"Did you call the police? Are you hurt?" Grace Winslow frowned tightly.

She knew this kind of thing wasn’t uncommon in this era. Punks collecting protection money was a practice that would still exist even ten or twenty years later.

These people usually had powerful backers, making them difficult to catch. If the situation wasn’t handled thoroughly, it would only invite retaliation.

’I can’t believe we’ve run into this kind of trouble, too.’

Irene Lynch shook her head. "We didn’t call the police. I told them not to. Grace, let’s just let this go. Maybe we should just close the shop. Two thousand is no small sum. If it had been two hundred, I would’ve just given it to them."

"They took all the money we made today, and they said they’re coming back tomorrow."

"I don’t really care about myself, but those two were terrified because of me, and they even got hurt today..."

Carter Sawyer and Fiona Lowell said nothing, but they were obviously terrified. They were both young and came from large families. Knowing they could not only learn a trade as apprentices but also earn a wage, their parents had sent them over without any hesitation.

The two of them cherished this opportunity and had been studying diligently this whole time. They never expected something like this to happen.

At the thought that they might not be able to come to work starting tomorrow—and might even be forced into marriage if they went home—both of their spirits sank. They hung their heads in silence.

"You two should go home and rest for now. If you really don’t want to come back, at least come by to collect your wages. Leave the trouble at the shop to me."

Grace Winslow’s heart ached seeing the lingering fear on the two young girls’ faces.

She comforted the two of them and sent them home.

The shop was still a bit of a mess, though it had been partially cleaned up during the day.

Grace Winslow and Irene Lynch finished the rest of the cleanup, then locked the door and walked home together.

"Mom, how many people caused trouble today? Do you know any of their names?" Grace Winslow asked Irene Lynch on the way.

Irene Lynch thought for a moment before answering, "There were five of them in total. A few looked very young, maybe even students, around thirteen or fourteen at most."

"The leader was a man, probably twenty-five or twenty-six. He was tall and thin, likely a local."

Grace Winslow understood the situation.

She told Irene Lynch to keep the shop closed the next day.

An incident this big was bound to get people talking.

When the shop first opened, Grace Winslow had noticed a group of people who would come by to make purchases at the same time every day. She suspected someone had arranged it.

Later, as business picked up, those people stopped coming.

However, Grace Winslow had run into one of them on the street several times, which made her think they were still keeping an eye on the shop.

She didn’t know many people in Coronet, and there was only one person who would do something like that for her.

Grace Winslow had guessed correctly.

The incident at Irene Lynch’s shop had only just happened that day, but Archer Rhys had already received the news.

"Who did it?" he asked coldly, cracking his knuckles.

"A punk from Sycamore Alley. He was sent for re-education for a past offense and just got back. He’s already rounded up a few other good-for-nothings and is going around smashing places and collecting protection money. The auntie’s shop wasn’t the first. They’ve done this to several other businesses."

"Right, I heard the auntie and the two apprentices at the shop were beaten and injured. All the money from the store was stolen, too."

"I made a point to ask one of the apprentices what happened."

Archer Rhys nodded. "Understood. I’m going to pay a visit to Sycamore Alley. It seems that with me being away from Coronet, many people have started to forget my name."

Just as Archer Rhys was heading out, he ran into Sean York, who had come looking for him.

Upon learning about the trouble at Irene Lynch’s shop, Sean York rolled up his sleeves and went with Archer Rhys.

That day, screams echoed through Sycamore Alley for more than two full hours.

The punk who had troubled Irene Lynch, smashed her shop, and stolen her money was named Victor Zane. He was an only son, and his father was a degenerate. Years ago, his father had lost so much to gambling that he sold his wife and daughter, leaving only his son, whom he spoiled rotten.

Growing up with his gambling-addict father, Victor Zane learned nothing of value, but he picked up every vice, from burglary to robbery.

When he was younger and got into trouble, the neighbors would take pity on his situation and let things slide whenever possible.

As a result, the kid’s audacity and greed only grew.

A few years prior, he had not only committed a home invasion but had also nearly raped the person living there. Fortunately, a neighbor heard something was wrong and rushed in to intervene.

He had just been released after five years of re-education. Unwilling to work for a living, which he deemed too tiring, he gathered a group of punks and went back to his old ways of blackmail and extortion.

At first, he demanded small sums of money, and business owners, preferring to avoid trouble, just paid him off without making a fuss.

Taking eighty or a hundred yuan at a time, he was living quite comfortably.

After nearly half a year of this with no repercussions, he grew bolder and started demanding more money.

Irene Lynch was unlucky enough to be his first new target. He robbed her of over three hundred yuan right from the start.

He took the money on a spending spree, smugly planning to return to the shop for another two thousand the next day, never imagining he had just messed with the wrong people.

Archer Rhys beat the man, breaking his arms and legs, before tying him up and dumping him at the police station.

When the police at the station saw it was Victor Zane, a known repeat offender, they understood the situation without Archer Rhys needing to explain.

They had originally planned to go easy on him.

But this time, he had truly picked the wrong fight.

Home invasion and assault, if sentenced harshly, could mean the death penalty.

A bullet was unavoidable.

Archer Rhys was intent on dealing with Victor Zane and gave him no way out.

The young punks who ran with him were all arrested as well.

Their parents came crying and wailing to raise a fuss, but it was no use.

This case was being used to set an example.

Victor Zane’s crimes, viewed broadly, were those of a violent bandit. Viewed narrowly, they were petty theft and extortion.

The next day, Grace Winslow had originally planned to find Sean York and ask him to pull some strings to warn Victor Zane and his crew to leave Irene Lynch alone.

But first thing in the morning, she saw the newspaper.

Victor Zane had been arrested. For home invasion, robbery, and assault, he had received the harshest possible sentence—death. He was scheduled for execution by firing squad in half a month.

His accomplices were also arrested and would be sent for re-education for a minimum of four to five years.

She was surprised. She hadn’t expected Archer Rhys to move so quickly. She hadn’t even had to ask, and he had already dealt with the matter completely and cleanly.

When she returned to her work unit, she heard the news: Stanley Shaw had been stripped of his position.

Everyone at the unit was gossiping about it; the news was impossible to contain.

Grace Winslow only overheard a few snippets and didn’t pay it much mind.

After all, she had nothing to do with Stanley Shaw.

But even though she had no interest in the gossip, the gossip came looking for her.

As soon as she arrived, several of her colleagues surrounded her, all clamoring to share the juicy details with her.