“Disaster has befallen the Quint family and it’s all because of your stupid husband!” Master Quint shouted from the other side of the phone. Darcy moved the phone away and looked slightly irritated. “Grandfather, the Quint family is in this situation because you are greedy. I warned Samus but he didn’t listen. Don’t put all the blame on Kaze!” Master Quint did not expect Darcy to be so protective of Kaze, which infuriated him even more. “Not his fault? The Internet is filled with rumors he released and he’s fanning the flames! Otherwise, this wouldn’t collapse on us all at once!” Darcy was surprised to find out that Kaze was indeed the one pulling the strings. “Darcy, Deborah was arrested and the Quints have become the joke of the city. What else do you want from us? Your Uncle Rudy has crossed the line but I already scolded him. Do you want to see them jump off the building before you stop? Are you really going to go that far?” Master Quint said sentimentally. Far? If
“Darcy, don’t entertain scam calls anymore.” Kaze tossed the phone back to Darcy and continued, “These kinds of calls will lure you and scam your money. Worse, they might sell you away and you will be gone forever.” “Kaze, that’s Grandfather!” Darcy glared at him. Kaze continued with the same look, “I don’t want you to listen to him. If he recalls his announcement now, when you shoulder the debt, they will release another statement to throw you out of the family again. Besides, I said I will help you build another powerful family and none of the Quints will be able to leech on you.” “That’s not what I am talking about!” Darcy pinched him and glared at him. “You called yourself Daddy in front of Grandfather, what are you thinking?!” Darcy snapped out of it the moment Kaze snatched the phone away. She knew her grandfather was trying to trick her again. Like Kaze said, once she shouldered the debt, they would kick her out once more. She was mad at Kaze for being audacious.
Master Quint and his family were outside Sky Ocean Corporation, causing a scene. He wanted to see Darcy, but the security guards, who were veterans from the Garo Spec Ops Team, stopped them outside. “I am your chairwoman’s grandfather! I want to see her! How dare you stop me? I’ll get you fired!” Master Quint shouted. “Step aside! We are going to see Darcy! You won’t be able to handle the consequences of standing in our way!” “Move! How dare some security guards stop us outside!” The other family members echoed and shouted at the security guards. They looked down on the security guards and showed no respect for them. The veterans were no longer serving the Garo Spec Ops Team but they were trained to carry out difficult missions and tempered by the harshness of the battlefield. Some of them were decorated soldiers as well. The insults and disrespect infuriated them, but they could not do anything because they knew Master Quint and the others were the family of the chai
“Kick!” The moment the security captain shouted, all the security guards launched a kick together. It was quite an amazing scene as a row of men launched their kicks at their opponents en masse. Swoosh! The kicks were so strong that they caused a strong whirr. The bodyguards who jumped into the air were kicked in their chests. “Aaagh!” Painful shouts sounded consecutively. All the bodyguards were kicked away and fell down the stairs. Bones were cracked as they fell onto the ground. Everyone in the Quint family gasped in fear as they stared at the security guards. “Where did Darcy find them? How much is she paying them annually?” With one kick from the security guards and all the experts the Quints recruited from the top three families were defeated. They were so shocked that they did not even realize how much it would cost them to replace or heal the heavily injured bodyguards. “Not much. We are paid 20 thousand each per month,” the security captain said.
“Yeah, let us in and we will apologize to Darcy ourselves.” Master Quint was forced to lower himself since he was in dire need of Darcy’s help. “Apologize? You bring all your bodyguards here to Darcy’s company and shout at the security guards, and you say you are here to apologize?” Kaze scoffed. Master Quint clenched his teeth. “It’s Samus being reckless. I’ve scolded him already.” He quickly shifted the fault to Samus. Kaze did not want to be calculative. He said, “Very well. If you are here to apologize, then show how sincere you are.” “What kind of sincerity are you looking for?” “Simple. I want every one of you to kneel before the entrance.” Kaze’s voice was loud and clear. His words infuriated everyone. How dare Kaze demand them to kneel before Sky Ocean Corporation in broad daylight? “You want us to kneel?!” Rudy and Samus shouted their disagreement. “What else?” Kaze said. Samus was fuming. “I will fucking rip you apart…” Slap! Master Quint slapped
“Look! Look all you want! It’s out anyway!” “The entire city should know that Darcy made her own grandfather kneel and turned on her family!” “From today onward, no one would do business with her.” The Quints remained kneeling on the ground, unable to do anything to free themselves from the humiliation. The only thing they could do was complain to vent their grievances. Then, Kaze’s frosty voice came from the phone’s loudspeaker again. “Tell the public what you did to Darcy in the past two days. Don’t try to hide it, I know what you did.” Everyone was silenced. They refused to reveal what they had done. “No? Then leave.” Kaze clearly grunted on the phone. Master Quint helplessly looked at his son and grandson. “We forced Darcy to make a report on behalf of Deborah or else we will kick her out of the family and take her name away.” “We spread false rumors about her being raped by three men and her being Mathias Queen’s mistress.” Rudy and Samus revealed everythin
The Quints refused to believe that Darcy was not in Sky Ocean Corporation. They strongly assumed Kaze lied to them and prevented them from seeing her. “You really think she’s here because of the car?” Kaze was struck with realization. He said, “I drove the car.” “Why did you drive her car?!” “Why can’t I drive her car?” “Then why did you come here?” Kaze scoffed. “My wife is the chairwoman. Why can’t I come here to have a look?” “The chairwoman isn’t here today. We are simply accompanying Mr. Lee on his inspection.” It was then the CEO of Sky Ocean Corporation, Alfonso, came out. He went up to Kaze and asked respectfully, “Mr. Lee, are there any more departments that you wish to inspect?” “That’s enough. I don’t know how the company works. I’m just here to have a look.” Kaze smiled and added, “Bring me my car, I’m going home.” Soon, the Maserati Quattroporte was driven over. Kaze got in and drove off. “Kaze, that bastard! He lied to us!” “I want to kill
Everyone gasped in shock. Master Quint bellowed, “You just said we didn’t borrow money from you.” “The Quint family didn’t, but the top three families did, and so did Taylor Swan.” Dane scoffed. “To attend the inauguration ceremony of Albert Hiden, the top three families, Taylor Swan, and the other families, borrowed billions from Dallas Moneylender. “The money was then confiscated by the God of War and returned to Lilyrose’s city council as a development fund for the city. The Quint family got two billion from it. “Am I right, Master Quint?” Master Quint finally knew why Dane said the Quints owed Dallas Moneylender two billion. “Mr. Rich, you should go to the top three families, Taylor Swan, and God of War for the money. Why come to us?” Master Quint bellowed. Dallas Moneylender was trying to extort money out of them. “The top three families are no longer top, Taylor Swan is behind bars, and as for the God of War… Well…” Dane chuckled. “We dared not go to him.” “
“I have pointed you in a direction. If you still can’t trust your team, you can go to the Viper’s Den.“There’s one thing, though. Don’t rely too heavily on the Viper’s Den, or your company will be left without secrets.” Kaze’s suggestion gave Snow assurance. She considered tapping into the Viper’s Den’s resources. However, Kaze warned her against excessive dependence. “Why did you say that, Chairman Lee? Will the Viper’s Den stab me in the back?” Surely, the Viper’s Den took orders from Kaze. The Viper’s Den would always be an ally so long as Kaze was the branch leader. “I just don’t want you to put too much faith in others. You find loyalty by developing your own team. Those who revere me will never trust you completely.” Kaze analyzed the situation. Snow ate her supper and looked at Kaze in confusion. “You can only count on the people you win over. You can’t trust anyone else, and that includes me.” Kaze would never hurt Snow. However, he hoped that she would fin
“As you said, all is in the past. What’s the point of dwelling on it?” Leah perked up. Such was life, but it took her too long to understand the harsh reality. She guessed things were just not meant to be. “I’ll think about what to get Kaze. Rest well. We’ll visit him in a few days.” Taking the matter seriously, Katie wanted to get gifts ready ahead of time to thank Kaze. “Alright. I’ll see what I can do too. I want to be in touch with the outside world. I don’t care what they have to say. This is not my fault. I won’t blame myself.” Leah wanted her phone back to contact her former friends. Ultimately, she needed to move forward instead of backward. She had to face and fight back the rumors with courage. It was the crucial step to kick trauma in the face. The abduction was kept hush-hush for the most part, but Katie’s frantic search for her daughter at the cocktail party did not go unnoticed. Hearing about the incident, the influential people were keen to find out
“When did Kaze start setting it all up? I get the feeling that everybody played into his hands right from the start, and he had controlled every step of the way.” Leah realized that Kaze was an amazing man. Nothing could go past his eyes. “I don’t know.” Katie feared someone like Kaze. She would not be caught dead near him. Even when grasping the situation, Katie dared not look into Kaze for fear she would be targeted. Katie was careful not to show her face around Kaze. For all she knew, Kaze might get back at her. “But he came to Butterworth alone. We met at the train station, and he helped me out of a bad situation.” Leah felt warm and cozy inside just remembering the events. They did not know each other then. Kaze was kind to help a stranger out. From then on, Kaze could do no wrong in Leah’s eyes. Leah befriended him and found him nice. Her interest in him grew. They also got along well. Her memories of Kaze were sweet. Anyone could hurt her in the world, but
Even though Katie was the CEO of the Northborn Group, many eyed her position. There were too many vying to replace her. Without dedicating herself to her work, Katie risked falling from grace. Katie had been too eager to find success to give her daughter the best life. Leah could not understand the pain Katie had to go through. “I understand it now. I explained the nature of my relationship with Kaze to you, but you just wouldn’t get it.” Leah stubbornly expressed herself in hopes her mother would understand. “I just couldn’t get it through my head that you have grown up. You make an easy target since you just graduated and have not stepped into the real world.” Katie would not always be there for Leah. Hence, Katie did her best to get rid of potential danger. Her overprotectiveness triggered Leah’s defiance. It was Katie’s fault for not realizing it sooner. “I’m not angry with you. I didn’t understand a mother’s good intentions, but I understand now. I will listen to
Leah’s face beamed, but her mother’s words threw her into a daze. In the end, she tried to squeeze a smile to assure her mother. However, Leah could not muster a smile. Those days lingered with her like a recurring bad dream. Whenever she recalled the incident, she felt trapped in that nightmare again. Leah wanted to let those memories fade away, but she just could not do it. She would get startled awake late at night and trace the scars across her skin. During moments like this, she resented Perry. Leah was rather cheerful during the day as if the past was behind her. However, it was simply a way for her to escape the pain. By the way Leah was behaving, Katie instantly regretted the question. She should not have probed. Even if they avoided the elephant in the room, they could pretend like nothing ever happened. Nevertheless, the act of asking brought up unsettling times for Leah. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have asked.” Katie gently held Leah, hoping to cast
When the ambulance door closed shut, Leah wailed once more. The reality of her rescue finally sank in, and she grasped that it was not just a dream. It was a pity that she did not have much time with Kaze. She longed to spend more time with him. “Don’t cry, young lady. You’ll get better soon enough. Don’t worry about the scars on your face. I can administer medicine to help you,” the doctor said while wiping her tears. “Thank you. I’m finally out of the hell hole.” Leah’s worst nightmare would be to be trapped in there forever. Kaze watched as the ambulance disappeared into the night. He then turned to face the villa. “Apprehend everybody in there. Perry should be punished for his crimes.” Kaze had not intended to go after the Duncans, but the family had crossed the line this time. Leah was an adorable and vulnerable woman. She was abused beyond recognition. It never occurred to Kaze that the Duncans could be so cruel. “Perry has passed out in there. Where should
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