The night descended silently, and the soft starlight tonight was like diamonds scattered across the vast prairie.
A gentle breeze blew, and the grass shimmered under the moonlight.
After Dante finished thinking about his story, he shook his head, as if still unwilling to accept the past events he had just recalled, a hint of melancholy in his expression.
When Beth left, Dante once again thought about what he was fighting for.
Dante's thoughts were as chaotic as the stars in the sky, making it difficult to sort them out.
He returned to the cabin, which was still under construction, still feeling uneasy.
When he got home, he had no intention of cooking. He simply grabbed a pot and threw in some random ingredients.
The flames danced gently beneath the pot, and a faint aroma began to rise, but his mind had already wandered far away.
While the stew was cooking, Dante went to place a large sofa in the empty living room. Since the interior of the cabin was not yet fully decorated, some things were still out of place.
Kayce had been coming to the ranch to take the horses he was training for Dante's men. On one occasion, the bear that Dante was very familiar with followed him.
Needless to say, it caused chaos all over the ranch.
"Are you expecting someone?" Susie asked. She had been in the cabin working on some remodeling.
"Jamie hasn't arrived yet."
"He must be excited. It's not every day you get that much support." Susie wasn't against Dante taking action to improve his family's situation, but she felt it was a bit rushed.
The situation within the ranch family wasn't the best. Things might improve after Dante's arrival, but it was still uncertain.
His enemies were everywhere, and Susie knew this better than anyone. Things could quickly spiral out of control, and unlike in her homeland, here, blood always had to be spilled.
"Hmm, I need to sort out the matter of his real father as soon as possible."
"Do you think he would accept it so easily?" Susie asked as she walked to the kitchen to grab a coffee.
"What do you mean?"
"The fact that you killed his biological father is not something everyone can accept. I wonder how your brother would take it if he found out."
"Not everything needs to be told." Dante had no intention of sharing these things with Jamie.
As they discussed these matters, the night passed quickly.
But things were different for some members of the Dutton family.
…
The next day, Dante had some things to sort out with his brother Jamie, so he left with him for his new workplace.
"How did you get it?" Jamie asked as he drove.
"Money and a lot of effort."
"That's a lie. There are incredible lawyers in the firm you handed me on a silver platter. That's not something you get just with money, and I know that." Jamie was certain that some things couldn't be obtained with money alone.
His family was a clear example that not everything could be bought. Even if you had all the money in the world, there was a clear difference when it came to true power.
Compared to others, Dante had power. A power capable of taking things that no man would even think of possessing.
Dante wanted to say something, but a black truck behind them caught his attention. He didn't want to be dramatic, but he had that feeling—something wasn't right.
"Turn right."
Jamie hadn't noticed that they were probably being followed. When he heard Dante's words, he looked back and asked, "Something I should know?"
"I think we're being followed." Dante reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, then attached a silencer. His movements were quick, precise—he knew exactly what to do before anything even happened.
"Hey, I think you're overreacting." Jamie didn't believe they were being followed.
In Montana? Impossible. Their family's enemies didn't handle things this way.
But what Jamie didn't know was that Dante's enemies loved these kinds of things, so an ambush didn't seem like such a crazy idea.
"Just turn the damn truck."
"Fine, just stay calm." Jamie did as Dante asked, turning onto a road leading to a ranch. Unexpectedly, the black truck followed them.
"Okay, I think we are being followed."
"Pull over near that tree. When I get out of the truck, move to the passenger seat and stay down," Dante said in a cold tone, his words leaving no room for argument.
"I'll help you." Jamie pulled out a gun hidden between the seats, but Dante shook his head.
"Call this number. Tell them to activate the Predator Protocol—direct orders."
Jamie held onto the number, and as soon as they stopped, Dante stepped out of the truck.
Dante felt relieved that his brother was following his instructions. Without hesitation, he fired at the black truck.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sudden gunfire startled Jamie, who quickly called the number his brother had given him. He never could have imagined that, after finally getting rid of all his worries, he would have to face an assassination attempt.
However, despite his surprise, he quickly regained his composure and called the number. "Activate Predator Protocol, direct orders."
"Zz… Understood, sending reinforcements to your location and all the Duttons."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
One of the men who had gotten out of the truck following them looked at Dante with a vicious expression, his face filled with murderous intent.
Dante recalled William's advice and quickly turned his head to avoid the bullets.
These enemies seemed professional, but they weren't from the high order. Rather, they looked like mercenaries.
"Take him down!" A deep, raspy voice came from the truck, where at least six men were firing at them.
Dante responded with another round from his weapon.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dante laughed as he heard silence on the other end of the phone.
He truly felt the need to laugh. He wasn't just pretending to irritate the men trying to kill him.
This time, he was the one in control of the game.
An outrageous number of fully armed men was nothing compared to what he could deploy right now.
"Jamie, give me the backpack in the back of the truck, quick." Dante knew reinforcements would take time to arrive, so he had to hold out.
Being in an open area, with a truck full of armed men just a few dozen meters from his position, he wasn't in the best conditions.
But he wasn't entirely lost either—he could return enemy fire and hold them off long enough until the helicopters with reinforcements arrived.
"I'm on it, brother, give me a minute."
"We're not on a picnic, hurry up."
Jamie got out of the truck, ran back, and handed him the backpack he had asked for. "Who the hell are those people?"
"Assassins, maybe mercenaries hired to kill us." Dante pulled a rifle from the long black backpack, inserted a magazine, and looked at his brother with a smile.
"You're insane…" Jamie was a powerful man in court, but here, with his life on the line, there wasn't much he could do other than fire a few shots to suppress the approaching assassins.
But seeing his brother so calm, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"Leave this to me, just watch my back." Dante knew there was no one behind him, but he still gave his brother a task to keep him distracted.
Focusing on his enemies, Dante controlled his breathing and steadied his hands, carefully aiming through the scope.
Finally, he pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A shot rang out, but Dante didn't stop.
He didn't even check if he had actually killed the man. He held the M12 in his arms and moved to another position, quickly shifting to another part of the truck, locking onto a new target.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
As Dante moved, all the bullets were aimed at him.
The truck couldn't withstand that level of firepower, and within seconds, it was riddled with holes. But Dante had moved just in time, taking cover behind the trunk of a fallen tree.
"What happened?" A man in a truck, nicknamed Hawk, shouted into the radio after hearing the gunfire in the distance.
He couldn't see what was going on while he and his team were setting up an ambush for Dante, who had left the ranch just minutes ago.
Everything would have gone smoothly if their targets hadn't deviated from their route to the city, which completely ruined their ambush.
"Sniper! That son of a bitch has a rifle!" the man with the machine gun responded.
"He's already taken out three of my men—this guy isn't normal."
"What?" Hawk was stunned.