Chapter 158

Andrew Lucas held a cigarette between his fingers, his expression dark and brooding through the haze of smoke.

Steven Cruz's arrogant smirk froze when Alexander Grant suddenly appeared.

"Mr. Grant... I..."

"Shut it!" The woman beside Steven stomped her foot in frustration at her husband's cowardice. She pointed viciously at Susan. "You shameless homewrecker, dragging around your crippled bastard—who gave you the right to bully my son? Get on your knees and apologize now!"

The crowd grew but no one dared intervene.

Alexander's lips parted. "Who should kneel?"

The woman sized him up, emboldened when she assumed he had no connection to Susan and her son. "This slut and her crippled brat, of course! Serves her right for being abandoned after birthing a defective child!"

"Yeah! Fatherless cripple!" The boy stuck out his tongue from behind his mother. "Freak! Nobody wants you!"

"Who said he has no father?" Alexander's voice turned glacial.

Steven forced a nervous laugh. "Mr. Grant, this child's background is unclear—"

"I am his father."

The air turned to ice.

Steven's legs trembled, sweat dripping down his back. "Y-you must be joking..."

Alexander's gaze made him feel like he'd fallen into an abyss.

The woman finally recognized who stood before them, her face draining of color.

Susan stared at Alexander in shock, but his expression remained unreadable.

"Mr. Grant..." she whispered.

Even Alexander himself was startled. He despised personal entanglements, yet here he was, willingly shielding this mother and child.

"Apologize," Alexander commanded coldly.

Steven dropped to his knees. "I was blind! The young master is clearly gifted—"

"Dad!" The boy whined. "He's just a cripple!"

Steven clamped a hand over his son's mouth, forcing a strained smile. "Kids say the darndest things..."

"Apologize to Susan," Alexander enunciated each word.