'Clarine's mother—Cassandra Campbell?' Finn Taylor had met her. She was indeed an impressive woman.

"Let's go to the Landon family's house after this tea party," Finn Taylor told his wife blandly.

​​

Yvette Larson had no idea what he had up his sleeves, but she simply nodded. No matter what her significant other was going to do, she was going to ride it out with him.

Finn Taylor and Yvette Larson walked forward, and a servant from the Sanders family approached them to show the way. "Ms. Larson, this way, please."

Although he was a servant, he was a servant of the Sanders family. His status was naturally much higher than an average person's. As such, he didn't even care about Finn Taylor.

But the latter didn't take that to heart either. After all, he had been ignored many times over the past three years. One more time wouldn't mean much.

As long as he had his lover by his side and had her understanding and love, nothing else mattered to him.

That servant glanced at the couple from the side of his eyes. 'It's annoying to see him holding Yvette Larson's hand. Who's Finn Taylor? He's just a useless matrilocal son-in-law—a joke in San Francisco! What right does he have to be married to Yvette Larson?'

Yvette Larson had been betrothed to our Master, Joshua Sanders. But now, she's married to someone who can't even compare to our Master. Of course, I'm different. I'm just a servant, but maybe Yvette Larson will help me once she gets a divorce from Finn Taylor.'

Of course, he dared not voice his thoughts out. Whether it was the Sanders family or the Larson family, he couldn't afford to offend anyone.

He led the couple to a garden, where many tables had been set up.

On each of the tables was a chessboard, where checkmate formations had been arranged.

By now, many guests had already arrived and were gathered in the garden. They gathered around to examine the chessboard formation, wanting to give the game a go.

Of course, their expressions made it obvious that most of them had failed in solving the puzzle.

"Ms. Larson, please mingle around for now. The tea party will begin soon; someone will inform you once it begins." With that, the servant took his leave.

As he did so, Finn Taylor noticed a sinister smile on his face. Although he had concealed it well and wiped that smile off his face in an instant, the latter's eyes were sharp.

Nothing would get past his eyes.

Although Finn Taylor remained calm, he could tell that something was amiss. 'It seems like something is indeed going to happen, but even I can't put my finger on what it is.'

As he glanced around, Finn Taylor noticed that the garden was filled with young people.

Seeing her husband's confused gaze, Yvette Larson started introducing them to him. "That's the Young Master of the Craig family. That's the Young Master of the Smith family. That's the Young Master of the Kleine family."

As Yvette Larson continued, her husband's gaze darkened. He realized that they all had one commonality—these people were all the most likely successors of their families.

'If the Sanders family does anything to these people, almost all the prominent families in San Francisco will have wasted decades of effort and resources on raising their successors. It would be a crushing blow.'

Crank! Crank! Crank!

Just then, the gate to the garden was shut. There was no longer an exit out of the garden.

"Oh no!" Finn Taylor yelled out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just then, someone started throwing torches into the garden one after another.

Just as Finn Taylor had thought, the Sanders family was trying to kill all of them.

This so-called tea party was just a cover. What the Sanders family was trying to do was wipe out all the prominent families' successors.

Without any successors, these families would definitely crumble once the elders passed on and the family was handed to the younger generation. After all, they would have no choice but to hand the family over to their second choices.

Naturally, the family would fall into shambles under their leadership. Then, there wouldn't be a single family that could come a close second to the Sanders family.

The Sanders family had really gone all out this time.

A torch landed right next to Yvette Larson. Sparks flew and landed on her dress.

"Ah!" Yvette Larson's face drained of color as she shrieked nonstop, but her spouse was calm and collected.

He simply extinguished that torch with his foot. Then, he brought his wife to a door.

He gave it a kick, and the door quickly creaked open.

However, there was a huge steel door waiting for them on the other side of the first door. It was obvious that this steel door hadn't originally been there.

It had only been erected to prevent anyone from leaving.

Finn Taylor tried to kick the door, but it refused to budge.

Of course, it wasn't because the door was well-made. Rather, it was because Finn Taylor wasn't even trying.

"Stay here." After instructing his wife to remain there, he walked back into the garden alone.

He leaned against a marble table; it was the only marble table in the entire garden.

Just like all the other tables, there was a chessboard set up on the table.

Finn Taylor glanced at the formation on the board and sneered. "Battle of a Lifetime."

This was a formation that had yet to be solved—it was named 'Battle of a Lifetime.' It was named for how one could crawl their way out of the direst and most pressing of situations.

This formation was similar to what was in front of him now. In the 'Battle of a Lifetime' formation, the player wouldn't have any way out.

But Finn Taylor didn't believe in that. He was going to find a way out.

"Everyone, listen to me if you want to live." Finn Taylor slammed the marble table.

The whole garden was in chaos, but all noises suddenly ceased.

Everyone turned their gazes toward Finn Taylor in the center.

"Finn Taylor."

"Finn Taylor? That sounds familiar? Which family are you from?"

"Which family? He's that useless matrilocal son-in-law of the Larson family."

The one who said that Finn Taylor's name sounded familiar frowned. He felt as though he had been humiliated. 'You're just a useless matrilocal son-in-law. What right do you have to talk? Everyone has the right to talk except for you.'

"Scram! Don't distract us from escaping."

Finn Taylor sneered. "Hehe! Escape? If you guys could escape, you'd be gone by now. I'm the only one who can save you now."

He then lifted up the marble table in front of everyone.

Everybody's eyes widened, and their jaws dropped. 'That marble table probably weighs more than a ton. If he throws that table at the steel door, we might actually be able to escape!'

"That… F-Finn Taylor, hurry up and smash that door to let us out!" The person who had frowned at Finn Taylor earlier started begging the latter after seeing his prowess.

"I can save you, but I have a request; it's not overly demanding. I just want all of you to sign a contract with the Larson family after you escape. The minimum sum will be 1.5 million dollars, and we'll split the profits 7:3. The Larson family gets 70%, and you'll get 30%."