Chapter 5

Eric turned back to look at William, meeting the old man's eyes full of hope and exhaustion.

Hearing his grandfather praise him as a man for the first time in his life, this iron-fisted warden of Saint Paul's Hill Women's Prison felt his eyes redden.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the overwhelming killing intent in his chest.

"Grandfather, from today on, the Williams family has me."

Eric stepped forward, holding the old man's shoulders. His voice wasn't loud, but it rang out firmly in the hall: "I'll get to the bottom of what happened to my three brothers. I'll make the Rossi family pay back what they owe us with their own hands. And those who kicked us when we were down, who laughed at the Williams family..."

He slowly turned his head, his gaze seeming to pierce through the villa's windows toward all of Washington.

"I'm going to bring the Williams family back to the top. Not just in this little Washington, but across all of America! Everything the Williams family lost, I'll take back a hundred times, a thousand times over."

"Good! Hahaha! That's my grandson!"

Looking at the spirited young man before him, William felt as if the gloom that had weighed on him for three years was mostly swept away by this passionate declaration.

He slapped the armrest of his wheelchair and laughed loudly, though tears glinted at the corners of his eyes: "As long as you have this determination, even if this old body of mine has to fight until my last breath, I'll do everything I can to help you! Win or lose, these words today are the pride of the Williams family!"

Standing to the side, Isabella just watched coldly, her hands clenched slightly at her sides.

The Williams family rising again?

Looking at the excited old man and the overconfident Eric, she felt only deep exhaustion and worry.

Anyone can talk big, but in today's Washington, the Williams family was no longer the powerful force it once was.

She even began to wonder if bringing this reckless Eric, who only knew how to fight and kill, back home today was the right decision or a mistake.

"Grandfather, please sit down."

Ignoring the coldness in Isabella's eyes, Eric stepped forward to help William settle onto the sofa.

"You know medicine?" Seeing Eric place his hand on his wrist, William was slightly surprised, then shook his head. "Eric, I know my own body. When I heard your three brothers died in battle, half my heart died with them. The Williams family doesn't fear death. This old body hanging on to see you one last time is enough."

Eric didn't speak, just focused on reading the pulse.

As the pulse information fed back, his brow furrowed tighter and tighter, a flash of shock in his eyes.

His grandfather's body wasn't just bad—it was on the edge of complete collapse!

Long-term extreme grief had damaged his heart, plus overwork had caused all his organs to show signs of failure. His body was riddled with hidden ailments, practically a box made of torn paper.

"Thank goodness... thank goodness I came back today."

Eric felt relieved.

He pressed his palm against William's back, sending a thread of pure, vital energy through, carefully protecting the old man's heart.

"Grandfather, you've been overworking for a long time, plus emotional stress. During those five years inside, I learned some healing techniques from an old doctor." Eric withdrew his hand and smiled reassuringly. "From today on, you must rest properly. I'll prepare some medicine for you later. Within three months, I guarantee you'll be throwing away that cane and walking strong."

William felt a warm current flow from his back. His heavy, stifled chest suddenly felt clearer than ever before. He looked at Eric with surprise: "You really did learn something useful."

Ring ring ring!

Isabella pulled out her phone. As soon as she answered, her secretary's panicked voice came through: "Miss Isabella, this is bad! Someone's been stirring things up behind the scenes about the company delaying wages these past two days! Right now, hundreds of workers are marching through downtown with banners demanding pay, and all the major media outlets are broadcasting it live!"

"What?!" Isabella's face changed drastically.

"Not only that, the company's stock price has started dropping like a cliff. Our partners' calls are flooding the front desk—all questioning us or demanding to terminate contracts. Miss Isabella, the whole company is in chaos. Everyone's saying... saying Mr. William is critically ill and Williams Group is about to go bankrupt!"

"I'll be right there!"

Isabella hung up, her body trembling slightly.

Three years ago, during the Williams family's darkest time, she had defied enormous family pressure and left the Delgado family to join Williams Group as general manager.

These past years, she had carried this struggling company on her fragile shoulders.

But she never expected that with recent news of Mr. William's serious illness quietly spreading, the wolves hiding in the shadows could finally no longer resist and were launching a fatal attack on Williams Group.

"Isabella, what's wrong?" William asked in a heavy voice.

Isabella bit her lip and told him the truth.

After hearing it, the old man fell silent for a long time. Gripping his cane tightly, he said in a trembling voice: "How much... is left in the accounts? Pay the employees' wages first. We can't disappoint them."

"It's no use, Grandfather." Isabella shook her head bitterly. "The liquid funds available in our accounts add up to less than ten million. But this wage crisis they've stirred up, plus the penalty fees partners are maliciously demanding, creates a gap of at least a hundred million! It's nowhere near enough..."

A hundred million.

For the Williams family now, this number was astronomical.

William closed his eyes, his whole body radiating the desolation of a hero past his prime.

Could it be that the Williams Group his three sons had died for was really going to end in the hands of this old man about to enter his grave?

"Maybe... I'll go back to the Delgado family and beg my father..." Isabella bit her lip and said quietly.

"Nonsense!" William's eyes snapped open as he refused firmly. "You broke with the Delgado family for the Williams family back then. Now they can't wait to see you humiliated. If you go begging them now, you'll get nothing but shame! Even if the Williams family truly falls, we will never sell your dignity!"

"Isabella, it's just a hundred million, right? If that's enough, leave it to me."

A calm voice spoke up.

William and Isabella both froze, turning to look at Eric sitting to the side.

"You'll handle it?" Isabella laughed bitterly, the disappointment and disgust in her eyes no longer hidden. "Eric, can you pick a better time to brag? A hundred million—you think it's a hundred dollars? You just got out of prison. You don't even have a proper job. What are you going to handle it with? Rob a bank?!"

"I don't need to rob anyone." Eric's expression was calm. "Since we need money, I'll just borrow it from the Rossi family. As one of Washington's eight major families with assets worth billions, a hundred million is nothing to them."