The Quints’ hearts sank when they saw Vincent smirk. “Here comes the old birthday boy.” The Quints exchanged looks, wondering the meaning behind Vincent’s words. Cheers burst out in the hall. Liam, the head of the Hanser household, appeared with a ruddy glow, surrounded by many. “You are only 70 once, so I wanted to have a party at the Dynasty Hotel. Thank you all for coming…” What? It was the birthday celebration of Liam, the head of the Hansers. The Quints were stunned. Samus grabbed Vincent by the collar and yelled, “You better explain yourself, Vincent. You were supposed to get engaged to my sister. Why is it a birthday celebration now?” The commotion caught Liam’s attention. After learning the situation, he said peevishly, “My grandson can’t possibly get engaged to a member of the Quint family. What engagement are you talking about? That’s ridiculous. Vincent, show them the invitation we sent out.” The Quints quickly saw the invitation sent to the guests.
With Logan passed out on the street, the Quints were a mess. They tried pinching his nose and calling the ambulance to take him to the emergency room. After a bustle, Logan finally regained consciousness. He seemed lost, though. Lying in bed, Logan stared at the ceiling without a word. It was bright outside, but the mood in the ward was gloomy. Following Logan’s fainting spell, the family felt like their world had crumbled. The Quints were toasted this time. Rudy’s family, especially, took the news the hardest. Deborah, often conceited, sat there in a daze. When Darcy’s family arrived at the ward, they saw the Quints looking dejected as if drained of life. “Is Logan alright?” Agnes wheeled Hector toward Logan, only to be shocked by his condition. If the ECG monitor had not shown Logan’s heart rate, Agnes would have thought he was a goner. Logan finally showed some signs of life. Catching Darcy’s family by the corner of his eye, Logan shouted, “What are you d
Kaze’s words were met with scoffs. Agnes and Hector, aside from the Quints, had no faith in Kaze. The Quints were helpless against the Hansers’ meticulously crafted plan. It was not as if Kaze, a good-for-nothing, could accomplish anything. “If you’re able to demand the complex back, I’ll jump off the building.” “You’re just here to gloat because our family is in trouble. Even at our worst, we won’t put up with your arrogance. You’re just a dummy who took our family name.” “The loser’s up to no good. He must be trying to pull the same scam as Vincent to con the last 100 million dollars out of us.” The Quints sneered. The dimwit was delusional to think he could scam money like Vincent. Vincent had the support of the Hansers to pull the elaborate scam on the Quints, but Kaze had nothing. “Scam your money? Why would I be bothered to?” Faced with jeers, Kaze smirked. “I’m only getting the assets back from the Hansers for my wife’s sake. I don’t care what happens to y
“Shut up, Sky!” Agnes cut Sky off with a glare. “I’m warning you, Kaze. Stop giving our family problems!” Kaze was not in the position to refuse with Agnes narrowing her eyes at him. He nodded to get her off his case. “Alright, Agnes. I heard you loud and clear.” Agnes scoffed and got into the car. Darcy was not so easily fooled. “Just listen to Mom, Kaze. Don’t go to the Hansers. I’ll try to figure something out and get a lawyer’s advice. Maybe the law will be on our side. We can make other plans if we can’t get the assets back.” She did not carry much hope. The Hansers were rich and powerful, so they would have a family attorney who had covered all their bases in legality. Taking them to court would be time-consuming. It might be a year or so before a verdict was out, and by then, the assets would be gone. Kaze said, “Do you really want me to stay out of it, babe? The opening day of the Passion Fragrance District project is this afternoon. Don’t you want to stop t
“Bernard Vikrom, you old horse! Since when did the Hansers owe the Vikroms money? My birthday event is over and you are causing problems?” Liam was furious when Bernard asked him to pay the money back. Liam and Bernard were never on good terms, and Liam believed the man was here to cause trouble. The man even picked his birthday to cause a scene to disgust him. “You still have the nerves to hold a birthday event? Liam Hanser, if you don’t pay us back, you will be having not a birthday but a funeral today!” Bernard widened his eyes and added, “The Vikroms lent eighty-five million to the Quints’ property to help them repay their loans. We have an agreement and it’s all in writing! You can’t escape this! “Now that Quartet Group had acquired Quintessential Group’s property company, legally, you would have inherited their debts as well.” Liam widened his eyes in disbelief. “Bernard Vikrom, watch your mouth! Quartet Group doesn’t belong to the Hansers! Don’t slander us!” He
Liam originally thought he could brush off Bernard with some money but it turned out that he had poked the hornet’s nest. A number of people demanded more than two billion from his family. The Hansers just got around the same amount from Quintessential Group. They could still afford to pay them all back, but Liam did not want to lose the money he had just acquired. “Nonsense! If Quintessential Group owes you money, go ask for the money from them!” He added, “Quintessential Group’s property company and its assets are sold to Quartet Group. It’s their problem now. This has nothing to do with the Hansers!” The Hansers had almost drained Quintessential Group dry but they did not mind getting rid of the company once and for all. Liam had no scruples to shift the responsibility back to Quintessential Group. “The Hansers had drained Quintessential Group dry! If they can pay us, why would we come to you?” “You have the money! You must pay us back even if you don’t want to!” “
Not a single bank was willing to lend money to the Hansers, and they did not even want to negotiate. “What is happening? We didn’t offend the banks, why are they not helping? It’s as if they had ganged up against us!” A great shadow loomed over the Hansers and fear started to spread. “Could it be related to the one we offended?” Liam murmured with clenched teeth. His hands were shaking. After Bernard and more than twenty debtors left, the banks cut the Hansers off. The Hansers had gloated at Quintessential Group when they faced a financial crisis previously. Now that they experienced it themselves, they were devastated. Soon, Liam received news. It was Snow, the chairwoman of Lilyrose Bank, who released an order to all bank directors to boycott the Hansers, cutting them off completely. “Grandpa, what are we going to do? The pre-sale is starting and we are cut off…” The Hansers were anxious. They all looked at Liam, waiting for further instructions. “Pre-sale? Forget
Mathias was here to return the debt of gratitude. Kaze once requested the Queens to purchase Taurus Automobiles for him as a gift. Matthias talked to his family but his family declined it. Even though the Queens had money, it was their hard-earned money. They could not satisfy Kaze’s request of more than a hundred million and it was at that moment that the Queens realized how greedy Kaze was. They wanted nothing to do with him. Therefore, the Queens told Mathias to stay in Lilyrose to return the debt of gratitude so that they could cut ties with him once and for all. When he heard about the Quints’ situation, Mathias knew it was a great chance to repay Kaze, so he came over immediately. The Quints were overwhelmed to see Mathias. The young master of a wealthy family came to them with a helping hand. How amazing! “Mr. Queen, really? Are you going to help us with anything?” Master Quint asked excitedly. Mathias was disgusted by Master Quint’s less courteous request.
“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