The First Heir

Caleb was by nature smug and intolerably haughty.
All his life, he never once feared anyone. He was quite the classic spoiled rich kid.
Unfortunately, however, in his twenty-odd years of life, there was only one person who ever scared him. Just one!
That man!
The man who had become his nightmare!
Proud?
Haughty?
No one in this world could be prouder or haughtier than that man, Philip Clarke!
Caleb still remembered how, so many years ago, that man had come to the capital city with an entourage of special clearance
vehicles clearing the traffic for him!
Crazy, right?
Yet it was true!
It was all because Philip had waved his hand and casually said that he would gift the special forces with some cutting-edge
military equipment and techniques from abroad. Just like that, those high-ranking officials flooded the hotel Philip was staying in.
Back then, Caleb was still young. His family was rich and powerful, so he did not think twice about offending Philip.
Where did that land him?
Old Master Zach did not even dare to protest. He simply paid Philip a visit with Caleb in tow to beg for forgiveness.
He even broke one of Caleb’s legs!
It was all because Philip casually wondered aloud if the Zachs should be allowed to keep existing. As a result, Old Master Zach
led his entire family to apologize to Philip!
That incident caused an 8.0 scale earthquake in the capital city back then!

Almost a hundred people knelt in front of the hotel Philip was staying in, lined up according to their seniority.
That was right. The impeccable Zachs, practically royalty in these parts, all knelt in front of the hotel door with Old Master Zach
himself taking the lead. They simply begged for Philip’s forgiveness.
It was shocking!
It was unbelievable!
Of course, the media was later ordered to cover the whole incident up.
Who would dare report something like that?
The Zachs alone would be enough to shut any media outlets or reporters down.
Now, Caleb was panicking. He was truly afraid, from the bottom of his heart.
He did not have time to put on his clothes. He just grabbed his phone and hurriedly yelled at his butler, “Hurry, book me a damn
flight ticket! For today, I want to go back to the capital! Right now, damn it! I can’t stay here a second longer!”
Caleb only had one thought in mind right now, and that was to run!
Nino had angered Philip! He must be asking for death!
No, he was going to get something worse than death!
Just then, however, his phone rang again, sounding like the tolling of his death bells.
Did Caleb dare to pick up?
Not at all!
After some hesitation, he forced a smile and answered the call, cold sweat covering his brow. “Hello, M-Master Clarke. Are you
back in town?”
On the other end, Philip said very calmly, “Not yet, but Nino Gil ticked me off. How should we handle this?”
“Handle him! Do with him as you like! The guy’s just a waste of brain space anyway! A huge idiot! You gotta kill him, Master
Clarke! Finish him off! If you don’t want to dirty your hands, I’ll come right down and do it for you!”

Caleb’s angry roars emanated from the phone on the coffee table.
Meanwhile, Philip sat on the couch calmly. As for Nino, his entire body had gone cold the moment he heard those raging words
across the speaker.
His patron, that invincible Master Zach, betrayed him just like that?
That was not even the scariest part. What was worse was that Master Zach, whose influence was like a bottomless abyss, was
actually terrified of Philip Clarke!
It was all over!
Nino felt dizzy, and his breathing quickened. He fell onto his butt on the floor, his body limp and powerless.
The call ended.
The bar was terrifyingly quiet.
Nino’s men were all completely silent.
Even Master Nino had fallen apart.
In that case, the rest of them did not even dare to stay on their feet. They dropped their weapons and let Theo’s men press them
down onto the ground.
At the same time, Philip gave the cue and Theo gave the order accordingly. In an instant, several dozen institutions of all sizes
all across Riverdale were immediately taken down by Theo’s men!
It was a spectacle to behold!
The time, Theo took barely an instant to clean everything up, uprooting all of Nino’s forces clean from the ground!
It was all over.
Philip stood up coolly and walked past the destroyed Nino. He left just like that, without even saying a word.
Theo brought his men and hurriedly followed behind Mr. Clarke.
After that, Julian Thane and the lady secretary left the bar as well.

Outside the bar, Philip was the first to emerge. Theo personally ran ahead of him and held the Jaguar’s door open for him.
On the other side, Julian was also saying something to Philip, his head respectfully lowered.
“Mr. Clarke, please get in. I’ll send you back,” Theo said politely with a bow.
He had several dozen bodyguards in black suits, and right now all of them were standing solemnly next to their dozen-or-so cars,
just waiting for Philip to get into the car.
The entire time, Lynn and the others were watching the whole thing unfold from behind a corner in the wall.
“Lynn, is that man... your cousin-in-law?” one of her girl friends asked, stammering.
“Crap, your cousin-in-law isn’t useless at all! Will he try to get revenge on us?”
What they were seeing went beyond comprehension!
Those guys were the king of Riverdale’s underworld and George Thomas’s own secretary.
Now, both of them were bowing to Philip and listening to his every word!
Was he not a useless deadbeat?
What was happening here?
Lynn had a thousand questions on her mind. At the same time, she gulped nervously.
Even Theo Zander had to bow to her useless cousin-in-law.
Yet she had insulted and humiliated him in so many ways before.
Did that mean that the BMW incident earlier was real too?
This... This felt like a dream!
Lynn and the others only heaved a sigh of relief when they saw Philip leave in the car. However, they wore identically dazed
expressions.

That went especially so for Lynn. She was holding her phone and watching the video she had just taken of recent events. She
just could not calm herself down.
Did she misunderstand something?
She needed proof.
After a great deal of thought, Lynn sent the video to her cousin Wynn, followed by a panicked voice note, “W... Wynn, did you
see the video? Do you know what your husband does for a living?”