“That’s certainly not the case, Naomi. We’ve known each other for years, why wouldn’t we tell you?” Agnes smiled awkwardly and added, “We just moved in and haven’t tidied up everything. I was planning to inform you in a day or two.” When she moved into Horizon Mirror with her family, she indeed did not want the Laime family to know, but she could not escape them forever. The three of them waited for her outside the house and when she returned from grocery shopping, they caught her. Naomi grunted and scoffed, “Agnes, are you taking us as fools? We called you and asked if you’ve moved, but you stammered! “I know what you’re thinking. You don’t want us to know that you moved into a big house so we can’t get money from you. But can you run from us forever? Don’t forget you are the reason my daughter is dead! You owed us! And you can never ever repay us!” She slammed the tea table suddenly, startling Agnes. Her words pried open Agnes’ old scar. “Yes, I understand, Naomi. It
“Kaze Lee right? Get the fuck out of my face right now!” Larry pointed at the door as if he was the owner of Horizon Mirror. Kaze’s eyes gleamed coldly. “This is my house. YOU should leave!” He was upset by the mess the Laime family caused. He had not asked them to leave because Agnes owed them a lot, but Larry crossed the line by asking him, the owner of the house, to leave and his patience ran out.Larry must be joking! Larry scoffed, “Are you fucking with me now? Your house? You are also a useless parasite that lives under Agnes!” His gaze looked dangerous as he rolled his sleeves. “You don’t want to fuck off, then I’ll make you!” Larry threw a kick at Kaze. Kaze was furious. He simply lifted his leg and Larry’s kick landed at the back of his calf. Larry felt like he kicked an iron wall. “Ouch!” Larry cried in pain. His tanned face flushed and his expression turned bitter. “Fuck! How dare you fight back!” Larry swung a slap at Kaze. Kaze grunted. A hint of
“There’s a million in this card? Are you serious?” Larry’s eyes shone greedily when he heard there was a million in the bank card. He snatched the card and held it in his hand like he had gotten his precious. He eagerly asked for the PIN to access it. The card was Darcy’s, so the PIN was her birthday. Agnes told Larry the PIN, and only then the family decided to leave. They got up from the couch and swept the husks and ashes off their clothes before heading to the door. Agnes and her family breathed a sigh of relief. Before they stepped out, Naomi said, “Can any of you drive us back? This neighborhood is huge! We walked quite a bit to reach your house.” “Kaze, drive them back, and mind your manners!” Agnes was afraid that the Laime family would give her more trouble, so she urged Kaze to send them off. Larry glanced at Kaze and nodded. “Fine. Little piece of shit, you can drive us back!” He resented Kaze for hurting him earlier and decided to humiliate him on th
“Naomi, what happened? What did I do to Larry?” Agnes was confused, and so were the rest.The Laime family came over for a million dollars in the afternoon and drove off Darcy’s car. Now, Lance and Naomi came back and claimed that Agnes ruined Larry. They must be out of their minds. Naomi shouted at Agnes, “You! You gave Larry a million! If he didn’t have the money, he wouldn’t have gambled it all off! He lost the million and owed Hades two million! The car and Larry are still at his place! They want us to pay up to get him back!” Agnes and her family exchanged a baffled look. Larry said he wanted the million to start a business but he ended up gambling the money away. It had just been hours and he lost a million! Agnes felt an intense heartache for losing the money. She did not spend a penny yet Larry lost it within hours! Lance shouted, “Give us two million to get Larry back! Hades, the boss of the casino, said if we don’t get the money by tonight, he will cut of
“You can bring Larry back!?” Lance and Naomi looked at Kaze, skeptical. They looked down on him from the bottom of their hearts. Even though Larry had no academic credits or job, they would never make him marry into a family for money. Kaze ignored the two of them. He offered to bring Larry back because Larry was held together with Darcy’s car and that was what he wanted to bring back. If not for the car, he would not care if Larry died. Darcy shook her head. “Kaze, stop fooling around. The casino bosses are not someone you can mess with. They have a lot of men and it’s too dangerous. I don’t want you to go.” She insisted on calling Miru for help. Kaze felt comforted knowing that Darcy worried about him. He said, “Darcy, don’t worry. I’m just going to talk to the casino boss and negotiate with him. Maybe I can get your car back. If things go south, we’ll see what we can do.” Darcy looked at him, still worried. After some serious consideration, she sighed and said, “Fine
Thugs and kingpins of the underworld—one could tell how much of a difference between the two monikers. Hades was Cronus’ nephew and the owner of the casino. Darcy had goosebumps when she learned about Hades and Cronus. She regretted it. She should not have allowed Kaze to go to Hades’ casino. They could not afford to mess with someone like Hades. “Sky, call Kaze right away and tell him to come back! Don’t let him go to the casino!” Darcy said to Sky. Sky heard Darcy’s conversation with Miru as he was just beside her. Even though he had seen how powerful Kaze was in the past few days and he believed Kaze was almighty, he was also worried when he saw the look on Darcy’s face. He called Kaze immediately, but the call could not get through. “He’s on a call. I can’t get through.” “Again! Call again!” Darcy then went back on the call with Miru and asked, “Miru, can you get in contact with this Hades? We’ll give him two million for Larry. If Kaze is there, tell him not t
“Sigh. I thought I had a powerful brother-in-law. It seems like I was overthinking…” Sky walked away with a disappointed look. Darcy was both amused and upset by Sky’s disappointment. Though her worries for Kaze remained. She hoped Miru could settle the matter before Kaze arrived at the casino. On the other hand, Kaze arrived at a hotel with Lance and Naomi. “Hades told us to come here for the manager.” Lance pointed at the hotel before glancing at Kaze. “Hey, useless shit, can you really bring Larry back?” “If you continue to speak to me with that mouth, your son will die inside,” Kaze said coldly. Lance and Naomi were furious. Agnes and her family were nothing but tools to extort money and they had gotten used to being treated like kings. Yet as Agnes’ son-in-law, Kaze did not treat the Laime couple with respect. However, the ferocity Kaze showed back at Horizon Mirror deterred Lance and forced him to silence himself. Naomi grumbled, “Then what are you doing
“Kaze, I thought you got someone useful to help but he's useless bullshit as well!” “He looks ferocious. He might be able to scare normal people like us but he’s useless against Hades!” Lance and Naomi immediately jumped in and mocked Dan after seeing his failure. They were frightened by Dan and they thought the man was someone powerful. However, a few minutes later, Dan came running out. Dan slapped himself again when Lance and Naomi mocked him. He was fine with the humiliation but he did not want to embarrass Kaze. It would be a great sin if he did. He knelt on the ground and said, “Master Lee, I’ll call all my men here and make Hades pay for what he had done!” “Shut up you! All you know is brag!” Naomi looked askance at Dan. She then looked at Kaze and said, “Tell Darcy to pay the two million to get Larry back! If anything happens to Larry, I’ll make your family pay!” “Yeah! Forget about the lousy car! Larry must be fine! Call your wife immediately!” Lance berate
Arthur chuckled, his smile carrying a touch of sleaziness. “Oh, I see.” A realization dawned on Kaze. “Are you with quality control?” Several individuals in dark blue suits approached. The men and women carried files and documents. Kaze nodded without a word. “We are just here to announce the results. We shouldn’t be long.” Arthur came forward to engage with them. The group was likely given the heads-up as they had the right number of people. They swaggered into Rising Sun’s building. The general manager straightened up his tie in a fluster and walked out. None of the film productions made the cut yet, and the delay was costing the company money by the day. At this rate, the project would go down under. Eli, the general manager, rushed to the entrance upon learning the news. The review team was there to do one final check. The films would get the green light if the board found that everything was up to par. The head office would stop putting pressure on
Given Kaze’s status, Alfonso knew better than to have him waiting under the hot sun. Of course, he would send his people to be on standby for Kaze’s arrival. Peter only came to the rescue when Kaze was pestered by some street gang. Alfonso’s omission of Kaze’s identity led to this hiccup. Kaze did not care one bit about the incident. Heck, he did not even bring it up. Arthur straightened his back nervously, becoming even more cautious behind the wheel. “You knew, but why didn’t you say anything, Mr. Lee? You didn’t even tell on us.” Arthur could not understand why. However, he had more respect for the man. “I didn’t see a point. You’ll learn what happens when you displease me, so I won’t bother telling you now.” Kaze was mild-mannered as ever. He spoke softly without a hint of anger. All the more Arthur revered him. “Mr. Lee, we didn’t do our jobs right. We didn’t know who you were.“But my duty is to protect you in the dark. “We saw you getting out of the train
“Rising Sun is a media company. Several of their films are about to be released. They are trying to get them approved to air due to some censorship issues.” Arthur took out a document. “Are there any issues with the films? Why aren’t they approved yet?” Kaze asked curiously. Kaze had no idea. “There are some issues. They aren’t fit to be aired. “Typically, there aren’t a lot of restrictions for film productions so long as the themes aren’t sensitive topics. “But these films featured altered history. The company has been asked multiple times to make revisions, but the films still don’t make the cut.” The Viper’s Den’s members were not privy to the information. The Frosts were insignificant. Kaze was after the Frosts. Otherwise, the Viper’s Den would not waste its resources on a mere film production company. Jet’s investment of nearly ten million bucks in Rising Sun caught the Viper’s Den’s attention. The delayed approval of the films would be catastrophic to the in
“It’s quite a bustle even when it’s late at night.” Kaze looked down from above and saw the bright lights. A street in the distance was brightly lit with many people working into the night. “The majority of people would do many things to make a living.” Arthur rarely observed these sights. “Thank you. Keep me in the loop of any progress. I’m curious as to what you’d do.” Kaze did not see a need to get involved with the minor stuff. He delegated the tasks to his people. “If you have time, why don’t you go out and have a bit of fun, Mr. Lee?” Arthur asked. The reason for Kaze’s trip was to deal with Jet. Kaze would get some satisfaction from upsetting Jet. “I don’t want to attract attention.” The last thing Kaze wanted was to blow his cover. From Kaze’s question, Arthur knew that Kaze was interested. “No. We can give you a whole new identity.” Arthur knew what to do. “I’ll leave you to it, but don’t take it too far,” Kaze replied. Still, Kaze was intrigued a
Katie was narrow-minded to spit out the unpleasant things. Her words would never harm Kaze. Kaze took the private elevator back to the penthouse for a rest. He had more important things to do. He needed to keep tabs on the Frosts. Leah’s business was none of Kaze’s concern. Sure, Leah was in a state, being manipulated by her mother and all. However, it was a family matter at the end of the day. Kaze had no rhyme or reason to get involved. Kaze soon put the whole thing behind him. Arthur was already there at the penthouse. As Kaze entered the room, Arthur jolted up from the couch. “Mr. Lee, this is the document you requested. It should have detailed information to give you a clearer idea of the situation.” Arthur put the papers in front of Kaze and grabbed him a bottle of water. Feeling hot from his walk back, Kaze took a sip and held the document up for a look. “I got to give it to the Frosts. They sure work in the shadows.” Kaze grinned. A strong opponent p
“Despite everything I’ve said, you still won’t listen! Kaze is a liar! He befriended you with a motive. Yet, you trust him. He’s a good friend to you? What do you take me for?” Katie could not put up with her daughter’s defiance. Leah must obey her because that was what a good daughter would do. “I see you as my mother. What about you? Am I a daughter to you?” Leah did not want to ask such a distressing question. However, there was no way around it. She was escaping reality. Still, she had to swallow the truth, however cruel. “What are you talking about? I wouldn’t raise you if I didn’t consider you my daughter.” Katie worked hard to keep a level head. The last thing she wanted was the whole thing to blow up into a bigger fight. She had a lot to do for the upcoming party. There was no time to lose in keeping her daughter happy. Besides, Leah was no longer a child. Yet, she was so defiant and rebellious. “Why do you plan on giving me away if I’m supposed to be your d
Katie proudly made the statement, convinced that she had done a lot for her daughter. It was only right for Leah to be grateful and understand her sacrifice. To Katie’s surprise, Leah chuckled. “What else have you done for me? You never showed me any attention. You don’t know what I like. You have no idea what I want.” Leah finally saw her mother as the person she was. This side of Katie was terrifying. “What more do you want? Am I not supposed to work? Should I be spending every waking minute of the day with you?” Katie understood Leah’s needs. However, there was no way she could make it happen. It was not easy for a woman to take hold in the Northborn Group, much less secure a high position there. Katie went through great pains to get where she was today. Alas, Leah could not understand where she was coming from. “I’m not asking you to be with me every day. I’ve tried my best to do everything you asked of me, but you can’t even be there for me during my birthdays.
“Everything I do, I do for you. Get this straight. The guy approached you because of what I could bring to the table.” Katie was pissed by her daughter’s defiance which was becoming worse with age. “I know the kind of person he is. Without Kaze’s help, I wouldn’t have escaped. Where were you then? You’re in no position to say that. “Even if there’s something he’s after, what would he want from me? I have nothing to offer.” Leah did not believe a word Katie said. Clearly, Katie was out to get Kaze. “He’s nothing but a poor kid. Why are you blowing this out of proportion? I’ve clearly stated what needed to be done. Why are you still being stubborn?”Katie believed she had not raised her daughter right. Leah turned out pretty naïve. “I told you. He has no ulterior motive. He doesn’t know who I am. He doesn’t have any other intentions. I approached him, not the other way around.” Leah kicked herself for pulling a reckless stunt. All she did was give Kaze more problems. Kat
Leah hated her mother being unreasonable. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I fed you, I gave you clothes, I put a roof over your head, I gave you life! The least you could do is to listen to me!” Katie did not expect her daughter to go so far as to defy her. Kaze remained silent, knowing that no matter what he said, it would be meaningless to someone unwilling to listen. “Kaze, I’m sorry. It was my fault that you are in this mess. I’m a jinx…” Leah blamed herself for getting Kaze in trouble with her mother. If not because of her, he would never encounter her mother. “Shut it! Why are you apologizing!? He approached you with purpose and you can’t even see that? He’s not worthy of your time!” Katie was livid. She felt her daughter was blinded by emotions, incapable of making the right decision. And to make matters worse, the girl even apologized to Kaze—what nonsense! A poor man without any background was no match for her daughter and her status. He approached the girl becaus