“You worked for the mayor as his lapdog and probably did a lot of dirty shit. Maybe you can hint at him through the phone and he will come for you,” said the officer with the glasses. It was no longer a hint if Kaze had to say it out loud. Kaze did not expect that the mastermind’s plan was also to drag the mayor into this mess. He said, “Then just you guys wait. Maybe when you guys are transferred to other substations, you can meet the mayor yourself.” “You!” Donovan and his officers were furious. If they were transferred to other stations, which were all sub-branches to the state police station, Kent would be able to reach out to them. Kaze could easily snitch on them to Kent and they would suffer. Soon enough, Donovan scoffed and said, “Hmph. Don’t think about how you are going to take revenge on us, think about how you are going to survive this.” “Cap, this guy says he wants revenge on us. Why don’t we teach him a lesson or two?” the buzz-cut officer said. The of
When Donovan and his officers came to the front lobby, they saw multiple police cruisers parked outside with the sirens glaring. Among the motorcade was a shining Audi A6. When the door opened, Donovan and his officers saw the chief of the state police station, Morgan Bale, coming out in full uniform. The lights in front of the station shed a light over his face that night, and it was not a smiley face. The chief wanted to see Donovan in person and based on the look on his face, he was not in a good mood. Donovan’s heart sank, but he steeled himself and went up to greet the chief. “Chief Bale, good evening sir! I’m Donovan Tenby. You asked to see me, sir?” Morgan walked up to Donovan with a cold grunt and said, “I heard you arrested someone called Kaze Lee earlier in the day.” “Yes—” “Yes? Where is he? Where is Mr. Lee?!” Morgan shouted. Mr. Lee? Frightened, Donovan quickly said, “H-He is in the interrogation room…” Morgan then went off without any explanation.
“Nope.” Kaze shook his head. “Phew!” Just as Donovan and his men breathed a sigh of relief, Kaze pointed at the phone belonging to the officer with the glasses on the table and said, “But you can listen to the recording inside this phone. It’s from a few minutes ago.” His words made Donovan and the other two officers nervous once more. Minutes ago? Minutes ago, the three of them were trying to teach Kaze a lesson. The officer with the glasses widened his eyes in fear. After he put the phone on the table for Kaze to make a call, hoping it would be to the mayor, he forgot to take the phone back. On the second round of questions, Kaze somehow turned on the recording function! “Oh?” Morgan glanced at Donovan and the others as he picked up the phone. He stopped the recording and played it from the top. “Kaze Lee, you have one last chance! If you can call the mayor to save you, you can walk, or else don’t blame us for being rough.” “You should know that we have coun
“Based on my understanding of the investigation, the witnesses and evidence are against you. Especially when you threatened the victim to cancel her, more than twenty people at the Yemen mansion heard you. “I know it might not mean anything and it’s not enough to cause the series of events that followed, ultimately leading to the victim’s death, but it has gained attention. More and more media caught wind of this and people are watching, including people from foreign affairs. “To be honest, we received many requests from our website to prosecute you so that the family of the deceased can be at peace.” Kaze nodded. He said, “Chief Bale, I heard you used to be an inspector, so I assumed you are a pro in this? “Then can I also assume that you are clear that it is taboo to be prejudiced during an investigation? Have you investigated under what circumstances I threatened the victim to cancel her online?” Morgan was slightly taken aback. He shook his head and said, “No.” “You guy
Kaze was forced to take Reiko seriously. The woman was smart and skilled, plus vicious. Then, a sudden thought hit Morgan and he said, “Mr. Lee, I heard from my men that earlier in the afternoon, Aiden from the Krad family came to our station and he said out loud that he was willing to use his connections and resources to bring you out, but he wanted to have dinner with Ms. Darcy Quint and Ms. Snow Frost.” His expression ashened when he explained. As the chief of the state police, it was humiliating to hear someone openly declare that they could release a detainee right in front of the station. Morgan did his homework and found out that Aiden was an enemy of Kaze. Kaze had expected this, so he simply smiled and said, “Aiden is planning to ruin me mentally.” Morgan did not understand, but he said, “And I also know that Ms. Frost rejected the offer directly. She and Ms. Quint did not go to dinner with Aiden Krad.” “Snow did the right thing.” Knowing that Snow did not lo
“Mr. Lee, this is bigger than what I can see. Can you tell me other than Aiden Krad, who else is in this?” Morgan asked softly. Kaze did not hold back and was not afraid of scaring the man. “The Ryokanians from Refined Blade Dojo.” Morgan gasped in shock. He knew the Ryokanians had tremendous power, not only in Riverbank, but all of South River State. He also knew about the vendetta between Kent, the mayor, and the Ryokanians. Now that the Ryokanians colluded with Aiden to target Kaze and even Kent, if it made the news, the whole city or even the entire state would be shaken. This clash would inevitably drag countless people into its vortex; their fates rising and falling with the victories and defeats of the opposing sides. “What’s the matter, Chief Bale? Afraid?” Kaze asked with a casual smile. He wanted to test Morgan if he was fit to be on his side. The chief of the state police department could be a great help against the Ryokanians if Kaze could get him on his sid
Kaze smiled and shook his head. “The evidence and witnesses are indeed against me, but have you thought about how the police work? Is there anything wrong with the way your officers are carrying out the investigation? Like are they looking in the right direction?” “Direction?” Morgan was slightly surprised and embarrassed. Despite making his stance, as a professional law enforcer, he found Kaze’s words to be insulting. Kaze said, “I think the investigation might have hit a dead end. All the investigations are based on me, finding out my motive, my problem, and even suspecting me committing the crimes I did not do. “My suggestion is why don’t you guys investigate Mika as well, while investigating me. Maybe you can find a clue or two about her.” He sounded calm and confident. He had the thought in his mind for a while now but he did not want to tell it to Donovan and his men. After making sure he could trust Morgan, he spoke up to give a kind reminder. “You want to make the
Donovan bit his lips, his expression clearly showed his internal struggles. Kaze did not waste time and referred to Morgan. “Chief Bale, based on the recording, I think it’s enough to relieve them of their duties.” “Of course. The wrong interrogation method is against our rules. They would not only be relieved of their duties but also be investigated. They had nothing against you but they took the risk to cross the line. I believe they must have received bribes from whoever is behind them. “Once the investigation is complete, it will be a criminal offense.” Thump! After the last word came out of Morgan’s lips, Donovan fell on his knees immediately. He spoke with a righteous voice earlier, accusing Kaze of committing an atrocious crime. Now, he became the one who would be punished and charged. “Mr. Lee, it’s Aiden! Aiden Krad! He gave us ten million and told us to make you call the mayor. He wanted to use his power to get you out of here…” Donovan then spilled everything
Snow felt bad about Kaze going to Butterworth solely to help her, so she could not just stand idly by. She wanted to help when her presence was needed. “That won’t be necessary. There’s nothing you can do here.” Kaze believed things were progressing smoothly so Snow’s presence here was not needed. In fact, if Snow came back to Butterworth, Jet would surely be alarmed, which would lead to the exposure of Kaze’s plans. Snow was slightly disappointed. She really wanted to help Kaze. Kaze headed to Butterworth because of her. She already blamed herself for not being by his side. Now that she was rejected, she felt terrible. “Chairman Lee, if not because of me, you wouldn’t be in this mess,” she said with a hint of regret and sorrow. Snow stood by the window in a brightly lit room, enjoying a moment of peace, while Kaze was running around tirelessly for her and her family. “Your priority now is to take care of your mother. When your mother has fully recovered, you can bring
“I understand.” Arthur took notes of everything Kaze said and started to plan out the arrangements in his mind. He was more than happy to see Jet suffer a great loss. Jet had always been acting like a king in Butterworth. If they could pull him down from the throne, many would be glad to see it happen. A tyrant who sat high on the throne would never care about the peasants; the peasants did not like the tyrant as well. “Don’t rush it. We have a lot of time.” Kaze was in no hurry. He believed they could take more time to prepare. Acquiring the projects from Jet’s hand was considered a step in progress as well. He took a sip of his drink and then looked at Arthur. “You look tired. I bet you haven’t been sleeping lately. Why not go get some rest? Your dark circles are heavy.” Kaze did not want Arthur to neglect his health to help him, so he gave a piece of reminder. “It’s my honor to help you, Mr. Lee. Besides, I am getting a lot for myself lately.” Arthur’s income
“I can tell he’s running out of patience. His handsome face looked a little tired recently.” Arthur had been carrying out Kaze’s orders and he occasionally met Jet. It was just that Jet never took Arthur seriously. Even if they met face to face, Jet did not have any idea who he was. Kaze chuckled at Arthur’s words. Jet never showed any respect to people below him. Kaze would never let him off easily. He took the documents on the table to have a look and found several interesting projects. Had he not interrupted Jet's businesses, once the projects started, Jet and the Frosts would earn a fortune. “This attraction is quite fun. I played it for a while the other day and it’s quite interesting,” Kaze said. “After the funding for this project got halted, their manager is at a bind. They tried to secure more funding and investment. They know this project is going to make money but time is not on their side, which caused many parties to drop off,” Arthur commented after havi
Kaze continued chewing on his watermelon while listening to Arthur’s update. “It’s interesting. Jet is like a God here. If he’s interested in any project, he gets involved and makes a fortune out of it. “Slowly, people gathered around him and started to trust him. This isn’t anything worth noting but he does resort to dirty tricks to snatch projects at times.” Arthur chuckled as he continued. The more arrogant Jet had been, the more pathetic he looked now. “He got what he deserved. I guess he’s simply unlucky.” Kaze found it amusing. It was also the outcome that he expected. He had been making moves with a clear objective in mind, not merely out of revenge against Jet. “He is. The project owners who were forced to sell their work to him at a lower price are now celebrating.” Arthur had seen a fair share of things recently and he understood why the Frosts became who they were now. He looked down at them. For a family to grow, it must take careful steps one by one,
As the CEO of the Northborn Group, Katie was extremely busy. Despite her busy schedule, she still had to take care of her daughter’s birthday party. Katie could have assigned the task to her assistant but worrying that a slight mistake might embarrass herself, she decided to take matters into her own hands. “Why is the girl so stubborn? I just slapped her in the face and she’s not answering my calls,” she said, her tone upset. She never knew her daughter could be so stubborn. She believed she did the right thing because she wanted Leah to be better, yet the girl did not appreciate her gesture and insisted on blaming her. “Leah is a smart girl, but this is too much. Regardless, she can be mad all she wants. As long as she’s still within our turf, things won’t spiral out of control.” Joey then came back with a cup of coffee and put it in front of her boss. She said softly, “If she’s a smart girl, she would know what to do and not just make you mad every time.” Katie sta
While Kaze was staying in the hotel, he kept having a feeling that he was being watched. It made him uncomfortable. His worry resulted in extra caution but he had never met anyone unfamiliar at the penthouse level. He did not want to have excessive contact with the hotel staff and tried his very best to stay away from Katie. He was not afraid of the woman but he simply did not want to get himself in trouble. The Northborn Hotel was the biggest hotel in Butterworth. It was the house of many, probably almost all, important banquets and events in its grand ballroom. Being able to host a banquet at the grand ballroom was considered a prestigious honor. Although the reservation process was tedious and the fee was exorbitant, many people still wanted to host their events or banquets at the hotel. The Northborn Hotel was also decorated lavishly, equipped with many convenient infrastructures. Other than banquets and events, companies would also rent the place for business meeti
Aloysius came to have lunch and he picked up a piece of information during his meal. He wondered if it was real. When he first heard it, he thought it was ridiculous, but on second thought, it somehow made sense. Katie usually looked like a caring but overprotective mother but who would know for sure that she would not do something so outrageous? Once a person was driven by benefits and gains, sentiments and emotions ought to be sacrificed. “She’s ruthless but only a woman with her personality is fit to be the CEO of the Northborn Group,” Jet said with an approving nod. When a person discarded all sentiments and emotions, he or she would be invincible. “Are we attending the party?” “Of course we are. I still have to find the mastermind.” Jet refused to just step back. Someone ought to pay for halting his business ventures. “I understand. I’ll prepare a gift.” Aloysius nodded and turned around to leave the room. Jet remained in his seat, sipping on his glass of win
Jet did not look worried. His companions were confused. Anyone else in Jet’s position would panic. Each day the business ventures were on hold, and he faced continuous losses.However, Jet remained composed. It proved that Jet was competent to face problems. Despite the obstacles, Jet was able to overcome it in no time. “I see. Do tell if you need any help. We are happy to lend a hand.” “Yeah. I’m sure the problems will go away soon enough.” The group uttered, not taking the incident to heart. Seeing that the group was gullible, Jet was relieved. After dinner, Jet sent his drunk guests away. Jet grimaced. “None of them know anything. Those who do won’t see me.” Jet was curious as to who he had upset to deserve the attack. There was still wiggle room in regard to his business ventures, and Jet could still afford the wait. Nevertheless, it was frustrating to be targeted. “Is there anything you need, sir?” Aloysius asked. “Keep an eye on these people. Check
“We are happy to have dinner with you, but it’s only been a few days since we last saw you.” Though confused, the group took their seats. Jet invited them out to see if they knew anything about the mastermind behind the halted projects. However, the group behaved no differently from before. “Friends should always stay connected. I’m looking to take on a few business ventures. I was wondering if any of you are interested.” Jet was not in the mood to start new business dealings. He was simply trying to extract information from the group. Jet’s business ventures were stalled, and if the group had an inkling, they would not do business with him.If they were in the dark, they would jump at the opportunity to close the deal. They could not possibly say no, especially since they had been begging for Jet to throw a lifeline. “What kind of business are we talking about?” “Yeah. Can we be a part of it?” “I’ve been wanting to do business with you, Jet. It’s a pity we never