Kaze appeared rather cocky. Buffy glared at Kaze, her eyes burning with rage. Since Buffy would not let the matter go, Kaze smiled and rose to his feet. He drew close and put his arm around Buffy’s waist. Furious, Buffy exclaimed, “What are you doing, bastard?” “Didn’t you say that you’d be mine tonight? Hasn’t night come yet?” Kaze kept her within his grasp, giving her no chance to wiggle herself out. “You’re my woman. What’s stopping me from holding you? I have not taken things far yet.” “You!” Buffy was livid. However, Kaze had her locked tightly against him. Take things far? He could dream on! Kaze raised a glass without a care. “Today is my woman’s birthday. You are all my guests. Make yourselves comfortable and enjoy the drinks. “Let’s raise our glasses!“Hahaha!”Kaze’s manic laugh echoed across the hall. To the crowd, Kaze’s behavior was a textbook example of arrogance, ignorance, and smugness.It looked like Kaze failed to identify his place. He
The socialites were quick to deny these allegations. No one wanted to be associated with a crime. Even a mere suspicion was a social suicide for them. Wesley said grimacingly, “We have seen everybody around. Given our relationship, we can be confident that neither of us will engage in theft.“But one individual is an exception.” Wesley pointed his finger. The crowd followed the direction of his pointed finger to Kaze, who stood next to Buffy. “I’ve never met Kaze Lee in any of our social gatherings before. I don’t even know how he got in.“He headed straight to the buffet table as if he hadn’t eaten for days. I bet he’s poor. “He must be desperate for the seven-million-dollar diamond. “Don’t you think so?” Many nodded, finding that Wesley had a point. First of all, Kaze had not been seen in the prestigious get-together among the upper class before. Even Rose was only on the guest list as Zenika’s plus-one. Luis was Rose’s suitor right now. No one knew much about
“We can’t call the cops, Ms. Gwake.“Yeah, we can handle this on our own. It’s just seven million dollars. There’s no need to get the cops involved,” the socialites said. Buffy furrowed her brows. She was in no position to dismiss the opinion of the majority. Wesley said, “Here’s an idea, Buffy. Since we’re in Bronze Sparrow, we can just go with the place’s rules. “Find the diamond and handle it discreetly.” Buffy gave a nod and pulled out her phone. “Alright. I’ll give them a call.” “I got it.” With Buffy on board with the suggestion. Wesley said with a smile, “I have contacted Eunice. She’s coming here soon with her employees.” He then turned to Kaze and uttered sternly, “If you know any better, you should hand over the diamond now, Kaze. We can implement a lighter punishment since it’s Buffy’s birthday. “No one can save you once we find the diamond on you later. “Please don’t take my words lightly. Ask around. “The punishment for theft at Bronze Sparrow is a br
“I’m pleased that Bronze Sparrow is taking this seriously.” Luis nodded and pointed at Kaze. “I have reason to suspect that he stole my diamond, Ms. Lapel. “I know it’s him. He just looks like bad news.” Eunice nodded, unsurprised by the accusation. At the wave of her arm, several burly men in suits surrounded Kaze. Eunice stood outside the ring of intimidating men and said sternly, “Hand over the diamond, boy. “If you kneel and admit to your mistake, I can consider just cutting your finger off. “If my men find the diamond on you, you’ll be losing an arm.” Kaze replied indifferently, “You don’t even have one shred of evidence to determine that I stole the diamond. “Is this how you do things around here?“Cut my finger? What right do you have? “Do you think the rules of Bronze Sparrow trump the law?” Eunice responded curtly, “Ask anyone here who the owner of Bronze Sparrow is, Kaze. “You’re right on one account. The rules of Bronze Sparrow trump the law!“Even
“What did you call Ms. Gwake, boy?”Eunice gritted her teeth, her eyes flickering menacingly. She was aware of Casius’ feelings for Buffy. Hence, Kaze’s affectionate nickname for Buffy was an insult to the owner of Bronze Sparrow. Luis said, “Don’t take him seriously, Ms. Lapel. The guy won Ms. Gwake in a game of cards, so he got a little cocky.” He turned to Buffy. “Why are you standing up for the guy who hit on you and took advantage of you, Ms. Gwake?“He doesn’t appreciate your help either.“No need to take the bet seriously. He’s just a country bumpkin. He wouldn’t be playing cards with you if you hadn’t been so kind to let him sit at the same table. “Don’t feel obligated to help. It won’t be on you or your family if you don’t fulfill your promise.” Luis was afraid that Buffy would take Kaze’s side. In that case, Kaze might get off scot-free. Luis could not allow his carefully devised plan to fail. With that in mind, Luis waved at Eunice and said annoyedly, “Don
Still holding a wine glass, Kaze spread his arms apart to allow the body search. Luis said grimacingly, “Frisk him! Pat him down! Strip him and put him under a scanner to find if the diamond is hiding in his anus.” Zenika and Wesley were thrilled. Kaze would be humiliated to be stripped naked in public. Eunice waved at her subordinates. “Didn’t you hear Mr. Presley? Strip him!” She hated Kaze’s guts, so she could not pass up on the opportunity to insult Kaze while looking for the diamond. “Yes, ma’am.” Two burly men approached with sinister smiles to remove Kaze’s clothing. “Smack! Smack!” Kaze was quick to retaliate with a couple of slaps, knocking the two men off their feet. The men spat out blood and passed out unconscious. The crowd was dumbstruck by Kaze’s sheer strength. It was no surprise that Kaze could fight, but they did not know he was really good at it. Kaze was supposed to be from a small town. “How dare you fight back, boy!“So you are the thief
“Step aside!“You’re just a bunch of crude brutes. I’ll handle the search.” Eunice yanked one of the burly men out of the way and reached into Kaze’s right pocket. She rummaged for a long time and fished out a handful of air. Luis grimaced harder. “The diamond must not be on his person. He might have hidden it somewhere else. Find it. Search every inch of this place right now. “Rose could be in on it too.” Rose yelled furiously, “You’re a bastard, Luis! I will never steal or collude with Kaze.” Luis pulled a stoic face in silence. He went to lengths just to get even with Kaze. Luis had gone to the point where if family was on Kaze’s side, he would retaliate against them too. He would not have a good night’s rest until he got back at Kaze. Eunice led her men to turn the venue upside down and scan for the diamond. Due to the diamond’s reflective surface, they turned off the lights and moved their flashlights around. However, all their approaches were pointless. T
“It’s the diamond! “The diamond is in Kaze’s glass.” Someone shouted while pointing at the wine glass. Kaze had been holding the wine glass all the while. The crowd assumed Kaze was holding the glass to fit in as the latter was unaccustomed to the social circles of the elites.It never occurred to anyone that the diamond had been lying in Kaze’s wine glass. The jaws of Luis and the others dropped. Holy shit. They did not expect the wine glass to contain the diamond. Even Buffy parted her lips in shock. She did not think Kaze would hide the diamond in the glass right under everybody’s noses.“And you said you weren’t a thief, Kaze.“Hand over the diamond now!” Zenika turned cocky, acting like she had won the battle. She commanded Kaze to turn over the diamond. Kaze said with a smile, “You can’t find the diamond after turning the place upside down. Now that you see a marble, you claim that it’s yours.“Who do you think you are? “What if I said that your clot
“How dare those men hijack the plane and take Kaze. They must be punished…” Despite her grumbles, Snow grew anxious. “Given Mr. Lee’s capabilities, he won’t be hurt.” The agents around her tried to comfort her. They believed she was being too nervous. “I know, but we as subordinates have failed him by allowing this to happen. We have to do our best to make up for the mistake, and not rely on Mr. Lee to get out because he can.” Snow drowned in self-blame and regretted not being able to help. It was her negligence that allowed the hijacking to happen. “But there’s nothing you can do now. It’s late. Even the hijackers need to rest. They won’t do anything yet.” “It’s because the hijackers need to rest that we have to hurry and beat them to it. That’s the only way to solve this matter!” “But we’ve searched high and low and didn’t find anything. No one knows where they have gone. Even if they transported the passengers via buses, we didn’t see any tracks.” The agents discu
Kaze breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly went over to Miguel and pressed his hands with the gun down so that it would not misfire. “Good job.” “Thanks.” Miguel curled his lips into a nervous smile. He frequently trained in the gym and mixed martial arts but had never encountered any real-life incident before, thus being inexperienced. Fortunately, his mentality was stronger than the others and allowed him to act accordingly. “I’ll be taking the gun. This is self-defense, you won’t be charged and you won’t need to take responsibility,” Kaze said. Miguel’s pale face looked relieved. “What should we do now? Are there more of them?” Miguel dared not let go of the gun, worried there might be more enemies. “I’ve counted the numbers and this guy here should be the last one.” He then took the gun from Miguel’s hands. “Really? Gosh! That was crazy! I was so terrified!” Miguel finally loosened up and let his instinct take over. His heart was pounding so fast that it
Manson came over and saw the mercenaries lying in their own puddle of blood. The gore shocked him and made him sick. He tried his best to hold back the urge to throw up as it would attract attention. “Don’t look if you can’t take it! Don’t make things worse!” “Yeah! Professor! Grow a pair of balls!” “I have never seen dead bodies like this before!” he explained with a flush of embarrassment on his face. “Can we go out now and run away?” The hostages were eager to leave as things had settled down outside. They thought the danger was over. A dead mercenary was inside the container with them and they were still horrified. Once the others found out about this, the hostages would be shot to death. “If you want to die, be my guest. The moment you step out, you’ll be shot!” Callahan said as he looked at the others scornfully. One of the hostages had already put his hand on the handle of the door and was ready to dash out, but he quickly pulled his hand back after listening
“Tsk. Hold on.” Vexed, the man clicked his tongue and then waved at his colleague. “Come here. Someone fainted. Help me get him out.” The man wanted to take the professor out of the container. Manson’s heart pounded as he listened to the man. He was afraid he might be exposed, but there was no turning back now—he had to play along. Kaze stood behind the door, calming his breath down to lower his presence. “Get back. Stay away from the door. If anyone gets close, don’t blame me for being rough,” said the man as he unlocked the container. He opened the door and saw a number of hostages still sleeping. He then looked at the professor on the floor. He went closer to nudge him but did not get a response. It seemed like the professor needed medical attention. “Come on. Help me get him out.” The other man outside the container was on edge, looking as if he would pull the trigger at the slightest movement. “Why don’t we do it?” Callahan and Miguel volunteered. “You two
“It’s freaking troublesome.” “Boss, don’t worry about it. We’ll get an update tomorrow.” “Yeah. It’s late. Get some rest.” Tiguan’s men told him to get some rest and not worry so much. A few of them were already snoring on the chair. Tiguan sighed and killed the cigarette. He then closed his eyes to get some rest, too. The container that Kaze was in fell into silence once more. No one dared to make any noise but they all looked at Kaze, hoping to find out about his plans. Kaze’s eyes remained fixed on the window and showed no intention of revealing his thoughts. Miguel and Callahan were annoyed by the other hostages. “If you people want to get out of here alive, you better cooperate or come up with your own idea. No one is responsible for saving you.”“Yeah. I don’t want you guys to turn on us after we do all the heavy lifting. It will cost us our lives and you people won’t even be grateful.” Miguel’s tone was sarcastic because he disliked how the others looked at t
Kaze read the hostages’ minds and refused to be used. He wanted to leave but not under such circumstances. “That’s not true. We just don’t have the skills for this kind of situation. You guys are stronger, of course, you should be in the front,” said the man in glasses and a suit. A hint of sharpness gleamed in his eyes. Miguel knew what the man was planning, either. “That’s some plan you have there. You are just trying to use us to escape this place and no matter what happens, you’ll win.” “That’s not it! I just want everyone to stand together and get out of this place. I’ve never thought of using anyone!” the man argued, trying to look innocent. Even a monkey knew what he was planning, yet no one dared to speak up because they would benefit from it too. “Why don’t you guys think of something? If you need our help, we’ll help,” said another middle-aged gentleman who looked more just and fair, as if he could lead the group. “Then what is your plan?” Kaze suddenly wante
The hostages were locked up in the containers. Some of them were elites in their own field while some were ordinary people with average income, yet all of them got into trouble when they boarded the plane. Most of them could not accept their fate. Yet they dared not defy or resist the mercenaries. When things started to calm down, they broke down in tears, weeping in silence as resentment consumed them. Kaze sat down at a clean corner that allowed him to look outside the window. The window was dirty but at least he could see outside. The space inside the container was filled with people sitting closely, offering comfort to one another. They were aware they were just temporarily safe in this container. No one knew what the mercenaries would do to them at the next moment. “My parents must be worried. I said I would call them when I land but now I can’t even get in touch,” Barney muttered as he sat beside Kaze. He too looked outside the window, his feelings mixed. He watc
Kaze thought of what he had overheard in the toilet. If he told the hostages about that, they would probably panic. “It’s nothing. They are just going to separate us into different rooms or containers. They said the buses would be disposed of,” he said. He did not want to reveal too much because it would cause panic. Once the hostages knew their lives were on the line, things might spiral out of control. The mercenaries could kill a few of them to make an example, and none of the hostages would dare to cause problems anymore. Kaze kept it a secret because he wanted to protect the people. “That’s it?” “Is there anything else? How many men are there? What is their plan? Who are they looking for?” “We want to know because we want to survive. This isn't our problem—we just got caught up in it.” The hostages looked at Kaze, their eyes filled with worry. They felt aggrieved because they should not be caught in such a huge problem. “I don’t know either.” No matter how m
“There’s a room there. Get in.” The mercenary pointed his gun at the mother and son, which led them to look at Kaze nervously, seemingly asking for help. “What do you want?” The mother was nervous. She clutched her son’s hand tightly, nearly making him cry, but she reacted quickly enough to cover her son’s mouth to prevent him from doing so. “All women must go into that room. You go in now,” the mercenary explained. He did not want the woman to get the wrong idea. “You people won’t hurt me, right?” the mother asked, worried that she might be ravaged. “We are not into MILF,” said the other mercenary who was escorting Kaze, indirectly assuring the mother. Kaze shot a glance at the mother and nodded at her. “They told us they were going to separate us, so there’s nothing to worry about,” he said, worried that the mother and son would not cooperate. The mother then carried her son and followed the other mercenary into the room. It was called a room but it was actually ju