John and his companions stood not far behind Eric and Sylvia, each holding their wine glasses with unease gnawing at them. Without the presence of Matthew's group tonight, the risk of any aggressive move from the Pentra family loomed large.

And indeed, the Pentras were contemplating just that.

After a while, Mark and Bryce huddled together.

"Dad, those guys who were supposed to make a move tonight didn't show up. I suspect they've gone to the distributors' families!" Mark said.

Bryce smirked coldly. "A bunch of fools! Thinking we would lay a finger on their families? The scale of the Pentra family's game isn't that low!"

"What use are those family members if we have these people under control?" Bryce dismissed the Innova Group's people as too naive.

After a brief exchange, he continued. "I'll go keep Eric occupied. You move in quickly. It seems we can't avoid some dirty tactics this time!"

Mark's excitement surged. It looked like he'd have to be the one to go after Sylvia first!