For the past two weeks, Narian dreamed of the moment he would kill Kaze with his bare hands. He wanted to make Kaze pay for humiliating him at the distributor conference. Narian rushed to Lilyrose with his team in tow. That night, Narian, representing the Sunrise Lees, held a dinner party at Dynasty Hotel. All the rich, powerful, and famous received an invitation to the dinner. The purpose of the feast was plain to see. It was to mark the Sunrise Lees’ public comeback to Lilyrose. The Lees were a wealthy family from Lilyrose. It had only been six years since they uprooted to Sunrise. Hence, their influence remained in Lilyrose. There was no doubt the Sunrise Lees were the overlords of Lilyrose. The three top families may be the unspoken rulers of the city, but the Lees overruled them. No one would decline an invitation from the Lee family. “Kaze, you must know about Narian’s party. Quartet Group received an invitation, and we are both invited.” Darcy retur
In fact, Samus and Deborah met with Narian under Logan’s instruction. Logan could not resist dipping his hands into getting part of the three major families’ assets. Quintessential Group was now an empty shell as all the talents had jumped ship to Quartet Group. The Quints did not have the funds or talents to run the company. Since the Quints happened to know that the Lees wanted to screw with Darcy’s family, they thought they could offer their services. “That’s true. Nothing matters more than family. You’re right on that front.” Narian nodded and asked, “What is your family expecting out of it?” Overjoyed, Samus drew close ingratiatingly. “We want you, as the representative of the Sunrise Lees, to put in the good word for us so that our family gets a slice of the three top families’ seized assets.” “No problem. I will hold up my end of the bargain,” Narian agreed readily. Samus and Deborah brought the good news back to the family, and Logan could not be happier.
Sitting across from Darcy was a bespectacled middle-aged man. His refined air spoke volumes about his education and upbringing.His name was Federick Yale, a faculty member at the University of South River. He was a doctoral supervisor.Federick was invited to the reviewing panel as the director and chief. He had the biggest say of them all. “Why, Ms. Quint? Are you questioning my professionalism?” Federick said curtly with a long face. Darcy apologized right away, “I’m sorry for my outburst. You are a highly respected figure in our community, Mr. Yale. I shouldn’t have doubted you.” “It’s good that you see things my way.” Federick softened his facial muscles. He adjusted his glasses and added, “We reviewed all business proposals without prejudice. If there isn’t a problem, please leave now.” “Thank you, Mr. Yale.” Darcy turned away in disappointment. “Hang on.” Federick’s voice came from behind. Once Darcy turned around to face him, Federick said indifferently
“We even made a private deal with the reviewing committee that we would give back five hundred million dollars in commission if we were granted two billion dollars.” Deborah was not afraid of letting Darcy know of the family’s dirty dealings and calling out on them. She knew that Darcy would think twice before upsetting the Lee family. Deborah sneered, “Did you know? The Lee family was granted four billion dollars in support funds. Darcy widened her eyes in disbelief. The God of War put back ten billion dollars into the government funds. His intention was to support the infrastructure growth of Lilyrose which would benefit its people. Now, the Lees and Quints pulled some strings to acquire six billion dollars. The money would serve as capital for them to plunder the three major families’ wealth. Darcy was furious. She was enraged at the two families’ shamelessness. The God of War’s good intentions were taken advantage of. “We will use one and a half billion to b
“Hello, Mr. Yale. Is there anything I can do for you?” Reminded by the reviewing panel’s hypocrisy, Darcy sounded rather indifferent. “Our committee has reviewed your proposal again, Ms. Quint, and we believe you could be eligible for funding. “Why don’t you drop by, and we’ll have a talk?” To Darcy’s surprise, Federick was not just fobbing her off. He had audited her business proposal once more. Federick turned out to be serious and responsible with his work. Maybe she got the wrong idea about Federick. He might not be in cahoots with those people. He probably did everything he could so as not to rub the Sunrise Lees the wrong way. “Thank you, Mr. Yale. I will be there right away.” Darcy ended the call with a thrill. “Who is Mr. Yale?” Kaze asked. Darcy replied enthusiastically, “He’s the head of the reviewing committee and a faculty member of the University of South River. He said he looked into our proposal again and believed we have a good chance of getting
“Mr. Yale, you have underestimated me.” Darcy said coldly, “I rather not take dirty money.” She would not agree even if billions were offered to her, much less 10 million dollars. Federick was insulting her to expect she would sleep with him for 10 million dollars. “Can money be dirty?” Seeing that Darcy stood firm on her ground, Fedrick’s patience wore thin. He had toyed with many students over the years. All it took was a little carrot and a stick, and they all came crawling to him. It infuriated him that he could not get through to Darcy. Federick got up and walked to the office door. Click!He locked the door! “What are you trying to do, Federick?” Struck by a thought, Darcy turned white and uttered angrily, “We are in a professional setting where people come and go. You won’t get away with assaulting me.” “So you do know we are in the office of the reviewing committee.” Federick sneered, “Since Quartet Group’s business proposal failed to make the cut
“Mr. Yale is a faculty member of the University of South River. You’re vile to lay your hands on him!” “You are Darcy, the chairman of Quartet Group. It’s a unanimous decision of the committee that your proposal didn’t make it past the preliminary review. I can’t believe you would take up a personal vendetta against Mr. Yale. That’s outrageous of you.” The group was up in arms, criticizing Darcy sternly. “It’s not what you think. Federick threatened me to sleep with him and tried to force himself on me. My husband hit him to save me. It was an act of self-defense,” Darcy jumped in to explain before things could get way more out of hand.However, the group only believed the truth in front of them. No one would take her word for it. “Bullshit! Mr. Yale is a highly respected member of the community. He would never threaten you to sleep with him. Who are you trying to fool?” “I can’t believe you’d try to play the victim and push the blame on Mr. Yale. He can’t speak for himse
Footsteps approached. The chief of police, Don, arrived at the scene with officers in tow. “Chief Braders, arrest these two individuals at once. They waged a personal vendetta against Mr. Yale and slandered us for taking bribes.” Malcolm recognized Don. When the reviewing panel was selected, Don and Johnson the Mayor were there to welcome them. Johnson was courteous to the experts on the committee. Malcolm ordered Don around the moment the latter arrived. Ignoring Malcolm, Don turned to Kaze and Darcy. He was relieved to see them safe and sound. Don nodded at Kaze before facing the group with a stern look. He waved his arm. “Take these experts away for questioning.” The police officers went to apprehend Malcolm and the others. “Why are you arresting us?” “This is an outrage. We are the experts. On what charges are you arresting us?” The dumbfounded experts exclaimed angrily. Kaze and Darcy should be the ones cuffed. “What’s the meaning of this, Chief Brad
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