One of Victor’s friends suddenly reached out to stop her. "Don’t be so ungrateful," he sneered, his hand landing on Sloane’s shoulder in a way that made her skin crawl. Sloane’s eyes turned cold. A flash of silver flickered between her fingers. "Ah!" The man screamed, clutching his arm as he crumpled to the floor. "My hand—it’s numb! I can’t move it!" "What did you do to him?" another friend shouted, rushing forward. Sloane’s lips curved into a faint, chilling smile. "Just a little reminder." "Bitch!" The remaining two lunged at her. Sloane flicked her wrist, silver glinting once again. In the blink of an eye, all three men collapsed to the ground, their bodies limp like puppets with their strings cut. The bar erupted into chaos. People backed away, whispering in disbelief. Victor stared, stunned—then, instead of fear, a feverish fascination filled his eyes. "God… how did you do that?" he breathed, his voice trembling with awe. "You’re incredible…" Sloane shot him a look of pure disdain and turned to leave. But Victor, unwilling to give up, stumbled after her. She frowned, lifted her hand, and a second later he too hit the floor, completely immobilized. Just then, Shawn rushed in with his friend. "Sloane! What happened?" Sloane glanced at the bodies scattered across the floor, her tone calm. "Nothing. Just a few annoying flies." When Shawn saw Victor sprawled on the ground, he couldn’t help but laugh. "Well, well, Victor—what’s this performance supposed to be?" Victor didn’t answer. He just kept staring up at Sloane like a man possessed. "Tell me your name… please…" The bar owner, Nathan, came storming over, his expression dark. He gestured sharply to the security guards. "Get them out of here." Two huge guards stepped forward, hauling Victor and his friends up as if they weighed nothing. "Do you know who I am?" Victor yelled as they dragged him away. "My father is—" "I don’t care who your father is," Nathan cut in coldly. "You harass my guests in my bar, you’re done here." As Victor was hauled toward the door, he twisted his neck to shout one last time. "I’ll find you again, beautiful! You can’t hide from me!" "Make sure that man never comes back," Nathan told his security. When the door slammed behind them, the bar erupted into applause. Nathan turned back to Sloane, apologetic. "I’m sorry you had to deal with that." Sloane shook her head. "No harm done. Sorry for causing a scene." "Not at all," Nathan said with a grin. "You made quite an impression—and that cocktail was something else. You’re welcome here anytime." Shawn clapped him on the shoulder. "Thanks, man. We’d better get going—my aunt’s probably worried sick by now." On the drive home, Shawn couldn’t contain himself. "Sloane, that move was insane! You’ve got to teach me that!"Sloane smiled slightly. "It’s a nerve-blocking needle technique. If you want to learn, you’ll have to start with the human meridian system." Shawn imagined memorizing hundreds of pressure points and immediately slumped. "Yeah… maybe not." Sloane reminded him to keep what happened tonight from Beth—no need to make her worry. Meanwhile, across town, Tony sat in his study staring at a thick stack of documents that had just arrived from Stonebridge. Lucas hadn’t stopped his investigators, so they’d obtained everything on Sloane—her background, her records, even the paternity test results between her and the Rivers family. Tony flipped through the pages, his brows slowly knitting together as his eyes hardened.