Chapter 79: Emergency Call

Four large men in leather jackets stepped out into traffic, followed by Lucas Vanguard.

"Told you this morning," Lucas called out, walking into the street as his men fanned out across the sidewalk. "You can’t hide behind campus security all day. You’re leaving in an ambulance."

Sophie pulled back behind Jude’s shoulder. "Lucas, stop. I’m calling the police."

Seeing Sophie step behind Jude set Lucas off immediately. "Take him down," he told his men. "Don’t leave him standing."

The 4 men moved forward together.

Jude kept his hands in his pockets and glanced over at Anna. "Clear the walkway."

Anna’s expression didn’t change, but her focus sharpened.

She had recognized Lucas the moment he stepped out of the SUV. Because she reported directly to Silas Vanguard on private matters, Lucas had never met her, but she had read his family file. Technically, he was her employer’s son.

Hurting Silas’s family created complications. But hesitating in front of Jude would compromise her position immediately.

Anna stepped forward into the path of the first man.

Lucas laughed. "You’re hiding behind a girl?"

"You usually underestimate people," Jude replied.

Lucas scoffed. "What’s she going to do against four—"

The lead man lunged with a right hook.

Anna stepped inside the swing, drove a heel hard into his knee joint, and followed through with a short, downward stomp against his lower leg.

The joint gave way with a sharp crack. The man dropped straight to the pavement, clutching his knee and shouting in pain.

Dealing with untrained street muscle was straightforward for Anna.

Lucas’s smile cut off.

The other 3 men closed in at once. Anna shifted her weight, ducking under a wide swing from the second man, caught his wrist in an armlock, and cranked it until his shoulder popped from the socket. Spinning through the movement, she drove a side kick directly into the third man’s chest, throwing him back against a parking meter.

Lucas backed up a step, his face pale.

"What kind of person hides behind private security?" Lucas said, his voice shaking. "Step out and handle it yourself, Lawson."

"You brought 4 men to ambush someone outside a school gate, and I had my assistant handle it," Jude said, stepping past Anna. "If you want my attention, fine."

As Jude walked forward, Lucas pulled his hands up into a rough guard to save face. "One-on-one, then. Just don’t hit the—"

Jude closed the distance before he finished the sentence, driving a straight right hand into the bridge of Lucas’s nose.

Cartilage gave way. Blood poured down Lucas’s lip, and his eyes watered as he stumbled back.

Jude straightened his cuff. "Where did you ask me not to hit?"

"Not the face," Lucas choked out, holding his nose with both hands. "I said not the face—"

"Understood," Jude said.

Jude snapped a front kick directly between Lucas’s legs.

Lucas let out a high gasp. His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the concrete, curled up tight with both hands between his thighs, unable to catch his breath.

"Request granted," Jude said, looking down at him. "Face was spared."

Behind them, Anna planted a boot onto the fourth man’s chest, leaving all 4 guards down on the sidewalk.

She walked back to Jude’s side, looking down at Lucas on the pavement.

"He organized a planned assault outside a school," Jude said, his tone flat. "Anna. Break his legs."

Anna paused for a fraction of a second. Breaking Silas Vanguard’s son’s legs with her own hands was a line she didn’t want to cross.

Yet with Jude watching, she couldn’t show hesitation. She stepped toward Lucas. "Understood, sir."

Seeing Anna step toward his knees after what she had done to his guards, Lucas panicked completely.

"No, wait! Stop!" Lucas scrambled backward on his hands and knees. "Mr. Lawson, please! Call her off. I was wrong!"

Jude held up a hand, stopping Anna a foot away. "Wrong about what?"

"I shouldn’t have brought people here," Lucas stammered through a bloody nose.

"And?" Jude asked.

Lucas looked toward Sophie, terrified. "I won’t come near Sophie Reed again. I swear. Just don’t let her touch me."

"I prefer handled disputes over street fights," Jude said evenly. "Consider this your warning. If you show up within 5 blocks of this school or Miss Reed again, it won’t end with bruises. You have 60 seconds to clear this street."

"Right now. We’re leaving," Lucas said.

Struggling through the pain, Lucas pulled himself up and limped toward his Ferrari, while his guards dragged one another into the Escalade. Both cars pulled away down Amsterdam Avenue.

Anna let out a quiet breath.

Had Jude pushed her to follow through, handling the fallout with Silas would have been messy...

By the gate, Sophie stood frozen. The entire encounter had taken less than 2 minutes.

"Ready for lunch, Sophie?" Jude asked, turning back with a calm expression.

Before she could answer, Jude’s phone vibrated in his pocket.

It was Frank Miller, the operations director overseeing the Hudson Industrial Waterfront, the multi-billion-dollar parcel Lawson Capital had acquired from Silas Vanguard 2 weeks earlier.

"Mr. Lawson, we have a problem at the Hudson site," Miller said. "A crew of 30 men just forced their way through the perimeter gates, shut down the cranes, and put 2 foremen in the hospital."

Jude’s eyes narrowed.

Silas had made his move on the development project after the gala.

Jude turned to Sophie. "Something came up at one of our sites, Sophie. Head back inside the gates where it’s quiet; we’ll catch lunch another time."

He turned to Anna. "Get on the bike and follow the car downtown. We have a site to clear."

Six blocks south of Lincoln Center, the red Ferrari 488 and the black Cadillac Escalade pulled over by a hydrant.

Inside, Lucas Vanguard and his 4 guards caught their breath, checking their mirrors to make sure the black Ducati wasn’t behind them.

The confrontation outside the school gates had taken under 2 minutes...