Welson did not even try to hide his favoritism. Zach’s blood ran cold. “Chief Yaphet, Kaze committed an assault in public. He nearly beat Duncan to death. “If Mr. Techman finds out that his son—” “So what if Everett finds out?” Welson interrupted Zach once more and said curtly, “Do you know that Kaze is a VIP to Mayor Synder’s family? He has saved Mayor Synder and his daughter’s lives. “Do you know that Kaze captured Bengali and Caspian from the Steelclaw Guild? We, the city’s police department, should thank him. “Do you know that Mayor Synder and the Tiger’s Cave and the Flying Dragon’s team bailed Kaze out when the Tiger’s Cave members came to arrest him? “Everett means squat!” “What?” Zach’s mind went blank. Kaze was Kent’s lifesaver. He captured two of the Steelclaw Guild’s Eight Tigers. The Flying Dragon’s team even went head-to-head with the Tiger’s Cave, one of the four special institutions, to defend Kaze. Each of these incidents should have served as
Kaze took the phone and smiled pretentiously. “Do you have the full story now?” “I do.” Zach nodded heavily. “Duncan started it. You tried to stop Duncan and accidentally hurt him while trying to defend Dr. Wright.” He was a real piece of work. Zach managed to twist the story right there and then. “Fuck you, Zach!” Furious, Duncan yelled, “You’re lying through your teeth! Lee assaulted me, and I was defenseless against him.” Despite the will to fight back, Duncan never stood a chance. He was livid. Duncan had always been the one to pay Zach off and twist the facts in his favor. Yet, the joke was on Duncan today. Zach had a change of attitude after taking a phone call. It was bad enough that Zach was no longer on Duncan’s side, but Zach even turned the tables on him. Duncan could not wrap his head around it. “Since you are clear on the matter, you can leave now.” Kaze waved his arm and pointed at Simona, who was still running her mouth on the ground. “Oh, a
“Smack!”“Shut up!” Zach silenced Simona with a slap and waved at his subordinates. “Take this idiot away. We’re leaving now.” The Trade and Industry Department and the police were in and out of the place in no time. As they left with their tails tucked between their legs, the crowd at Herbal Spring could not believe their eyes. They were curious about the individual who Kaze had called. Zach ditched Duncan at the risk of upsetting the Techmans. The crowd found it unbelievable that Zach would get on the nerves of the rich and powerful. Another ten minutes passed. The wooden door to Herbal Spring burst open with a kick. “Here I come, Duncan.“The nerve of the guy to pick on you on my turf. That’s disrespecting me.“I’m going to make him pay, whoever he is. I’m here for you, Duncan!” A deep, menacing voice boomed as a group of thugs kicked open the wooden door and strutted into the room.A bald man with buckteeth walked ahead. He was Buck Bob, the Aries undergr
“K-Kaze, I-I can explain! “I-I didn’t know it was you. I owe Duncan’s father one, so I answered his call. I have not betrayed Miru!“I didn’t think it was you! “Otherwise, I’d never show my face to you.” Bob kneeled at Kaze’s feet and explained in tears. He went to the Otters’ together with Miya. As a result, Kaze made a phone call, and Miru seized control of Bob’s territory.Since then, Bob, a big man in Aries, was forced to do Miru’s bidding. That was not the reason why Bob was afraid of Kaze. Bob was terrified to learn from working for Miru that Kaze seized Bronze Sparrow and killed Casius’ confidante, Zoro. Rumors had it that Kaze, implicated in the death of Joel, Jude’s fighter, was ordered to go on a suicide mission at Bronze Sparrow. Miru attacked Bronze Sparrow with Sven and Wolf, and Kaze was lucky to be alive thanks to Miru. This was far from the truth. Miru should be the one to thank Kaze for her success. This was the reason why Bob feared Kaze. K
“Kaze, I…” Bob hesitated. Duncan was Everett’s son. Everett was one of the big four gangster bosses in Riverbank’s underworld. He and Everett were not in the same league, so he did not want to mess with the man in any way. “Huh?” Kaze’s eyes turned sharp. He curled his lips into a smirk and said, “Bob, you are already Miru’s man. Do you still want to play two sides?” He might be smirking but his tone was freezing cold, so cold that it sent chills down Bob’s spine. The man before Bob was the man who thrashed Bronze Sparrow and killed Zoro! Bob shuddered in fear and quickly said, “It’s not like that, Kaze! I am just thinking about how to break his arm! I got it now!” Without further ado, he shouted at his man, “Bring me a chair!” Kaze continued smirking. A gangster could never be the same as a veteran officer in the police system, like Zach. He said, “Let him make the call first.” “Alright!” Bob nodded. He then grabbed the chair that his man brought him. “Bob!
At this point, Bob knew there was no turning back. Looking at Duncan’s miserable state, the others at the scene were also horrified. The son of one of the big four gangster bosses in Riverbank was tortured and beaten up like a ragdoll. No one would believe it if not seeing it with their own eyes. Kaze was ruthless. One call for one arm. He kept his words. He was the embodiment of ruthlessness. Compared to Kaze, Duncan’s ferocity and loud words felt like a child throwing a tantrum. “How long before Everett Techman is here?” Kaze asked Bob without looking at him. A quick thought later, Bob said, “I heard Everett has been training at Mt. Seven Stars for years now. I think it will take him at least half an hour to reach here.” “Then I’ll wait for him here.” Kaze then turned to Sasha. “Go change your clothes. I’ll perform the acupuncture treatment for you today. “Also, Dr. Wright, please guide me through the process. I’m not skilled in this after all.” He took up t
Phew! Kaze put the needles away and then buttoned Sasha’s gown. He then said, “Sasha, lie down and rest for a while. You can change later.” “Alright. Thank you so much, Kaze.” Sasha nodded obediently, turning her face slightly to the side to express her gratitude. It pained her to see the paleness on Kaze’s face. Kaze was undeniably powerful, yet even he appeared pale and drenched in sweat after performing just one session of the Ghastly Thirteen Needles. One could only imagine how exhausting it must have been for June after performing the treatment on Sasha for three days straight. Like Kaze, June had been practicing traditional martial arts since her youth, which gave her stronger internal energy and the endurance to continue for three days straight. “Kaze, are you alright?” Sasha’s eyes teared up. She felt bad looking at the exhausted Kaze. “It’s all my fault that you have to go through this.” “You just get some rest. I’ll be better after a quick rest.” Kaze patt
“Who did it?” Everett asked without looking at the employees, his brows furrowed. He was able to contain his emotions, showing no expression on his face. Even his tone was calm and lacked emotions. Kaze heard his question and it raised his brows. Even he had to admit that the so-called one of the big four gangster bosses must have trained himself well to achieve such a level of composure and steadiness. “Bang!” An employee of Herbal Spring was tossed into the lobby from outside. His face was bruised and swollen, supposedly from a beating. The employee was tossed inside by a middle-aged man, who obviously worked for Everett. He approached Everett and bowed respectfully. “Boss, we've got the details. When Duncan called you, his arm was broken by a guy named Bob, another gangster from the Aries District. The one who ordered him to do it is Kaze Lee, a young man whose background we’re still investigating.” The guy’s name was Rodney, Everett’s right-hand man. He continued, “
“I understand.” Aloysius stayed after receiving his order. “What else?” Aloysius’ presence suggested that there was something important to discuss, but judging by his hesitant expression, it was nothing but trouble. “We lost a few more projects again. These projects are supposed to be backups for us to make a comeback later but they were acquired by someone else.” Aloysius stepped back after giving his report, lowered his head, and waited for Jet’s wrath to befall him. “Hmmm. It’s not your fault.” Jet initially wanted to lash out at Aloysius but after a quick thought, he quietly put down his glass. He knew it was not Aloysius' fault. It was his problem to have unknowingly offended someone powerful, thus resulting in all the malice against him. “I told you to make an appointment with Master Cold. Did you get it?” Jet wanted to meet Master Cold during the birthday party but it did not happen. His father was old friends with Master Cold and they had been business par
Leah would never let her mother know about her suspicion of Kaze’s identity. The thoughts gave her a headache. She took a deep breath and submerged herself in the bathtub. While holding her breath underwater, she lay flat and relaxed in silence, enjoying her alone time. Just as she was about to lose her breath, she rose from the water and gasped violently, washing away the cloudy thoughts in her mind. After Leah’s party was ruined, she was grounded by her mother. Katie was a woman of her word. Since the birthday party was over, Leah was not needed for any other social events. Katie became the laughingstock because of what happened and she still felt embarrassed about it. However, due to her status, no matter what people thought of her, no one dared to make it verbal or mention it in front of her. The birthday party might be ruined but it did not cause too much trouble. Katie managed to shut down a certain news channel from spreading the incident, preventing it from
Leah was still too naive. She knew her mother but not thoroughly enough. Katie regretted not helping her daughter but it was already in the past and her self-blaming for not being a good mother would not help her future. Therefore, she habitually shifted the blame onto someone else. Perry was the one who caused it and it was all because her daughter did not handle her relationship properly. “Perry is hospitalized now. Let’s just put an end to this. We shouldn’t go to them; that’s just asking for more trouble. We’ll wait and see how the Duncan family reacts.” Katie knew she had the power to do certain things but once she did, it would affect her status. She really wanted to do her daughter justice but as the CEO of Northborn Group, there was too much at stake and she could not be driven by emotions. “I never expected you to avenge me,” Leah said coldly. She already expected her mother not to do anything, but when she heard it from her mother’s mouth, disappointment consume
“I told you before but you didn’t take me seriously.” Leah was exhausted by her mother’s negligence. No matter how much she tried to explain, her mother refused to listen to her. To her mother, she was nothing but an ignorant little girl. She did not see the need to explain herself anymore. “How dare you talk back? Was I wrong about what I said? Had you talked to him properly, how could the breakup be so bad? “Besides, it was Perry who made a mistake first. You can use it as a reason to break up with him. You failed to do it and it resulted in this mess. Now the entire Butterworth is laughing at us! I’m embarrassed in front of everyone!” She could not tolerate the embarrassment and the failure, thus her uncontrolled anger. If Leah was not her daughter, she would have kicked the girl out. Leah was deeply aggrieved but no longer wanted to speak. She stood quietly and listened to her mother’s scolding. Her dress already made her uncomfortable physically and after a ful
The other girls were displeased but since the news was useful to them, they held back their tongue. “Pay more attention to the latest news. If you pick a man with a huge debt, you are basically marrying a poor man.” “Yeah. Molly is right.” “You guys are just gossiping. I think Leah’s incident is quite interesting. Someone must be helping her in the shadows.” “Just you guys wait. There’s more to come.” Molly chuckled mysteriously as she picked up her cup of coffee for a sip. The so-called gathering was a meeting for the young ladies to exchange information. Since the mansion's residential area was vast, even after being dropped off at the entrance, Leah still had to walk for an hour to reach her house. Kaze thought it was a few minutes’ walk but it turned out much longer than expected. Leah was not that stupid to walk home in heels. She sat down beside the security check and waited for her driver to pick her up. When the car arrived, she got in without saying anythin
People who knew about the incident took it as a show, wondering what would happen to Perry. Later, they found out that Perry was admitted to the hospital the same day. One of his arms was broken. Most of the families in Butterworth had highly sophisticated intelligence networks, keeping them up to date on the latest happenings in the city. A few socialites—young ladies who had attended the party and witnessed everything firsthand—gathered for tea and discussed it. “Perry was destroyed by Katie Loren!” “I didn’t know what happened but when I left, Perry was like an asshole, shouting and being arrogant. He and his men thrashed the place. We got so afraid that we quickly ran.” Yelena was one of the girls who had attended the party. Her tone clearly carried a hint of gloating over what had happened. Leah had been the center of attention lately because of her birthday party. Almost every family in Butterworth was invited because Katie wanted to elevate her daughter's status,
Leah was grateful for Kaze bringing her to the restaurant to have a simple birthday celebration. It was something she had never experienced before. She liked the serenity and tranquility of such life. Yet no matter how much she enjoyed it, everything would come to an end. When she finished her meal, she would have to go back. She knew her mother would question her about what happened today once she reached home. “Let me send you back.” Kaze picked up his jacket as he offered to send Leah back. Leah nodded and followed him out. When they came out from the alley which was the entrance to the restaurant, they saw the black Maybach at the side of the road. Peter came down immediately and opened the door. Leah reluctantly went over, seemingly unwilling to go in. “What’s wrong? Is there something else?” Kaze asked warmly, wondering what happened to the girl. “Will I get punished and scolded if I go back just like this?” The girl was scared to go back due to the impuls
“Silly girl, there’s no need for teary eyes. It’s just a cake. If you like it, I can bake for you and have them delivered to you every day,” Kaze said. He found it amusing that the girl was moved. “You don’t know, but it’s okay. Thank you.” Leah happily took the cake. Kaze put a candle on it and lit it. “Make a wish, Princess,” Kaze teased as he spoke, but he truly wanted the girl to be happy. “Thank you. I never thought I would spend my birthday here. There are no fancy stages and everything, but I like it.” Leah always preferred a simple and quiet birthday. Having dinner with her family and blowing out candles on a birthday cake were a luxury to her before this. To be honest, she did not want to spend too much time thinking about her birthday but what happened caught her off guard. “Make a wish,” Kaze added softly. Leah put her hands together, made a wish and blew the candle. She did not know if her wish would come true, so she did not want to say it out loud. “
“It’s okay. I have time.” Leah did not want to go back and knew what her mother would say to her, so she wanted to stay out for as long as possible. “Alright. Then I’ll get on with it.” Master Fuller then started to prepare the ingredients. His hands were moving non-stop. Kaze enjoyed his beer and appetizer quietly. The entire room was quiet except for the cooking noises. Leah watched Master Fuller cook. She enjoyed it as if she was watching a show with a charming performer. Master Fuller was just cooking but the girl was deeply captivated. When the dish was prepared and placed in front of her, she anticipated the taste even more, wondering if it was better than she had expected. “This looks great. I had never seen a dish being prepared in such a complicated way.” Leah watched from cleaning the ingredients to cutting it, blanching it, and then frying it. The process was so complicated that she could barely keep up. Due to that, she believed the dish would match he