Chapter 439 North's Friend
"He must be in trouble."
Noah surveyed the scene. "Let's wait till everyone clears out. Too crowded right now."
"Agreed," Ethan nodded.
Meanwhile, in the Passat's backseat, Lila was fuming.
"Hugo is such a jerk! He has a million but won't give eighty grand as a wedding gift? Talk about cheap! What kind of future would we even have?" She let out a disgusted snort. "I asked him to choose between his parents and me, and he had the nerve to call me unreasonable. Total scumbag!"
"Thank God you backed out in time," her bridesmaid said, squeezing her hand. "And you hadn't signed the marriage certificate yet. Otherwise your whole life would've been wasted on that loser!"
The two women had been best friends for years.
"Exactly. Good thing I saw the red flags!" Lila nodded.
"So, since you're not marrying Hugo, are you giving back the $168,000 gift?" the bridesmaid asked.
"Give it back? Hell no!" Lila rolled her eyes. "I might not be model material, but I'm not bad-looking. After wasting three years on that loser, that money is the least I deserve as a breakup fee!"
She smirked as a plan began forming in her mind. "$168,000 doesn't even come close to covering my prime years."
Back at Graves Village, the crowd of onlookers had mostly dispersed.
Inside a modest earthen house, an older couple sat on wooden chairs. Both around fifty, they looked closer to sixty—their faces weathered and hands calloused from decades of farm work.
These were Hugo's parents, Jagger and Cressida.
"Hugo, where's Lila?" Cressida asked anxiously, noticing her son's tear-stained face. "Why didn't she come in?"
"She's not coming," Hugo replied dejectedly. "Says the wedding gift wasn't enough."
Jagger gripped his pipe tighter. "Not enough? We sold our old ox and emptied our life savings for that $168,000! She agreed to that amount. How is it suddenly not enough?"
"She wants another $80,000," Hugo said.
"$80,000?" Jagger's jaw dropped. For a farmer who barely cleared $10,000 in yearly profit, it might as well have been a billion.
Cressida echoed in shock. "But we already agreed on $168,000!"
Hugo sighed heavily. "She probably noticed the million dollars North sent me. We've already given her $168,000—add $80,000. How could a farming family like ours afford that kind of wedding gift?"
"If that's what she wants, just give it to her!" Jagger urged. "Marriage is what matters!"
"No way!" Hugo protested. "That money is for your retirement. I'd rather stay single forever than touch it!"
His voice cracked as tears welled up. "You've worked yourselves to the bone for me and somehow scraped together over a hundred grand. I can't raid your retirement fund too. What kind of son would that make me?"
"Retirement?" Jagger shook his head, puffing on his pipe. "We're already old. As parents, all we want is to see you married with children. That's what matters."
His eyes clouded with regret. If only he knew how to make real money, Hugo wouldn't be facing this humiliation.
Cressida dabbed at her eyes. "Our family will be the village laughingstock after this."
Suddenly, footsteps approached from outside.
Hugo looked up to see five men entering. The one in front was a slim young man with a scholarly air and a unique presence. Beside him stood a youth with a crew cut, and behind them were three men in suits who positioned themselves like sentinels on either side of the room. Their cold demeanor made Hugo shudder—these weren't ordinary visitors.
"Who are you?" Hugo asked, focusing on the young man who clearly led the group.
"I'm Noah, North's friend," he replied with a slight smile.
"North's friend?" Hugo's eyes lit up instantly.
"Where is he? Why didn't he come?"
"How's North doing?"
Jagger and Cressida asked simultaneously, their faces etched with concern.
"He..." Noah hesitated, deciding they deserved the truth about their family member.
Before he could continue, the roar of engines cut through the air.
A few motorcycles pulled up in formation. Each carried multiple riders—over twenty thugs in total, sporting dyed hair in wild colors. Several openly brandished machetes and metal pipes.
Their leader, a young man with flaming red hair and a gold chain, jumped off his bike clutching a knife.
"Where's Hugo?" he bellowed. "Get your ass out here!"
Jagger and Cressida paled in fear. Hugo trembled but forced himself to approach the red-haired youth with a nervous smile.
"Maddox!"
The leader—Maddox Donovan, local tough guy and Lila's brother—pressed the flat of his blade against Hugo's neck.
"Don't act friendly with me," he sneered. "I'm here for one thing—money."
"Money? What money?" Hugo asked, frozen in place.
"What money?" Maddox's voice was cold. "Lila wasted years with you. Doesn't she deserve compensation? Everyone in three villages knows the wedding fell apart. She's lost face—how will she ever find another husband?"
He twisted the knife slightly. "She came home crying her eyes out. I want a breakup fee plus emotional damages."
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