Sky went out with his friends, so only Kaze, Darcy, and her parents stayed home for dinner. “Emiko, wait. Why don’t you have dinner with us?” After the dishes were served, Emiko wanted to return to the kitchen to clean up. She wanted to eat her dinner after Kaze and the others had finished, but Darcy stopped her. Their house was not that strict with rules. Emiko had been busy with dinner preparation, and if they sent her back to the kitchen to eat only after they had finished, then it would seem cold of them. “Emiko, come on. Sit down and eat with us. We are family after all,” Hector said. Emiko eventually accepted the invitation to dine with them. She grabbed her plate and spoon and sat at the very end of the table while thanking the family. It was then Agnes came back from washing her hand and when she saw Emiko at the table, her expression darkened. “Who allowed you to sit here? You are a servant, you have no right to dine with the masters! Get into the kitchen! Know y
As anger took over, Agnes’ twisted features made her look ferocious. Darcy knew the situation had gone out of hand. She quickly stepped in, standing between her husband and mother. “Mom, Emiko worked hard and she’s only getting minimum wage. She even prepared a feast for us from her own pocket. “Yet you slapped her, and shoved her away? Where is your conscience? Kaze did what he had to do, and he’s right!” “Get out of my way!” Anger consumed Agnes. She could no longer be reasoned with. She shoved her daughter away and shouted at Kaze, “You little bastard! You slapped me! I’ll get you!” She charged at Kaze like a mad woman, raising her hand for a slap. However, before she could land her slap, Kaze caught her wrist and held her down like a clamp. Slap! Kaze slapped her again, forcing her to stagger backward. “Agnes, you have always been unreasonable. I have endured your nonsense for Darcy’s sake. I want to believe you’ve been causing a scene for her own good. “Now,
Kaze slammed the documents in Agnes’ face. “Don’t try to fool me with some stupid paper!” Agnes scoffed without batting an eye at the deed. Darcy bent over to pick them up for a glance. Then, she looked at Kaze in shock. “T-This villa was given to you by… by Kent Synder?!” “Darcy, don’t get fooled by this shithead!” Agnes scoffed, “He’s a live-in son-in-law, a good-for-nothing bastard, who would give him this villa? This is fake! He must have forged it to fool you!” “Mom, Kent Synder is the mayor of Riverbank. Who has the nerve to impersonate the mayor?” Darcy explained with furrowed brows and disbelief. “What?!” Agnes was stunned. “Kaze, why would the mayor give you this villa?” Darcy asked. She knew her husband was a worker of miracles but it still surprised her from time to time. She could not believe that the mayor of Riverbank, whose authority rivaled the deputy governor, would give Kaze a villa. Kaze said, “On the way to Riverbank, I saved the mayor’s life
Seeing no hint of change in Kaze’s expression, Agnes screamed frustratedly and finally decided to give in. “Fine! Fine! I’ll apologize!” Agnes went up to Emiko and feebly said, “Emiko, I was wrong to slap you. I apologize. I’m sorry.” After two slaps on the face, Agnes finally humbled herself and apologized. The lesson made her more obedient for the night. Though she still spoke sarcastically whenever triggered, at least she dared not scold Kaze in the face anymore or give Emiko a hard time. Kaze had the most relaxing sleep in recent times that night. The next day, he woke up to an alluring breakfast, prepared by Emiko. As he took his first bite, his phone rang. He answered it and lifted the phone to his ear. A woman’s frosty voice said, “Kaze Lee, Mrs. Heartano wanted me to inform you that the market is opening soon. When are you going to kneel in front of St. Mary Hospital?” The woman was the hospital director, Keiko Biyanus. It seemed like after a night, the
“You better not do it.” With that said, Kaze walked out of the door. Crank! Agnes smashed the bowl on the floor and strode to the living room. She threw herself on the couch and cried for Hector, voicing her complaints. “That bastard! How dare he disrespect me!? He’s just a live-in son-in-law! This must end! “Hector! If you don’t tell your daughter to divorce that piece of shit, I’ll die in front of you…” Kaze had no idea Agnes had decided to force Darcy to divorce him. Half an hour later, he arrived at St. Mary Hospital. As expected, he saw a crowd at the entrance but Miya and her lapdogs were nowhere to be found, let alone seeing someone kneeling. “Guess she wants to learn it the hard way,” Kaze scoffed as he entered the hospital. Suddenly, a group of women dashed out of the hospital. It was Nadia and her friends. They went up to Kaze and stopped him. Nadia crossed her arms and scoffed, “Look who we have here. Kaze Lee, you finally showed up. I thought you d
“Mrs. Heartano will slap that shitty mouth of yours off your stupid face!” Nadia and her friends were furious. If they had not experienced Kaze’s furious slaps firsthand yesterday, they would have jumped on him and slapped him already. The group of girls surrounded Kaze, scolding him in public and causing a scene. A crowd gathered and they thought Kaze cheated on all of them. “If you don’t want to get slapped again, stay out of my way!” Kaze grabbed Nadia’s arm and pushed her away. He strode into the hospital, unwilling to be treated like a spectacle. “Kaze Lee, you’re finally here.” When he entered the lobby, he bumped into Miya. She was being escorted by Keiko and the others, walking toward him arrogantly. She glanced behind Kaze and scoffed, “You’re alone? I thought you said you wanted the share price of my family’s companies to plummet. “How are you going to do it without anyone to help you? With that mouth of yours, speaking mindless words? Was it not just for
“You keep this up, clown!” “I have never seen such a fool in my life!” Nadia and the others continued to mock Kaze. Miya looked at Kaze and shook her head helplessly. Then, she raised her hand at one of her men, and said without looking back, “Let people know that from now on, I, Miya Heartano, will go after Kaze Lee and his family. “All factions in Riverbank can start to make a move now. Anyone, anything, or any companies that are related to Kaze Lee can be targeted and they can come to me for a reward after they purged those filthy bastards! “Kaze Lee, you’re pretentious. Now I shall show you what true despair is…” She was fierce when she spoke, her eyes overflowing with murderous intent. One of her men nodded and went to make the necessary calls. However, before the man could make the first call, he received one. He answered it and a few seconds later, his expression changed. “Madam! This is bad!” Miya was drinking the coffee her other man had brought her and s
A while later, almost every one of Miya’s men received a phone call. “Madam! This just came in! The men we sent to Ridgesouth were arrested by the police, suspected of smuggling.” “The livestream account you’ve been on is now banned. They claimed that you are doing false advertising and spreading false information, tax evasion…” “A few artists under one of our labels got their contracts terminated by companies in the mainland…” …The calls were ceaseless and sounded like a symphony of distress and bad news. All the calls reported something bad happening to Heartanos’ family business. Miya’s expression shifted multiple times. She was skeptical at first, simply assuming it was just a coincidence. As more and more calls came in, she almost lost her balance. Many of the reports were trivial matters and usually, Miya would not even bat an eye at them. The people in charge of the respective subsidiary companies would deal with them. Yet when all of them happened at onc
Snow had already sent men to where the plane was found. If the passengers were taken away, then they must still be nearby. It was difficult to transport an entire plane of passengers to some place far within such a short time. It was a race against time. Snow did not know who would do such a thing. Kaze took a common flight like everyone else, yet it was hijacked. It was strange. The coincidence was uncanny. Snow believed the hijacking happened because of Kaze but she did not know why. “The only explanation is that there’s a traitor among us…” She finally came to an unlikely conclusion after combing through the details. If there were a traitor, it must be within the Viper’s Den. Kaze had laid a low profile for as long as he was in Butterworth. Not many people knew about his identity and those who wanted to make connections with him were because of Snow. It was unlikely that someone would go after him so suddenly unless this person knew his identity and background.
If they were sent to capture Kaze, then they were severely under-numbered. In addition, they allowed Kaze to be alone with the captives, which proved that they were inexperienced. Or maybe they did not know what he had done in the past as the God of War. Kaze believed that the mercenaries were after him but they did not know his true identity. There must have been some miscommunication between them and their employer, which was good news to Kaze. Tiguan and his men were eating. Since they were unable to identify the target, they were forced to bring everyone back. The plane was huge. It would be an easy target for the law enforcement to locate them. Maybe the outside world had caught wind of the hijacking. “Boss, what should we do now? That man seems like he vanished into thin air.” “We got his boarding information but we can’t identify him on the plane.” “Who are we looking for exactly? Why is he so mysterious?” The men were baffled. “We are looking for the righ
“We are almost there. We have to transfer these people as soon as possible. The plane must take off right away. We cannot leave any traces behind.” They must hurry or they would be caught very soon. They held the pilot hostage and forced him to do an abrupt landing. The sudden descent caught everyone off guard, shocking them. A few of the passengers even hit their heads. Many of them did not get the chance to fasten their seat belts. Kaze grabbed Barney and protected his head from hitting the front seat. “Thank you.” Barney looked at Kaze with gratitude and then looked outside. “Where are we? Have we reached?” He was worried that they would be completely trapped. “They are going to transfer us elsewhere.” Kaze had a similar experience before and he knew what the hijackers would do next. “Transfer us? Are they going to transfer us to somewhere secluded and kill us all?” Barney looked horrified as he stared at Kaze. He somehow felt safe beside Kaze. “They sai
With trains, there was still an option to jump out. However, everybody was sitting ducks in a plane. Kaze had always been sensitive when it came to safety. He had a sinking feeling in his gut as if something was about to happen. He turned his head back to observe the plane’s interior. Several passengers stood up in the business class section. Strangely, these people were seated separately. However, they seemed to know each other. They exchanged glances as if searching for something. Finding the whole thing bizarre, Kaze observed them. Those passengers went straight into the air stewardesses’ compartment and disappeared out of Kaze’s sight. Kaze could not shake off the eerie feeling. Something was off. He looked back, and several more rose to their feet. These individuals were young but toned. They likely underwent some form of specialized training. Kaze had a bad feeling. Trouble was brewing, and the plane was likely being hijacked. “Why are you looking around? Is
“I see. What bad timing.” Katie was a little disappointed to learn that Kaze had left, but in a way, she was relieved. She had gotten on Kaze’s nerves, and he could turn around and make things difficult for her. Now that Kaze was gone, Katie got to keep her job. She did not have to fear Kaze’s retaliation. The news caught Leah off guard. “Why did he leave without saying goodbye? I didn’t even thank him yet.” Leah had a hard time digesting the news. She had been waiting for a chance to show her gratitude to Kaze and see him again. He was out of her life before she could do anything about it. “I’m sorry. Chairman Lee’s departure was unplanned.” Snow put on a professional smile, appearing friendly and distant. “Please present the gifts to him for us if you can. We are grateful for Mr. Lee’s help.” Katie was annoyed that Leah could not spend time with Kaze. The bond could help with her career. Kaze’s departure cost Katie an opportunity, but there was no point in dwel
“Now that’s the spirit. You can’t take every matter into your own hands. You’re a leader now. You should put the right people in the right jobs.” Feeling relieved, May nodded. “Where’s the guy? I have been wanting to meet him. I missed the chance when I was unconscious.” May came over right away just to score a chance to see Kaze. Kaze saved her life, but she did not have the chance to thank him in person. “I set the date. We’re seeing him tomorrow afternoon. Let’s freshen up. I’m taking you home to rest.” With a time in place, Snow had to get ready. May nodded. The pair returned to the mansion where they felt at home. Even though it had been a while since their return, nothing had changed. “Did Jet say anything when he stepped down?” May was clueless on the specifics. “He went mad and ran out. I get this uneasy feeling, but I can’t locate him anywhere.” Snow was concerned. Jet, as witty as he was, likely played up his meltdown. It was a shame that Jet got aw
“I have pointed you in a direction. If you still can’t trust your team, you can go to the Viper’s Den.“There’s one thing, though. Don’t rely too heavily on the Viper’s Den, or your company will be left without secrets.” Kaze’s suggestion gave Snow assurance. She considered tapping into the Viper’s Den’s resources. However, Kaze warned her against excessive dependence. “Why did you say that, Chairman Lee? Will the Viper’s Den stab me in the back?” Surely, the Viper’s Den took orders from Kaze. The Viper’s Den would always be an ally so long as Kaze was the branch leader. “I just don’t want you to put too much faith in others. You find loyalty by developing your own team. Those who revere me will never trust you completely.” Kaze analyzed the situation. Snow ate her supper and looked at Kaze in confusion. “You can only count on the people you win over. You can’t trust anyone else, and that includes me.” Kaze would never hurt Snow. However, he hoped that she would fin
“As you said, all is in the past. What’s the point of dwelling on it?” Leah perked up. Such was life, but it took her too long to understand the harsh reality. She guessed things were just not meant to be. “I’ll think about what to get Kaze. Rest well. We’ll visit him in a few days.” Taking the matter seriously, Katie wanted to get gifts ready ahead of time to thank Kaze. “Alright. I’ll see what I can do too. I want to be in touch with the outside world. I don’t care what they have to say. This is not my fault. I won’t blame myself.” Leah wanted her phone back to contact her former friends. Ultimately, she needed to move forward instead of backward. She had to face and fight back the rumors with courage. It was the crucial step to kick trauma in the face. The abduction was kept hush-hush for the most part, but Katie’s frantic search for her daughter at the cocktail party did not go unnoticed. Hearing about the incident, the influential people were keen to find out
“When did Kaze start setting it all up? I get the feeling that everybody played into his hands right from the start, and he had controlled every step of the way.” Leah realized that Kaze was an amazing man. Nothing could go past his eyes. “I don’t know.” Katie feared someone like Kaze. She would not be caught dead near him. Even when grasping the situation, Katie dared not look into Kaze for fear she would be targeted. Katie was careful not to show her face around Kaze. For all she knew, Kaze might get back at her. “But he came to Butterworth alone. We met at the train station, and he helped me out of a bad situation.” Leah felt warm and cozy inside just remembering the events. They did not know each other then. Kaze was kind to help a stranger out. From then on, Kaze could do no wrong in Leah’s eyes. Leah befriended him and found him nice. Her interest in him grew. They also got along well. Her memories of Kaze were sweet. Anyone could hurt her in the world, but