“Please watch your manners, Naix. We are in a meeting, not some private get-together.“You are free to leave if you don’t want to be here. I won’t stop you even if you want to resign from the company.” Buffy had anticipated the confrontation before assuming her position at Gwake Corporation. She knew that she needed to show aggression in such situations. It was important not to yield to Naix’s intimidation. Otherwise, she would suffer a humiliating defeat on her first day as the president. It would be extremely difficult for her to consolidate her power and carry out her plans for the business. “Are you telling me to pack my things, Buffy?” With a smirk, Naix rose to his feet and leaned forward against the table before puffing a cloud of smoke at Buffy. “Do you think I just sit around and do nothing in this place? “What’s wrong with a bit of socializing and networking? “I negotiated a deal with St. Mary’s over drinks just a few days ago, securing the procurement righ
Naix said with a wry smile, “As things have turned out this way, I’m afraid the deal with St. Mary’s can’t go through. “We’ve been generating buzz about our upcoming partnership with St. Mary’s, and many other private hospitals have expressed interest in working with us.“Since the partnership with St. Mary’s is off the table, I guess any other potential partnerships will fall through as well. “Most importantly, the damage to our reputation from this false information will be severe. It’s a huge loss that money can’t buy.”Many senior executives looked visibly upset. Naix had promised them riches a moment ago, and now their hopes were dashed. The disappointment was too much to bear. “Are you firing Mr. Krad, who has contributed a lot to the company, on your first day on the job, Ms. Gwake?” “You have gone too far. Even if you’re the chairman’s daughter, you can’t just do whatever you want and disregard everybody else’s interests.” “You don’t own Gwake Corporation. You c
When Faith was the president of Gwake Corporation, she was not very hands-on. However, she leveraged the Krads’ connections to befriend the Geranium Heartanos. Hence, Faith assigned her nephew, Naix, to be the liaison with the Geranium Heartanos while restricting others within the company from contacting them. Faith and Naix wanted to keep the connection to the Heartanos to themselves. Naix claimed that a deal had been reached with St. Mary’s. As such, he could make the deal go away too. If that were to happen, Gwake Corporation would face its initial investment and risk losing its reputation. Naix got one thing right. Money could not buy back a reputation once lost. He even twisted Buffy’s words, saying that she wanted to fire him. Buffy would bear the brunt if Gwake Corporation were to lose its partnership with St. Mary’s. She might even be forced to resign on her very first day as the president because of this deal. Kaze suspected that Jude might have set Buffy up
“Is the deal with St. Mary’s enough to show your true colors? “You can’t even do anything right. I can’t believe you’d shift the blame onto the new president.“And you call yourselves veterans and senior executives. Anyone on the street can do your job better than you.“You’re all losers.” Kaze’s outburst took everybody by surprise, especially since he had been holding his tongue.The crowd was caught off guard. Even Buffy did not see it coming. She did not think Kaze would be so blunt as to point fingers at the senior executives.“Bastard!” Enraged, Naix slammed the table and stood up. He leaned forward intimidatingly and shouted furiously, “Who do you think you are? You have no right to speak here.“You are a newbie. You don’t know anything. How dare you raise your voice. “You better get out of here at the count of three. “One…” Kaze cut Naix off with a slap. “Smack!” Naix took the hit. Despite his large build, Naix was knocked off his chair and landed on the
Naix drew distance from Kaze, moving away from him, and then covered his face, shouting, “You little bastard! What the hell is this? “If not because of you and Buffy, St. Mary’s would not have stopped collaborating with Gwake Corporation! “You shifted the responsibility and you hit me? Do you have a death wish?!” His teeth gritted, staring at Kaze with a vicious gaze. Ever since he joined Gwake Corporation, thanks to his relationship with Faith, he had been acting like a tyrant, disregarding others and forcing everyone to obey him. Yet Kaze slapped him multiple times in front of all the senior executives, turning his face into a swollen apple. It was a humiliation that he could not accept! “Because of us?” Kaze smirked and said, “Today is our first day here. We haven’t done anything and you’re telling me that we screwed up the deal with St. Mary’s and there’s no coming back from that? “Naix Krad, was it? You said you’re the most qualified to be promoted to the executi
Kaze spoke coldly, showing no respect to the senior executives. All the executives at the table reacted bitterly to his words, their expressions darkened. New boss, new way. They understood that Kaze and Buffy wanted to suppress Naix’s arrogance but it was surprising to them that Kaze directed the flame to them, burning them all together. The company could continue to operate without them? If they left, Kaze could easily get a new batch of replacements? What lies were those?! All the executives were offended by Kaze’s words, their teeth gritted as they stared at him. “Hmph! Anyone can talk big. I’d like to see what happens to the company if you fire all of us. I dare you!” An executive who sided with Naix argued. He was provoking Kaze, trying to give him a hard time. Kaze was unfazed, he did not even say a word. Soon after, the secretary of the president’s office brought in a mountain of termination letters. “Slam!” Kaze slammed the termination letters on the
Before Naix could even think of a response, Kaze tossed another termination letter in his face. He said righteously, “St. Mary’s is just a hospital. “If you can’t even get their distribution rights, then that makes you useless. Am I wrong? It’s not a big deal and you need Buffy and I to deal with this? “I can say that anyone else in this room can make the deal happen and those who cannot are useless trash. “If those who cannot make it and then find excuses to shift the blame, that’s a piece of useless shit! “If you can’t even handle that much, why is the company paying you a shitload of money each year? It yields a better return if we have ten pigs here!” Kaze sounded more arrogant than Naix earlier and he showed no respect to the other executives in the room. He did not care how others looked at him at all either. He continued, “If anyone doesn’t like how I do things, thinking that I am being rude and tough, then you may leave. I have no problem with that. “If anyone t
Buffy found Naix’s righteous words amusing. He failed to sow discord among the senior executives, so he went after her and Kaze. Just when Buffy wanted to speak up to defend Kaze, to her surprise, Kaze slammed on the table. “Unfilial? Coming from you?” Kaze said coldly. “You think we don’t know when Faith is away as president and you abdicate the vice president, getting hold of the entire company’s operation? “Tell me, which department haven’t you poked your nose into? You’re not trying to do things yourself because you want to do things right or improve the company. You’re doing it because you’re trying to embezzle money and line your own pockets! “You squeeze every penny you can from each deal and if there’s one you can’t profit from, you’d rather ruin it. “Whenever an executive achieved good results or sealed a major deal, earning promotions or rewards, they had to go through you first, bribing you with money and women, before they could approach Faith for the real rew
Reiko spoke those words with a smile on her face, yet her expression remained frosty. Even when she opened her mouth, her teeth glared coldly. Aiden said, “The Krad family doesn’t care, and neither do they want to care, what the Refined Blade Clan wants to do. I came to Riverbank just to deal with Kaze Lee. “How dare a live-in son-in-law lay his hands on the woman my brother fancies? He’s already dead! Even though Snow and my brother are not yet married, for the sake of my family, he must die! Only then can the true strength of the Krad family be demonstrated.” His tone was calm but the murderous intent was obvious. To the Krad family, killing Kaze was like squashing an ant. Reiko smiled and nodded. Her hand moved upward, subtly unbuttoned Aiden’s shirt, and then reached into his shirt to stroke his chest. “Your goal is aligned with ours. There’s a saying in your country that we should always pick on the weakest. We also have to crush Kaze Lee first, so we can flush out his
“That’s right.” Reiko nodded and added, “More precisely, we are after the ones behind Kaze Lee, like Hannah Delmore, the chief of the Viper’s Den South River Branch, and Kent Synder, the mayor of Riverbank. “We tried helping Casius to get control of the South River Branch and then slowly infiltrate the West State Viper’s Den.” Her words put a frosty smirk on Aiden but it faded quickly. Reiko did not notice the unusual expression. She continued, “Too bad our actions fell short. We’ve been planning for so long and spent countless efforts, but Hannah recovered even after she was completely stripped of her powers. She made a comeback and became stronger than before. “Yesterday, Casius was decapitated and Jude Gwake, the deputy chief of the South River Branch, was defeated. We lost big time…” “Wait!” Aiden interrupted her and asked, “Casius really died at Kaze Lee’s hands? If that’s true, then this guy is more than meets the eye. The so-called Riverbank Seven is a joke to the
The killers from Hell might not be the strongest but they could easily overwhelm the target with numbers. Not all organizations had the power to withstand their relentless attacks. It was also the reason that the Frost family lived in fear once they found out Midas King was after them. The fact that the Frost family members were not frightened by the news was a testament to their strong mental fortitude. Snow nodded and said coldly, “That’s why the Frost family hired the Krads and sent Aiden…” …In the car tailing Kaze and Snow sat Aiden, dressed in a white suit. He leaned back with legs crossed and a cigar smoldering between his fingers. He expressionlessly stared at the car in front, his gaze icy. Beside him was a woman in a traditional Ryokanian outfit. Her black traditional outfit had golden linings around the edges and an open chest design, showing off her large bosoms wrapped in bandages and her shoulder with a tattoo in red and green. The woman’s hair was tied i
The Frost family wanted to unite with the Krads by marrying Snow to Aaron. Therefore, when Kaze mentioned the Krad family, Snow turned to him and asked softly, “Mr. Chairman, did you know which organization of assassins was after the Frost family?” “Which one?” Kaze had no idea. When May visited Lilyrose, he overheard a mention of the Frost family’s enemies returning for revenge, with the leader being Midas King. Snow said, “The organization has many names. At first, they were known as Hellsearch, but people eventually just called them Hell. “I heard they don’t take normal payments to take lives. It’s either gold bars or a debt.” Kaze narrowed his eyes and said, “So once they had their eyes on a target, they would do whatever it takes and send them to hell?” There were meanings behind their name. The first would be that the killers of Hellsearch were difficult to find, or in a more direct iteration, as hard as hell to search. Secondly, once Hell received an assignment
Draig’s expression might have darkened but he was able to hold his emotions back. He knew Snow was trying to make him mad. As for Kaze, if even Cyan had no respect for him, he believed Snow would never lower herself to such standards. Draig was confident that he could move Snow with his actions and eventually, he could get under her pants. “What’s the matter with Draig?” Kaze asked Snow after they got into the car. Snow lifted her chin slightly and said, “We were at St. Mary Hospital for a while back then. This guy wanted to protect me 24/7, and on the first day, he tried to hold my hands and said it was love at first sight. “The second day, he tried to get into my room. After I scolded him, he said he grew up in Uleania and people there are open-minded. “I kicked him out, but then he got to Cyan and used her to bring me here. He’s just a shameless guy. I hate people like him.” After going through thick and thin with Kaze, Snow started to show her more vulnerable and fe
Kaze’s frivolous tone left Jude speechless, his eyelids even twitched helplessly. He did not argue and simply nodded without hesitation. “I will transfer my remaining shares to Buffy.” He knew Kaze was not trying to negotiate with him. If it was a suggestion from Kaze, then there would be no space for resistance or negotiations. Kaze nodded and hummed a reply. He did not show any mercy to Jude, the old fox. Jude was on the weaker side at the moment and he was doing everything he could to earn favors. Therefore, Kaze wanted to use the chance to secure some benefits for Buffy. Otherwise, once he was no longer in “power”, Jude would turn on him faster than a bolt of lightning. Kaze continued eating and lecturing Jude and Alfonso. The two old men nodded repeatedly and were as obedient as loyal dogs. After the meal, Kaze rejected Juan’s offer to relax at a hot spring and then went back to Cyan’s gathering. “Oh, Kaze! You’re back. You haven’t eaten anything right?”
Kaze had a wonderful meal at Emerald Bull Palace. The dishes prepared by the chef were amazing. “Branch Leader, with this cup of tea, I propose a toast.” Jude got up with a cup of tea in his hand and proposed a toast. Kaze did not drink alcohol, so the others dared not consume it either. He picked up the cup for a sip and then continued eating while waiting for Jude to speak his true intention. He knew Jude had something in his mind. Jude then bowed and said, “Branch Leader, Alfonso and I are here today at Emerald Bull Palace to discuss how we should apologize to you. “As for other ulterior motives, after yesterday, I have gotten rid of them. From today onward, I will serve you wholeheartedly. “As for Buffy, I have also apologized to her. I used my connection to transfer her mother to the best rehabilitation center in Westeros. Also, from today onward, Buffy will be the head of the Gwakes. She will have the power to decide every affair in the household. “Both my fat
“Branch Leader?!” Juan was also shocked, but he quickly regained his composure and said, “Master! Master Lee is not just my savior, he’s the benefactor of my entire lineage! He practically gave me a second life! He’s like my parents reincarnated!” He looked proud when he described Kaze as if calling a young man master was the proudest thing he could do. Little did others know, Kaze did help Juan expand The Oracle’s Codex of the 16 Cosmic Keys to 32 keys. Juan had been working on deciphering the keys for some time now. The more he studied, the more he realized his knowledge of The Oracle was ridiculous and a bunch of bullshit. Yet even with the bullshit, his lineage was extended for multiple generations. He was excited the more he learned because he knew that the new keys that he got from Kaze would only make his lineage stronger in the future. Alfonso barely reacted to Juan’s words but Jude was shocked and jealous. Something must have happened between Kaze and Juan be
As Kaze expected, Alfonso was indeed afraid of being abandoned after he served his purpose of cleansing the Butterworth Branch. He was afraid that once he completed his task, Kaze would kick him away to calm the raging agents down. If Kaze had such intention, given Alfonso’s current situation, he could not do anything but accept it. Fortunately, Kaze did not have such plans. “Fine. Let’s go to Juan.” Kaze nodded and gestured at them to lead the way. “This way, Branch Leader!” Jude and Alfonso bowed respectfully, then adopted a gesture of invitation before leading the way forward. It was then that Natalie, Cyan’s assistant, who was sent to fetch wine from the car, stepped out and saw the shocking scene, leaving her speechless. Jude and Alfonso were frightened by Draig but the two of them remained prominent figures. Yet she saw them bowing and nodding in front of Kaze, acting like they were his loyal followers. Natalie was arrogant but not stupid. Connecting the s