The two cars stopped in front of the logistics park. Hector, Agnes, Agatha and her family, plus Kiev, alighted the cars. Only Sky did not follow because he was still mad at his sister for divorcing Kaze. The two families were surprised to see Kaze at the entrance as well. They did not expect to see him here, let alone be earlier than them. “Kaze? What are you doing here? Did you break out of prison?!” Agnes said coldly with an obvious sense of disgust. She had no respect for him. “Mother, my name is cleared. I did not murder Alan Cumminghamn. I heard Darcy was apprehended by the owner here, so I came to bring her out…” Kaze explained. “Don’t call me your mother! I am no longer your mother-in-law!” Agnes shouted at him and warned him with a ferocious glare. “Kaze, how dare you come here for Darcy? She’s in this trouble because of you. If not because of you, why would she come all the way to Melrose?” “You are a menace!” Kaze chose silence as a reply to Agnes’ scold
“Kiev, since the Strategic Department has already sent men over to negotiate, I believe Shane Blanc has agreed to release Darcy, right?” Agnes ignored Kaze completely as she was only concerned about her daughter’s well-being. Kiev said confidently, “Of course. The Strategic Department has intervened, and Shane would surely release Darcy now. “Let’s just go get her. I believe she’s afraid and she definitely wants to see you the most.” Agnes smiled. “Then let’s go inside and bring her back. Kiev, thank you so much for this. Tell the guard to open the gate for us,” she said with utmost gratitude. “Of course.” Kiev went over to the guard. The guard judged a book by its cover. He saw Kiev coming out of a Maybach and he knew that the young man must have a decent background, so he was more polite than before. A moment later, Kiev came back. “Aunt Agnes, we can go inside to bring Darcy out. He’s going to let us in.” “Great!” Agnes nodded happily. Everyone then went in
Shane was indeed the most well-connected informant in South River State. He knew Kiev’s name by just looking at him. Kiev was slightly surprised. He nodded and said, “I am. Darcy Quint is my friend, so you should release…” Before he could finish, Shane interrupted him again. “I will let you off the hook this time, for the sake of your father. Now take your little friends and piss off.” Shane pointed at Agnes and the others. Kiev was infuriated. “Shane Blanc, how dare…” “FUCK OFF! Hear me!?” Shane’s men went up and surrounded Kiev. One of them put his massive hand on Kiev’s shoulder. The pressure he felt on his shoulder hurt him, making him sweat profusely. A while later, under Shane’s men's angry glare, Kiev, Agnes, and the others were escorted back to the park entrance. Similar to the two majors from Melrose Strategic Department, they were thrown out of the gates. Kaze noticed Kiev could not even lift his hand and he knew Shane must have taught the young man a le
“Aunt Agnes, I’ll think of another way. There must be a solution to this…” Kiev’s words no longer felt as powerful as before. Shane did not even take the vice-commander of South River Strategic Department seriously, let alone his son. Must Kiev find someone more powerful than his father to solve this problem? Agnes was drowning in her despair but she still consoled Kiev. “Kiev, don’t blame yourself. You’ve tried your best. You’ve helped us plenty. We are grateful for your help. It’s all because of Kaze! If not for him, Darcy wouldn’t be held inside. “Kaze, if anything happens to Darcy, I will haunt you for life even after I die!” Agnes was agitated and riled up. She wished she could strangle Kaze with her own hands. Kaze said, “Nothing will happen to Darcy. I said I will bring her out and I will bring her out.” “You? Not even Kiev can settle this. What makes you think you can?” Agatha and her family looked down on Kaze. “You are nothing but blindly confident.” E
Everyone held their breath. They felt like their worlds collapsed on them. How could Kaze call in a battalion of soldiers? How? They suspected that it might be a dream or an illusion. They rubbed their eyes and pinched their cheeks, but the pain told them that what was happening before their very eyes was real. It was all real! “So it was not him who was incapable, it was us…” Rose wished she could bury herself in a hole. She was the clown, not Kaze. “Oh. My. God. W-Who is Kaze exactly?!” Agatha almost passed out from the shock. She could not even maintain the same pitch. Knowing that she insulted Kaze earlier, her face turned red. “I have no idea…” Agnes’ mind went blank. Kiev looked at Kaze in fear. How could he go after Darcy if Kaze was this powerful? What gave him the confidence to snatch Darcy away from him? He was courting death, not Darcy! Kaze did not care about the reactions. He said to the guard at the entrance, “Tell Shane Blanc to come out r
Kaze nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. “I heard you got a hundred million from Darcy. Explain that,” he asked. Shane gulped nervously and said, “Ms. Quint wanted me to find out the traitor of Lefteria Group.” “And did you?” “I did. It’s a guy named Leo Lionel.” Kaze looked at him. “Based on what I know, Leo came to you and then went back to Lilyrose. Yet the ladies are held captive. How do you do business?” Shane got so frightened that he wanted to kneel, but Kaze stopped him with a fierce glare. He shuddered and managed to keep himself standing. “Sir! I was tricked! Leo gave me one billion and I fell for it! But I never thought of hurting Ms. Quint and Ms. Scarlet! It was him! It was Leo! He wants me…” Shane exposed Leo and his schemes without a second thought. Kaze’s eyes gleamed coldly after he learned the truth. Leo went back to Lilyrose alone because he wanted to use Shane to get rid of the ladies. He wanted to kill them with a borrowed knife! He orde
Not only Darcy and Miru, even Agnes and the others glued their eyes to Kaze. “Yeah, I called them in,” Kaze admitted in front of everyone. “Uh…” Even though the armored trucks and tanks were shocking enough, they were still astonished when Kaze admitted it in front of them. How did Kaze do something even Kiev could not? Kaze suddenly became a mystery that no one knew. His real identity intrigued everyone. Could he be the secret child of some powerful officers? He had someone even more powerful than Kiev’s father?” “Sir, the chief commander of South River Strategic Department attended the practice of Armored One Battalion and he heard that you were near. He wants to meet you.” Reeve, who had been quiet since the beginning, went up to Kaze and whispered in his ears. The chief commander that he was referring to was Albert Hiden. A few days ago, Kaze had agreed to attend his inauguration ceremony that was around the corner. It was just a matter of time before they m
Amidst the discussion, Albert’s jeep stopped in front of everyone. A valiant young man in uniform with stars on his shoulders came out of the vehicle. The guard wanted to help him put on the general’s coat but Albert stopped him. He had no right to flaunt his ranks before Kaze. Albert spotted Kaze right away. His eyes were overflowing with excitement as he strode over. From the bottom of his heart, he respected the man who had completely changed his life. He stood in front of Kaze and wanted to lift his shaking hand for a salutation. “Albert Hiden! Why the hell are you here?!” Miru, who had been quiet for a while, suddenly spoke in a rude and frosty tone. The condescension in her tone was obvious. She shocked everyone when she spoke. Not only did she call Albert’s full name, but she even disrespected him, the chief commander of South River Strategic Department! If the man was angered by her rudeness, the consequences would be severe. To everyone’s surprise, Al
Kaze watched as the senior citizens took off. The place was quiet as usual, and many things in the unit were left uncollected. “Mr. Lee, does this arrangement work?” Arthur awaited Kaze’s orders. “It will do for now.” After being out for the day, Kaze had seen some stuff. Business was all about making money, but some lines should not be crossed. As long as things remained within reason, there would not be scrutiny or blame. It was astounding the lengths Jet would go to. “The area will be demolished after a while. I want all of the Frosts’ projects on hold. Don’t approve any of them.” One word from Kaze could shake the very foundation of the Frosts’ business. “Alright. My team is on it. “But the Frosts will ask questions and find out who is behind this.” Arthur looked at Kaze worriedly. “They can’t find anything.” No one would know who Kaze was without his permission. It probably never crossed Jet’s mind that Snow had a powerful friend. Otherwise, he woul
Kaze was confused. Surely, the authorities would not disregard human lives and demolish the place by force. “Well, we tried to relocate them, but they refused our services. If they are still not on board, they will be sent to the retirement home tonight.” That was all Pax knew. The retirement home was just another place for the senior citizens to await death. “Is there nothing else you can do? So you signed the contract without thinking about the consequences? Karma will get back at you.” Pax’s shamelessness shocked Arthur. Pax mentioned that he would put the demolition on hold. It had not been long, and now the rights to the land were handed over. “It’s out of my hands. Jet went to my superiors to seal the deal. We are not allowed to intervene. “We had been figuring out ways to reach reconciliation for these senior citizens, but Jet was determined to make them pay.” It was the best Pax could do. He was just an employee, working to make a living. He did not have a say
“I want to see the person in charge of the demolition project now.” It was not a matter of time before the area was bulldozed, but Kaze hoped to delay it. Generally, it would take a large amount of capital to launch a project. Any delay would cause massive losses. Jet had several projects that had been put on hold, and it was a heavy blow to him. If Jet could not fix things quickly enough, all his money tied to the projects would be gone. He would be forced to ditch some projects to cut his losses. “I’ll get him here right now.” Arthur went out to make phone calls. He believed Kaze did the right thing as the senior citizens had nowhere to turn to. The senior citizens could only survive with some help. “Thank you, young man. Why are you helping us?” The senior citizens were old, but they could tell that Kaze genuinely wanted them to be okay. “I don’t think it’s right to bully you.” Kaze looked at the senior citizens earnestly, feeling sorry for them. Jet lack
“We agreed on relocation because we would get a place to stay. “But these people were unreasonable. We were offered only one-third of what everyone else got.” The senior citizens were going to swallow their losses. They just needed the money to live their last days, and they did not have family, to begin with. Later, the same people had their eyes on their money and tried to put them up at an old folks’ home. The senior citizens refused to relocate and finally chose to protect themselves by contacting the media. These people sure left the senior citizens to die. Kaze was sympathetic to the senior citizens. He went back with them to a unit on the ground floor. The place was bare, with several beds placed together. The senior citizens must be sleeping in the same room. There was little to eat, only some water and dry provisions.The old residents did not have much savings. It was good enough that they had something to eat. “Have a cup of water, boy. We don’t have any
“Are you one of those people from the pier? Are you trying to get us to leave?” A grizzled-haired man looked at Kaze warily. “I was just passing by when I saw you struggling with the buckets. I came to help you.” Kaze explained patiently. He could understand why their guards were up. They must have been lied to many times before. “Are you here to help?” “Yes, I am. My companion has gone to get you some water. He’ll be back soon. There’s no need for you to fetch water,” Kaze said kindly. “We’ll pay you.” The senior citizens exchanged glances before accepting Kaze’s gesture. They could not handle the weight of the heavy buckets. “The building here is about to be demolished. Why are you still living here?” Pretending to be in the dark, Kaze asked. “This is our home. Someone is trying to take this land away.” The grizzled-haired man was upset. “What? I thought no one could demolish the building unless they had the residents’ permission.” “You’re right, but there
“Jet sure is bold to ensure business. Isn’t he afraid of shooting himself in the foot?” Kaze had never met a man like Jet. “He has done a lot to get to the top. His ruthless methods got him a lot of money. A lot of people are happy to support him.” Arthur was impressed with Jet’s tactics. However, his approach was too cruel for his liking. “Let’s head to the residential building.” Kaze just wanted to check out the area. He was happy to help when needed. The flashy, red sports car was eye-catching. However, the flamboyant car was uncommon in these places. Most workers would express their amazement, but they would not ask questions. The car pulled up outside a soon-to-be abandoned building. It looked desolate. The power lines and infrastructure were not visible either. Kaze knew that was one of the Frosts’ methods. Sometimes, nothing, not even demolition, was required. The goal was to get the residents out. All Jet needed to do was cut the water and electricity.
“Just tell me what you need, Arthur. You wouldn’t be calling unless you have received orders.” Philip was surprised to get a call from Arthur. Though they were acquainted, they had only communicated because of work. “We have just left Rising Sun. Don’t approve the films for now.” Arthur was blunt. “I can do that, but can I ask why?” Philip was caught in a dilemma because he had just promised Jet to release the films. Philip needed to know if the orders to delay came from a high power who could cover his ass. “Since you got a call from me, you should know that there are eyes on Jet. “You should know what you can and cannot say. Otherwise, you never know when you’re going to lose your job.” Arthur threatened. Philip was reluctant. He accepted Jet’s payment, and now he had to go back on his word. Nevertheless, Arthur was part of the Viper’s Den, and his status was rather unique. Arthur provided services to confidential individuals. These individuals were elites among t
A balanced, profitable dynamic had been developed among the ports in Butterworth. Jet spotted his chance in the lucrative port business. He covertly took out some money to invest in a dying port. The port was situated in a more remote area. Some businesspeople favored more accessible ports. This drove shippers away from the dying port. Jet snagged the steal and improved the logistics and facilities around the area. The port was up and running again. Business at the port was decent enough. As the Frosts would run their business through the port, the local economy took off too. It was a good thing. However, Jet set his sights on several residential buildings around the area. He needed space to accommodate containers. The land was required to make business at the port more profitable. This triggered a whole new thing. Jet could spend some money to buy the residents out of their homes. However, the residents preferred to stay put in their long-time homes. No a
“I’ll keep the bank cards for now. I’ll talk to our superiors and give you a decision. Since the man said that the cards are meant for us, they won’t be going anywhere.” Knox had no idea who Kaze was, but he knew Arthur was with the Viper’s Den. Arthur must be someone from high places. Eli soon put the little incident behind him. He got a call from Aloysius yesterday and was made aware of Jet’s plans. The films had been put on hold for far too long, and the people above Eli were anxious to get things moving. Though Eli was surprised by the review board’s visit, everything was still in his control. Eli left the matter at that without reporting the incident to the higher-ups. The flashy, red car sped along the road. Arthur kept looking back at Kaze, eager to find out about the next plan. Arthur brought Kaze out today to witness how Eli and his team operated. As it happened, Eli adopted such a shallow ploy. Arthur was not surprised, though. Eli’s methods were common.