled, curled her lip, and snapped at Miller, "You've got a few brain cells, but not enough. One recording can't possibly nail the Juggins family." Standing outside the car, Miller snorted derisively and turned away. "Who said I'm using it to convict them?" "If not to convict them, why record it?" Megan shot back. Miller didn't answer her. Expression blank, he walked straight toward Cairo Juggins. Cairo panicked and yelled at the remaining bruisers, "What are you idiots standing around for? All of you, get him. Beat him into the ground. If something happens, I'll take the heat." The men rushed in, clubs raised, swinging for Miller's head. "Why is your nephew so pigheaded?" Megan watched, tense, phone clutched in her hand. "The plan was for me to stall them while you called the police from the car. That way we could shield him. But he just had to play the hero and jump out. Even if the police come, he'll-" She didn't finish. What she saw outside left her speechless. Alone and barehanded, Miller should have been overwhelmed by a pack of snarling thugs armed with sticks. Instead, the fight flipped in an instant. He drove his boot into the belly of the man in front of him. The thug toppled, rolled several times, and lay face down, unable to get up. The rest of Cairo's hired muscle were already down, not one of them still standing. "Useless," Miller said coolly, looking over the bodies on the ground. "Any random guy from Belton could mop the floor with you." Cairo was dumbstruck. Hadn't the kid done five years inside? How had he become this terrifying? To play it safe, Cairo had brought six of the Juggins family's biggest, meanest enforcers. He never imagined they wouldn't last even a few seconds against Miller Cutmore. He dropped each of them with a single hit. He wasn't a fool. One glance at the scene and he bolted for the car. He dove inside. As he started to pull his legs in to slam the door shut-Bang-the door slammed back and trapped his leg in the door. "Ah!" Cairo screamed. It felt like his left leg was caught in a vise-the bone snapped. Miller stood by the door, eyes cold. "Did I say you could leave?" He grabbed Cairo by the hair and yanked him out like a dead dog, then tossed him onto the ground. As Miller walked toward him, steady and implacable, Cairo's face went pale as a sheet. He ground his teeth against the pain in his left leg and scooted backward, blustering with false bravado, "Miller Cutmore, what are you doing? I'm warning you, don't get reckless. Want to go back inside?" Miller planted his boot on Cairo's left foot, pinning him. Then he raised his leg and stomped hard on Cairo's right knee. Crack! The brittle snap rang out. Cairo clutched his ruined right leg and screamed like a stuck pig. "How can he do that?" Inside the Porsche Cayenne, Megan flinched at the stomp, then stared at Cairo's obviously deformed right leg and sat frozen, unable to catch her breath. Blake Cutmore in the back seat felt the same shock, but unlike Megan, she felt no pity-only grim satisfaction. Serves them right. This is exactly what the Juggins family had coming. Megan stormed out of the car and shouted, "Stop! Miller Cutmore, what are you doing? They're down already, they've got no fight left. Why torture them? This is illegal." Miller didn't even look at her. He planted his foot on Cairo's left arm and pressed down, slow and steady, adding more and more weight. The agony had Cairo nearly out of his mind. Worse, it kept building, and he couldn't even pass out. He was trapped in it, helpless. It was like having his arm in a hydraulic press-not smashed at once, but squeezed inch by inch-so he felt the exact moment his bones gave way. That kind of pain was more terrifying. "I told you to stop!" Megan cried, moving in behind him, reaching to pull him away. Her brother was Romeo Scurr, captain of the criminal investigation team at the Xavon City Bureau, so she knew that what Miller was doing had gone well past lawful self-defense. What kind of man was this, so feral, so violent? Before her fingers touched his jacket, Miller turned, bloodshot eyes blazing, and barked, "Get lost!" Megan stumbled back two steps, face drained of color, and stared at him, mute. Blake ran up, wrapped her arms around Megan, and said quietly, "Megan, don't try to stop him. The Juggins family deserves this." Megan, still shaken, said, "But he should call the police. Let the police handle it. He shouldn't take matters into his own hands. This is vigilantism. How can he be so cruel?" "Cruel?" Miller swung his gaze to her and snarled, "When the Juggins family framed me and sent me to prison, why didn't you call that cruel?" "When those animals inside beat me like a dead dog, broke my limbs, snapped my spine, left me one breath from being a lump of meat on the floor waiting to die, why didn't you call that cruel?" "When they used a secret method to rebuild my tendons and bones-like breaking every bone in your body without anesthesia and forcing them back together-why didn't you call that cruel?" "I…" Megan stared at him, horrified. She had never imagined that the man before her had lived through such nightmares in prison, had endured pain no ordinary person could bear. Miller looked at her, voice like ice. "Tell me this. If I were the one on the ground and they were the ones standing, do you think they would spare me? Would you get out of the car to tell them not to be so cruel?" Megan couldn't say a word. She knew he was right. If Miller had been the one beaten down today, there was no telling if he would still be alive. And before death, they would have tortured him even worse. Miller snorted. "You protected Aunt Blake for five years, so I've tolerated you." "But remember this: If you haven't lived someone else's pain, don't lecture them about being kind." "When I take my revenge, don't point fingers. Spare me your lectures on law and morality." "If you're that saintly, go move the Giant Buddha and sit there yourself." "Now, get out of my way." "You…" Tears welled in Megan's eyes. Unable to refute him, she stomped her foot in frustration and turned back to the car. Blake climbed in behind her and murmured, "Megan, don't be angry with Miller. He really has waited too long for this day." Megan raised her tear-bright face and looked at Blake. "Blake, was he really imprisoned because he fell into the Juggins family's trap?" Blake sighed, then nodded. "It was a setup the Juggins family orchestrated against the Cutmore family. Miller was a victim, the one who suffered the most. Tell me, how could he possibly let them go?"

Chapter 6: Don't Preach Kindness to Others

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