"Mason Smith? Who the hell is he?" Noah had no idea who he was talking about even though the name felt familiar to him. He narrowed his eyes, trying to recall who the man was.
It was only after a few seconds that he remembered who Shane was referring to.
"Are you talking about the scum doctor?" Noah spat and Shane punched him hard on his face in retaliation to his humiliating words.
"Don't you dare!"
Noah clenched his jaw as he endure the pain before he returned his gaze on Shane."Don't you know what kind of a man your brother is? And is he even your brother?"
Noah frowned slightly when he noticed the difference in their surnames and for a moment, he could not help be confused about the situation.
"Although I am not in the mood to answer you, let me entertain you this once. Mason is my cousin, my only relative alive."
'That is how it is!' Noah discerned. But he did not pity him or feel any emotion other than anger and hurt towards Shane.
"Look, we can deal with this later. Let me go and I promise I will come to back you." Noah attempted to compromise. He was running short of time, and he had to get to Aria before Jared captured her. That was the last thing he ever wanted to happen.
"Heh, do you think I would fall for your words and let you go?" Shane clicked his tongue his eyes gleaming in delight on facing the man who he had come to hate eventually. "If not for you capturing my only brother, I would never have dared to go against you."
"Don't you know why I did it? Don't you know what a scumbag your cousin is?"
While Noah and Shane were having a confrontation, Ronnie secretly dialed Joshua's number for he was the only one he could contact right now. From their previous conversation before they were ambushed, he had already learned that Ian was busy dealing with the problematic situation in his hospital. So, it was impossible to seek his help at these difficult times.
"Where the hell are you, Ronnie? I am telling...." Joshua stopped speaking as soon as he heard another voice from the phone.
"I am telling you, Noah. Shut your mouth. Otherwise, I will not hesitate to inform Jared about your woman and her sister. By the way," Shane's lips rose and an unknown excitement filled when he recalled a matter he had failed to address before.
"Oops, I remember another issue I was supposed to report to you. I am sorry, Boss, I mean," Shane lifted his arms in mock surrender and twirled the gun in his hand. "Noah."
Even though he had just taken his name, to Noah and Ronnie, it deemed as though he was insulting him. Ronnie could not tolerate the way Shane was humiliating his Boss and he prepared himself to shoot the man in the eye.
Sensing the movement from beside him, Noah glanced at him and his eyes quivered, silently ordering Ronnie to stay put and not let loose. Rachel was still in Shane's grasp and they could not vex him lest he tried to harm her in his fit of anger.
"Shane, what the fuck do you want?" Ronnie could sit still. Even though his Boss had ordered him to not give in to his emotions, he could not watch Shane target him. So, he took this moment of silence to butt in and speak up.
"To avenge your brother, you joined hands with that bastard Jared and kidnapped Miss Carter. What more do you want?" Ronnie reiterated all that Shane had done, making sure that he was loud and clear.
While Shane looked at him as though he was an idiot, Noah's eyes widened for a moment on seeing the way Ronnie was behaving. It was completely contradictory to his character and he stared at him for a few seconds before the realization hit him. How could he not know what his trusted man was up to?
The tacit understanding between him and Ronnie made him discern what he was up to and his eyes immediately dropped to his pant pockets. Though he did not know who he was calling, he certainly appreciated and admired Ronnie's wit at this precarious time.
"Shut up!!" Shane roared and he glared at Ronnie before he punched him in his gut, knocking him off his feet. "Don't you dare interrupt me when I am speaking. Otherwise, the consequences will be dire." He bellowed and in his madness, he fired a bullet at Ronnie.
"Ronnie," Noah's eyes widened in terror and he crawled towards him who was clutching his left bicep in pain.
Even Joshua who was listening to their conversation was terrified beyond belief. His blood ran cold as soon as he perceived what was happening. One of Noah's trusted men had betrayed him and had joined hands with their enemy. Now not only Noah and Ronnie were in danger, even Rachel was dragged into this mess.
"I told you not to annoy me. See this is what happens." Shane made a face as though he was pitying him while the smile on his lips said otherwise. "I hope you have learned your lesson and you won't be interrupting me anymore. Otherwise, next time, it will not be your hand, dog. I will put the bullet right through your head."
Noah glared at Shane as soon as he heard him insulting Ronnie. But it had no effect on the lunatic for he had already crossed all limits of madness. He had completely lost himself in his thirst for revenge.
"Where were we before this dog interrupted us?" Shane tapped his chin with the gun in his hand and how Ronnie wished that he would press on the trigger and kill himself. That would save them a lot of trouble.
"Ah, yes. I was about to disclose another matter which you have no idea about. You had managed to keep this a secret from Jared for a long time, Noah. But I didn't. I made sure that Jared learns about this mind-blowing secret."
Noah frowned, not understanding what Shane was speaking about. He had no idea which secret he was referring to for there was quite a little information that even Shane did not know about.
"You might have kept this fact under rugs, but Jared knows that Aria, your girlfriend is the sister of his eternal enemy, Ivy. Now, what do you think will happen when he meets the two girls? On one side, there is his enemy and on the other, there is his enemy's girlfriend. Isn't it amazing and exciting?"