Maddy closed her eyes, her heart filled with misery.

Jordan’s heart ached. Holding onto Maddy’s hand, he said with self-reproach, “I’m sorry, Maddy.”

If he hadn’t been too harsh and caused Mark to die, she wouldn’t have encountered this situation.

Seeing how miserable she was, Jordan felt terrible.

Maddy forced a bitter smile. “No, Jordan, you don’t need to apologize. On the contrary, I’m very grateful to you. If this didn’t happen, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have found out that my family members are such terrible people. They’re not worth staying for!”

Jordan didn’t say anything and simply held onto Maddy’s hand, giving her silent reassurance.

No matter what the Stones were like, Jordan would always stand on Maddy’s side and never turn his back on her!

Rayson remained silent. Although Lucas had already said that he had nothing to do with the Stones, he might be softhearted on Maddy’s account.

Thus, he couldn’t act against the Stones at this moment.

Meanwhile, Eric also looked gloomy and sullen.

He had long thought of capturing Jordan and killing him to avenge his son. But at the same time, Eric also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to plunder the Stones. At the very least, he wanted to get enough benefits so that his son wouldn’t have died in vain.

But Florence, the head of the Howards, had intervened to save Maddy and Jordan, followed by Lucas showing up out of nowhere and making even Rayson terrified. It made Eric not dare to act rashly.

Eric had always been a very cautious person. If he failed to take revenge but instead provoked a powerful enemy who was not to be trifled with, he and his family would suffer greatly!

Seeing that the two of them were silent, Florence smiled. “Mr. Branson, actually, I think the person who killed your son is Becky Sanders. If you want to avenge your son, just punish her, and we can put this matter to rest. What do you think?”

Florence’s words gave Eric an out.

She had obviously seen his hesitation and knew that he didn’t dare to confront Lucas. But because he had to take revenge for his son, he wasn’t willing to show any weakness. So she said this on purpose.

Eric’s heart was full of extremely complicated emotions. At the same time, he felt suffocated as he had to suppress his anger.

Of course he wanted to kill Becky, but he didn’t want to let Jordan, who had broken his son’s limbs, off the hook either.

But in the current situation, he had no choice but to let him go since Lucas and Florence were protecting him.

Just as Eric decided to suck it up, let Jordan off, and give up on seeking revenge for the time being, several more luxurious cars slowly pulled over outside the Stone residence.

Soon, another middle-aged man with a formidable aura slowly walked out of a Lincoln limousine.

Upon seeing this person’s face, many people couldn’t help exclaiming in shock, “Th-that’s Derek Piers, helmsman of the Pier family!”

“The head of the Piers is actually here too!”

…

The Stones exclaimed one after another. They were so agitated that they were on the verge of passing out.

They usually wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet the esteemed helmsmen of the top eight families. Yet Florence, the helmsman of the Howards; Rayson, the helmsman of the Williams; Eric, the next helmsman of the Bransons; and even Derek, the helmsman of the Piers, had arrived!

The helmsmen of four of the eight top families were now at the Stone residence. Normally, the Stones could brag about this for years. But now, none of them dared to speak loudly because even the most foolish person knew that something was amiss.

Even the helmsmen of the other rich and powerful families were surprised.

As soon as Florence saw Derek, she frowned. She would never forget how Conrad had brought Derek and numerous bodyguards to collude with the Williams to force her to marry Derek at her father’s funeral.

Now that Derek was here too, she was certain that nothing good would come out of it!

Rayson looked calm. Although he had given up the Piers as an ally under the coercion of Lucas and Jordan previously and almost destroyed the temporary alliance between the two families, he had always been thick-skinned. Thus, he could still act as if nothing had happened and greet Derek with a smile.

Eric felt apprehensive.

He wasn’t sure why Derek suddenly appeared here and wondered if he was there to stop him.

In that case, the Bransons wouldn’t be able to get any benefits today!

Derek suddenly looked at Eric and said with a smile, “Eric, as you have seen, Florence Howard wants you to give up on taking revenge and leave obediently. Don’t be fooled by her!”

Hearing this, Eric breathed a sigh of relief. He realized that Derek wasn’t here to target him. Instead, he was hostile to Florence and seemed to be on his side.

“Florence is scheming, cunning, vicious, and evil. For the sake of the position of helmsman, she even killed her own father and acts hypocritical everywhere. How disgusting! Eric, don’t be frightened by her!

“If you leave now, Florence will become the Stones’ benefactor and possibly even take away all their assets. At that time, you would have lost your son for nothing. Not only would you have failed to seek justice for him, but you would have been used by her. Wouldn’t that be a huge loss for you?”

Derek’s remarks were all attacking Florence and provoking conflict between her and Eric.

Florence flew into a rage. “Derek Piers, you despicable scum! Stop lying and slandering me!

“All the Howards know that my father died of illness. You’re in no place to spout nonsense and slander me here!

“At my father’s funeral, you insulted the Howards and wanted to force me to marry you. I didn’t let you succeed, so you made that up to ruin my reputation, huh? How shameless!

“Also, don’t forget that nearly thirty top experts of your family are now working for me. If you want to provoke the Howards, go ahead and try!”

Florence wasn’t a pushover, and she retorted vehemently.

Previously, the Howards had wanted to take advantage of Felix’s death to bully them. However, not only had they failed to gain any benefits, but they had even suffered a huge loss. Nearly thirty experts they had trained for years had defected to the Howards.

The Howards and the Piers were originally on par in various aspects. But since then, the Piers clearly lagged behind the Howards in terms of combat forces.

Thus, Florence’s words were both a warning and a threat to Derek.