Kaze remained standing on the spot with his luggage, watching as the men approached him with a blank face. “Are you that useless? You push the girl forward to take all the heat? You are quite tall yourself, not that bad looking, but why are you that useless?” The tall man, Keeble, was surprised. As the situation unfolded, any man with a sense of humanity would step up to protect the girl—saving the damsel in distress. Yet Kaze remained unfazed, like a rock as if he was not part of the confrontation. Keeble and his men were notorious gangsters. Their fists could solve most problems quickly. Their swiftness and ruthlessness allowed them to make a name for themselves in the underworld. People would always come to them with requests similar to this and they could use it to make good money. Despite their experience in handling similar situations, this was the first time they had encountered such a setback. It was Perry’s order to deal with Kaze and use it to intimidate Leah,
It was exactly what Keeble wanted. First, verbal humiliation. Then, when Kaze ran out of patience, Keeble and his men would beat him up. Since they were close to a hospital, Kaze would survive the beating but it would be a lesson that he would carry for life. “My mother is the CEO of the Northborn Group. If you so much as touch him, I will make you pay.” Leah initially did not want to reveal her identity but she had no choice. Keeble and his men forced her with their intimidation. If she could not stop them, Kaze might be dragged into a whirlpool of trouble because of her. “This is none of your business. Why don’t you step aside and let us deal with him.” Keeble looked at Leah, surprised by her background. Whether or not she was telling the truth, he dared not mess with the Northborn Group and had decided to let her go. “He is my friend. If I walk, he walks; if you hurt him, I’ll call for help.” Leah noticed her words had power over Keeble. She tried to bring Kaze a
Everything happened quickly. When Keeble’s bat hit the ground, he noticed his target was missing. “Keeble! What happened?!” “What?! How did he get there so fast?” “Keeble! Can’t you aim properly?!” His friends were surprised by the sudden twist in the outcome but were not overly concerned. “It seems like he’s professionally trained. No wonder he just stands there the whole time. Turns out he’s quite fast.” Keeble knew what happened. The moment the bat was swung down, Kaze already predicted the trajectory and reacted accordingly, allowing him to dodge the hit easily. The swift reaction clearly indicated Kaze was powerful. “I don’t want trouble, but if you people chose to be persistent, I wouldn’t mind teaching you a lesson but I’m sure you won’t be able to handle the consequences.” Kaze had been holding back but Keeble and his men continued to annoy him, grinding his patience off. “I thought you can’t speak. Why didn’t you say anything at first?” Keeble scoffed.
When the man saw the confrontation, he frowned and quickly strode over. “Isn’t it Peter from the Viper’s Den? Of what do I owe the visit?” The moment Keeble turned around, he saw someone he used to respect. It was a surprise that Peter appeared at such a critical moment. He wondered if Peter was just passing by or came here to pick up someone. “What are you people doing?” Peter had been tasked with picking up Kaze and should have arrived earlier, but he got caught in terrible traffic. When he finally arrived, he saw that the person he was supposed to pick up was surrounded. Although he did not know much about Kaze’s background, his boss had given him the order, and that was reason enough to treat Kaze with respect. “Mr. Lee, sorry I am late,” he apologized as soon as he went up to Kaze. Kaze simply nodded and did not blame him for being late. “He’s with you?” Even if Keeble was a fool, he should have noticed by now that he had just messed with someone that he shou
“We didn’t do anything. Why?” Keeble aspired to become a gangster boss one day and if he were humiliated here and now, his dream might come to an abrupt end. He might not even be able to stay in the underworld anymore. “So you guys can bully Kaze and we cannot take revenge?” Leah said, her tone upset. She was determined to avenge Kaze. Keeble wanted to argue. He even looked at Peter, seeking clarification. Peter had agreed to let him and his men go, so why would the girl hold them back? “This has nothing to do with me. If she’s okay, of course, I can let you go,” Peter said. He did not want to overly expose his intention, so it would be best to be no part of the conflict. Kaze wanted to steer away from trouble but Keeble was the one who started it and simply letting them go might send the wrong message to others. “If you guys are bold enough to come here for trouble, then you should know how to handle the situation when it backfires.” Kaze was not the type of person w
With heels clacking and a branded purse hanging in her hand, Katie walked toward her daughter. When she saw the man beside Leah, a hint of displeasure rose from her heart. Then, she noticed Peter and a sense of familiarity rose to her mind. On second thought, she seemed to have met Peter before. “Peter? What are you doing here? Here to pick someone up?” A smile appeared on Katie’s face when she spoke to Peter. Leah initially wanted to introduce Kaze to her mother and tell her how he had helped her before. However, her mother did not even look at her or Kaze and went straight to Peter to greet him. Once again, she was ignored by her mother and it upset her. Unfortunately, she could not do anything to change it because she knew it was her mother’s job. She knew from a young age to never interrupt her mother during work or else she would be beaten. Kaze had heard a lot about Katie from Leah. The girl complained to him how unfair her workaholic mother was, yet when he saw
“I’m quite busy lately but we are going to host a banquet soon. I’ll make sure the invitation reaches you and Mr. Longwind.” Katie revealed a little bit of her upcoming plan to Peter since he was Alfonso’s man. Peter was delighted by the response. “Madam, I wouldn’t want to take up any more of your time. I’ll be waiting for my guest here.” Peter saw the look in Kaze’s eyes and knew better than to reveal his identity, so he simply said he was still waiting for his guest. Katie then turned to her daughter. She had no idea what had happened earlier. The only thing she noticed was a car speeding off in her direction when she arrived. “What happened just now?” The smile on Katie’s face disappeared when she spoke to her daughter and her tone sounded strict. “You really don’t care about me, don't you? I almost got into a fight with someone.” Leah looked aggrieved. Despite her mother’s tone, she was intoxicated by the feeling of love and care. She loved being with her mothe
“Mom, what are you doing? He’s not asking for money.” Leah felt insulted and she knew her mother did it on purpose. “He didn’t say anything, so how would you know?” Katie said as she scrutinized Kaze. Peter saw the scene from the side and wanted to help but knowing Katie’s identity, he dared not interfere to offend her, so he simply stood still like a rock. “If not for Kaze, I wouldn’t even get out of trouble. Perry even sent his men after me.” Leah then told her mother what actually happened before she arrived. She told her mother the truth because she wanted her mother to know that she was almost hurt. “Thank you, Peter.” Learning that Peter had helped earlier, Katie furthermore believed Kaze had nothing to do with the matter. Peter knew her and her status well and was likely familiar with her daughter. Helping the girl should have been a gesture of respect toward her. Kaze did not say anything from the start, and it made Katie believe that he harbored ulterior mo
With the secret out in the open, the housekeeper dropped his attitude. He pointed at the basement not too far away. “My employer is in there.” The housekeeper grimaced and kept his head down. Kaze laughed. Unaware of his impending doom, Perry was still living it up. It was absurd. Perry was playing with fire by hurting Leah. “About time you wise up.” Arthur smiled and patted the housekeeper’s face. He opened the door to the basement. Kaze walked to the bar counter and picked up the best bottle of champagne there. He fiddled with the bottle before carrying it to the basement. The other Viper’s Den members followed him. Kaze took a stride down the steps, to the basement. The noisy music was blasting before they reached the entry. Kaze was filled with a mix of emotions. Nevertheless, he said nothing. He opened the door and walked in. The light in the basement was bright, making everything perfectly clear. However, the people inside were not bothered by the
“You know him. It’s Perry Duncan, Leah’s ex-boyfriend.” Snow did not see the point of hiding the truth, so she laid everything out. “Leah must be feeling foul because she was unaware that she was being stalked. By the time she realized what was going on, she was taken into a vehicle. “We spotted the vehicle they departed in from the surveillance footage. They headed to the mountain up north.” Snow had a general idea of the location. “I got Arthur on the job. He’s putting up a team from the Viper’s Den.” Snow was uncertain of Kaze’s stance toward Leah, but now that she was made aware of the situation, the least she could do was help. Katie belonged to the Viper’s Den, so Snow was lending a hand to a friend in business. “Thank you. Please save my daughter.” Katie was nervous. The Viper’s Den was the people she could count on. “Arthur is good, but he’s slow. I’ll do it,” Kaze said. The whole thing was unrelated to him. Kaze was well within his right to stand on the si
Even so, Elsie was out to get Leah. Elsie could pick up on Perry’s delight when she took a swing at Leah. Poor Elsie was just trying to survive by catering to others. People like her learned to pick up social cues and read body language to please customers for money in return. Their income would double if their customers were happy. Leah was the obstacle. If the women could not get rid of her, they would lose their profit. They had no hard feelings for Leah, but they stood on opposing ends. “You should be fawning over Mr. Duncan, not begging me,” Elsie said while grabbing Leah’s hair to pull her up. Leah snatched Elsie’s wrist to try and break free. “Let me go. I never did anything to you.” Leah was no doormat. She did not want to cross these people or get involved with them. She still hoped that by waiting here, her prince would arrive to save her. However, all she got was a cruel beating, and she had enough. “This isn’t my fault. Blame Mr. Duncan for your cir
Leah had not had it easy these recent days. However, she had learned to be submissive and give in. It never occurred to her that Perry would do this to her. After repeated beatings, she quickly wised up. “Mr. Duncan, why is this disgusting person here? She’s an eyesore.” Dressed in a red number, a woman with wavy hair sat next to Perry. She clung to Perry intimately. She spoke in a sultry and mesmerizing voice. “Oh, she’s just a bitch. “She got on my nerves, so I punished her. I’ll dump her once I’m bored with her.” Perry had the time of his life getting back at Leah. He got a kick out of it. However, he did not feel that it was enough. Every time he looked at his injured hand, his resentment toward Leah grew. “How did she upset you, Mr. Duncan?” Another lady extended her arms to knead Perry’s shoulders while gently murmuring into his ear. With women gathering and fussing over him, Perry felt his ego thoroughly stroked. He was thrilled. “Well, she doesn’t kno
Katie thought about everybody. Kaze was the odd one out, so he had to be the suspect. It made sense that Leah would elope with Kaze. “There must be some sort of misunderstanding. We can talk it out. Don’t do anything reckless.” Snow stopped Katie from doing anything extreme. “How could there be a misunderstanding? There can be no one else but him.” Katie was stubborn. “We can help with your daughter’s disappearance. You won’t get anywhere by picking on him.” Snow tried her best to defend Kaze. She would not let Kaze be hurt on her watch. Eager to find her daughter, Katie believed her suspicion to be the truth, and Kaze must have stashed her daughter somewhere. “I don’t have time to waste, but no one could’ve taken Leah away.” Katie was naїvely convinced that Kaze was behind it. Kaze had only just learned about Leah’s disappearance. It was quite late for Katie to finally look into the matter. “I didn’t take your daughter, but we can dig deeper into this.” Leah w
The blue gem necklace around Snow’s neck brought out her elegance and class. Snow was educated well. She carried herself with ease at the social event. She exchanged pleasantries with business partners and greeted them all. Snow shared a few drinks with several prominent families. Aloysius and her secretary stayed with her and drank on her behalf.The party was a success. Kaze held a glass of wine to sip in a corner. Snow’s brilliance was the assurance he needed. He did not have to worry about her leading the Frosts now. “I guess I was worried about nothing. I didn’t even have to be here. She has gotten everything covered.” Kaze was concerned about Snow because she had always been his assistant. He was apprehensive that Snow would have no control over her staff after her promotion. He even asked the Viper’s Den to lend a hand. Nevertheless, Snow did not let him down. She had done a great job. Kaze drank wine and enjoyed the music. Soon, men and women entered the
Aloysius looked at the business venture at hand with a mix of emotions. Jet was supposed to make a comeback with the project, but the defeat was a huge slap to his face. “Can I ask whether Kaze was behind this?” Aloysius braced himself to ask the question. Even though Aloysius had an inkling, he feared receiving confirmation of his suspicion. “Chairman Lee helped me. If Jet hadn’t hurt my mother, I wouldn’t have rushed back to take his place. “He did this to himself,” Snow said blatantly. “How did you know about the island project? We have been discreet about it.” Aloysius was eager to find out. The question would burn on his mind unless he got some answers. “You can’t keep anything from the Viper’s Den, but this is the end of the matter. If you’re interested in the project, I can put you in charge of it.” Snow could not be bothered to explain herself. Aloysius played it smart. He had been carrying out Snow’s orders without a hitch. Snow was happy to honor her prom
“Tell them that the company is expecting funding, and all the projects will be launched in a few days. Everything will be back on track. It’s a good thing that the higher management is gone. We will be opening the positions for internal employees to apply.” Snow got the right solution to handle the situation. She had to give these employees hope to gain their dedication in return. Aloysius was surprised. “Who would pour money in when our finances are in a mess?” Having worked with Jet, Aloysius had a good understanding of the company’s ins and outs. Several business ventures were up in the air, and the company was bleeding money. Even with a relaunch, these projects would not bring in much of a profit. Most importantly, the relaunch had to be backed up by some funding. The business got a loan from the Viper’s Den. If payment was not made in time, the company’s shares would be used to make up for the loss. The whole thing spelled trouble. Snow just joined the company.
“This is the financial report you submitted today. Any intern can do a better job than you.” Snow mocked Jack. She was disappointed in his performance. A finance director who could not even get his basics right should not be working in finance in the first place. “Who do you think you are, doing this to us?” The others are only out to save their own asses. They did not sympathize with Jack. “I’m sure you are well aware of what you have done.” “You’re on your phone all day at work. You put your daily expenses on the company card, and we’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars a month. You only bought stuff for your personal use. “Let’s not forget about you. Your so-called business trips are to take your mistress out for expensive hotel stays and vacations.” Snow looked at each one of them while detailing their deeds. She shamed them in public, utterly humiliating them. “Why were these allowed before? Why are you stopping these practices now? If you can change